Outside/In

There’s a legend among energy nerds. According to this legend, California pot-growers — with their illicit capital and counter-cultural ideas — were instrumental in getting the solar industry off the ground, and without them, the industry as we know it would have withered on the vine. So we decided to find out: is it true? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This canine can be found all the way from Panama to Alaska, and shows no sign of going away anytime soon. But what are they? In this episode from Brave Little State, a podcast made next door in Vermont, we get some answers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the late sixties, a soap factory in suburban Illinois discovered one of its outflow pipes had been intentionally clogged by an industrial saboteur. Does environmental damage ever demand radical action? And when does environmental protest cross the line and become eco-terrorism? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Decades of legal and public relations battles with First Nations have changed the way that Hydro-Quebec approaches new projects. Today, the company hires specialists who consult with impacted communities, and modify the designs of their projects to take what they have heard into consideration. But is that enough? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Crees of Quebec signed a landmark agreement with their province and country. The Pessamit Innus now look to that playbook for help in their present-day fight against the provincial utility, but is it too late? On episode two of Powerline, we bring you the story of how one indigenous community got a seat at the table... and how another still struggles to be heard. Learn more about your ad choic...

Hydro-Quebec is the provincially-owned utility that helped French-Canadians stake a claim in Quebec politics and economy. As it forged ahead with two massive hydro projects, the company flooded land that had been used by indigenous people for thousands of years. On episode two of Powerline, we bring you the stories of two groups of First Nations people who grappled with Hydro-Quebec... two stories...

This is part one of our series about how a company, with all of the force of a colonial culture behind it, tried to use its power to push original occupants—its indigenous people—to one side. It’s also the story of how that effort led to something that has become its own kind of revolution in Canada: native people pushing to regain power over their own lives and culture. And it’s a story about the...

Hydro-Québec, the world’s fourth largest hydropower producer, pumps out low carbon electricity at the cheapest rates in North America. For some, it is the key to a greener, more prosperous, future, but that “clean energy” comes freighted with a complicated history and an uncertain future. This is the story of how a massive, state-owned utility company came to be a symbol of the French-Canadian peo...

The Bicknell's Thrush is a bird that can only live in a few very very restricted places. It spends its summers in dense alpine forests in the Northeast of the US. In the winter, perhaps as many as 90 percent of the birds fly to the Dominican Republic. It's a bird without many options, and that makes it a poster child for what's to come.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoic...

The Ask Sam hotline has been blowing up lately! Not like the Galaxy 7, no. In a good way! So Sam, along with a couple of producers from the Outside/In team, took a moment to answer your questions about tree killing, grass eating and the sound in the woods that scared the colonists away. And that's just to name a few. Somebody even gets a trail name out of this one. Learn more about your ad choices...

The story of Michael Proudfoot is everywhere, and the details are always more or less the same: a SCUBA diver exploring a shipwreck breaks his regulator, and surfaces in an air pocket deep in the belly of the ship. He finds a tea-kettle full of fresh water, and eats sea urchins to survive. But as producers of the Outside Podcast, Robbie Carver and Peter Frick-Wright, dig deeper and deeper into the...

In our long, evolutionary history, modernity is just a blip. The wiring of our brains took place over hundreds of thousands of years of hunting and gathering food out in the wilderness, and nothing proves that more vividly than the practice of mushroom hunting. It’s incredibly addictive, even to those who know all too well the associated dangers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.f...

Two young, starry-eyed conservation biologists take a college road trip through Mexico that transforms their outlook on the world. In so doing, they created the foundation for a strategy that would lead them to succeed where heavy-handed government policies had failed. But along the way, they had to get their hands dirty.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Looking for a relatively cheap way to spend a few weeks abroad? You might want to consider World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, or WWOOF. Have an aversion to mud, farm animals, and learning on the job? Maybe reconsider that first suggestion. But for those of you who are looking for an adventure, on a budget, Sam and Molly have composed a “guide” for would-be WWOOFers to think about before ta...

Lēf Farms built a $10 million dollar, state of the art, automated greenhouse, hoping to sell baby greens branded as fresh and local to area grocery stores and restaurants. But even local foods can meet with local opposition when the neighbors see a farm that doesn’t match their expectations for what agriculture should look like. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wilderness Therapy is a form of treatment that uses the natural world to address behavioral and mental health issues in teens. But with a tattered history of institutional abuse, patchwork oversight, and absent legislation, is this treatment option too wild to be trusted? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1982, Times Beach was wiped off the map by an environmental disaster. But once the houses and streets were gone, the town was erased again, this time in a way that may make it difficult to learn from the mistakes of the past.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we attempt to not only eat the invaders, but drink them as well. And this time, most of us were on board. Also, the Ask Sam hotline gets some attention as Sam answers questions about bird feeders, black flies, storm clouds, and dew. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Global Rescue is a business that, should you get yourself into trouble, will drop everything to come and save you, anywhere in the world. They employ former Navy Seals, helicopters, airplanes, and even yaks to get the job done. But this service comes at a price, and when disaster strikes, is it fair that a service that won’t save everyone can rush in pull out those who can afford it? Learn more ab...

Up along the banks of the Damariscotta River in Maine there used to be two stadium-sized piles of oyster shells. Where did they come from? Why are they there? What can they tell us about the people that created them? There are mysteries abound in the middens! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you're a long-time listener of the podcast, you might remember this as Episode 6: Champagne on the Rocks. But if you're new around here, we thought you'd like to hear one of our favorite episodes from the archives, complete with an update at the end. In the summer of 2015, Scott Jurek set a new record for running the 2,181 miles of the Appalachian Trail. But on his triumphant day atop the last...

Ever wonder where those flowers in the grocery come from and why, no matter what time of year, there are always roses available? Just in time for Mother's Day—the second busiest floral day behind Valentine's Day—we look inside the billion dollar flower industry and trace the well oiled supply chain that makes sure saying it with flowers is always an option. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...

Since we launched the toll free version of our Ask Sam hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837), we've seen a real healthy uptick in queries. This time around we decided to ask Chris Martin of the New Hampshire Audubon, and Dave Anderson from the Forest Society to join Sam in our quest to answer your questions about the outdoor world. We've got everything from the geometry of wombat feces to plantin...

Beaver (Castor canadensis), have been kicking around in North America for 2 million years. Ecologically they do all sorts of great things: their ponds ease flooding downstream, and support large numbers of bird species, fish, amphibians, and otters. They're what's called a keystone species, as in the keystone to an entire eco-system. But they're also the world's second largest rodent and a nightma...

Nature documentaries and wildlife films transport us to places in the world that still feel wild, but what if the wilderness they present is staged? What if, in order to capture nature’s unvarnished beauty and conflict, filmmakers have to engage in a bit of fakery? In this episode we examine how deception is used to enhance the drama of nature documentaries, from Disney’s Oscar-winning film White...