Listening Recommendations

We've been making Outside/In for years now, which means a lot of episodes! So, to get you started, we've put together a list of our favorites, plus a few ideas organized by topic, mood, and occasion (road trip, anyone?).

Please let us know what your own favorite episodes are! Our email is outsidein@nhpr.org. We love hearing from you, and we always respond.

Happy listening! Thanks for being here.
- Outside/In team

Our favorites

A shortlist

Browse By Topic

Species + ecosystems
Climate change and solutions
Outdoor adventure
In search of sustainable choices
Race, gender, and nature
Books, movies, TV, and pop culture
Farms and gardens

Browse by Length or Mood

Road trip listens
Episodes In Which We Mostly Goof Off
Very short episodes
Kid-friendly

Our favorites

The call of the void
Nate Hegyi
During a hike along the edge of a cliff in Utah's Zion National Park, our host Nate Hegyi heard a little voice inside his head, whispering... "jump!" Later, he learned that this little voice has a name. It’s ominously known as “the call of the void.”

After the Avalanche
Jessica Hunt
On a bluebird day, a snow ranger set out to investigate a reported avalanche in the backcountry of Mt. Washington. He found a lone skier buried under the snow, severely hypothermic but alive. What happened next during his attempted rescue is something that emergency responders in northern New England are still learning from.

Now I am an Axolotl
Justine Paradis
The Mexican salamander lives in only one place in the wild: Lake Xochimilco in Mexico City. Its survival in the 21st century could rely on the last surviving fragments of a landscape both very old and very human. 

Powerline
Sam Evans-Brown and Hannah McCarthy
Our Overseas Press Club award-winning series on indigenous land rights and hydropower in Quebec. For some, hydropower is the key to a greener, more prosperous, future, but that “clean energy” comes freighted with a complicated history and an uncertain future.

The Underdogs
Nate Hegyi
A three-part series about the guarded world of dog sledding. Nate investigates a story one musher describes as “one dead body away from Tiger King,” and exposes the singular culture within the world of elite mushing.

Ginkgo Love
Felix Poon
The story of a mistake, and one person’s relationship with the ginkgo tree.

Yardwork: Lawn + Order
Nate Hegyi
Americans love a lawn. But green grass can come at a cost – especially in the desert.

The so-called mystery of Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
Felix Poon
What happens when your community becomes the subject of a global mystery? Our Edward R. Murrow award-winning story on famous monolithic statues of Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island. 

The Meat Matrix
Taylor Quimby
One listener has probably gotten in touch with reporters at New Hampshire Public Radio more than any other: Laura, a vegan advocate. Most reporters ignore her. But when one person decided to call her back, something interesting happened. He realized that he actually agreed with her.

The olive and the pine
Justine Paradis
Planting a tree often becomes almost a shorthand for doing a good deed. But such an act is not always neutral – especially in a place as contested as Israel/Palestine. 

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By Topic

Species + ecosystems

O Possum! My Possum!
Jessica Hunt
The opossum is the only marsupial in North America, and they’ve been snuffling around since before the dinosaurs died. It faints at the slightest threat, yet it’s immune to snake venom. Also, it has at least two vaginas.

10x10: Kettle bog
Sam Evans-Brown
We call them by a multitude of names: mires, muskegs, moorlands, bogs… this deep-time journey contains smokey hints of pepper, seaweed, and for peat’s sake, a lot of fossil fuels.

Tempest in a teacup
Sam Evans-Brown
The myth, the legend, and the mystery of the passenger pigeon.

The curious case of the missing extinctions
Taylor Quimby
Since the passage of the Endangered Species Act, only a few dozen species have been officially declared extinct by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.  But, wait… aren’t we in the middle of the sixth mass extinction? Shouldn’t the list of extinct species be… longer? 

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Outdoor Adventure

Even Hikers Get the Blues
Taylor Quimby
Why do so many people report feeling depressed after hiking the Appalachian Trail?

Stay in Your Lane
Sam Evans-Brown
Why are safe bicycle lanes so rare in the United States? A big reason: well, there’s this one guy.

Ride or Die
Jimmy Gutierrez
Storm chasing is a pursuit we love to hate, but it’s also clear that we can’t look away.

Gnar Pow
Sam Evans-Brown
Is skiing a sport reserved for rich people?

