Last Born In The Wilderness

In this episode, I speak with social critic, activist, writer, and textile artist Alley Valkyrie, co-founder of Gods & Radicals and author of ‘Of Monsters and Miso,’ “a bilingual book of delicious miso sauce recipes.” Waves of protests have swept nations around the globe, with robust examples mass resistance in such places as Hong Kong (http://bit.ly/2Q2LtF8), Chile, and France, just to name a few. (http://bit.ly/2SFi8lX) Organized resistance against the neoliberal economic polices imposed by governments globally, and the authoritarian responses from these states towards their respective populations, has not only demonstrated the spirit of the times we are in, but just as importantly, what the nature of resistance looks like in our time of compounding crises. Among these numerous examples of civil unrest, there is one glaring exception: the United States. As Alley explains in this episode, there are numerous historical, cultural, and sociological reasons as to why US citizens continue to believe that the ele

[Intro: 12:11 | Outro: 1:00:08] In this episode, I speak with Oliver Belcher, Assistant Professor in Human Geography at Durham University and co-author of ‘Hidden carbon costs of the “everywhere war”: Logistics, geopolitical ecology, and the carbon boot‐print of the US military’ with Patrick Bigger, Ben Neimark, Cara Kennelly. A summary of their research was published at The Conversation ‘US military is a bigger polluter than as many as 140 countries – shrinking this war machine is a must.’ This discussion is about the often obscured impacts the United States’ global military presence has on the planetary climate system at large. Oliver and his colleagues’ research points to the fact “[g]reenhouse gas emission accounting usually focuses on how much energy and fuel civilians use. But recent work, including our own, shows that the US military is one of the largest polluters in history, consuming more liquid fuels and emitting more climate-changing gases than most medium-sized countries. If the US military wer

[Intro: 7:21] In this episode, I speak with Hong Kong citizen, bilingual stand-up comedian, and activist Vivek Mahbubani. Vivek provides a much needed ground-level view of the historic and ongoing uprising in Hong Kong these past six months. We begin with Vivek providing some details of his background as an ethnically-Indian person born and raised in Hong Kong, with all the challenges that come with being treated as an outsider in this complex society. Vivek then moves on to provide some much needed context on the months-long protests in Hong Kong, dubbed the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill (Anti-ELAB) movement. This explanation includes how it started, what his participation in the protests has been from its beginning, the historic scale of the demonstrations, and the overall character and spirit of the resistance Hongkongers are actively engaging in against their government (both locally and from mainland China). Vivek does a spectacular job sussing out the nuances of this movement, as Western media t

[Intro: 9:08] In this episode, I speak with political theorist, writer, and editor at Gods & Radicals Mirna Wabi-Sabi. Mirna and I begin this discussion by laying out the nature of our upcoming collaborative work together, as I’ll be traveling to southern Brazil for two months, beginning December 8th. In explaining how our work overlaps in crucial ways, we remark on the absurdity of contemporary politics in both in Brazil and the United States, and how the often narrow focus of climate justice activism in the Global North often limits our approach to addressing the roots of the ecological crisis more specifically, and the legacy of colonialism more generally. From there, we moving into an examination of the themes presented in Mirna’s article ‘The History of Displacement of Non-White Women in Villa Mimosa: Mapping the roots of Brazil’s most notorious red light district from the Byzantine Empire and WW1,’ which addresses the long and complex history of slavery and sex work in Europe and how this is tied to

Elliot Robinson, a listener of the podcast that works in land restoration in New Orleans, dropped me a line regarding to my episode with social anthropologist Dr. Khalil Avi, featured in episode #220 (http://bit.ly/LBWavi). He posed a great question regarding how to deal with a particular "invasive species" in his work, the Chinese Tallow Tree. I sent the audio of Elliot's call to Avi, and he contacted permaculture designer, teacher, homesteader and author of ‘Beyond the War on Invasive Species’ Tao Orion to provide her expertise in answering Elliot's question. We decided the best course of action was to set up a group call, so Elliot could more adequately pose his questions to Tao and Avi, with myself serving as a facilitator of the discussion. This nearly 40-minute conversation was featured at the end of episode #222 with Dark Mountain co-founder Dougald Hine (http://bit.ly/LBWhine). Learn more about Tao Orion’s book: http://bit.ly/2DE8WFA Learn more about Dr. Khalil Avi and his work: https://khalilavi.or

