Beginning in the pre-modern world, the Volga and Mississippi Rivers both served as critical trade routes connecting cultures in an extensive exchange network, while also sustaining populations through their surrounding wetlands and bottomlands. In modern times, “Mother Volga” and the “Father of Waters” became integral parts of national identity, contributing to a sense of Russian and American exceptionalism. Rivers, Memory, and Nation-Building discusses their histories, through which we derive a more nuanced view of human interaction with the environment, which adds another lens to our understanding of the past.

A small town in northwestern Montana is beset by the worst case of community-wide exposure to a toxic substance in US history.

Donatella de Rita, Carson Fellow from April 2012 until June 2012, speaks about her research project on urban development and the associated hazard in volcanic areas, as well as on geoarcheology.

This film explores the issues facing the Colorado River Basin due to increased pressure from population growth, and the effect on an already decreasing water supply.