Last Born In The Wilderness

[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

[Intro: 7:34] In this episode, I speak with eco-radical and guerrilla ontologist philosopher and writer Julian Langer. In this wide-ranging discussion, we discuss the middle-spaces of social engagement with technology and industrial infrastructure within an eco-pessimist perspective, Julian’s encounters with the climate activist group Extinction Rebellion and the mainstreaming of climate/environmental activism, the “ineffable visceral space” of his encounter with cancer and modern medicine, and maximizing individual freedom within the varying “intensities of capture” of civilized life. This discussion with Julian covers a great deal of territory, meandering as conversations often do, with general (and quite specific) reflections on the nature of resistance and liberation within an eco-pessimist perspective — nestled within Julian’s ontological anarchist approach to philosophy, writing, and activism. How can a more pessimistic view of life enable us to more fully engage with the reality we find ourselves in

[INTRO: 12:37 | OUTRO: 1:22:37] In this episode, I speak with culture activist, teacher, author and ceremonialist Stephen Jenkinson. We discuss his most recent performative project ‘Nights of Grief & Mystery,’ made in collaboration with “song and dance man” Gregory Hoskins — as documented in the recent short film ‘Lost Nation Road,’ directed by Ian MacKenzie. After watching Ian MacKenzie’s short documentary film ‘Lost Nation Road,’ I finally began to understand more fully the real spirit and essence of Stephen Jenkinson and Gregory Hoskins’ exquisite and subversive project ‘Nights of Grief & Mystery.’ By that, I mean the immersive and ritualized nature of this performative act. To describe this act merely as a storytelling/spoken word and musical performance is to reduce the unifying purpose to its individual components. ‘Nights of Grief & Mystery’ subverts our notions of what performance is and could be in this time of deep trouble, and as Stephen elaborates in this interview, this act taps into something

In my fourth interview with Truthout staff reporter, climate journalist, and author Dahr Jamail, we discuss some of the most dramatic and recent examples of abrupt climate disruption in recent months, how these accelerating changes are manifesting across human communities and political institutions across the planet, and how these changes are forever altering the natural world as a whole through widespread species displacement, loss, and extinction. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/dahr-jamail-4 // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

[INTRO: 12:34 | OUTRO: 1:29:24] In this episode, I speak with visionary documentary filmmaker Ian MacKenzie. We discuss his two most recent projects: ‘Love School’ — an ongoing film project, made in collaboration with John Wolfstone and Julia Maryanska, that explores the revolutionary research village and healing biotope Tamera in Portugal; and Ian's recently released short film ‘Lost Nation Road’ — which follows culture activist and author Stephen Jenkinson and Canadian musician Gregory Hoskins on their unlikely collaboration with the ‘Nights of Grief and Mystery’ tour. “In the Oak-dotted countryside of Southern Portugal lies the Tamera Healing Biotope, one of Earth’s most radical social experiments in human futurism.”* In this discussion with Ian, we discuss his ongoing collaborative project ‘Love School,’ a film that delves deeply into the revolutionary work the community of Tamera, which aims to build a nonviolent culture through the integration of eros (life force) — by building communities of trust,

In this interview, I speak with Natalie Minoshka and Ínaru de la Fuente Díaz. Natalie and Ínaru are on-the-ground activists and citizens of Puerto Rico, and have been active participants in the massive protests that have swept the island for several weeks. Natalie and Ínaru provide some background on the demands of these protests, including what incited them, the historic size and turnout of these demonstrations, and what we can expect in the coming weeks. This interview was recorded Tuesday, July 23rd, two days before Governor Ricardo Rosselló resigned. After nearly 900 pages of private chat logs between Governor Ricardo Rosselló and several members of his administration was leaked to the public in July, the people of Puerto Rico have had one demand for Roselló: resign. The leak of these chat logs has revealed to the world and the citizens of Puerto Rico the truly abhorrent attitudes and blatant corruption the Governor and his administration have engaged in. For nearly two weeks, hundreds of thousands of Pu

In this episode, I speak with lawyer and radical environmental activist Will Falk. In this discussion, Will examines the United States legal system, in particular environmental law, and the difficult realities communities around the US continuously face when it comes to protecting natural entities (lakes, rivers, forests, etc.) from ecologically destructive government and corporate projects. As Will elaborates in this interview, the United States legal system is not designed to effectively protect human and non-human communities from ecologically destructive projects. Instead, as Will explains, it exists primarily “to make it near impossible for the citizenry to oppose those projects” through legal means. This assertion can be demonstrated to be true by examining numerous legal cases that have come up in the last several decades in communities around US—perhaps most dramatically by the community of Toledo, Ohio in their efforts to end the proliferation of toxic algae blooms in Lake Erie—the region’s main sou

