What happens when citizens take up arms against the Federal Government to assert their rights to manage their own land and economy as they see fit? Is it ever as simple as “hands off our herds and forests?” As the trial of Ammon Bundy heats up in Oregon this week, and that of his father Cliven Bundy looms later this winter, we dig into our archives to consider the meanings of these conflicts. Drawing from the interviews conducted by Mike Burbidge (with backup from Harry Rice) last winter we reveal drivers and dimensions of the Bundy situations that shed new light on the trial and its relevance to environmental governance in the U.S. and beyond.
Recorded in the cold of last year’s Ann Arbor winter (but the heat of the Malheur refuge standoff), we feature voices and insights on the tensions behind the armed conflict. You can see more in our It’s Hot out There archive. And you’ll definitely be hearing more from our hot new host Chris Askew-Merwin.