Leaving the Mountains and Growing up with Coal

Artist Steve Peters records shrieking ants, the wind through dead cactuses, and the eerie rattle of wire fences in New Mexico. Learn more at http://www.nature.org/podcasts/ and download additional episodes for free! You can also subscribe to our Nature Stories podcast @ http://podcast.prx.org/nature/rss.xml

The residents of Newcastle, Maine woke up on a rainy morning last October to a startling surprise. Sherman Lake had disappeared — overnight. Learn more at http://www.nature.org/podcasts/ and download additional episodes for free! You can also subscribe to our Nature Stories podcast @ http://podcast.prx.org/nature/rss.xml

The story of a man who overcame heartbreak by skipping rocks. For Jerry McGhee, skipping rocks over the water began as a distraction. He never dreamed he would end up a world champion. Learn more at http://www.nature.org/podcasts/ and download additional episodes for free! You can also subscribe to our Nature Stories podcast @ http://podcast.prx.org/nature/rss.xml

Chile’s government is proposing to build the longest bridge in Latin America to connect the island of Chiloe to the mainland, but islanders aren’t sure they want to be connected. Learn more at http://www.nature.org/podcasts/ and download additional episodes for free! You can also subscribe to our Nature Stories podcast @ http://podcast.prx.org/nature/rss.xml

Growing up in rural Appalachia Machlyn Blair didn't think he would have much in common with teenagers from other places. But the current immigration debate has made him realize just how central the experience of economic migration has been for him and his family. In this essay Machlyn shares his personal experiences and family history with economic migration, and talks about what making a choice to leave home really means to him. Learn more at http://www.nature.org/podcasts/ and download additional episodes for free! You can also subscribe to our Nature Stories podcast @ http://podcast.prx.org/nature/rss.xml

Author and enviromentalist Bill McKibben goes an entire winter eating only foods from the Lake Champlain valley in Vermont -- and learns lessions about the global food system. Learn more at http://www.nature.org/podcasts/ and download additional episodes for free! You can also subscribe to our Nature Stories podcast @ http://podcast.prx.org/nature/rss.xml

This week, we're delving into one of the most enduring American myths and uncovering some of the Mexican history of the American West. Erika Solomon teaches us about the Mexican origins of the cowboy and educates us about the vaquero, the Mexican cowboy whom American cowboys modeled themselves after. Texas is a state steeped in both the Cowboy and Mexican culture. Yet the symbolic figure that blends these two influences - the Vaquero - is strangely missing as a staple icon of the region. Learn more at http://www.nature.org/podcasts/ and download additional episodes for free! You can also subscribe to our Nature Stories podcast @ http://podcast.prx.org/nature/rss.xml

Step into the fertile depths of Alaska's Tongass National Forest and experience a journey of sound and history. Learn more at http://www.nature.org/podcasts/ and download additional episodes for free! You can also subscribe to our Nature Stories podcast @ http://podcast.prx.org/nature/rss.xml

Two self-proclaimed sustainability evangelists raise a series of philosophical questions about how to lead an ecologically sound lifestyle and still be active citizens in a modern world. Learn more at http://www.nature.org/podcasts/ and download additional episodes for free! You can also subscribe to our Nature Stories podcast @ http://podcast.prx.org/nature/rss.xml

Smoke. Fire. Prairie. Crab Apples. Environmental Management. And the deliciously reproduced sounds of crackling flames. Learn more at http://www.nature.org/podcasts/ and download additional episodes for free! You can also subscribe to our Nature Stories podcast @ http://podcast.prx.org/nature/rss.xml