[INTRO: 13:02] In this episode, I speak with Tania Li, Ph.D — Professor of Anthropology at the University of Toronto and the author of ‘Land’s End: Capitalist Relations on an Indigenous Frontier.’  In our era of globalized neoliberal capitalism, we tend to examine the emergence of capitalist economic and social relations among indigenous communities primarily as a result of overbearing external pressures, e.g. governments, nonprofit organizations, and multinational corporations (often in tandem). It is important, however, to recognize that while this is often the case, this view does not include the ways capitalism can emerge and take hold in far more subtle ways. As documented in ‘Land’s End,’ from 1990 to 2009 Tania conducted annual ethnographic research in the Lauje highlands of Sulawesi Indonesia, and bore witness to the indigenous population’s rapid adoption of the tree crop cocoa for cultivation, transitioning away from the more communally managed production of food crops, as had been done traditional

This is a segment of episode #200 of Last Born In The Wilderness “We Live In The Orbit Of Beings Greater Than Us: A Weaving Of Threads.” Listen to the full episode: http://bit.ly/LBW200 / http://bit.ly/LBW200v Episode #200 is something of a highlight reel, featuring numerous segments from previous interviews I’ve conducted and released, with commentary on the underlying themes and threads that tie all this work together. The episode contains segments with Silvia Federici, Dr. Gerald Horne, Shane Burley, Liyah Babayan, Stephen Jenkinson, Dahr Jamail, William Rees, Dezeray Lyn, Peter Gelderloos, Cory Morningstar, Jasper Bernes, Rhyd Wildermuth, Dr. Karla Tait, Ramon Elani, John Halstead, Charles Eisenstein, Joe Brewer, and Bayo Akomolafe. The song featured is “Listening Piece 1” composed by Scott Farkas (used with permission): https://youtu.be/tBvMrqmHMVk WEBSITE: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness DONATE: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcas

This is episode #200 of Last Born In The Wilderness. This is something of a highlight reel, featuring numerous segments from previous interviews I’ve conducted and released, with commentary on the underlying themes and threads that tie all this work together. This is a beast of an episode (almost four hours in length), so please take your time! This episode features segments of discussions with Silvia Federici, Dr. Gerald Horne, Shane Burley, Liyah Babayan, Stephen Jenkinson, Dahr Jamail, William Rees, Dezeray Lyn, Peter Gelderloos, Cory Morningstar, Jasper Bernes, Rhyd Wildermuth, Dr. Karla Tait, Ramon Elani, John Halstead, Charles Eisenstein, Joe Brewer, and Bayo Akomolafe. // Episode notes + timeline: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/200 // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with journalist John H. Richardson. Former Writer at Large for Esquire, John is the author of the captivating article, Children of Ted: The Unlikely New Generation of Unabomber Acolytes, published December 2018 in New York Magazine. In Children of Ted, John takes a deep dive into the world of Theodore Kaczynski (aka the Unabomber) acolytes and apostates, a journey that documents his interactions with various individuals and groups that have been inspired (or adjacently-inspired) by the anti-civilizational writings and philosophy of Kaczynski, and even his multiple deadly acts of terrorism leading up to his arrest by the FBI in 1996. While John’s article is centered around the story of John Jacobi, who become radicalized (in part) through his exposure to Kaczynski’s manifesto, Industrial Society and Its Future, and his subsequent correspondences with him, the article more broadly examines a phenomenon Richardson describes as Kaczynski Moments. “The Kaczynski moment dislocates. Suddenl

INTRO: 10:38 In this episode, I speak with Jasper Bernes, Managing Editor of Commune Magazine. We discuss his recent article ‘Between the Devil and the Green New Deal,’ featured in the second issue of Commune Magazine. In this interview, I ask Jasper to explain the details of the Green New Deal, as has been proposed by the more progressive wing of the United States political establishment, and most famously by New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of the Democratic Party. What is the Green New Deal, and what is materially required for it to be successfully implemented? As Jasper explains, its main objective would be to convert the US economy to (net) zero carbon emissions with renewable power by 2030 — an undertaking that would require a massive overhaul of the energy infrastructure towards solar, wind, and biofuels as the primary source of energy production. While that all sounds rather nice, what are the (not-so) hidden costs of developing these so-called sustainable technologies, especially on