[Intro: 11:55 | Outro: 1:31:02] In this episode, I speak with Dark Mountain Project co-founder and writer Dougald Hine. We discuss his new writing series ‘Notes From Underground,’ published weekly at Bella Caledonia, that explores "the deep context of the new climate movements that have surfaced since mid-2018." As Dougald notes in his article ‘Al Gore Didn’t Want You to Panic,’ the first of his series at Bella Caledonia: “What kind of process is it, then, that has been underway this past year? Here’s what I’ve been picking up from the people I meet, the audiences I speak to and the stories that come back to me: on a scale not seen before, people are having an encounter with climate change not as a problem that can be solved or managed, made to go away, or reconciled with some existing arc of progress, but as a dark knowledge that calls our path into question, that starts to burn away the stories we were told and the trajectories our lives were meant to follow, the entitlements we were brought up to believ

[Intro: 11:12 | Outro: 1:04:42] In this episode, I speak with Stephen Pyne, environmental historian and author of ‘Fire: A Brief History.’ In this discussion with Stephen, I ask him to elaborate on humanity's long, deep, and complex relationship with fire. He explains how this relationship has informed everything from how our bodies have evolved to the impact this has had on our global environment up to the present moment. As Stephen has framed it, we have entered into an age of fire, which he has dubbed the Pyrocene (instead of Anthropocene); just as the Earth has passed through numerous ice ages, the industrialization of our relationship with fire (such as our use of fossil fuels and the internal combustion engine) has warmed the planet to such a degree as to completely disfigure and disrupt the planetary climate system, leading to a phase shift so large as to be barely grasped or comprehended at all. Fire and its crucial role in this shift must be not only examined in a scientific sense, but contextuali

[Intro: 9:00 | Outro: 1:15:00] In this episode, I speak with Social Anthropologist Dr. Khalil Avi, author of the article ‘Don’t Kill The Messenger!: Invasive Species and Halting Biodiversity Loss’ published at Gods & Radicals. Avi addresses some of the underlying (colonialist, nationalist, and provincial) assumptions that surround the efforts to halt biodiversity loss in our age of abrupt climate change and environmental catastrophe. He challenges our notions of what it really means to halt biodiversity loss, in particular when it comes to the widespread practice of eliminating so-called invasive species in their respective environments as a means of addressing this crisis. As global climate disruption forces biological life to rapidly adapt to the changing environment, our efforts to halt biodiversity loss should include abandoning our unexamined and deeply held assumptions of what our responses to the environmental crisis should be. “Halting biodiversity loss is demanded by [Extinction Rebellion] along

[Intro: 3:35 | English transcript: http://bit.ly/GRchomksy | Br. Portuguese transcript: http://bit.ly/2DhFNQa] In this episode, I speak with political dissident, linguist and author Noam Chomsky. In this brief discussion, we begin with Professor Chomsky examining the current state and trajectory of the United States empire within the broader scope of recent history, fitting the recent “withdrawal” of the US military presence in Northeast Syria, under Kurdish governance, as an indication of what the U.S. geopolitical influence in the region currently is. As Noam states, “the United States, didn't leave Northeast Syria, they just moved its troops to the oil producing regions. The number of troops is about the same,” with more troops being sent to Iraq and Saudi Arabia “to support their murderous war in Yemen.” Secondly, we discuss the responsibility of journalists, especially in this time, to challenge state power and stand for those that are willing to risk everything to expose the crimes of the state and

[Intro: 6:12 | Video episode: https://youtu.be/hpzas3qLTEQ] In this episode, I speak with Samantha Zipporah, reproductive justice activist and author of ‘Mapping The Yoniverse,’ a “sex and body positive, gender inclusive and affirming, physical and energy anatomy coloring book,” illustrated by Casandra Johns. This interview with Samantha is about reclaiming what has been lost. When it comes to our bodily autonomy and knowledge of own health, sexual or otherwise, we have, through a combination of historical and administrative processes, delegated that responsibility to the medical industry and to the state and the legislature. Samantha, in her years of work as a sex educator, doula, and activist, has worked diligently to demonstrate, for women and persons assigned female at birth, the numerous ways in which sovereignty can be attained over such bodily functions as menstruation, ovulation, miscarriage, abortion, full-term pregnancy, and childbirth. We all have these traditions of knowledge and wisdom in our

