Violence, with Peter Schwartzstein

Climate change sucks, not least when it causes violence - which it does more than you'd think. In a hundred ways it can add stress and trauma to brains already under huge pressure, and when that's all finally a bit much - well, the worse demons of our nature can, and do, come out. 

Grim. But are we doomed? Does it have to be like that? Can environmental peacebuilding turn climate violence into an engine of cooperation? Or is human nature a more powerful force when the chips are down, which they increasingly are? 

Joining me this episode is environmental journalist Peter Schwartzstein. We discuss his remarkable book of reportage from the world's climate and confrontational hotspots - The Heat and the Fury: On the Frontlines of Climate Violence - and what lies behind his termite theory of climate violence. 

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Owl noises = references: 

• 15:33. Peter's piece for Columbia Journalism Review about how climate change is scuppering climate journalism. 
• 16:43. A review of Why We Sleep, by Matthew Walker. 
• 21:09. Alessandro Massazza joined me last year, discussing climate change & mental heat. 
• 39:15. Steven Pinker's Better Angels of our Nature. 

The show is hosted and produced by me, Dave Powell. You can follow the show on instagram @yourbrainonclimate, and I occasionally put up a Substack. 

YBOC theme music and iterations thereof, by me.  Show logo by Arthur Stovell at https://mondial-studio.com/.