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Climate change and solutions

The Race to Net Zero: building a car-free future
Felix Poon
A two-part series on electric cars. When it comes to decarbonizing transportation, will EVs get us there fast enough?

ls climate journalism experiencing its own Great Resignation?
Justine Paradis
Are the people who cover the climate crisis leaving journalism to try to help solve it?

Massachusetts vs. EPA
Sam Evans-Brown
Our Edward R. Murrow award-winning story of one of the most important environmental lawsuits in U.S. history.

Climate Migration
Justine Paradis
Our listeners wrestle with decisions on where to live, in light of climate change.

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In search of sustainable choices

Dinner reservations
Nate Hegyi
We explore how to eat sustainably… and if your choices at the dinner table even matter.

The carbon in your closet
Felix Poon
Cotton, polyester, and other fabricated dilemmas.

How to Build a Solar-Powered Website 
Justine Paradis
Should everything on the internet be accessible, all the time? Could progress mean choosing to live with less?

Do your doo diligence
Jessica Hunt
Should you leave your dog’s poop in the woods, or put it in a plastic bag and entomb it forever in a landfill?

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Race, gender, and nature 

Ginkgo Love
Felix Poon
The story of a mistake, and one person’s relationship with the ginkgo tree.

The ocean is a place of queer possibility
Justine Paradis
A conversation with science writer Sabrina Imbler about what we might be able to learn by looking closely at the lives—perhaps very different, very strange-to-us lives—of creatures in the sea.

Swimming Lessons
Justine Paradis and Daniela Allee
A look at the racialized history of swimming, and one person’s journey to learn to swim as an adult.

Shrunk and Punk’d 
Sam Evans-Brown and Kathy Tu
Hot tip: don’t just dye your gear pink and call it gender-inclusive.

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Books, movies, TV, and pop culture

Oppenheimer’s omission
Nate Hegyi
With 'Oppenheimer', director Christopher Nolan has turned the Manhattan Project into a summer blockbuster. The 2023 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.

The reality of History’s ‘Alone’
Taylor Quimby and Nate Hegyi
Two critics explore the subtext of History’s Alone, and the messages it might be sending about class, gender, entertainment, and human relationships with the natural world.

Open Worlds
Justine Paradis
The world of Skyrim is vast and intricate. Its virtual landscape is a big reason why the top-selling video game is so renowned. But if you spend enough time in a fantasy, it might change how you relate to the real world.

Six Foot Turkey: What Jurassic Park Got Wrong (and Right) About Dinosaurs
Taylor Quimby and Nate Hegyi
Do blockbuster movies have an obligation to accurately represent science?

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Food, farms, and gardens

The Acorn: An Ohlone Love Story
Michelle Macklem, Zoe Tennant, Louis Trevino, and Vincent Medina
A documentary about Ohlone food, language, land and history, with the acorn at its heart. 

The “Do-Nothing” Farmer
Hannah Kirshner and Justine Paradis
A two-part series on the life and legacy of a Japanese farming revolutionary, Masanobu Fukuoka.

The Immigrant Apple and the Hard Cider Comeback
Felix Poon
The immigration story of the domesticated apple, from its roots in the wild forests of Central Asia to its status as an American icon. 

What’s really in your wine?
Justine Paradis
These days, a lot of wine is a product of an industrialized agricultural system, and just as processed as the bulk of products in the grocery store.

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Browse by length and mood

Road trip listens

Every Outside/In multi-part series, all in one place.

The Underdogs
Nate Hegyi
A three-part series about the guarded world of dog sledding. Nate investigates a story one musher describes as “one dead body away from Tiger King,” and exposes the singular culture within the world of elite mushing.

Powerline
Sam Evans-Brown and Hannah McCarthy
Our Overseas Press Club award-winning series on indigenous land rights and hydropower in Quebec. For some, hydropower is the key to a greener, more prosperous, future, but that “clean energy” comes freighted with a complicated history and an uncertain future.

When protest is a crime
Justine Paradis
A two-part series exploring the changing landscape of environmental protest in the United States, from Standing Rock to Cop City and beyond.

The Race to Net Zero: building a car-free future
Felix Poon
A two-part series on electric cars. When it comes to decarbonizing transportation, will EVs get us there fast enough?

The “Do-Nothing” Farmer
Hannah Kirshner and Justine Paradis
A two-part series on the life and legacy of a Japanese farming revolutionary, Masanobu Fukuoka.

Yardwork series
Nate Hegyi, Justine Paradis, and Felix Poon
Three episodes about our relationships with the land around us: the front lawn, the backyard vegetable patch, and a community garden.