[Intro: 12:55 | Outro: 1:08:16] In this episode, I speak with political writer William Hawes. We discuss his sharp and insightful essay ‘Questioning The Extremely Online.’ What does it mean to be extremely online? As William puts it simply and bluntly, it’s “spending too much time on the web, scrolling through social media feeds out of habit, checking email or notifications dozens of times a day” — something that I, and so many others, are completely guilty of in this age of information. While that behavior in and of itself produces particular problems on its own, what concerns William is a more specific version of this complex, in which mainstream journalists and alternative media commentators are "constantly posting every news update; sharing a gazillion times every day each and every version and opinion on a current event/post/tweet about the lead news stories of the day, whether it is something interesting about global warming or something as ignorant and banal as the president’s tweets; prognosticatin

[Intro: 9:45] In this episode, I speak with Sam Adler-Bell, freelance journalist and co-host of the Know Your Enemy podcast, “a leftist's guide to the conservative movement.” The subject of this interview is his article ‘Why White Supremacists Are Hooked on Green Living,’ published by The New Republic. In this discussion with Sam, I ask him to elaborate on his research into the deeper connections between the roots of environmentalism and conservationism in the United States and rise of “eco-fascism” in our present time — an ideology expressed in the manifestos and stated intentions of white supremacist mass shooters in recent years, and in the rise of reactionary far right populism to refugee crises around the world. As Sam explains in his piece for The New Republic, the first thing we need to understand about this subject is that “most eco-fascists are sincere in their environmentalism,” and that the earliest forms of fascism in Europe were directly inspired by the earliest forms of environmentalism and co

[Intro: 2:50] In this episode, I speak with Barbara Cecil and Dahr Jamail, co-authors of the ‘How Then Shall We Live?’ series published at Truthout. An excerpt: ’What I've learned is when you really listen, and I mean go really quiet — put all the mental jargon aside and just get really quiet and really, really humble and really listen to the Earth — then I believe that each one of us is going to get our own personal marching orders of “here's what you're going to do, here's what I need you to do.” That's where I've gotten my messages to go to Iraq, to do the book that I did with 'The End of Ice,’ and so many other big decisions in my life — and small ones. When I go out there, I listen and I get this clear message, and I always know what to do. And I really believe that now is that time for people to — don't run around and panic. Don't light your hair on fire. Don't go out and see what other ten more things you can do, or how many articles you can forward and all this. But just stop and get really, reall

[Intro: 7:14] In the episode, I speak with Henry A. Giroux, McMaster University Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest and the Paulo Freire Distinguished Scholar in Critical Pedagogy, and author of ‘The Terror of the Unforeseen.’ How has neoliberalism paved the way for the rise of far right ideologies and populists around the world? As demonstrated in the elections of, and policies enacted by, such leaders as Donald Trump in the United States, Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, and Viktor Orbán in Hungary, a “neoliberal fascism” is emerging globally. As Henry elaborates in his book ‘The Terror of the Unforeseen,’ “neoliberalism creates an all-encompassing market guided by the principles of privatization, deregulation, commodification, and the free flow of capital. Advancing these agendas, it weakens unions, radically downsizes the welfare state, and wages an assault on public services such as education, libraries, parks, energy, water, prisons, and public transportation. As the state is hollowed out, big corpo

[Intro: 9:23 | Outro: 1:11:40] In this episode, I speak with Steven Elliot Martyn, author of ‘Sacred Gardening: Seeds for the Reemergence of Co-Creative Agriculture’ and ‘The Story of the Madawaska Forest Garden: Co-creating Integrated Polyculture’ and co-creator of the Sacred Gardener Earth Wisdom School. In this discussion, I ask Steven to expound on his journey of becoming a “sacred gardener,” which has included years of deep intellectual and spiritual introspection and experimentation with agricultural production, gardening, and foraging — a journey that has led to him to a recognition of the roots of our dominant culture’s profound disconnection from the sacred roots of agriculture and land use. On this path of exploration (fleshed out more fully in ’The Story of Madawaska Forest Garden’ and ‘Sacred Gardening’), Steven has cultivated an intuitive and deeply expressed capacity of being able to truly listen to the spirit(s) of the land and the living beings that reside there, having gained superb insight

