Media Appearances
Sometimes folks in the media seek me out as an expert on environmental history and popular culture. Below are some examples:
2026. Redrick Terry, “Study: QCA Homes in Top Ten for Oldest Median Age,” WHBF News/Our Quad Cities, May 7, 2026.
2026. Jennifer Wilson, “How Americans Caught Gold Fever Again,” The New Yorker, May 4, 2026.
2024. “Episode 163: Brian James Leech,” Buttecast, podcast by Bill Foley.
2021. Michael Schwartz, “Sinking Feeling? Dealing with Mine Subsidence,” Materials World, December 3, 2021.
2021. Christina MacGillvray, “Biden Gives Hope to Defenders of the Boundary Waters as Chilean Mining Giant Seeks Copper, Nickel,” Minnesota Reformer, March 16, 2021.
Presentations
I love talking history, especially about the history and portrayal of mining.
Presentations at conferences and gatherings include the following:
2023 (August) “Popular Coal-ture: the Portrayal of Coal Mining in North American Movies and TV,” Mining History Association, “MHA Nuggets.”
2022 (May) “Myth and History in Gold Rush’s Reality TV” Mining History Association, “MHA Nuggets.”
2020 “(Post)Colonial Adventures in Mining: The Portrayal of Mine Exploration in North American Reality Television” Extraction: Tracing the Veins, Virtual Conference Hosted by Massey University’s Political Ecology Research Centre (New Zealand) and the Wageningen University Centre for Space, Place and Society (The Netherlands). Virtual Conference.
2019 “The City That Ate Itself,” Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives Brown Bag Lunch.