Last Born In The Wilderness

I speak with Dr. Karla Tait—clinical psychologist, Director of Programming for the Unist'ot'en Healing Center, and member of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation. In this interview, I ask Dr. Tait to bring us up to speed on the details surrounding the recent invasion of Wet'suwet'en Territory by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) on January 7th, the legal dimension of this ongoing confrontation between the Wet'suwet'en people and the proposed Coastal GasLink pipeline project being pushed through by the Canadian government, and what this unfolding situation means for the sovereignty of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation and the ongoing work of the Unist'ot'en Healing Center within that territory. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/karla-tait // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

I speak with Trebbe Johnson, author of Radical Joy for Hard Times: Finding Meaning and Making Beauty in Earth's Broken Places. We discuss how in a "world devastated by human interaction and natural disaster—from clearcutting and fracking to extreme weather and urban sprawl—creating art, ritual, and even joy in wounded places is essential to our collective healing.” // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/trebbe-johnson // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with writer, lawyer, and environmental activist Will Falk. In 2014 and 2015, Will spent a great deal of time at the Unist’ot’en Camp, part of the Wet’suwet’en Nation (in so-called British Columbia). We place Will's activism and insights about his time at the Camp within the broader context of what is currently unfolding there. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), on January 7th, breached the borders of Wet’suwet’en territory, violating Canadian and International law, as well as the sovereignty of the unceded territory of the Wet’suwet’en Nation. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/will-falk // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with anarchist, activist, and writer Peter Gelderloos. Peter is the author of numerous books, two of which we examine in this interview — ‘How Nonviolence Protects The State’ and ’Worshiping Power: An Anarchist View of Early State Formation.’ In this discussion, I ask Peter to examine the most lauded nonviolent movements in recent history: the anti-colonial movement in India in the early 20th century (in which Mahatma Gandhi became well known for his use of nonviolent resistance against British rule) and the civil rights and anti-war movements in the United States in the 1950s through the 1970s. As Peter elaborates in his book ‘How Nonviolence Protects The State,’ nonviolence and pacifism in general severely limit resistance movements in adequately and seriously upending and defending against entrenched systems of oppression and violence — the State being the ultimate manifestation of this in the world today (and through out much of human history, as we explore later). We get at the

In this episode, I speak with Siniša Malešević, Full Professor and Chair of Sociology at the University College in Dublin, Ireland. Siniša is the author of numerous books, including The Rise of Organised Brutality: A Historical Sociology of Violence, and the upcoming Grounded Nationalisms. We discuss Siniša research into the historical formation of national identity (nationalism) in the modern era, and how the molding of national identities by nation states over the past several centuries has given rise to unprecedented large-scale violence, at a scale previously unseen throughout human history. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/sinisa-malesevic // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with Richard Heinberg — Senior Fellow of the Post Carbon Institute and one of the world’s foremost advocates for a shift away from our current reliance on fossil fuels.▴ We examine Richard’s recent essay “Our Bonus Decade,” in which he examines the role peak oil played in the 2008 financial crisis and what the long-term consequences will be as a result of the fossil fuel industry’s transition to unconventional oil production this past decade. In our examination of the themes presented Richard’s recent essay “Our Bonus Decade,” Richard discusses the role skyrocketing oil prices played in the financial crisis of 2008 and how this crisis coincided with a broader shift to unconventional fossil fuel production in our society, including an increased reliance on exceedingly destructive extractive methods such as fracking and tar sand oil extraction (like in Alberta, Canada). What will our civilization’s reliance on fossil fuels mean in the coming years as we come up against not only peak o

In this episode, I speak with Alley Valkyrie and Rhyd Wildermuth — co-founders of Gods & Radicals Press and the hosts of the Empires Crumble podcast. We discuss the recent widespread unrest in France (dubbed “Les Gilets Jaunes” or the "Yellow Vest" movement in the English-speaking world) — a response to President Emmanuel Macron's decision to implement a fuel tax hike in France. Alley and Rhyd provide much needed context to what is currently unfolding in France -- tying cultural, historical, and broad economic trends in France and Europe to what is currently unfolding under this movement. In this discussion, Alley and Rhyd contextualize the cultural, historical, and political reasons as to what the Yellow Vest movement is ultimately responding to, including what this fuel tax symbolizes within the broader discontent with neoliberal capitalism in Europe, and with the European Union more generally. What has been most misunderstood and misrepresented in the American press about Les Gilets Jaunes is the politic

