What you'll learn

• 1 Novelist Claire Vaye Watkins on the beauty & brutality of the desert
• 2 (00:24) **The Desert as Setting and Character** - Watkins describes living in the Mojave Desert near Death Valley, which is also the setting of her new novel *Yellow Pine*
• 3 (03:09) **Defining the Mojave Desert's Ecosystem** - Watkins describes her hometown of Tecopa, a 100-person town between Las Vegas and Death Valley
• 4 (04:40) **The Green Energy Gold Rush: Causes and Mechanisms** - The vast majority of land in this region is public land administered by the federal government, now targeted for solar, geothermal, and mining development
• 5 (06:41) **The Question of Protest: What's the Point?** - The novel's small group of protesters know they won't win, but Watkins argues there's still value in witnessing and taking moral action
• 6 (08:17) **Growing Up in a Sacrifice Zone** - Watkins was "painfully aware" of Yucca Mountain nuclear repository and atomic testing from childhood
• 7 (11:34) **Environmental Injustice and Sacrifice Zones** - A key concept: environmental injustice means "you get less life" — some people are considered expendable

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app