earth first transform

I speak with William Rees, human ecologist, ecological economist, Professor Emeritus and former Director of the University of British Columbia’s School of Community and Regional Planning in Vancouver, Canada. Dr. Rees is the originator and co-developer of the ecological footprint analysis, and the co-author, with Mathis Wackernagel, of Our Ecological Footprint, an exploration of this concept. The ecological footprint concept has become the world’s best-known metaphor for the human ‘load’ (the resources required of ecosystems to maintain our current mode of living) on the planet.

// Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/william-rees

// Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness 

// Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

125 / Marching Toward Collapse / William Rees

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, 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 asked him why he and his family chose Costa Rica to 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 knowledge and practice, facilitate the management of planetary collapse on the local and global scale as nation-states, economies, ecologies, and the global climate system continue to break down into the near and distant future. As is a common theme in Joe’s work and in our discussions, I ask Joe about the necessity of doing this work, despite the overwhelming likelihood that the human species and countless species of nonhuman life will become extinct as a result of ecological collapse and abrupt climate disruption. Even in the face of planetary collapse on multiple fronts, individuals are doing (seemingly) invisible and sacred work in managing this unprecedented collapse, generating and expanding systems that heal the land, the climate, the human psyche, and humanity’s relationship with the living systems of this planet. As Joe says in this discussion, what can we do that is worthy of our hope? We discuss this and more in this episode.

// Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/joe-brewer-2

// Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness 

// Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

193 / Invisible, Sacred Work / Joe Brewer

In this episode, I speak with John Feffer, director of Foreign Policy In Focus (FPIF) at the Institute for Policy Studies. We discuss the impact the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has had on the global economic system, as laid out in his article, Will the Coronavirus Kill Globalization?, published at FPIF and CounterPunch.

There are plenty of adequate resources currently available on the nature of the coronavirus, including how it spreads, the common symptoms to look out for, and the demographics most likely to suffer and potentially die from exposure to it. What needs to be explored a bit more is the impacts this global pandemic has had and will continue to have on the global economic system as numerous governments respond to this public health emergency. I ask John to provide some insight into the impact this virus has had on globalization at large, with whole sectors of the global supply chain experiencing dramatic shortages as numerous economic sectors shut down, impeding international trade into the foreseeable future.

// Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/john-feffer-2

// Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness 

// Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

237 / House Of Cards / John Feffer

2020 April - Stranger Days by Stephen Jenkinson

This interview originally aired on July 19, 2020.

Stephen Jenkinson is a culture activist, teacher, author and ceremonialist. He is the author of numerous books, including Come of Age: The Case for Elderhood in a Time of Trouble and Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul.

Derrick Jensen as an ecophilosopher and the author of many books, including Deep Green Resistance(co-author), Endgame, The Culture of Make Believe, A Language Older than Words.

earth first transform

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