In this episode I speak with Dezeray Lyn — activist, street medic, and co-organizer of Mutual Aid Disaster Relief (MADR) — a "national network made up of many eco-activists, social justice activists, global justice activists, permaculturalists, community organizers, and others who are actively organizing around supporting disaster survivors in a spirit of mutual aid and solidarity.”☽ In this discussion with Dezeray, I ask her to discuss the fundamental differences between grassroots disaster relief efforts (as demonstrated by MADR), and those done by large-scale federal government agencies and charity organizations, in providing supplies and services to disaster-stricken communities (e.g. Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, and most recently the communities impacted by the devastating wildfires in California). In particular, we examine how mutual aid is "a factor of evolution" (to use the adage of Peter Kropotkin), and by acknowledging this fundamental component of the human condition, we can understand grass

In this episode, I speak with Stephen Siff, Associate Professor of Journalism at Miami University and the author of ‘Acid Hype: American News Media and the Psychedelic Experience.’ In this discussion, we get into the U.S. news media's role in the promotion, and in particular the "hype," of psychedelic drug use in the 1950s and '60s — initially by prominent public figures and the "Intelligentsia," and eventually the wider population more generally. We also get into the Nixon Administration's role in instigating the War on Drugs, and the role the US media played in propagandizing the government's agenda regarding the prohibition of psychedelic compounds and cannabis. As a proponent of cannabis and the psychedelic experience, I have become increasingly aware that our popular perception of psychedelic and cannabis use has largely been formed by very prominent cultural forces, in particular the U.S. news media, pro-capitalist interests, and the State. The media has played a major role in the “branding” of psyche

In this episode, I speak with Michael Sliwa — author, former educator, and “one of the foremost speakers on simple living.”⚐ My discussion with Michael addresses the traps of modernity — including work, consumerism, settler-colonialism, our culture’s attachment to things, and the path Michael has taken to move further away from the center of Empire in an attempt to liberate himself from false needs and excessive wants, in turn learning to live much more simply, nomadically, and communally. In particular, what we discuss is that in spite of this worthy effort, privilege plays an enormous role in an individual’s ability to move away from the destructive nature and impact of this industrial culture, and as Michael addresses in this episode, the recognition of this fundamental aspect of living within a society forged in settler-colonial values and maintained through the socio-economic imposition to “make a living” informs this effort in more ways than can be initially understood. The false sense of security car

In this episode, I speak with Lee Camp—stand-up comedian, political commentator, and the head writer and host of the national TV show Redacted Tonight on RT America. We discuss his recently released comedy special, Super Patriotic Very Uncle Sam Comedy Special Not Allowed On American TV—his first comedy special in over four years. We discuss such topics as the value of voting under a corporate oligarchy, our “inverted moral universe,” and the far-reaching implications of the recently revealed sealed indictment against WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange by the United States Justice Department under the Trump Administration, in particular the threat this case poses for the freedom of press under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/lee-camp // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with Aimee Lewis-Reau and LaUra Schmidt, co-founders of the Good Grief Network, an organization that “cultivates individual resilience to metabolize collective grief.” // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/lewis-reau-schmidt // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with Mirna Wabi-Sabi — writer and Co-Editor of Gods & Radicals Press. We discuss the recent presidential election in her home country of Brazil and her recent piece on the subject; voting and the farce of liberal democracy; the destruction of indigenous and quilombist peoples’ lands, culture, and heritage and the ecocide currently underway in the rainforests of Brazil; the ongoing efforts by leftist and indigenous groups to generate dialogue and united action in the face of rising far right populist organizing and violence. Mirna and I address her recent piece in Gods & Radicals ‘‘A Luta Continua’: The Struggle Continues,’ in which she addresses the recent presidential election in Brazil, resulting in the election of far right neofascist candidate Jair Bolsonaro (referred to as “J.B.” or “the dude” in this episode). As an anti-capitalist and an anarchist, Mirna elaborates on her views about voting as expressed in her piece: “People are so stressed that even anarchists are talking ab

