Clark from the Atlanta Community Press Collective joins me to discuss the Stop Cop City movement, also known as the Defend the Atlanta Forest (or Defend Weelaunee Forest) movement in Atlanta, Georgia. Clark is not a representative of the movement, but through his coverage, speaks clearly to the concerns raised by activists and forest occupiers of the construction of Atlanta Public Safety Training Center (Cop City).
Read MoreEnvironmentalism
#342 | Jumping The Gap: Green Transphobia & Where It Leads w/ John Halstead
Writer John Halstead returns to the podcast to discuss his widely read article, Jumping the Gap: Where Green Transphobia Leads, published at A Beautiful Resistance.
John Halstead’s article uses the ideological trajectory of Paul Kingnorth, co-founder of the Dark Mountain Project and a fierce critic of “Big Green environmentalism,” to examine trans-exclusionary politics and rhetoric in certain leftist ecoactivist movements and spaces. John has remarked Kingsnorth was an “intellectual idol” of his, helping him form many of his own ideas about humanity’s severed relationship with the earth, with poignant ruminations on the roots of anthropogenic climate change, the dead end of techno-optimism, and industrial civilization’s inevitable collapse. But, as Halstead began to more closely examine Kingnorth’s writings since the onset of the pandemic in 2020, he, like many others who admired his perspective, was disturbed by his “benevolent green nationalism,” defense of the British monarchy, and openly derisive characterizations of “wokeness” and trans identity.
Read More#280 | Invisible Hand: The Rights Of Nature Movement w/ Melissa Troutman & Joshua Pribanic
Intro: 12:32
Melissa Troutman and Joshua Pribanic, co-directors of the documentary ‘Invisible Hand,’ join me to discuss the Rights of Nature movement beautifully documented in their film. I ask them to define the philosophy and legal framework communities across the US (and the world) are implementing to battle against corporate-led environmental destruction in their localities.
Rights of Nature are the beginning of a new legal paradigm in western culture. The idea argues that nature holds inalienable rights, and that vital parts of Nature — a river or watershed or ecosystem — shall be granted personhood in the court of law and be provided with legal standing to defend itself. (http://bit.ly/37BPMA3)
Granting legal rights to natural entities and systems — in which we are inextricably connected to — is one of several tactics that can be employed to forge a path toward protecting the natural world from environmentally destructive corporate practices in communities across the world.
Melissa A. Troutman is an American investigative journalist, photographer, artist and filmmaker who co-founded Public Herald (est. 2011), a nonprofit for investigative journalism where she currently serves as Executive Director. Troutman has gained international attention for her coverage of fracking in Pennsylvania. She’s writer, editor, director, producer of TRIPLE DIVIDE and TRIPLE DIVIDE [REDACTED], which uncovered corruption in the handling of water contamination in rural Pennsylvania.
Joshua B. Pribanic is an American investigative journalist, photographer, artist and award-winning filmmaker who co-founded Public Herald (est. 2011), a nonprofit for investigative journalism, and co-directed the recently acclaimed documentary TRIPLE DIVIDE and TRIPLE DIVIDE [REDACTED]. He currently operates as the Editor-in-Chief for Public Herald. For his production and directing of the documentary feature TRIPLE DIVIDE (released March 2013), Pribanic gained international attention for his reporting on fracking shale gas in the United States.
Episode Notes:
- Learn more about how you can watch ‘Invisible Hand’: https://www.invisiblehandfilm.com
- Support their work through Public Herald: https://www.patreon.com/publicherald
- The song featured is “Theme from Invisible Hand” by Heavy Color from the Invisible Hand soundtrack: https://curiousmusicia.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-the-film-invisible-hand
Video Segment:
#262 | Burning Earth: Social Justice, Climate Activism, & Countering The Far Right w/ Hilary Moore
Intro: 7:19
In this episode, I speak with anti-racist and environmental activist Hilary Moore, author of ‘Burning Earth, Changing Europe: How the Racist Right Exploits the Climate Crisis–And What We Can Do About It’, and co-author of ‘No Fascist USA! The John Brown Anti-Klan Committee and Lessons for Today’s Movements.’
