Earth Focus Presents: The New West and the Politics of the Environment (2020)

In this special 90-minute documentary from EARTH FOCUS, the story of the new American West is told through the eyes of legendary Nevada Senator Harry Reid, as he forged allegiances between unlikely allies and crafted policy to grow the economy of his home state while protecting its wilderness and in the process, redefined the future of the West. As a Congressman and Senator, Reid created Nevada's first national park and protected more than 4 million acres of wilderness. He brokered historic pacts to end water wars on the Truckee and Carson Rivers that reframed water in the West, as well as set in place new agreements at Lake Tahoe and other signal public lands and water deals. He also sparked a renewable energy revolution in the Southwest. He accomplished all of this while often getting re-elected by slim margins. Reid has been the architect of a Western strategy built on a pragmatic approach to environmental politics that was about getting things done across the aisle. While focusing on his passionate connection to the environment in a state not known as a bastion of green thinking, let alone politics, the documentary explores the political savvy and strategy that enabled Reid's extraordinary accomplishments, and points the way forward for a pragmatic environmental politics in the American West.