Directors Erik and Chris Ewers say Walden Pond taught Thoreau the "essence of nature isn't in the supreme vistas at the top of mountains... it's over your shoulder."
Opposition to data center development has been growing in Pennsylvania. We hear from an investigative reporter on Governor Shapiro's office offer to streamline the permitting process for Amazon. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is accepting public comment on a proposed water pollution permit for a coal mine planned in western Pennsylvania. Researchers are bringing back a nearly extinct beetle that buries dead animals.
This week, we look at the life and legacy of Henry David Thoreau, who has been called the godfather of the environmental movement. We interview the directors of a new Ken Burns documentary about Thoreau, his evolution as a thinker, philosopher of the natural world and abolitionist. Affordable solar power could be coming to a balcony near you. That is, if Pennsylvania lawmakers legalize so-called "balcony solar." A festival celebrating frogs returns to Central Pennsylvania. Nippon Steel's new investment in U.S. Steel's Pittsburgh-area plants prompts questions.
Passenger pigeons were once the most abundant bird in North America. But in 1914, they went extinct. Most of their last nesting grounds hugged the Great Lakes. What was it like to experience these birds? And what are we left with when we lose a species? This special episode is from Points North, a podcast about the land, water, and inhabitants of the Great Lakes.