In her booklet ‘Burning Earth, Changing Europe’, Hilary examines how right wing ideology, in its various forms, reacts to, co-opts, and inserts its agendas into the discourse and activism surrounding climate change and environmentalism at large. As she points to in this interview:
1. Climate change is not an inherently progressive issue.
2. How you think and talk about climate change may prop up racist right-wing positions.
3. The far right does not need to govern to influence.
With these truths in mind, Hilary points to how social justice itself must be central to any environmental and climate movement:
My advice to the environmental movement in the US is blunt: get out of the way of struggles for justice — or join, unapologetically. If we are not willing to reorganize ourselves — making significant changes to our boards, directors, managers, programs, campaigns, fundraising development, strategies (yes, all of it) — then, well… we are irrelevant. (https://bit.ly/3a6AMcX)
Hilary Moore has been writing about anti-racism and social movements for the last ten years. Her work focuses on the far right, climate change, state structures, and systems of oppression, as well as liberal and left forms of resistance. She teaches with generative somatics and volunteers on the Leadership Team of Showing Up for Racial Justice. Her work has appeared in Ms. Magazine, Public Eye, Waging Nonviolence, and Teen Vogue.
Episode Notes:
- Learn more about Hilary and her work: https://hilaryamoore.com
- Download and read ‘Burning Earth, Changing Europe’: https://bit.ly/3idiw4C
- Learn more about and purchase ‘No Fascist USA!’: https://nofascistusabook.org / https://bit.ly/2Psnr5d
- Read Shane Burley’s review of ‘No Fascist USA!’: https://bit.ly/2ESxD4V
- The song featured in this episode is “La Da Di” by Co.fee from the album HW&W Vol. 1: https://youtu.be/YihdFDdLcW4
#246 | Planet Of The Humans: Addressing The False Promises Of Green Energy w/ Jeff Gibbs
Intro: 11:53 | Book Pre-sale
In this episode, I speak with Jeff Gibbs, Director of the popular and controversial documentary film ‘Planet of the Humans.’ The film was Executive Produced by Michael Moore and released to the public on YouTube, generating over six million views since its release on Earth Day last month.
Since its release, ’Planet of the Humans’ has generated enormous controversy, backlash, and intense discussion within the environmental and climate movement at large. Some of the harshest criticisms this film has received have come from stanch proponents of "renewable" and "green" energy technologies (like wind, solar, and biomass — the subjects of the film). The harshest of these criticisms have come from activist and ‘Gasland’ filmmaker Josh Fox, who has stated that the film "is wildly unscientific, outdated, full of falsehoods, and benefits fossil fuel industry promoters and climate deniers" and has asked Moore and Gibbs to disavow the project. (https://bit.ly/3b6ElPa / https://bit.ly/3dnft7c) Pen America, preeminent watchdog in the U.S. defending free expression and human rights, in turn has responded to the calls to take down the film by stating “calls to pull a film because of disagreement with its content are calls for censorship, plain and simple.” (https://bit.ly/2YDZKgg)
In researching the dozens of reactions this documentary has generated, I recognized that the underlying point of the film was lost in all the controversy. In this discussion, I ask Jeff to provide some deeper insights into what his intentions with the film really were, as well as address some of the criticisms the film has received, in particular from Josh Fox.
Jeff Gibbs is the director, writer, and producer of the feature documentary film ‘Planet of the Humans.’ Born in Flint, Michigan, Jeff has served as a long time collaborator with Michael Moore. The first film he ever worked on was ‘Bowling for Columbine’ producing many iconic scenes including “the bank that gives you a gun,” “dog shoots hunter,” and the “Michigan Militia.” Following the success of ‘Bowling for Columbine’ Jeff became co-producer for ‘Fahrenheit 9/11,’ the largest box-office documentary of all time. Jeff also wrote the original score for both films. Since ‘Fahrenheit 9/11,’ though taking an occasional break to produce other films including the Dixie Chicks documentary ‘Shut Up and Sing,’ Jeff has been singularly obsessed with the fate of the earth and humanity.
Episode Notes:
- Learn more about ‘Planet of the Humans’ and watch the film: https://planetofthehumans.com
- Read Josh Fox’s take on the film: https://bit.ly/3b6ElPa
- Read the response from Pen America regarding the calls to take the film down: https://bit.ly/2YDZKgg
- Some more resources that Jeff shared with me back up the film: https://bbc.in/2L2MGJl / https://go.aws/2WwN0VL / https://go.nature.com/2W7tH6L / https://bit.ly/2W6Rxzl / https://bit.ly/2xDxK0Z / https://bit.ly/2A3eJGd
- The song featured in this episode is “Active” by Dark Party from the Ghostly Swim album.