Last Born In The Wilderness

[Intro: 12:55] In this interview, I speak with Brian Pace, PhD, evolutionary ecologist and co-host of the Psymposia podcast Plus Three. We discuss his recently published article at Psymposia ‘Lucy In The Sky With Nazis: Psychedelics and the Right Wing.’ Brian dispenses with much of the cultural baggage that surrounds psychedelic use, including assumption that psychedelic use alone will lead individuals towards more egalitarian and anti-authoritarian attitudes and dispositions.  “As psychedelics reenter the public imagination on an industrial scale, advocates and reformers need to take a hard look at the assumption that the drugs themselves can bring about social progress. Decriminalization, medicalization, and legalization are advancing, but the socioeconomic context, the setting, in which the psychedelic renaissance unfolds, is capitalism. The climate has been irrevocably destabilized and right-wing extremism has risen. There is certainly room for change. Yet there have long been vague implications that w

[Intro: 11:51] In this episode, I speak with John Halstead — pagan writer, (former) activist, and author of 'Another End of the World is Possible.’ We discuss his two most recent essays published at Gods & Radicals Press — 'We Did Start the Fire: Climate Change and the Curse of Hope' and 'Why I Stopped Protesting and Started a Garden.’ “Human civilization is a fire. It’s been burning since we’ve been human. And the human story is not a straight line, but a circle, a great ring of fire.” (http://bit.ly/2TaUCwQ) In this discussion with John, we begin by examining some of the ideas he explores in his most recent writing, including where the Anthropocene began and where it will ultimately lead. In 'We Did Start the Fire: Climate Change and the Curse of Hope,’ John asserts that fire, or rather humankind’s long-standing relationship with fire, is where humanity’s complex and often impactful relationship with the biosphere truly began, with the crescendo in this process being the rise of industrial capitalism and

[Intro: 6:56] In this interview, I speak with Indigenous artist, activist the author Gord Hill. We discuss the recent events at the Unist’ot’en Camp on the Wet’suwet’en First Nation’s territory in B.C., Canada, and the wave of solidarity actions that have sprung up across Canada the past several weeks in response to the RCMP’s invasion of their territory. Over the past several weeks, the RCMP has invaded Wet’suwet’en sovereign territory and arrested numerous land defenders, including three Matriarchs — Freda Huson (Chief Howilhkat), Brenda Michell (Chief Geltiy), and Dr. Karla Tait (https://youtu.be/EgfVO6U5QuA) — to enforce an injunction to proceed with the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline project through their unceded territory. I ask Gord to update us on the dramatic acts of solidarity that have sprung up around Canada since this invasion began, in particular with the ongoing blockades spearheaded by members of the Mohawk Nation of railroads and roads, shutting down large sectors of the Canad

[Intro: 8:45] In this episode, I speak with Christian Braga — photojournalist, activist, and member of the media collective Farpa (“It is, therefore, a product of the restlessness that moves us, that spurs us every day in search of images that matter”). This interview was recorded in São Paulo, and interpreted by Mirna Wabi-Sabi. Christian’s striking and stirring photographic work has helped elevate the perspectives of the most oppressed populations in Brazil. His vivid documentation of such catalyzing events as the release of former Brazilian president Lula da Silva from his false imprisonment in 2018 (http://bit.ly/3bLDOnr), the first Indigenous Women’s March in Brasilia this past year (http://bit.ly/2V6okoh), and the ongoing deforestation and plundering of natural resources in the Amazon (http://bit.ly/2SVplwn) by illegal mining operations, has reframed the national and global discussion around these struggles. In discussing this work, Christian provides his insights into the role independent journalists

[Intro: 6:36] This interview with anthropologist and linguist Joshua Birchall was recorded in his office at the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi in Belém, Brazil. Joshua has been doing field work in Indigenous communities in the Brazilian state of Rondônia and in parts of Bolivia for over a decade, documenting dying languages before they completely disappear from the human collective for good. Languages are disappearing at an increasing and alarming rate, with Indigenous communities in Amazonia at the forefront of this trend. As Joshua explains in this discussion, of the 26-or-so known languages in the region he does field work in, two-thirds of those languages have less than 50 speakers left. This indicates that one of the most linguistically diverse regions on the planet is on the verge of losing a majority of its speakers within a few generations, if that. Along with documenting these languages for their continued use and preservation, Joshua has a deep understanding of the role language plays in the cultura

[Intro: 21:27 | Video: https://youtu.be/fRvq7kHEJl0] In this interview with Karina Ramos, historian and member the Brazilian Association of African Studies, we discuss the roots and contemporary struggles of Afro-Brazilian religious traditions and communities in Brazil (in particular Rio), and how contemporary forms of State and social oppression of these communities has manifested. This interview was recorded and filmed in Rio de Janeiro, with interpretation by Mirna Wabi-Sabi.   "Since the beginning of the 20th century, spaces of sociability and cultural manifestations of African matrix are attacked, black men and women are expropriated of their rights and their most basic conditions of existence. There is not an interval of time within the line of events in the history of Rio de Janeiro where blacks and their cultural manifestations have not suffered with public power." (http://bit.ly/3b03rR1) Since Karina’s article was published in 2018, the forms of persecution experienced by spiritual communities of

