Doomer Optimism

Jason speaks with Seneca Scott (@SenecaSpeaks21 ) about his life and work leading up to and including the founding of Neighbors Together Oakland, which focuses on community safety, localized agricultural systems, thriving local businesses, and accessible housing. They also discuss building ‘parallel systems that will remain resilient as our current one’s collapse’, and how this relates to local political engagement About Seneca Scott: Seneca moved to Oakland in 2012 to work as the East Bay Director for SEIU Local 1021, representing and negotiating improvements to wages and working conditions for thousands of workers in East Bay cities, most notably Oakland. It didn’t take long for Seneca to fall in love with the town for its independent spirit and love of nature. Moving to the Lower Bottoms, he immediately went to work in the community, co-founding Bottoms Up Community Gardens and Oakhella. Seneca likes to say that all of his endeavors serve the same purpose, helping to bring Oakland Neighbors closer together. In 2020, Seneca ran for City Council to bring a voice to his neighbors that he felt was being ignored. His Neighbors Together movement has since exploded across the city, demanding accountability from its Mayor and City Council. Seneca has worked as a Labor leader and community organizer for over 20 years. He earned his B.S. from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He has served as a Director for various unions, as well as a consultant, negotiating contracts for Bay Area public sector employees. In addition to organizing, Seneca is a cook, farmer and chess enthusiast. Seneca ran for Mayor in 2022, attracting widespread national media attention for the campaign’s independently minded, pragmatic approach to Oakland’s daunting and intersecting crises of homelessness, drug tourism, poverty, theft and violent crime. On the heels of the campaign, NTO is currently working to expand our urban farming efforts. We hope to engender holistic spaces that nurture the minds and bodies of Oakland Neighbors, building safe resilient communities organized around the issues that matter most.

Ashley and Nate discuss the concept of Left Conservatism in a wide ranging conversation about what is sacred, the market, the state, and the process of developing politics and relationships.

Donald and Keturah discuss Orthodoxy and noise with Alana Nickels. Alana "Nickels" Solomon is a former train kid and future Matushka, writer of "Hobo Nickels", painter of icons, and wife of Deacon Mark Solomon, who currently attends St. Tikhon's Orthodox Seminary in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Buy and subscribe to her zine: http://alananickels.bigcartel.com Learn more: http://alananickels.com

Ashley speaks with Bill Rees, the inventor of the ecological footprint, and John Mulrow about the false promises of the green energy "transition," degrowth, and whether or not social change happens by design or by disaster. Quick Bio: John Mulrow is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Environmental and Ecological Engineering at Purdue University. His research focuses on how environmental impact forecasting tools such as Life Cycle Assessment and Greenhouse gas footprinting can better account for the feedback effects of efficiency improvement. He leads a degrowth colloquium at Purdue, serves as Co-President of DegrowUS, and is on the Leadership Council of the Gaian Way. Relevant pubs: "Has the Economy Outgrown the Planet? An Introduction to Degrowth" https://www.researchgate.net/publication/368531755_Has_the_Economy_Outgrown_the_Planet_An_Introduction_to_Degrowth ‘Til Sustainability Do You Part: Arranging a Marriage Between Degrowth and the Circular Economy https://www.resilience.org/stories/2018-10-03/til-sustainability-do-you-part-arranging-a-marriage-between-degrowth-and-the-circular-economy/ The cyber-consciousness of environmental assessment: how environmental assessments evaluate the impacts of smart, connected, and digital technology https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac413b/meta And, of course, the quote about plastics saving whales! Found in this re-print of the original Celluloid Mfg Co. advertisement: https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/technology/fire-starter William Rees is a population ecologist, ecological economist, Professor Emeritus and former Director of the University of British Columbia’s School of Community and Regional Planning in Vancouver, Canada. He researches the implications of global ecological trends for the longevity of civilization, with special foci on urban (un)sustainability and cultural/cognitive barriers to rational public policy. Prof Rees is best known as the originator and co-developer with his former student, Dr Mathis Wackernagel of ‘ecological footprint analysis’ (EFA), a quantitative tool that estimates human demands on ecosystems and the extent to which humanity is in ‘ecological overshoot.’ He has authored hundreds of peer reviewed and popular articles on these and related topics. Dr Rees is a founding member and former President of the Canadian Society for Ecological Economics; a founding Director of the One Earth Living Initiative (https://www.oneearthliving.org/); a Fellow of the Post-Carbon Institute and an Associate Fellow of the Great Transition Initiative. Internationally recognized, Prof Rees was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 2006; received both the international Boulding Memorial Prize in Ecological Economics and a Blue Planet Prize (jointly with Dr Mathis Wackernagel) in 2012; the Herman Daly Award (in ecological economics) in 2015 and the Dean’s Medal of Distinction (UBC Faculty of Applied Science) in 2016.  He was a full member of the Club of Rome from 2014-2019. William Rees, PhD, FRSC—Bionote