In this episode, I speak with Liyah Babayan, author of Liminal: A Refugee Memoir. In this discussion, we delve into Liyah’s profound, disturbing, and moving retelling of her childhood experiences fleeing the pogroms enacted against the Armenian minority population in Baku, Azerbaijan, in the midst of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989-1990, as expressed in her memoir Liminal. After experiencing incomprehensible trauma and dehumanization, Liyah and her family fled to Armenia, where they were homeless for over three years. Liyah recalls the hostility and derision (with notable punctuations of deep generosity) her and her family experienced from her fellow citizens during this time, as is too often the case with displaced and traumatized refugee populations around the world, regardless of the context of the displacement for each respective group. After this period, Liyah's family was finally granted the refugee status required to make their way to the United States, ultimately resettling in Twin Falls, Id

[Intro: 11:00] In this episode, I speak with creator of the Nordic Animist Calendar and Historian of Religion Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen. Rune has spent much of his academic career studying and highlighting various animist spiritual traditions and perspectives, with a special focus on Afro-Atlantic and Nordic traditions — the latter being the focus of this discussion. In his work, Rune has attempted to integrate the animist worldview into his academic research into religious and spiritual traditions, highlighting the very pragmatic and grounded function the animist perspective has served in human cultures and societies throughout human history. As Rune explains, the animist worldview integrates human community with the grander cycles of the cosmos and seasons of the Earth through ritual and story, serving as a sort of technology that integrates human life with the broader communities of life on the planet through spiritual practice. Of particular concern to Rune is how the animist worldview and mythologies can

[Intro: 8:09] In this episode with Brian Mier, co-editor at Brasil Wire and correspondent for TeleSur English, we discuss the fires and deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil, the United States intervention in the Brazilian political system, and the rise of far-right president Jair Bolsonaro. On August 19th, the city of Sao Palo, Brazil experienced a complete blackout of the sun. Brian describes the event in the article ‘The day the sky went out’: “Was I dreaming? I immediately checked my watch. Sunset on that mid-winter day was scheduled for 5:51 PM. ‘There must be a massive thunderstorm rolling in,’ I thought to myself. There wasn’t. It drizzled but it appeared as if the sun had simply gone down 2.5 hours early, and there was a weird, clammy feeling in the air. As it turns out, it was a freak incident caused by smoke from out of control forest fires burning in thousands of points across the country and satellite photos were showing that a lot of this was coming from the Amazon rainforest,  inclu

[Intro: 6:41] In this episode, I speak Alexander Reid Ross, author of 'Against the Fascist Creep,' and Shane Burley, author of 'Fascism Today: What It Is and How to End It.' I ask Alexander and Shane to discuss the curious case of Andy Ngo — right-wing provocateur, so-called “independent journalist” (https://nyti.ms/2lwcMuz), former Quillette editor, and grifter. (http://bit.ly/2lvaU5r) Ngo is best known for using his prominent social media platform to promote and spin provocative right-wing media narratives, demonstrated in his coverage of street clashes between antifascists and far-right groups over the past several years — most notoriously in Portland, Oregon. His promotion of the concocted narrative that antifascists activists (antifa) are anti-free speech and even terroristic (#antifaterrorists), has had real consequence in the lives and safety of journalists and activists, including Alexander and Shane. (http://bit.ly/2koyQHe) While Ngo is discussed in this episode at some length, Shane and Alexander

[Intro: 7:50] In this episode, I speak with musician, poet, anthropologist, educator, community organizer and public speaker Lyla June. This discussion with Lyla covers a variety of compelling subjects, including Lyla’s journey of connecting with not only her Indigenous Diné (Navajo) and Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) identity and ancestry, but also with her European lineage as well. In connecting with that neglected line, Lyla uncovers and speaks not only to the intergenerational trauma that Indigenous peoples have endured since the colonization of the Americas began, and also to the deep and yet-to-be-reckoned-with trauma European settlers have carried with them to the so-called “New World” (e.g. the Black Death, the enclosure of the Commons, the Witch Hunts, etc). In addressing this fundamental truth about the underlying trauma that replicates itself up to the present day in Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities alike, solidarity can be forged — potentially serving as a force for healing in our time. Alo