I speak with John G. Turner, author and historian of American Religion. We discuss the origins and development of the uniquely American religion The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (or as it is more colloquially referred: the “Mormon Church”), explored in John’s book, Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet, a biography of the Church’s influential second president, and in his more recent book, The Mormon Jesus: A Biography, which covers the Church’s theological underpinnings and place within the tapestry of American Christianity.

In the second half of the Another End of the World Is Possible event, we were joined by gonzo journalist, conjurer, and political theorist Dr. Bones. Continuing with the theme of this event, we fit the global rise of far-right violence within the larger ecological crisis underway on our planet. What role can mutual aid and militant organizing play in adapting to the rapidly disintegrating life systems of the planet, especially as societies around the globe move toward more regressive, oppressive, and violent political ideologies and organizations in the face of these seismic shifts underway? This event was live-streamed and recorded in front of a live audience on October 28th, 2018, in the abandoned Idaho Youth Ranch building on Main Ave. in Twin Falls, Idaho. Along with live interviews, this event also featured a question and answer session after each respective interview for those participating in person and for those participating through the live stream of the event. // Episode notes: https://www.lastbo

In this discussion with award-winning environmental journalist Dahr Jamail, we begin by addressing the recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). I asked Dahr unpack the data and projections regarding anthropogenic climate change presented in the report, with Dahr noting that much of the data it presents excludes much of the more recent and varied data regarding the non-linear, exponential change inherent in abrupt climate disruption as a result of human industrial activity over the past several centuries. The direct implication inherent in the information Dahr presents in his work regarding the global climate crisis points to the very likely inability for the human species to adapt to the rapid change relating to abrupt climate disruption, in great part due to an inability to grow food at scale, wide-spread conflict and resource depletion, catastrophic weather change and dramatic sea-level rise inundating coastal cities, as well as other wide-spread changes relating to abrupt cl

I speak with Spencer Sunshine, researcher, journalist, activist, and political consultant regarding far-right movements. The last time I spoke with Spencer Sunshine was a year ago, soon after the Unite The Right rally in Charlottesville, North Carolina in August 2017, in which we discussed the fallout of that event. In this conversation, we catch up on the development of the far-right over the past year. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/spencer-sunshine-2 // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

I speak with Dr. Helen Caldicott, considered the "single most articulate and passionate advocate of citizen action to remedy the nuclear and environmental crises.” We discuss the fallout of the current situation regarding the nuclear meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in 2011, the myths and lies that surround nuclear power as a sustainable energy source, the danger posed by having nuclear power plants near coastlines and large bodies of water around the world, the current state of the nuclear power industry, as well as other subjects relating to nuclear power and the dangers it poses for life on Earth. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/helen-caldicott // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with Joe Brewer -- complexity researcher, cognitive scientist, and evangelist for the field of culture design. We discuss the social, economic, and ecological collapse we are currently in the midst of as a result of the destructive impacts of human industrial activity and the cultural value systems that uphold these practices. We also discuss Joe's work in designing cultural evolution through "regenerative hubs" -- bioregional centers designed to implement the process of healing and mending humanity's relationship with the living planet and establish a right role within the planet's living systems on the local and global level. In this discussion, Joe lays out what it means to design culture — “to cultivate the capacities to intentionally guide social change using the best combinations of science, technology, organizational management, and artistic expression.”✧ Joe discusses the growing and well established base of knowledge and practices already in place to facilitate the developme

In this episode, I speak with Kate Harris, author of the captivating travel memoir, Lands of Lost Borders: A Journey on the Silk Road. We discuss living off-grid in Atlin, British Columbia, Kate’s complex relationship with Marco Polo and the famed and mythologized explorers from the “Old World,” and her life-expanding decision to traverse the famed Silk Road by bike with her childhood friend. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/kate-harris // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast