Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire
Podcast: Sanity CheckPublished On: Fri Dec 19 2025
Description: What wiped out the great American Chestnut Tree—human industry or nature itself? The answer might surprise you.In this episode, Dr. E. Calvin Beisner revisits one of North America’s greatest ecological losses to reveal how the near-extinction of the American Chestnut wasn’t caused by human greed or deforestation, but by a natural fungal blight. He explores how this “Redwood of the East” once shaped American life, and how its disappearance challenges the common environmentalist claim that humanity is always to blame for nature’s tragedies.Visit our podcast resource page: https://cornwallalliance.org/listen%20to%20our%20podcast%20created%20to%20reign/Our work is entirely supported by donations from people like you. If you benefit from our work and would like to partner with us, please visit www.cornwallalliance.org/donate.
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