PBS Series ‘America Outdoors’ Shows How Nature Connects People

“I consider myself a student of a lot of racial history in America, and I learned something making an outdoor show about race history in the country.”

These are the words of Baratunde Thurston, the best-selling writer, podcaster and comedian speaking about his gig hosting the PBS
PBS
series America Outdoors.

In the series, Thurston travels across the U.S. uncovering amazing stories about how individuals work, play and interact with the outdoors.

Thurston is on a mission to see how culture, history, and the land itself are shaping what people do when they step through their front doors to embrace an outdoor way of life.

During his journey, Thurston interacts with a champion climber in Utah, BIPOC mountain bikers in the Ozarks, biologists saving snapping turtles on the Suwanee River, and a scientist revealing what happens to the human body when we spend time in nature among others. All of these people have one thing in common: a passion for the great outdoors.

Along the way, Thurston visits Arkansas, Florida, Maine, New Mexico, Utah, and Oregon.

Growing up as a ‘city kid,’ Thurston admits that it was his mother who first introduced instilled him a love of nature. “My mom was a computer programmer, also the hippiest, crunchiest person you’d ever meet. She was into tofu before anybody, yoga before anybody, community gardens. She put me to work in the community garden. I helped feed the family. She was a Sierra Club member and we went on hikes and camping trips.”

On a serious note, Thurston recently realized that his mother had an ulterior motive in mind with these activities. “I know now with hindsight my mother was trying to keep me alive. Every moment I was in a park or in the woods or on a camping trip or on a boat, I wasn’t on the street. I wasn’t having the negative peer pressure of crack cocaine and all the stuff going on in the ’80s in [Washington,] DC, [where I grew up].”

He also believes that for his mother, “There was a spiritual element to it, where it was a peaceful place, a place to heal. My mom had a lot to heal from, and I recognized later that the land, and especially water, was a very healing thing for her.”

Given all of this, Thurston feels that in participating in America Outdoors, “this show has been a great chance to return to my childhood in many ways, but with a smidgen of wisdom.”

Ruminating about the places he’s recently visited, he says that the one place he’d like to return to is Arkansas, because, “What was interesting for me in terms of my personal journey, I’ve been around the world; I’ve been to almost every state in the Union, [but] until 2023, I had not been Arkansas. I’ve literally been to every state around Arkansas. Never even passed through, never had a layover at the airport. It was zero contact. And I went there, and I was astounded by the beauty. Just utterly hidden gems. Literally quartz mine gems. The rivers, the creeks, the limestone in the water, the Lower Ozarks, the Delta. It’s so beautiful.”

Speaking about the proliferation of electronic devices and the role they play in everyday life versus being out in nature, Thurston says, “There’s a different energy when you are physically in the world versus virtually in the world. There’s a different way to experience all the emotions when you’re doing it physically.”

He adds, “When you’re out on the range, when you’re on the lake, when you’re on the bay, when you’re on the bike path, you’re in it. Your attention is fully required and if you’re trying to Candy Crush while you’re doing those things, you’re not going to have as much fun.”

Summing it up, Thurston remarks, “[The show is] called America Outdoors. I say this all the time, I’ll say it again — this is a show about people and their connection to nature, and through that, to each other.”

The second season of ‘America Outdoors’ premieres Wednesday, September 6th at 8:00pm Eastern on PBS and the PBS app