Outside/In

Like most modern publications, Low-tech Magazine has a website. But when you scroll through theirs, you’ll notice an icon in the corner: the weather forecast in Barcelona. That’s because Kris Decker, the creator of Low-tech Magazine, powers the site off a solar panel on his balcony. When the weather gets bad, the website just… goes offline. In a way, the solar-powered website is an experiment: an...

Lake trout are on life support in Lake Michigan. They rely on intense breeding and stocking by federal fisheries. There was a breakthrough last summer, though, that could help bolster the lake trout’s recovery. A geneticist successfully mapped the lake trout genome: an outline of the fish’s genetic makeup. The genome will help biologists understand why some “strains” of trout have a higher surviva...

In this episode, the final frontier of the outdoors: space! From rocket particles, to ominous theories about what might happen if we ever make contact with aliens, we’re launching into uncharted territory to answer your questions about outer space.  And speaking of uncharted territory, we’re kicking this episode off with a very important introduction: our new host Nate Hegyi is picking up the mic...

Antler tissue is the fastest growing animal tissue on the planet. It grows faster than a human embryo, faster even than a cluster of cancer cells. On a hot summer day, some antlers can grow as much as one inch per day! And buried inside them is a cocktail of nutrients that both animals and humans are itching to get their paws on. In summary: Antlers are freaking amazing. So in this episode of Outs...

Forget about beer, or even water; it was hard apple cider that was THE drink of choice in colonial America. Even kids drank it! And since it’s made from apples – the “all-American” fruit – what could be more American than cider? But apples aren’t native to America. They’re originally from Kazakhstan. In this episode we look at the immigration story of Malus domestica, the domesticated apple, from...

Move over, beef: there’s a new burger in town. Plant-based meats are sizzling hot right now; in 2020 alone, the alternative meat industry saw a record $3.1 billion in investment, with 112 new plant-based brands launching in supermarkets. These juicy, savory, chewy fake burgers are a far cry from the dry, weird-tasting veggie patties of the past.  In this episode, Gastropod co-hosts Nicole Twilley...

When Jocelyn Smith was growing up, she told her friends and family she didn’t want to go to college. Instead, her goal was to hike all 2,190 miles of the Appalachian Trail, a rugged journey spanning from northern Georgia to central Maine. Last year, she finally realized that dream in a seven-month long, life-changing adventure. But as soon as she started her descent from the last mountain summit,...

When writer Elizabeth Rush visited neighborhoods already transformed by rising seas, she noticed that many people did not use terms like “climate change.” They still talked about it – it’s just that they talked about it in terms of their own experiences: the dolphins, swimming in tidal creeks further inland than ever before… how the last big flood wasn’t gradual, but fast and sudden. In this episo...

Decades before the first international permaculture conference or certified organic tomato, a farmer on an island in southern Japan turned his back on industrial agriculture and devoted his life to finding a different way of farming. Masanobu Fukuoka was working as a plant pathologist when he experienced a revelation – and promptly quit his job and returned home to his family farm. Eventually, he...

Decades before the first international permaculture conference or certified organic tomato, a farmer on an island in southern Japan turned his back on industrial agriculture and devoted his life to finding a different way of farming. Masanobu Fukuoka was working as a plant pathologist when he experienced a revelation – and promptly quit his job and returned home to his family farm. Eventually, he...

On May 21, 2021, an influential environmental activist died of Covid-19 and you probably didn’t hear about it. Sunderlal Bahuguna’s passing didn’t make the major news outlets in the US, but it was a big deal in India, where he was the renowned leader of the Chipko movement against deforestation in the 1970s.  Chipko is a Hindi word for “hugging”, but according to Bahuguna, he was just the messenge...

We all know that a key part of addressing climate change involves getting off fossil fuels. But renewable energies, such as solar energy, are not without costs. One key cost? It uses a lot of land. The team at How to Save a Planet takes a look at one creative solution to this problem – mixing solar panels with agriculture. And they are not at all sheepish about the role of one very adorable four l...

Gasp! Once again, the Outside/In team find themselves plunged into (a very predictable) darkness as winter descends on the Northern Hemisphere. In this episode, our second annual friluftsliv special, we turn to Norwegian culture for inspiration on how best to approach the coldest quarter of the year.   The team offers our 2021/22 tips on how to enjoy the outdoors in inclement weather, and cozy (an...

