#EnvHist Worth Reading: April 2026

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Every month I carefully track the most popular and significant environmental history articles, videos, audio, and other items making their way through the online environmental history (#envhist) community. You can read all of our past #EnvHist Worth Reading lists right here. Here are my choices for items most worth reading from April 2026.

1) Light Between Apple Trees: Rediscovering the Wild Through a Beloved American Fruit

In this episode from The New Books Network, Christina Gessler speaks with Priyanka Kumar about her book The Light Between Apple Trees: Rediscovering the Wild Through a Beloved American Fruit. They discuss Kumar’s personal journey, the history of apples, and the ecological importance of preserving nature in our immediate surroundings. I appreciated Kumar’s concept of the “micro-wild,” which was a new twist on some familiar topics in environmental history/studies and also prompted me to think anew about Carmen Gilmore’s empty city lots. Kumar’s reflections on “feral” apple orchards was also thought-provoking; Kumar suggest that engaging with these feral landscapes can make history feel tangible and present.

2) Chernobyl’s exclusion zone is a beacon of biodiversity – but it faces new threats from Russia’s invasion

One of the primary anniversary’s to get attention in environmental circles in April was the fortieth anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear explosion. In this article for The Conversation, Germán Orizaola writes about how the exclusion zone has become a vast nature reserve with thriving biodiversity. Wolves, bears, lynx, and over 200 bird species now inhabit the area, and Przewalski’s horses have rebounded significantly. Forests have expanded as farmland disappeared, reshaping ecosystems. Studies show, Orizaola demonstrates, that many species, including frogs, remain healthy, with some exhibiting adaptive traits like darker pigmentation. However, Orizaola notes that Russia’s 2022 invasion has disrupted research, damaged infrastructure, and harmed wildlife through fires, landmines, and restricted movement. If you’re interested in Chernobyl, I suggest spending some time exploring the Nuclear Natures project.

3) Trans Joy and Indigenous Resistance on the River: A Conversation with Cleo Wölfle Hazard

In this Edge Effects conversation about river justice, M Hamilton Wilson and Ellie Kinkaid speak with Cleo Wölfle Hazard who frames rivers as living beings with inherent rights beyond Western legal systems. His book Underflows: Queer Trans Ecologies and River Justice links ecological restoration with queer and trans experiences, emphasizing relational, not controlling, approaches to waterways. He highlights collaboration with Indigenous nations, removal of dams, and habitat restoration as key practices. Wölfle Hazard also reflects on challenges faced by queer and trans people in fieldwork, while describing rivers as spaces of refuge and belonging. Amid political and environmental upheaval, he advocates solidarity, Indigenous sovereignty, and collective care to build just ecological futures. If you’re interested in more queer ecological joy, our Succession IV: Queering the Environment series on just that will be running throughout June!

4) Rachel Carson and a Spring Without Nature: Science, Love, and Politics

This Episode of Dig: A History Podcast explores Rachel Carson’s life and the public reaction to Silent Spring. Hosts, Marissa C. Rhodes and Elizabeth Garner Masarik, trace her early influences, scientific career, and growing concern about pesticides like DDT. The book exposed environmental and health harms, sparking widespread debate, industry backlash, and gendered criticism. Carson challenged dominant views of science as control over nature, emphasizing ecological interconnection. Her work helped inspire environmental policy changes, including investigations into pesticides, and contributed to feminist environmental health movements advocating precaution and accountability. Despite dying in 1964, Carson’s legacy reshaped environmentalism, linking human health, ecosystems, and public responsibility in enduring and transformative ways. I really particularly appreciated learning about Carson’s queerness, a topic that I had not yet encountered.

5) Empire’s Resources Understanding Imperial Economics

This episode of The Red Nation features a conversation between host Nick Estes of The Red Nation podcast and guests Jeannette Graulau and Aby Sène, members of the Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective (AISC). This rich discussion centers on the economic foundations of modern imperialism, specifically how global capital relies on resource extraction, finance, and militarization. Graulau argues that the United States did not build its empire through internal geological abundance alone, but through a long history of aggressive expansion, resource grabbing, and the creation of monopoly capital that is inextricably linked to warfare. Sène highlights how conservation initiatives in Africa are often used as a pretext for land and water grabs. By removing territory from local production, these conservation models (often backed by international agencies and hedge funds) serve global capitalist interests rather than ecological or local needs.

Feature Image: “Chernobyl + Prypiat” by Stijn D’haese is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
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Jessica DeWitt

NiCHE Editor-in-Chief, Social Media Editor at Jessica M. DeWitt: Editing and Consulting
is an environmental historian of Canada and the United States, editor, project manager, consultant, and digital communications strategist. She earned her PhD in History from the University of Saskatchewan in 2019. She is an executive member, editor-in-chief, and social media editor for the Network in Canadian History and Environment (NiCHE). She is the Managing Editor for the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines and Associate Editor for Environmental Humanities. Closer to home, she is the President of the Saskatchewan History and Folklore Society, a Coordinating Team member of Showing Up for Racial Justice Saskatoon-Treaty Six, and a Conservation Advisory Committee member for the Meewasin Valley Authority. She focuses on developing digital techniques and communications that bridge the divide between academia and the general public in order to democratize knowledge access. You can find out more about her and her freelance services at jessicamdewitt.com.

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