Special Projects

Projects

Homelands Productions is a collective of freelance journalists. Sometimes we come together to conceive, raise funds for, and create ambitious multi-part projects. But one of the most important things we do is support one another – creatively, intellectually, emotionally – in our own independent endeavors.

In this section, you can find a selection of stand-alones, one-offs, books, and other work from members of the Homelands team.

Dates

2006-present
SORT: Newest Oldest Name A-Z Name Z-A
  • The Town that Would Transform the World

    The Town that Would Transform the World

    Homelands senior producer Jonathan Miller reports from Ithaca, New York, whose ambitious Green New Deal seeks to deliver drastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and major benefits for the community’s most vulnerable members. It’s a hometown story with implications for hometowns everywhere.

  • Is the coronavirus pandemic Mother Nature’s revenge?

    Is the coronavirus pandemic Mother Nature’s revenge?

    On the 50th Earth Day, it’s long past time to recognize that this overcrowded planet has run out of room to cut us any slack. By Alan Weisman Originally published in the Boston Globe Magazine, April …

  • Back to the Garden

    Back to the Garden

    Alan Weisman reconsiders the Genesis story in the light of what we now know came after it. His essay originally appeared in the 2018 book “Eden Turned on Its Side” by photographer Meridel Rubenstein.

  • Power to the People

    Power to the People

    As politicians argue about what to do about climate change, communities around the United States are taking matters into their own hands – pledging to reduce their carbon emissions, then hustling to make good on their promises. From Ithaca, NY, an hour-long special for State of the Re:Union.

  • Children of the Stone

    Children of the Stone

    Sandy Tolan’s book about freedom and conflict, determination and vision, and the potential of music to help children everywhere see new possibilities for their lives.

  • Countdown

    Countdown

    In this monumental piece of reporting, Alan Weisman travels to more than 20 countries, beginning in Israel and Palestine and ending in Iran, on an urgent search for ways to restore the balance between our species’ population and our planet’s capacity to sustain us.

  • The Square Deal

    The Square Deal

    An inside look at the legacy of George F. Johnson, an industrialist who offered his mainly immigrant workers decent working conditions and generous benefits in exchange for labor peace. Until it all fell apart under the pressure of competition.

  • The World Without Us

    The World Without Us

    How would the Earth respond if humans were suddenly to disappear? How quickly would our cities, our objects, our waste, and the myriad other changes we have wrought disappear – or would they disappear at all? Most urgently, asks this New York Times bestseller, what can we do to lessen the damage we’re inflicting on the only planet we have?

  • The Lemon Tree

    The Lemon Tree

    The tale of a simple act of faith between two young people – one Israeli, one Palestinian – that symbolizes the hope for peace in the Middle East. Winner of a Christopher Award, Booklist’s best adult non-fiction book of 2006, and finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

  • Mapping a Lost Territory

    Mapping a Lost Territory

    In the highland jungle of Peru, two men rush to preserve the geography, history, music, and myths of a now-scattered people using digital mapping technology and collective memory. The story served as a pilot for the “Worlds of Difference” series.

  • Picture Me Rolling

    Picture Me Rolling

    In his pursuit of the American dream, a young man finds himself at a crossroads.

  • Carolyn

    Carolyn

    A documentary about a woman who grew up hating blacks in a white Boston neighborhood, and how her attitudes have changed.

  • The Fire Within

    The Fire Within

    African-American men in an Illinois prison describe their conversion to Islam in this 1996 documentary.