A discussion of Chris' forthcoming book Saying No to a Farm-Free Future “Everyone in the food business needs to read this book. . . . [A] lively and superbly written polemic.”—Joel Salatin, co-founder of Polyface Farm A defense of agroecological, small-scale farming and a robust critique of an industrialized future. One of the few voices to challenge The Guardian‘s George Monbiot on the future of food and farming (and the restoration of nature) is academic, farmer and author of A Small Farm Future Chris Smaje. In Saying NO to a Farm-Free Future, Smaje presents his defense of small-scale farming and a robust critique of Monbiot’s vision for an urban and industrialized future.Responding to Monbiot’s portrayal of an urban, high-energy, industrially manufactured food future as the answer to our current crises, and its unchallenged acceptance within the environmental discourse, Smaje was compelled to challenge Monbiot’s evidence and conclusions. At the same time, Smaje presents his powerful counterargument – a low-carbon agrarian localism that puts power in the hands of local communities, not high-tech corporates.In the ongoing fight for our food future, this book will help you to understand the difference between a congenial, ecological living and a dystopian, factory-centered existence. A must-read! “Chris Smaje has laid down an indictment – as unremitting as it is undeniable – that cuts through the jargon-filled, techno-worshipping agricultural futurists who promise silver-bullet fixes for having your cake and eating it too. This brilliant and compelling book is at once hopeful and persuasive about the future of food.”—Dan Barber, chef at Blue Hill and author of The Third Plate Saying NO to a Farm-Free Future: The Case For an Ecological Food System and Against Manufactured Foods ‌https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/saying-no-to-a-farm-free-future/

Ashley speaks with Kate Parsons and Adam Mayfield about their wilderness survival skills school, the role of art in society, and mindfulness in practice. A wild ride! ‌ PRIMAL U designs and implements one-of-a-kind courses with experts in wilderness first aid, leadership, survival techniques, sustainability and mindfulness training. Primal U’s mission is to train individuals holistically, providing a space to learn and grow in an outdoor setting. Our new Primal U Artist Lecture Series showcases the practices of artists and creatives working in and with the natural world. Primal U is the brainchild of Rob Mullins, Kate Parsons, and Adam Mayfield. Parsons is an artist, educator, and co-founder of the virtual reality studio FLOAT. An Assistant Professor of Digital Arts at Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA and Instructor at Art Center College of Design, Parsons is a Montana-native who knows that country life and self-sufficiency still runs in her blood. Mayfield, who is from Los Angeles, is a mindfulness specialist, an actor (Ford vs. Ferrari, All My Children) and professional survival instructor. He is a longtime alum of Boulder Outdoor Survival School, where he taught traditional living skills to folks from all walks of life, from corporate executives and military personnel to artists and political activists. Adam is also a mentor for Inward Bound Mindfulness Education, a nonprofit organization that holds both traditional and outdoor excursion retreats across the US, Canada, and the UK, teaching mindfulness to teenagers and adults. Mullins, who hails from Ohio, is a homesteader, life & leadership coach, outdoor enthusiast, ultra-marathoner, and former executive at a Forbes 107 company. As a pharmacist, Rob has a lifetime of helping others and has had tremendous results coaching and mentoring leaders for career success. In addition he holds ACC accreditation from the International Coach Federation, is an Authorized Partner for Everything DiSC and is a registered Maine Outdoor Recreation and Hunting Guide. The three met when Parsons attended one of the wilderness training camps taught by Mullins and Mayfield at Thomas Coyne Survival Schools—one of the top survival schools worldwide. Since then, they have banded together to create a unique, hybrid curriculum: A combination of straightforward survival skills, wilderness first aid training, permaculture, mindfulness techniques and leadership coaching. ‌ Primal U Montana First Session: June 16, 17, 18 Second Session: June 23, 24, 25