Windfall
Sam Evans-Brown and Annie Ropeik
Five episodes on the birth of the American offshore wind industry – and why it’s taken so long to get there.

Patient Zero
Taylor Quimby
Our spin-off series about Lyme disease. 

So Over Population
Sam Evans-Brown
A two-part series on why most environmentalists don’t talk about overpopulation anymore.

The Great Himalayan National Park
Yardain Amron
Two episodes on what happened when the Indian government created the Great Himalayan National Park, and how, since then, ‘ecotourism’ has changed the surrounding valley.

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Episodes in Which We Mostly Goof Off

Falling Doesn’t Count
The whole team
A fantastically silly exercise in which the team attempts to determine how fast a human could have conceivably “gone” before industrialized transportation, and how they did it. We present our theories and discuss (at length) the speeds of whaleboats, sleds, swings, horses, and more. 

This isn’t Science. It’s Love.
The whole team
The team engages in another ridiculous competition, each making their case for “Best Animal” to have ever lived on earth. 

Fruit Fight!!!
The whole team
Yet another absurd contest, this time to determine the Greatest Fruit of All Time (GFOAT).

Our annual winter ‘surthrival’ episodes
The whole team
Every winter, we celebrate the new year by sharing our top tips to survive and thrive in the cold + dark. 2020 (on the Norwegian concept of ‘friluftsliv’), 2021 (pack a puzzle), 2022 (darkness survival kit).

Must Love Logs
Justine Paradis and Taylor Quimby
The highs and lows of dating while outdoorsy.

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Very Short Episodes

Cat of the Clouds
Taylor Quimby
Celebrating the life of Marty, Maine coon cat, twelve-year resident of the Mount Washington Observatory, and the highest-altitude feline in the northeastern United states.

Cold tits, warm hearts
Justine Paradis
A winter’s journey into the icy ocean with the cold water dippers of Maine. This piece was selected as a finalist for Third Coast’s Best Documentary: Short.

The Moose Whisperer
Megan Tan
Or, why moose hunting is like watching a soap opera.

It was the Ladies Who Hugged the Trees
Felix Poon
The life and legacy of Sunderlal Bahuguna, renowned leader of the Chipko environment movement, and the tree huggers that saved India’s forests.

The Sand Protocol
Justine Paradis
Sand beaches are a very romantic idea, an idea that can have an impact on fields of science, like plastic pollution research.

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Kid-Friendly

While most episodes of Outside/In are kid-friendly, here are a few we particularly recommend for children from the ages of 8-12.

Why we get scared (and why we like it)
Jack Rodolico
Jack knows exactly what scares him. Sharks. But here’s what he doesn’t get: if he’s so freaked out, why can’t he stop incessantly watching online videos of bloody shark attacks? Why would he deliberately seek out the very thing that spooks him? This episode includes discussion of the dangers posed by racism in the outdoors, though not in a graphic way.

Holy Scat! Why antlers are freaking amazing
Jessica Hunt
Antler tissue is the fastest growing animal tissue on the planet: faster than a human embryo, faster even than a cluster of cancer cells. In this episode, we’ll learn about how antlers grow so fast, meet a collector who covers hundreds of miles searching for them, and share a whole herd of awesome deer factoids, including an insight into Santa’s herd of reindeer.

Look Toward the Dawn
Sam Evans Brown and Logan Shannon
The story of Polynesian navigation and the Hōkūleʻa, and how explorers in the South Pacific used the stars, wind, and waves to create a system of navigation that allowed them to explore hundreds of thousands of miles of open ocean. The episode is an awesome story of human ingenuity, and raises questions about how we come to know where we are in the world.

The Young Man of the Mountain
Sam Evans-Brown
Tyler Armstrong wants to climb Mt. Everest. He’s 12-years old. Is that too young? Who gets to decide?

Now I am an Axolotl
Justine Paradis 
The Mexican salamander lives in only one place in the wild: Lake Xochimilco, in Mexico City. Its survival in the 21st century could rely on the last surviving fragments of a landscape both very old and very human. 

The Most Dangerous Game
Taylor Quimby
The myth – and the real story – behind the invention of the game of paintball.

10x10 - Vernal Pool
The 10x10 series takes deep dives into specific, special ecosystems, and are a great tool to complement investigations in nature. In this episode we learn about frogs, salamanders, mysterious fairy shrimp, and first signs of spring.

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