Rural America
In Small Town Appalachia, Locals Battle a Weapons-Grade Uranium Plant
The company Nuclear Fuel Services wants to process weapons-grade uranium for the U.S. government at a facility in Erwin, Tennessee. Some locals aren’t having it.
Taylor Sisk
A Rural New Deal Could Help Progressives Win Rural America
Championing rural and working-class communities is how progressives can build the trust needed to defuse culture war weapons wielded by the Right.
Anthony Flaccavento
Construction Companies Are Exploiting Agricultural Visas to Underpay Workers. The Supreme Court Could Change That.
By bringing in H-2A visa workers to construct hog confinement facilities, companies can dodge overtime pay and undercut local construction workers. One company has asked the Supreme Court to weigh in.
Sky Chadde and Ryan Murphy
The Tragedy of Misunderstanding the Commons
Twelfth-century peasants developed commons practices to survive domination. We could use them to reclaim our lives from capitalism.
Steven Stoll
It’s Too Hot to Keep Using Pesticides
Farm workers are being sickened by agrochemicals—and, due to extreme heat, by the PPE they wear to protect themselves.
Harrison Watson
Despite Heat Deaths, Many States Don’t Require Water Breaks
As temperatures break records, lawmakers in state after state have declined to require that companies give their outdoor workers shade and water breaks.
Barbara Barrett
Fighting Industrial Development and Defending Black History in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley”
In Wallace, descendants of enslaved people live on one of the last preserved stretches of Louisiana’s Mississippi River. Now, a massive grain export facility threatens the community’s history and future.
Daja E. Henry
A Farmer’s Almanac for the End of This World
The Earthbound Farmer’s Almanac offers a place for sharing stories, experiments and strategies for food autonomy in our age of ecological devastation.
Joseph Bullington
Big Dairy is Milking California Dry
A small town fights back against dairy expansion.
Ian Whitaker
How Land Swaps Turn Public Lands into Private Playgrounds
Land exchanges, a management tool used by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, too often benefit rich landowners at the public’s expense.
Erica Rosenberg
Inside the Government’s Failing Program to Protect Farmworkers
Fifty years ago, the U.S. created a program to protect farmworkers from dangerous housing, wage theft and other rampant abuse. Internal documents show a failing system.
Johnathan Hettinger and Sky Chadde
How Old Oil Wells Become Taxpayers' Problem
Nationwide, oil companies have abandoned more than a million oil and gas wells—and the cost of cleaning them up.
Jonathan Thompson
The Vail-ification of the West
In part two of our series, we visit the Colorado ski towns at the extreme edge of rural gentrification.
Joseph Bullington
Los Trabajadores en Vail no Pueden Darse el Lujo de Vivir Ahí
En la segunda parte de nuestra serie, visitamos las ciudades de esquí de Colorado a borde de la gentrificación rural.
Joseph Bullington
In Montana, an Avalanche of Wealth Is Displacing Workers
The people who feed, clothe and clean up after the West’s rich newcomers can’t afford to live alongside them.
Joseph Bullington
En Montana, Una Avalancha de Riqueza Está Desplazando a los Trabajadores
Los trabajadores que alimentan, visten y aseean para los ricos recién llegados a occidente de Montana no pueden darse el lujo de vivir cerca de sus trabajos.
Joseph Bullington
East Palestine: “We Basically Nuked a Town with Chemicals So We Could Get a Railroad Open”
Companies should never again be allowed to do what Norfolk Southern did to this Ohio community.
Tish O'Dell and Chad Nicholson
In Coal Country, Young Workers Seek a Sustainable Future
Neither coal companies nor government have a “plan B” for many Appalachian communities. Meet the young leaders determined to find one.
Jonathan Blair