In this episode, I speak with Rhyd Wildermuth—writer, political theorist, co-founder of Gods & Radicals, and the author of the soon-to-be-released, All That Is Sacred Is Profaned: A Pagan Guide To Marxism. In this discussion with Rhyd, we examine the various ways capitalism—as a social, political, and economic system—directly informs the ways we relate with the land in which we live upon (and the spirits that reside there), the bodies we inhabit, the labor we perform, the rituals we engage in, and the various ways these relationships and perceptions either highlight or obscure the exploitive qualities of the global capitalism system we are all embedded within. In Rhyd’s book, All That Is Sacred Is Profaned, this examination of capitalism is framed within a Marxist analysis of the material conditions that inform these relationships (defined as “historical materialism” by Marx), and is then overlaid with a pagan, or more precisely animist, examination of these relationships as well. Rhyd, in being able to wed

In this episode, I speak with Michael Sliwa and [RS]. [RS] is the host of [MF] on the Progressive Radio Network, and Michael is the former co-host of Nature Bats Last and the author of Chasing A Different Carrot: A Manifesto For The Predicament Of Privilege. In this lively discussion between the three of us, we examine the overwhelm many are feeling in trying to navigate through our times of overlapping social, economic, ecological, and political complexities. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/sliwa-rs // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with psychedelic scholar, editor, publisher, and researcher Robert Forte. For over three decades, Robert has collaborated with some of the most influential and well-known figures within the psychedelic movement, including R. Gordon Wasson, Timothy Leary, Stanislav Grof, and Alexander Shulgin, to name a few. I ask Robert to explore the early days of psychedelic interest in American society, initially generated in large part by the release of the 1956 Life Magazine photo essay by R. Gordon Wasson (J.P. Morgan Vice President of Public Relations)—a landmark piece that was the first to expose the American public to the use and effects of psilocybin mushrooms. As Robert explains, the C.I.A. funded this venture, and was largely behind, along with media mogul Henry Luce, the branding of the psychedelic experience for Western audiences. Why would this be the case? As we descend down this rabbit hole of inquiry, we discuss the absolutely perplexing history of the popularization (and demonizat

In this episode, I speak with Environmental Scientist and Ecologist Francisco Sánchez-Bayo. He is the lead-author of the scientific survey, Worldwide decline of the entomofauna: A review of its drivers, co-authored with Kris Wyckhuys, which reviews dozens of contemporary research from around the world documenting the rapid decline of global insect populations, indicating that most species of insects are likely to become extinct by the end of the century. The paper also examines the primary drivers behind the loss of global insect biodiversity, which has pushed over 40% of insect species towards extinction within the next few decades, and the majority of insect species by the end of the century. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/francisco-sanchez-bayo // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

INTRO: 10:35 | OUTRO: 1:34:00 In this episode, I speak with Joe Brewer — change strategist, complexity researcher, cognitive scientist, and evangelist for the field of culture design. This discussion picks up from our first conversation last year (http://bit.ly/LBWbrewer), recorded right before Joe and his family moved to Costa Rica to engage more fully with cultural design work and planetary collapse management. We start off this discussion by catching up with what Joe has experienced in the six to eight months since we last spoke on this podcast, which mainly includes a big move with his family to Costa Rica from the United States. I ask him why he and his family chose Costa Rica do work in culture design, and why Costa Rica in particular is primed for regenerative practices and planetary collapse management. I ask Joe to detail his work in designing in-depth courses that lay the groundwork for individuals to build “regenerative hubs” across the planet’s numerous bioregions, and within this scaffolding of

INTRO: 11:10 | DROP ME A LINE: 01:18:01 In this episode, I speak with physicist, engineer, and popular science communicator Paul Beckwith. Paul is well known for his approachable and comprehensive analysis of the global climate crisis through his popular YouTube channel, where he provides a multidisciplinary examination into climate science data and research through his deep understanding of meteorology, oceanography and the Earth Sciences in general. At the beginning of this interview, I ask Paul to go over the latest scientific data of global climate change, which includes a thorough description of the alarming levels of warming we are witnessing in the Arctic region, and how this is producing a dramatic loss of sea ice cover and the albedo effect (reflection of the sun’s heat) in the region, potentially leading to what has been described as the “Blue Ocean Event” (an ice-free Arctic during the warm season). I ask Paul to explain what these rapid changes mean for global weather patterns, in particular how

In this episode, I speak with engineer and writer Dmitry Orlov. I ask Dmitry to provide an overview of the ongoing collapse of the United States empire on the geopolitical, economic, and political fronts, since our first interview recorded and released last year. As Dmitry explains in this interview, the United States is facing collapse. The U.S. is in massive debt, and wholly relies on its global military presence to maintain the dominance of the dollar—a situation in which we have to ask the question: how long before that, too, fails? Decades of United States global hegemony is being successfully countered by other global powers, namely Russia, although in a very different fashion from how the United States has traditionally exerted geopolitical influence up to the present moment. Why, and how, has this happened? Dmitry lays out the interrelating factors that are contributing to America’s faltering influence on the global stage, even as the U.S. Empire becomes increasingly belligerent towards other nation