Elisa Quadros, ativista anarquista e co-organizadora do evento 'Mais amor, menos capital' no Rio de Janeiro, conta sua história como uma das dissidentes e prisioneiras políticas mais conhecidas do Brasil devido à perseguição implacável da mídia, da polícia, e de milicianos desde seu envolvimento nos protestos em massa de 2013. Ouça o episódio completo em áudio (inglês): http://bit.ly/LBWmllc Assista à primeira entrevista com o ativista André Miguéis: https://youtu.be/uu7YCQLaLX8 Esta entrevista foi gravada em colaboração com Mirna Wabi-Sabi -- teórica política, jornalista e editora da Gods & Radicals Press. Mirna era a intérprete e gravou grande parte das imagens do evento. Saiba mais sobre o trabalho dela: https://medium.com/mirna-wabi-sabi Agradecimentos especiais a Nora Lynn Kommer por sua ajuda na gravação. Gravado 20 de dezembro de 2019.

André Miguéis, da Mídia Independente Coletiva (MIC), discute as origens radicais do evento 'Mais amor, menos capital' no Rio de Janeiro e seu objetivo final de construir solidariedade e poder político de base no Brasil. Ouça o episódio completo em áudio (inglês): http://bit.ly/LBWmllc Assista à segunda entrevista com a ativista Elisa Quadros: https://youtu.be/oUFDj0c66DM Esta entrevista foi gravada em colaboração com Mirna Wabi-Sabi -- teórica política, jornalista e editora da Gods & Radicals Press. Mirna foi a intérprete e gravou grande parte das imagens do evento, e nada disso seria possível sem ela. Saiba mais sobre o seu trabalho: https://medium.com/mirna-wabi-sabi Agradecimentos especiais a Nora Lynn Kommer por sua ajuda na gravação. Gravado 20 de dezembro de 2019.

In this episode, I speak with Timothy Lenton, director of the Global Systems Institute at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom. We discuss his research into climate tipping points presented in the article ‘Climate tipping points — too risky to bet against’ published at Nature. To adequately comprehend global climate change and how its impacts will play out in the near and distant future, identifying various tipping points in the Earth’s intersecting systems, and how crossing them will amplify and accelerate global warming, needs to be more seriously understood. “Politicians, economists and even some natural scientists have tended to assume that tipping points in the Earth system — such as the loss of the Amazon rainforest or the West Antarctic ice sheet — are of low probability and little understood. Yet evidence is mounting that these events could be more likely than was thought, have high impacts and are interconnected across different biophysical systems, potentially committing the world to long

[André Miguéis: 32:56 | Elisa Quadros: 38:10] In this episode, I speak with André Miguéis and Elisa Quadros — radical political organizers of the ‘More Love, Less Capital (Mais Amor, Menos Capital)’ event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, recorded on December 20th, 2019. This is the first episode featuring interviews conducted from Brazil in collaboration with Mirna Wabi-Sabi — political theorist, journalist, and editor at Gods & Radicals Press. This episode begins with a 30-minute discussion between myself and Mirna on our impressions of the ‘More Love, Less Capital,’ including what the event is serving in the broader struggle against capitalism and the right-wing political system in Brazil, especially under the neofascist presidency of Jair Bolsonaro. We contextualize the importance of this event in building solidarity outside the centers of power in Brazil, as has been demonstrated since its fiery beginnings during the large-scale protests and occupations in 2013. From there, we present interviews with André Mi

[Intro: 10:23 | Outro: 1:38:01] In this episode, I speak with yoga practitioner, teacher, and author of ‘Practice and All Is Coming: Abuse, Cult Dynamics, and Healing in Yoga and Beyond’ Matthew Remski. As Matthew revealed in his article ‘Yoga’s Culture of Sexual Abuse: Nine Women Tell Their Stories’ published at The Walrus, contemporary yoga has an appalling and pervasive sexual abuse problem. “Modern yoga has been fraught with stories of charismatic male yoga teachers who promoted their teachings as spiritually pure and later abused, or otherwise took advantage of, students who believed their mentors were gurus or saints.” (http://bit.ly/2SFaNT8) Not only is sexual misconduct and abuse an all-to-common occurrence in countless yoga studios around the world, “somatic dominance” (as Matthew has termed it) is often employed by yoga instructors to assert control over their students, creating a dynamic that leads to “trauma bonding” — a crucial process that occurs between cult leaders and their followers as a

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