Up From Dust

Box turtles are cute and an absolute delight to spot while walking in the Midwest or Great Plains. But scientist Benjamin Reed wants us to know that these creatures are complex and widely misunderstood. Reed is a box turtle superspy, spending the last 13 years following the animals with radio equipment as they face daunting challenges like roads, lawnmowers, poachers and more. Reed has a laundry list of ways we can all help prairie turtles survive in a difficult world.

Climate change is altering the land we live on, and Indigenous communities are on the frontline. In this episode, we bring you to Alaska, where rapid permafrost thaw is threatening the Native village of Nunapitchuk. Then, we head to Louisiana, where the Pointe-Au-Chien Indian Tribe is watching their land disappear underwater due to sea level rise. These threats are forcing these tribes to make the difficult decision: to stay and adapt, or to leave their ancestral home. (This episode comes to us from the podcast Sea Change.)

A Texas pecan farmer spent years rethinking whether he needed so many chemicals to grow food. He cut back on things like weedkillers, but when it came to ditching insecticides, crop pests posed a challenge. That’s what brought him together with a famous bat scientist — who helped him build an insect-eating army of bats.

Astronomers need your help! And you don’t have to be an expert, because it’s as easy as stepping outside your home and taking a good look at a constellation like Orion. For 20 years, the citizen science project Globe At Night has helped advance our understanding of light pollution – as scientists figure out how fast stars are disappearing from our sky.

As we embark on our third year of Up From Dust, we discuss why we started an environmental podcast in the Midwest — and what we’ve learned along the way. In 2026, stay tuned for stories about farmers, astronomers, turtles, bats and more. We’ll overcome fears and rethink how we grow food and build our cities. And we’ll meet the people in the Heartland who tackle the challenge of climate change with determination and resolve. Thanks for coming along with us.