Ep. 24: Getting Over the Color Green and Learning to Love Badlands

About this episode

The episode explores the transformation of badlands from dismissed landscapes to celebrated national parks and artistic inspirations.

In the 20th century peculiar landforms dismissed earlier in western history with the denigrating term “badlands” became compelling locations for scientists and artists in the West. First passed over as economically worthless, these barren, colorful landscapes were translated by painters like Georgia O’Keeffe into iconic imagery. Now many are national parks and wilderness areas. Thank you to our sponsor Velvet Buck . Subscribe now wherever you listen to podcasts. YouTube , Spotify , Apple , iHeart , Pandora , Amazon . MeatEater on Instagram , Facebook , Twitter , Youtube , and Youtube Clips Check out more MeatEater's American History audio originals " The Long Hunters " and " Mountain Men " Subscribe to The MeatEater Podcast Network on YouTube Shop  MeatEater Merch See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People in this episode

Host: MeatEater

Topics covered

• badlands
• landforms
• art
• national parks
• western history
• economics
• landscape

Keywords

• badlands
• Georgia O’Keeffe
• western history
• national parks
• landforms
• art
• economics

Sponsors

Velvet Buck

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The Long Hunters, Mountain Men

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• Ep. 36: Down the West’s Grandest Canyon · July 7, 2026 · 57 min
• Ep. 35: How the Endangered Species Act Saved the West and America · June 30, 2026 · 56 min
• Ep. 34: Big Bend and the Deserts of the West · June 23, 2026 · 55 min