Outside/In

[Editor's Note: This episode first aired in April 2022]Last year our host, Nate Hegyi, was on the edge of a very high cliff in Utah’s Zion National Park when he heard a little voice inside his head whisper… “jump.”   He didn’t heed the call, thankfully, and when he got down safely he discovered that more than a third of all people might feel this urge, ominously known as “the call of the void.”  M...

When it comes to the environment, are natural fabrics better than synthetics? The answer might surprise you. It’s the latest installment of This, That, Or The Other Thing, a series about the decisions we make to build a more sustainable world, and to make a difference in our communities. In this episode we compare the carbon footprints of polyester versus cotton, we ask the experts whether our wat...

After the gathering at Standing Rock, legislators across the United States passed laws in the name of “protecting critical infrastructure,” especially pipelines.  At the same time, attacks on the electrical grid have increased almost 300%. But that threat isn’t coming from environmental activists.  It’s coming from neo-Nazis.  This is the second episode in our series examining the landscape of env...

When members of the Oceti Sakowin gathered near the Standing Rock Reservation to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline, they decided on a strategy of nonviolent direct action. No violence… against people. But sabotage of property – well, that’s another question entirely.  Since the gathering at Standing Rock, anti-protest legislation backed by the fossil fuel industry has swept across the country. Wh...

As a candidate, Joe Biden called himself a climate change pioneer. He promised a green energy revolution. More renewables, way less fossil fuels, and a carbon-neutral economy by 2050. So two years in, how’s he doing? Outside/In host Nate Hegyi speaks with a political scientist and an environmental activist to figure out where Biden has pushed his climate agenda, where he hasn’t, and whether he’s a...

There are few physical challenges more uncomfortable than holding your breath underwater as long as you can.  But if your duty is to pull downed military personnel from waters all over the world, you need to prove your ability to perform in the most hostile and unforgiving conditions. That’s why the Air Force has long made breath holds part of its training programs for parajumpers, or parachute re...

While the taps are running dry and reservoirs are disappearing in Arizona, a corporate farm from Saudi Arabia is pumping massive amounts of groundwater to grow alfalfa  for cows back in the Middle East. Now, after years of inaction, Arizonans are pointing the finger at what they see  as a foreign invader slurping up the last gulps of a diminishing water supply. But the truth is more complicated. ...

The team peers into the Outside/Inbox to answer listener questions on the theme of “green,” a prompt which sends us exploring the hanging gardens of Babylon, xeriscaping, and the evolution of the human eye. 1: What’s the benefit of being evergreen? 2: How water-friendly is my lawn? 3: How many city buildings have green roofs? 4: Why did we evolve to see so many different shades of green? Featuring...

In the late 1950s, engineer Herb Ueda Sr. traveled to a remote Arctic military base. His mission? To drill through nearly a mile of ice, and extract the world’s first complete ice core. To finish the job, he and his team would endure sub-zero weather, toxic chemicals, and life inside a military base… which was slowly being crushed by the glacier from which it was carved.  Producer Daniel Ackerman...

Right now, we’re investing billions of dollars into charging infrastructure in order to speed up the transition to electric cars and decarbonize transportation.  But there are all sorts of problems that EVs won’t solve: bumper-to-bumper traffic, extractive metal mining, and car collisions that kill tens of thousands of drivers, passengers, cyclists, and pedestrians every year in the US.  That’s wh...

Transitioning to electric vehicles is essential to meeting our climate goals. But there are so many barriers to overcome – from expanding EV charging infrastructure, to updating the power grid, to mining the metals that make batteries go. In the first of a two-part series on decarbonizing transportation, we try to answer the critical question: is it all happening fast enough to avoid the worst cli...

The Underdogs Ep3: You sell your soul What caused the Peranos to abandon their dogs and screw so many people over? Nate enlists the help of a New Zealand journalist to find out.  More about Outside/In presents The Underdogs:  A few months ago, Outside/In host Nate Hegyi got a tip from the highest levels of the dog sledding community. It was about the first team from New Zealand to complete the Idi...

