Before humans ever arrive in North America, it's a continent of animals moving across the landscape. Over time, as they move across this landscape, they're creating paths. And they're sharing those paths with one another. So when the first humans arrive in North American, it's only natural that they will follow those paths as well. This very vast trail network starts to expand across the continent.
We have as many roads in the United States as we have streams and rivers.
Produced by Caroline Kanner and Jackson Roach, with original music by Jackson Roach. Edited by Liza Yeager and Mitchell Johnson.
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Bibliography (in order of appearance):
A Field Guide to Roadside Wildflowers at Full Speed - Chris Helzer
Car Country: An Environmental History - Christopher W. Wells
On Trails: An Exploration - Robert Moor
Snell-Rood Lab
Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet - Ben Goldfarb
A Short History of the Blockade: Giant Beavers, Diplomacy, and Regeneration in Nishnaabewin - Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
Who Belongs to the Land: An Essay on Camps, Blockades, and Indigenous Models of Remaking the World - Lou Cornum
Further reading available here.