The Best of Belt Magazine 2019
Announcing a new anthology of regional writing, available exclusively to Belt members.
Can Elk Heal Coal Country?
West Virginians hope elk restoration can help post-mining ecology and local economies recover.
The Enduring Legacy of the 2010 Kalamazoo River Oil Spill
Nearly a decade after one of the largest inland oil spills in U.S. history, the landscape has changed.
Tying the Green New Deal to Environmental Justice in Chicago
The youth-led national Sunrise Movement made a case to local organizers.
A Complicated Heritage of Coal
In southern Illinois, one community’s complex relationship with the industry on display.
Oral Histories of the 1969 Cuyahoga River Fire
The events of June 1969 have come to define both Cleveland and the river. Some Clevelanders have a different story.
The Disappearance of the Ruffed Grouse
The bird’s population is declining in states across the region. Forest management practices are mostly to blame.
What Indiana Dunes National Park and the Border Wall Have in Common
Among other things, they offer the opportunity to envision a healthy future for everyone.
Is Michigan’s UP Winter Culture Melting?
In the Upper Peninsula, climate change is threatening the UP200, an Iditarod qualifier race.
When Did the Milwaukee River Become ‘Unswimmable’?
An excerpt from The Milwaukee Anthology.
Northwest Indiana’s Slow Burn
Water, oil, and industrial volcanoes in Indiana's Calumet region, along the shore of Lake Michigan.
A Short History of Cleveland’s Flats
The Flats is now touted as an entertainment district, but this development comes at the cost of forgetting Cleveland’s industrial past along the banks of the Cuyahoga.