Commodification of Shelter Under Capitalism

This is a free preview of the episode "Reconnecting to the Land and to Place." You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast

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In this episode, part of our ongoing Patreon reading series, Robbie reads an essay titled "The Place, The Region, The Commons" by the poet, author, an environmental activist Gary Snyder. The episode begins with an update on Robbie's life—which goes into specifics about health issues involving long COVID, ME/CFS, CIRS, as well as housing, mold, and other issues that impact our health under capitalism.

He then begins reading "The Place, The Region, The Commons," interspersing the reading with many thoughts, reflections, and criticisms along the way. The essay argues for bioregionalism—the idea that we should center place in our how we organize society and understand ourselves. Through compelling prose and beautifully descriptive language, Gary Snyder lays out an argument for coming back to nature and the wild while taking many interesting side paths. What are the commons and what happened to them? How can industrial society reconnect to the land? How can we balance social needs with environmental needs? And what are the real boundaries we should be paying attention to? These are just some of the questions explored in this reading.

Further resources:

• The Old Ways by Gary Snyder
• The Great Transformation: the Political and Economic Origins of our Time, by Karl Polanyi

Related episodes:

• China Pt. 7: A Socialist Response to the COVID Pandemic w/ Creighton Ward, Kevin Li, and Alessandro Zancan
• A History of California, Capitalism, and the World with Malcolm Harris
• China Pt. 5: Towards an Ecological Civilization w/ Tings Chak
• A World out of Balance: Introducing Doughnut 3.0 w/ Andrew Fanning
• Better Lives for All w/ Jason Hickel

Cover art: "something" by Robert Raymond (MS Paint)

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