Nature Notes Previous Episodes

The Rio Grande – like all the world’s great rivers – meets many needs, and means many things. It’s water for drinking and farming – a foundation for societies past and present. It’s a place of beauty, and a resource … Continue reading →

It’s a life-giving stream in a desert land, that for millennia has sustained human communities and creatures found nowhere else on Earth. The deep canyons it’s carved are among the most remote and spectacular places on the continent. Its great … Continue reading →

Twelve thousand years ago, the great ice sheets that had long covered most of Canada and the northern U.S. receded. The jet stream – the continent’s storm track – abruptly shifted course. And the Southwest – which had been a … Continue reading →

With the celebration Friday of Earth Day, there’s occasion for both despair, and hope. In the 52 years since the first Earth Day, we’ve witnessed ecological destruction without parallel in human history. But there are also signs we might be … Continue reading →

The mountainous landscapes of West Texas testify to diverse aspects of the Earth’s past – to the tectonic upheavals that raised the Rockies, to episodes of powerful volcanism, to a seaway that covered this land in the Age of Dinosaurs. … Continue reading →