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We talk with Kaleb Lay from Oregon Rural Action about how people living in a rural Oregon “sacrifice zone” end up with poisoned well water, and a widening wealth gap. We explore environmentalist claims that industrial farming, combined with a rapid build-out of Amazon data centers is compounding deadly nitrate contamination while communities fight for testing, transparency, and accountability. 

• what Oregon Rural Action does across immigration justice and pollution work in Northeast Oregon 
• why the Lower Umatilla Basin is described as a sacrifice zone 
• how industrial scale agriculture drives nitrate groundwater contamination 
• what nitrate does in the body, from blue baby syndrome to links with cancers and thyroid dysfunction 
• how door to door well testing exposed widespread unsafe drinking water after decades of state inaction 
• what retaliation can look like when organizers challenge powerful industries 
• what Amazon says about liability and what a $20.5M settlement does and does not change 
• why exascale projects raise alarms on water use, electricity demand, and rate impacts 
• how transparency gaps and inflated job numbers shape local decision making 
• why PFAS testing and disclosure matter for data center waste streams 
Kaleb Lay is a fifth-generation eastern Oregonian and former journalist who now serves as Director of Policy & Research with Oregon Rural Action, a nonprofit organization that works with frontline communities in rural northeast Oregon. He is a leading expert in pollution issues in Oregon’s Lower Umatilla Basin, which is both one of the most polluted places in the Pacific Northwest and one of the fastest-growing data center hubs in the United States. He’s also an avid outdoorsman, and gardener

If you're enjoying this episode of Breaking Green, please subscribe or follow wherever you get your podcasts. Consider leaving a review and sharing it with friends and colleagues. You can find the full catalog of previous episodes and sign up to have future episodes delivered straight to your inbox at breakinggreen.org. 
To learn more about Global Justice Ecology Project, visit GlobalJusticeEcology.org. Breaking Green is made possible by tax-deductible donations by people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forest, defend human rights, and expose all solutions. Simply text GIVE to 716 257 4187. That's 1 716 257 4187. 

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Some US service members say they were told a war with Iran wouldn’t just be strategic—it would be biblical.
According to complaints gathered by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, certain US commanders allegedly framed the conflict as part of God’s plan: a step toward Armageddon and the return of Jesus.
If true, that raises urgent questions about how religious ideology may be shaping military culture—and potentially influencing decisions with global consequences.
In this episode of Breaking Green, we speak with journalist Jonathan Larsen about what troops are reporting, why the Pentagon’s silence matters, and what this reveals about the growing influence of religious nationalism in US policy.
On this episode:
Why the Pentagon didn’t deny this
What the Armageddon messaging looked like in a combat preparation context
How religious framing of war can amplify danger and widen perceived enemies
How end-times beliefs can influence real-world military and foreign policy decisions
Why corporate media rarely investigates religion’s influence on geopolitics
Who The Family is, how the National Prayer Breakfast fits in, and what “ministering to power” means
Why we should avoid conspiratorial thinking and focus on systems and incentives 
Jonathan Larsen is a veteran reporter and former executive producer at MSNBC, where he worked on shows including Up with Chris Hayes and Countdown with Keith Olbermann. He has also reported for United Press International and Al Jazeera America.
Find more on Jonathan Larsen at: JonathanLarsen.substack.com
thefuckingnews.substack.com
If you’re enjoying this episode of Breaking Green, please subscribe or follow wherever you get your podcasts. The interviews heard here are often ignored by mainstream media, and without your support, these stories would not be covered. Consider leaving a review and sharing it with friends and colleagues. You can find the full catalog of previous episodes and sign up to have future episodes delivered straight to your inbox at breakinggreen.org. 
Or find us on Substack at https://gjep.substack.com
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We trace how the Great Plains still lives with Dust Bowl forces as Dr. Joshua Anderson links soil loss, monoculture, and rural decline to a culture that no longer asks if we are growing food. Caregiving for his father with MS shapes a vision to “restory” land and rebuild soil health through minimal disturbance, living roots, diversity, and cover.
Joshua T. Anderson is a writer and soil conservationist from rural North Dakota committed to flyways, foodways, and folkways. His featured article on the intersection of soil health and human health appears in the fall issue ofEarth Island Journal, and his creative nonfiction essay on the dominance of the sugar industry in North Dakota’s Red River Valley appears in Open Space(the online journal of North American Review). His recent publications on regenerative agriculture and grassland conservation appear inMary Swander's Emerging Voices,Iowa Capital Dispatch, andNorth Dakota Monitor. He was recently an artist-in-residence at the Pine Meadow Ranch Center for Arts and Agriculture in Sisters, Oregon. His soil and water conservation efforts have been featured in newspapers throughout the Great Plains, including feature interviews about his podcast, prairie conservation through arts and education, and his work to protect his home watershed. He is the co-founder of the Flyway Institute, which brings artists to rural communities in support of conservation efforts throughout the North American flyways. His first narrative nonfiction book Soil Horizons will be published by Plainspoken Books. 
In this episode:
• topsoil loss in North Dakota since the 1960s
• monoculture sugar and fuel displacing real food
• food deserts amid vast agricultural acres
• soil health principles and prairie ecology
• costs of inputs rising as organic matter falls
• cultural change and land consolidation pressures
• small diversified farms feeding communities
• language links: humus, humility, human
• excerpt reading from Rooted In Care
• forthcoming book Soil Horizons and its themes

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We talk with Oglala Lakota poet and organizer Mark K. Tilson about the ICE surge in Minneapolis, the killing of Renee Good, and how neighbors are building a decentralized resistance. The conversation traces lawless tactics, historical patterns, and the courage that grows when people act together.

• collapse of civic life in Minneapolis under raids and fear 
• judicial warrants versus administrative actions 
• masked agents, unmarked vehicles, and disinformation 
• legal observers, community recording, and evidence 
• targeting at churches, schools, and traffic stops 
• Indigenous detentions and the Whipple Building’s history 
• AIM patrol legacy and modern rapid response 
• AI surveillance, stingrays, and counter-tactics 
• decentralized movement led by everyday neighbors 
• fear transforming into large-scale public courage 
• poem “Around the Neighborhood” honoring Renee Good
This episode of Breaking Green is dedicated to Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse at the VA hospital in Minneapolis who was shot and killed by ICE on 24 January 2026

To learn more about Global Justice Ecology Project, visit GlobalJusticeEcology.org 

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A celebrated naturalist’s Maine hillside holds thousands of wild American chestnuts thriving across three generations, challenging the claim that the species cannot return without genetic engineering. We explore the history of blight, restoration strategies, climate shifts, and why evidence from the field matters.

• origins of the blight and early containment attempts
• limits of Chinese hybrid chestnuts in forest settings
• selective breeding for American traits with blight tolerance
• push for GE chestnuts and its one-gene promise
• documented natural resurgence on Bernd Heinrich’s land
• seed dispersal by birds and squirrels across miles
• published mapping, burr counts, and multi‑generation stands
• climate change moving the chestnut range north
• reports of wild chestnuts in gap openings across the Northeast
• missteps and credibility issues in GE field trials
• how to see the documentary and share chestnut sightings

Premieres December 4 at thewildamericanchestnut.org. “People can go there, sign up for the movie, and share your chestnut story.”
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