The Underdogs Ep2: It has to be earned Nate flies to Minnesota to follow a new lead about the New Zealand racing team. Advisory: This episode contains brief descriptions of injured animals and animal abuse that may be disturbing to some listeners.    More about Outside/In presents The Underdogs:  A few months ago, Outside/In host Nate Hegyi got a tip from the highest levels of the dog sledding com...

The Underdogs Ep1: Honey and vinegar Outside/In host Nate Hegyi gets a surprising tip that leads him into the frozen and tight-knit world of competitive sled dog racing in Alaska. More about Outside/In presents The Underdogs:  A few months ago, Outside/In host Nate Hegyi got a tip from the highest levels of the dog sledding community. It was about the first team from New Zealand to complete the Id...

A few months ago, Outside/In host Nate Hegyi got a tip from the highest levels of the dog sledding community. It was about the first team from New Zealand to complete the Iditarod, a 1,000-mile race across some of Alaska’s harshest terrain; a pair of mushers that have transformed their success on the trail into a flourishing tourism business in their home country’s south island.  But behind the sc...

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...

If you own land in the United States, do you also own the airspace above it? In other words, who owns the sky? The answer begins with a medieval Roman principle of property rights, which made it all the way to American courts: “Whoever owns the soil, it is theirs up to Heaven and down to Hell."  We asked our friends Nick Capodice and Hannah McCarthy, cohosts of Civics 101, to join us to explore th...

When Nora Saks learned that a "toxic, self-cloning worm that poops out of its mouth was invading Maine", she started sounding the alarm about the impending eco-doom. Until, that is, state experts clued her into the "real threat"; a different creepy crawly wriggling towards The Pine Tree State's gardens and precious forests, and fast. In an attempt to find out more about this real threat, Ben Brock...

Despite being the only rodent with a holiday to its name, groundhogs are often considered pests. However, these natural-born diggers have unearthed rare artifacts, play a pivotal role in shaping ecosystems, and are tied to important breakthroughs in hepatitis B treatments. Plus they’re pretty cute.  So in this episode, a special Groundhog Day edition of our Holy Scat series, we’re digging up as ma...

What’s the slowest heartbeat on the planet? What’s it like to live with zero sunlight?  If you’ve ever picked up a copy of the Guinness Book of World Records, you know that people are drawn to extremes, be they geographical, philosophical, or biological.  So this week, we’re cracking open the Outside/Inbox to answer your questions about the outer limits of life on Earth. We’ll learn about how land...

In each essay in their debut collection, How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures, science writer Sabrina Imbler shares the story of an undersea organism and a story of their own journey as someone who, as they put it, came out twice in adulthood.  In one essay, they reflect on how a shape-shifting cephalopod helped them navigate their own questions about gender. In another, they cel...

Some folks promote local food. Others swear by veganism. But what is the most environmentally-friendly diet? And does it really matter what we eat? Or are there bigger fish to fry when it comes to climate activism? Outside/In is trying out a new segment called This, That, Or The Other Thing. It’s all about the little decisions we make to try and build a more sustainable world—whether they have any...

On the first day of January, people all over the world dive into the water as a way to start the new year fresh. It’s often referred to as a “polar plunge”.  But cold water dipping is different. It’s not a breathless in-and-out plunge, but a slow submersion: lingering in the cold water for 5 or 10 minutes. No wetsuit.  This fall, Outside/In producer Justine Paradis got to know a community of dippe...

There’s an unfortunate paradox for environmental podcasts; data shows a lot of people skip segments about the climate. But also… it’s the CLIMATE! We can’t NOT talk about it, right?  So how do we break through the malaise and make climate news feel less overwhelming? More surprising? Less depressing? In this episode, we round-up a handful of stories that we hope break the mold and make climate a m...

At the beginning of the pandemic, we published an episode about “how to be a backyard birder.”  Everybody was understandably freaking out, and we wanted to put something sweet, calming, and hopeful into the world. In that episode, we heard from ornithologist Dr. J. Drew Lanham, who shared some great tips for beginners, like what to watch and listen for, and how to make binoculars from toilet paper...