Poet Rita Dove wrote that the plants “wait until the world's tucked in and the sky's one ceaseless shimmer – then lift their saturated eyelids and blaze, blaze all night long for no one.” A century and a half earlier, the English Romantic John Clare claimed that, “hermit-like, shunning the light, it wastes its fair bloom upon the night.”

A vivid image leaps to mind when we imagine traditional Native American life in the West: the bison hunt. We’re told the iconic creatures were both revered and relied upon – that every part of the animal was put to use. We might even think Native Americans on the West Texas plains subsisted exclusively on bison meat.

A vivid image leaps to mind when we imagine traditional Native American life in the West: the bison hunt. We’re told the iconic creatures were both revered and relied upon – that every part of the animal was put to … Continue reading → Hosted by for KRTS

“They create a desert and call it peace,” a first-century Celtic chieftain said of the Roman army devastating his land, rousing his warriors to resistance. Our species can indeed lay the Earth to waste – rendering places lifeless through plunder and violence. But natural deserts are never sterile. They're places of austerity, but also of hidden life.

Carlsbad Cavern is a global destination. Each year, hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world descend into the cavern's “Big Room” – to tour the immense labyrinth of otherworldly cave formations. And on summer evenings, there's the spectacle of hundreds of thousands of bats taking flight from the cave's entrance.

Carlsbad Cavern is a global destination. Each year, hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world descend into the cavern’s “Big Room” – to tour the immense labyrinth of otherworldly cave formations. And on summer evenings, there’s the spectacle … Continue reading → Hosted by for KRTS

Mammoths and mastodons. Camels and horses. Giant ground sloths. Beavers the size of bears. Herds of massive bison antiquus. And the immense predators – the American lion, the scimitar-toothed cat. A day in Ice Age West Texas would have put the grandest African safari to shame. It's exhilarating, if terrifying, to imagine it.

Mammoths and mastodons. Camels and horses. Giant ground sloths. Beavers the size of bears. Herds of massive bison antiquus. And the immense predators – the American lion, the scimitar-toothed cat. A day in Ice Age West Texas would have put … Continue reading → Hosted by for KRTS

The writer Edward Abbey described his first sight of the Rocky Mountains, as a 17-year-old hitchhiker from Pennsylvania:

The writer Edward Abbey described his first sight of the Rocky Mountains, as a 17-year-old hitchhiker from Pennsylvania: “On the Western horizon… was a magical vision, a legend come true. The image of those mountains struck a fundamental chord in … Continue reading → Hosted by for KRTS