Ashley speaks with Christopher Lasch’s biographer, Eric Miller, about all things Lasch, localism, and his forthcoming book on Wendell Berry. ‌ Eric Miller is professor of history and the humanities at Geneva College, in Beaver Falls, PA, where he directs the college’s honors program. He is the author of Hope in a Scattering Time: A Life of Christopher Lasch (2010) and Glimpses of Another Land: Political Hopes, Spiritual Longing (2012), and co-editor of Confessing History: Explorations in Christian Faith and the Historian’s Vocation (2010). He was the project director of a grant that assembled a team of international scholars to study Brazilian evangelicalism. Their book, Brazilian Evangelicalism in the Twenty-First Century: An Inside and Outside Look, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2019. Eric’s essays have appeared in a range of publications, including Commonweal, Front Porch Republic, and Christianity Today. He is the editor of the online journal of opinion Current. You can find his essays for Current here.

Don and Ashley chat with Steve Mouzon about all things New Urbanism, Wrath of Gnon, and the right approach to the 15 minute city. Steve Mouzon is an architect, urbanist, author, blogger, and photographer based in Tuscaloosa. He co-founded the Urban Guild, which was instrumental in the creation of the Katrina Cottages initiative. The Guild is the nexus of Project:SmartDwelling, which works to redefine the house to be much smaller and more sustainable. Steve speaks regularly across the US and abroad on sustainability issues. He blogs here on Original Green Stories, Useful Stuff, and We Do This Because... He also posts to the Original Green Twitter stream.

Today Jason is joined on the podcast by Daniel Schmachtenberger, a social philosopher whose central focus is civilization design and who is also a founding member of The Consilience Project, and Gregory Landua, the founder of Regen Network. What is “high nature,” and what is its relation to high-tech? Can both co-exist? Gregory, Daniel and Jason discuss how to apply tools of coordination and technology in a way that regenerates the planet rather than depletes it, the urgency to create local resilience, and the importance of improved coordination around carbon credits. Follow Daniel's work at civilizationemerging.com

Ashley and Dougald co-host Adam Greenfield to talk about his idea of LifeHouses as featured here https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/news/from-churches-to-lifehouses. Previously a rock critic, a bike messenger, a free-clinic medic and a sergeant in the US Army, Adam Greenfield has spent the past quarter-century thinking and working at the intersection of technology, design and politics with everyday life. Before founding his own practice, Urbanscale, in 2010, he worked as lead information architect for Razorfish in Tokyo and head of design direction for service and user interface design at Nokia headquarters outside Helsinki. Selected in 2013 as Senior Urban Fellow at the LSE Cities centre of the London School of Economics, he has taught in New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program and the Urban Design program of the Bartlett, University College London. His books include Everyware: The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing, Urban Computing and Its Discontents, and the bestsellers Against the Smart City and Radical Technologies: The Design of Everyday Life. His next book is Beyond Hope: Collective Power and Mutual Care in the Long Emergency, coming next year from Verso. You can sign up for his irregular dispatches from London at http://tinyletter.com/speedbird , or connect with him on Mastodon at http://social.coop/@adamgreenfield Dougald Hine is a social thinker, writer, speaker and the co-founder of the Dark Mountain Project and a school called HOME. His latest book is At Work in the Ruins (2023) and he publishes new essays on his Substack, Writing Home. atworkintheruins | Instagram | Linktree His substack can be found at: Writing Home | Dougald Hine | Substack