Rural America

Welcome to the Pyrocene

Our society’s appetite for one kind of burning—fossil fuel combustion—has thrust us into a new Fire Age that is reshaping the Earth.

Stephen Pyne

GDP: A Countdown to Doom

The numbers we use to measure the economy’s recovery from Covid also measure the rate at which we barrel into ecological catastrophe.

Joseph Bullington

Growing food sovereignty on the shores of Lake Superior

On a small Wisconsin island, members of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and volunteers provide fresh food and restore ancestral connection through gardening.

Kip Dooley

The Time Has Come to Demolish Glen Canyon Dam

Amid a worsening drought in the Southwest, the controversial dam on the Colorado River is ceasing to serve its purpose. It’s time to tear it down.

Gary Wockner

In North Carolina’s Tobacco Fields, Guest Workers Battle the “Green Monster”

The state’s tobacco harvest increasingly relies on guest workers, who face nicotine poisoning and what advocates say are inadequate labor protections.

Da Yeon Eom

Tribal Court Case Against Line 3 Pipeline Is First to Invoke “Rights of Nature”

The suit by the White Earth Band of Ojibwe says Enbridge's pipeline would violate the rights of wild rice, which the tribe enshrined in law in 2018.

Alex Brown

Climate Change and Privatization Could End the Public Beach

Sea-level rise on one side and private development on the other threaten to squeeze beaches, and public access to them, out of existence.

Thomas Ankersen

Dear Congress: Say No to Water Privatization in the Infrastructure Bill

Water costs have soared in recent years as federal funding for water infrastructure has shrunk. Privatization is the last thing we need.

Rural America In These Times

While Meatpacking Companies Reap Big Profits, Cattle Ranchers Struggle

Grocery store beef prices are rising. The rancher’s share is falling. And the companies that dominate the highly-concentrated meatpacking industry are making a killing.

Mary Hennigan