Ken Ilgunas

The right to roam is something many American's may not be aware of, yet it is a calling that dwells within the human heart. It is an inheritance which has been stolen, but we can get it back. Listen to find out how. Portrait by Cadence Chinle Cook LINKS: Ken Ilgunas: https://www.kenilgunas.com This Land is Our Land, How We Lost the Right to Roam and How to Take it Back (Book): https://amzn.to/2KZshVt ***Wild Roots is not interested in advertising dollars and is supported by patrons. To donate to this podcast use this link: DONATE TO THIS PODCAST DID YOU KNOW? In a recent report released on public land access, results revealed that across 13 U.S. western states, over 9.52 million acres (an area larger than New Hampshire and Connecticut combined) is currently landlocked. With over 3 million acres in Wyoming, 2 million in Nevada and 1.5 million in Montana. If these are all of our lands, then why can't we access them?

This Land Is Our Land: How We Lost the Right to Roam and How to Take It Back author Ken Ilgunas in conversation with Bill McKibben. Event co-sponsored by The Vermont Book Shop and Middlebury Area Land Trust. Ilgunas, an award-winning author and journalist, has hitchhiked 10,000 miles across North America and walked 1,700 miles across the Great Plains, following the proposed route of the Keystone XL pipeline. He'll discuss with McKibben, whose book Wandering Home chronicles a walk from Addison County into the Adirondacks, his new book, a manifesto which radically reconsiders our current understanding of private property and boldly proposes opening up North America's beautiful, vast, and off-limits countryside.

Ken Ilgunas (author of TRESPASSING ACROSS AMERICA) discusses how confronting climate change isn't effective on an individual level—there must be an attitude shift within government and society. Read more about TRESPASSING ACROSS AMERICA: http://bit.ly/2sjvZyP About TRESPASSING ACROSS AMERICA It started as a far-fetched idea—to hike the entire length of the proposed route of the Keystone XL pipeline. But in the months that followed, it grew into something more for Ken Ilgunas. It became an irresistible adventure—an opportunity not only to draw attention to global warming but also to explore his personal limits. So in September 2012, he strapped on his backpack, stuck out his thumb on the interstate just north of Denver, and hitchhiked 1,500 miles to the Alberta tar sands. Once there, he turned around and began his 1,700-mile trek to the XL’s endpoint on the Gulf Coast of Texas, a journey he would complete entirely on foot, walking almost exclusively across private property. Both a travel memoir and a reflection on climate change, Trespassing Across America is filled with colorful characters, harrowing physical trials, and strange encounters with the weather, terrain, and animals of America’s plains. A tribute to the Great Plains and the people who live there, Ilgunas’s memoir grapples with difficult questions about our place in the world: What is our personal responsibility as stewards of the land? As members of a rapidly warming planet? As mere individuals up against something as powerful as the fossil fuel industry? Ultimately, Trespassing Across America is a call to embrace the belief that a life lived not half wild is a life only half lived.

After graduating with $32,000 in student loans, Ilgunas traveled cross-country to Alaska, where he worked as a tour guide, garage picker, and cook to pay off his debt. The "Walden on Wheels" author discusses his memoir, based on his own experience with debt and his trip, with the ""CBS This Morning" team. SUBSCRIBE to the CBS NEWS Channel here: http://bit.ly/WKcQhX

When Ken Ilgunas began following the Keystone XL controversy, he decided to strap on a pair of good boots and see it firsthand.

Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Summer 2013