Culture Stories
Life on the deck of Hokule’a, the double-hulled canoe that sails around the world using only ancient wayfinding techniques.
Editor’s note: Prolific author and National Geographic magazine writer Doug Chadwick takes a fresh look at humans’ place in the natural world in his book, Four Fifths a Grizzly. In his accessible and engaging style, Chadwick approaches the subject from a scientific angle, with the underlying message that humans are not all that different from…
One young couple’s unexpected career path of farming sea vegetables drew them back to their roots and brought a promising climate-change solution to their coastal hometown.
As the proprietor of Cold Antler Farm, a 6.5-acre span of land in Washington County, New York, Jenna Woginrich spends her days with red-tailed hawks.
Sheep (and their poop) could help California’s climate-driven wildfires. One couple is ushering in this idea with a small flock and some supportive fire departments.
Coauthor Kim McCoy recounts discovering the mystery of what lies beneath the waves, where ocean and land meet and compete.
Two women, Black and Indigenous, reflect on the myth of the American West after horse-packing through the Sierra.
A wildlife ecologist reflects on the public lands that are his escape hatch and life’s work.
One woman’s decades-long fight for clean air and environmental justice.
Melinda Daniels is huddled under the shelter of her purple tent waiting for the rain to start, which only seems odd when you consider the context: she’s in the middle of a farm on a blindingly sunny day.
Returning endangered species to the wetlands of Argentina is good for humans, too.
Making face masks in the time of COVID-19: when “breathable face fabric” takes on a whole new meaning.
Young farmers learn what it means to do essential work during a global crisis.
Three moms share the details.
Jasmin Caton worried having twins might slow down her life in the mountains. Then she remembered what her parents did with her.
Welcoming Back the ‘Welcoming Noise’ Near the Arctic Circle
It’s fascinating to hear Zaria Forman talk about ice, especially the way that it sounds. She describes the way it rumbles and thunders and cracks, even when you can’t see anything. It crackles and pops like breakfast cereal on high volume. “Ice crispies,” she calls it. “It’s a really beautiful sound.” Polar ice is possibly…
“We biked through wind, rain, and snow. If lightning struck, we kept going. We only stopped if it got too close. We outran tornadoes in Oklahoma. We waited out a storm in an old horse barn in Montana, huddled like penguins, our bikes cast carelessly aside in the mud,” writes John Flynn. After John lost…
Editor’s note: This post discusses anxiety and suicide. In a humble workshop in Washougal, Washington, a blind craftsman holds a locally harvested log that he has made into a blank with his miter saw. He turns it in his hands to feel its shape and weight. He measures and marks, measures and marks. A flick…
In a fossil-rich corner of western Colorado, set against lush agricultural fields, the big-box stores of Grand Junction and the sandstone formations of the Colorado National Monument, you’ll find Fruita. These days, the town is an international mountain-biking destination known for its ribbony, high-desert trails, technical routes overlooking the Colorado River and funky downtown where…
Rule #1 of a road trip: Vehicle may break down. Rule #2 of a road trip: You may break down along with it. Near the Ruby Mountains in Nevada, Gordon and Meredith Wiltsie were struggling with wrenches and wire after the muffler came loose on their old International Travelall. As their 4-year-old son, Nick, whacked at…
Dave Murray lives in a wooded mountain valley in western Montana with his wife, Connie; a labradoodle rightly named Loki, after the Norse god of mischief; and a bunch of mules. I live 140 miles north near Glacier National Park. He and I met on a float trip down a wild river in northern British…
Restoring a traditional Hawaiian koa canoe. Ka Wahine u‘i O Hale‘iwa, which roughly translates to “Beautiful Young Woman of Hale‘iwa,” is the pride and joy of the Manu O Ke Kai Canoe Club here in Hale‘iwa on the North Shore of O‘ahu. Carved from a single koa tree, U‘i’s life began at 5,400 feet on…
Indigenous communities across the United States are increasingly confronted with threats to their sovereignty and to the places they rely on for their culture and way of life. Nowhere is this threat felt more than in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. A new short film, Welcome to Gwichyaa Zhee, looks at the Gwich’in people’s work to protect…
Friday night at the Hot Tomato is not for those in a hurry. Hungry customers grip pints of beer and compare notes on the day’s rides in lines that spill into the parking lot. Music pumps and the staff whirls behind the counter, tossing floury dough, yelling requests to the kitchen, giving each other shit.…