We’ve got answers to your burning questions: a query about the impacts of wildlife smoke on bird migration; a long-smoldering family debate over whether or not bears can hoot; and, perhaps, stamping out the fire in the gas furnace heating your home. Question 1: What home heating system is best for the climate? Question 2: Is wildfire smoke impacting bird migration? Question 3: Do bears hoot? Quest...

Animal agriculture is one of the biggest contributors to global climate emissions. But what about hunting? Does shooting and eating wild game skirt the complicated ethics and emissions connected with eating factory farmed animals?  In this episode, a vegetarian-turned-hunter brings two reporters into a forest in Germany, in search of sustainable  meat. Not only is it an interesting conversation fr...

In Aspen, Colorado, bears descend from the mountains to gorge on unlocked restaurant dumpsters. In India, drunk elephants crash into bodegas searching for food. And behind these human-wildlife conflicts are the researchers and scientists who are trying to prevent us from killing each other.  Author Mary Roach is no stranger to squirmy subjects: she’s written about the science of decomposition, dig...

Who moved the giant monolithic statues of Rapa Nui, a remote island in the South Pacific? And how did they do it? These questions have been at the center of much speculation and debate since Europeans first arrived there on Easter Sunday, 1722, and called it “Easter Island”. The most popular theory was that this remote civilization destroyed itself -- cutting down all the trees to make contraption...

There’s a type of travel industry which defines itself as different: ecologically minded, even “responsible.” It’s a type of travel meant to support the conservation of threatened ecosystems. This is not just tourism, but “ecotourism.” This specific brand of tourism is a crucial part of the plan to conserve the Great Himalayan National Park in northern India, a gorgeous patchwork of forests, glaci...

The Great Himalayan National Park in India is among the most dramatic landscapes on Earth. Count the layers in a single panoramic photo of the park and you might see mountains, glaciers, old-growth forests, and alpine meadows. But National Parks are defined by two things: first, an abundance of wildlife and majestic landscapes; and second, no permanent human presence. So, before anybody was ever i...

We introduce our new mailbag segment: the Outside/Inbox, where we answer your questions about the natural world. This time:  Question 1: What are those blue boxes sticking out of East Coast salt marshes? Question 2: A bunch of wasps swarmed into my friend’s bowl of ramen and died. What poisoned the wasps?  Question 3: Did life begin on Earth just once? Or could it have happened multiple times duri...

Once upon a time, potpourri was a popular way to freshen up a space. Now, for some, it feels a bit like the lava lamp of fragrance: an outdated fad from a bygone decade. So, why was potpourri so popular in the 1980’s, and what happened to it? Did the trend dry up… or just evolve? We explore the transformation of potpourri, from the fermented mush of the Victorian era to the perfumed and colorful b...

Science journalist and sci-fi novelist Annalee Newitz thinks and writes a lot about the future. But in their latest book, Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age, Annalee looks at the distant past in four ancient cities: Pompeii (of the Roman Empire), Angkor (of the Khmer empire in modern day Cambodia), Catalhoyuk (the first known city in the world in today’s Turkey), and Cahokia (an i...

This week, we’re sharing an episode from The Experiment, a podcast from The Atlantic and WNYC that tells “stories from an unfinished country.” Sign up for the Outside/In newsletter. Each episode explores elements of the experiment that is the United States, from the evangelical influence on American politics to alcohol use in the United States… and to “America’s best idea:” its national parks. In...

As we wave off our erstwhile host as he moves on to new adventures, we recall a drive through the mountains and assemble (what else?) a riotous montage. Sign up for the Outside/In newsletter. If you’ve got a question for the Outside/In[box] hotline, give us a call! We’re always looking for rabbit holes to explore. Leave us a voicemail at: 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837). Don’t forget to leave a numb...

To be profitable, the offshore wind industry requires vast sums of money only accessible to some of the world’s biggest companies. But is the environmental movement ready to welcome oil majors and devoted capitalists into their ranks? Ready or not, here they come. Windfall is the story of a promising renewable technology and the potential of wind power in a changing climate. It’s a story about who...