Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change

We’ve long known we’re headed for climate change disaster. And in the 1980s, a small group of scientists, activists, and politicians almost got us to do something about it. Almost.

Published: Aug 1, 2018
Length: 122 minutes (30,663 words)

The Most Ambitious Environmental Lawsuit Ever

A historian’s attempt to hold oil and gas companies accountable for Louisiana’s disappearing coast.

Published: Oct 4, 2014
Length: 28 minutes (7,138 words)

Tyler Hadley’s Killer Party

An account of house party thrown by a troubled teen in Florida:

During Justin’s game of beer pong, the ball bounced to the floor and rolled beneath the table, where it came to rest in a sticky, thick brown substance. Justin was mildly grossed out, but didn’t think much of it. He carried the ball to the kitchen sink and rinsed it under the faucet. Then he resumed the game.

As Mark Andrew was leaving the party, Tyler asked if they could speak privately. Tyler went outside and ordered all the kids standing there to get back into the house, so that his neighbors wouldn’t call the cops. Once everyone was inside, Tyler turned to Mark.

“Dude, I did some things. I might go to prison. I might go away for life. I don’t know, dude, I’m freaking out right now.”

Source: Rolling Stone
Published: Dec 18, 2013
Length: 30 minutes (7,692 words)

Diving Deep into Danger

It’s one of the most dangerous jobs in the world—working as a deep-sea diver:

“Most offshore divers aspire to work saturation jobs (‘Sat is where it’s at,’ says Newsum), but after graduating diving school and passing an extensive physical, a diver must begin as a ‘tender,’ or apprentice diver. A tender will serve on the support staff for deeper divers, and work at depths as shallow as four feet of water. Often a tender will assist on jobs involving oil pipelines, which tend to be buried four to six feet below the mud line in order to avoid contact with ships or marine life. A tender might be called upon to bury a repaired pipe, using hand jets to displace the bottom so that the pipe will sink belowground. Or he might excavate a pipe, in preparation for a more experienced diver to repair it. An apprentice makes about $40,000 a year.”

Published: Jan 19, 2013
Length: 18 minutes (4,582 words)

The Neverending Nightmare of Amanda Knox

When an attractive young woman from a privileged British family is murdered in Italy, you’ve got a popular crime story. When the person suspected of killing her is an attractive young woman from a privileged American family, you have tabloid gold. When the prosecutor hypothesizes that the victim was slaughtered during a satanic ritual orgy, you’ve got the crime story of a decade. When a sitting U.S. senator declares that the case “raises serious questions about the Italian justice system” and asks if “anti-Americanism” is to blame, and when 11 Italian lawmakers in Silvio Berlusconi’s coalition request a probe of the prosecutor’s office — well, at that point, you have an international crisis.

Source: Rolling Stone
Published: Jun 28, 2011
Length: 29 minutes (7,382 words)