Piece Description

It seems that Americans are finally waking up to the reality of climate change, but scientists tell us it may be too little, too late. This may be the most far-reaching environmental threat Americans have ever faced, but it's certainly not the first. In this hour, we consider the history of American anxieties about the environment. Historian Bill Cronon weighs in on when "nature" became a thing to protect and not to fear. And we travel up into Virginia's Shenandoah National Park to look for remnants of the communities that were displaced to make way for Nature. Also: calls that tackle Mother Nature's gender, Populist politics, and the merits of an apocalyptic mindset.