The Evolution of Speed

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The interstate highways come online in the 1960s. There's this huge spike in deer collisions. All of these deer are getting hit. And after a couple of years, the collisions basically stop happening on the interstate. The deer populations are growing, if anything, but people are no longer hitting them. That's speed, fundamentally screwing up millions of years of evolution.

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. Subscribe to The Dig Presents, and support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig. 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.