#iamthewest: Giving voice to the people that make up communities in the region.
Youth
Posted inJanuary 11, 2024: The Creatures in Our Midst
A day inside a one-room school in Montana
An old model of schooling still has promise in modern education.
Posted inArticles
Washington works to reconcile its history of Indigenous boarding schools
An all-Indigenous committee will identify the state’s responsibility of rectifying harm caused to boarding school survivors and their descendants.
Posted inArticles
We need to reframe our thinking about what’s wild
Why we should take a look from wildlife’s perspectives.
Posted inArticles
The new film ‘Tatanka’ and the many narratives of the buffalo
Oglala Lakota Richard Two Bulls discusses his new project, which documents the restoration of the buffalo and the revival of a language.
Posted inArticles
Medicaid’s big paperwork problem
After a federal rule expired this spring, millions of people have been disenrolled from Medicaid. Many of them may still be eligible.
Posted inArticles
Western states saw increasing poverty and lower incomes in 2022
From Alaska to Wyoming, cash assistance can pull families out of income hardships.
Posted inOctober 2, 2023: The Dark Side of the Sheepherding Industry
Slowing down the pace of childhood
How can you teach kids to appreciate slowness in a speeded-up world?
Posted inArticles
How climate science won in the Montana youth climate case
The ruling in Held v. Montana is expected to bolster cases in other states with similar environmental protections in their constitutions.
Posted inJuly 1, 2023: Waiting for Water
Horse girls: The wild and fearless
An author reflects on an encounter in Wyoming’s Red Desert and motherhood.
Posted inArticles
In the nation’s first youth-led climate trial, a case for hope
Five days of expert testimony argued that Montana can transition away from fossil fuels and reap economic benefits in the process. Now it’s up to the judge.
Posted inArticles
Despite the law meant to keep Native American families together, they’re being broken apart
A mother used the Indian Child Welfare Act to win back her parental rights. Then they came for her second child.
Posted inArticles
Meet the youth attempting to hold Montana to account on climate
Loving the land, racing against time and paving the way for others inspired the plaintiffs to bring a case that went to trial this week.
Posted inJune 1, 2023: Seen and Unseen
How the tiny brine shrimp can help protect the Great Salt Lake
A conversation with the sixth-grade activists behind Utah’s new state crustacean.
Posted inArticles
How California’s emergency plans fail disabled communities
Kelley Coleman’s 9-year-old son had two days of his medication left. Then the evacuation order hit.
Posted inArticles
Utah dismisses youth climate case. But it’s not over.
What the state court’s decision signals for other similar cases.
Posted inNovember 1, 2022: The Futures of Conservation
Carving a future for the Tongass National Forest
In Southeast Alaska, youth help manage a forest and protect an ancient art.
Posted inArticles
(Not) one nation, under God
To truly become a more equal society, look to our youth, the ‘nones.’
Posted inJune 1, 2022: A Legacy of Weapons and War
Western courts grapple with climate change
Rocky Mountain teens sue over fossil fuel-friendly policies.
Posted inArticles
How the oil and gas industry is trying to hold New Mexico’s education system hostage
Fossil fuel interest groups are saying: let us keep drilling or the state’s education system will collapse.