Join NHPR for an on-air broadcast special from Outside/In on Friday, August 4 at 1 P.M. and Saturday, August 5th at 12 P.M.
Part 1: Oppenheimer’s Omission- With 'Oppenheimer', director Christopher Nolan has turned the Manhattan Project into a summer blockbuster. The film is set in Los Alamos, one of the primary places where the first atomic bomb was developed. But fewer people know the history of Carrizozo, a rural farming area downwind of the Trinity test — and a community still dealing with the fallout to this day.
Radioactive fallout from the bomb settled on everything: the soil, gardens, and drinking water. Cow’s milk became radioactive. Later, hundreds of people developed radiogenic cancers.
The people of Carrizozo were among the first people in the world exposed to a nuclear blast. More than 75 years later, their families are still fighting for medical compensation from the federal government.
Host Nate Hegyi traveled to New Mexico to visit the Trinity Site, and to hear the stories of so-called ‘downwinders’. Featuring: Paul Pino, Tina Cordova, Ben Ray Lujan
Editor's note: A previous version of this text incorrectly described Los Alamos as the site of the first atomic bomb test. The actual test took place in the White Sands Missle Range.
Part II: The City Inside a Glacier In the late 1950s, engineer Herb Ueda Sr. traveled to a remote Arctic military base. His mission? To drill through nearly a mile of ice, and extract the world’s first complete ice core.
To finish the job, he and his team would endure sub-zero weather, toxic chemicals, and life inside a military base… which was slowly being crushed by the glacier from which it was carved.
Producer Daniel Ackerman takes us inside Camp Century, and explains how a foundational moment in climate science is inextricably linked with the story of the United States military. Featuring Curt La Bombard, Julie Brigham-Grette, Herb Ueda Jr., Don Garfield, and Aleqa Hammond.
You may also enjoy listening to:
By Degrees: Covering Climate Change | New Hampshire Public Radio
From NHPR, By Degrees is a climate change reporting project that begins in this historic moment. Here, we tell stories of the challenges and solutions that these intersecting crises are bringing to light -- individual stories of resilience and struggle, innovation and compromise, and of big change by degrees.
Outside/In Cold t*ts, warm hearts: the cold water dippers of Maine — Outside/In
“I remember getting out of the water, laughing like I hadn't laughed in years.” If you like what you heard on the broadcast special, you might enjoy the lengthier version via the link above. You can also see/listen to all the latest Outside/In episodes here.
About NHPR’s Environment and Outdoors Coverage
NHPR is specially positioned to serve as a center of excellence in environmental journalism. Our vision is to make NHPR a national leader in news coverage and creative storytelling about the environment and the outdoors. We strive to produce accessible, nuanced journalism that empowers, engages and informs policy-makers and the public in New Hampshire, New England – and across the country.
