Last Born In The Wilderness

In this episode, I speak with Darcia Narvaez PhD, Professor of Psychology at Notre Dame University. Professor Narvaez is the author and editor of numerous books, including Neurobiology and the Development of Human Morality: Evolution, Culture and Wisdom, and Indigenous Sustainable Wisdom: First-Nation Know-How for Global Flourishing. She also writes regularly for Psychology Today with her Moral Landscapes column, which explores her work with parenting, child development, self-development, and morality. The first time I spoke with Darcia was almost three years ago, back when I was first beginning to do interviews for this podcast. A great deal has changed and happened since then, not only with my work specifically, but in the world at large. In contemplating the roots of the fragmented, disruptive responses the novel coronavirus pandemic has generated, I felt compelled to reconnect with Prof. Narvaez to discuss her insights into this subject. This includes an examination of the contemporary, common child-rearing practices in the West (specifically the United States), and how this informs the ideologies/belief systems people attach themselves to in states of crisis and uncertainty, such as ours. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/darcia-narvaez-2 // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with psychotherapist, writer, and witch Anthony Rella.  Much of this discussion with Anthony touches on some very personal topics I'm presently reflecting on and addressing in my own life. This includes personal reflections on intergenerational and collective trauma, somatic responses to conflict in intimate relationships, masculinity, privilege, and our individual and collective responses to the overlapping crises we are in the midst of contemporarily. In conducting this interview, I attempted to present my inquiries into these subjects with openness and vulnerability, while also keeping our explorations broad enough to be received by practically anyone who is receptive to these subjects. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/anthony-rella // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

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. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/jeff-gibbs // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with Indigenous elder, author, and teacher Stan Rushworth. We discuss Traditional Ecological Knowledge and his upcoming book project, The Changing Earth: Indigenous Voices from Turtle Island, made in collaboration with journalist and author Dahr Jamail. Stan is featured in Ian MacKenzie's recently released short film Prayer for the Earth: An Indigenous Response to These Times. Our planet is undergoing massive ecological, climatological, and cultural shifts, with the consequences of these crises playing out in the near and distant future. In our attempt to reattain a harmonious balance with the life systems of the planet, certain traditions of knowledge and wisdom come to the forefront, namely Indigenous or Traditional Ecological Knowledge. But what is attached to these traditional forms of knowledge is often overlooked, whether on purpose or not: the hundreds of years of genocide that nearly erased Indigenous peoples from Turtle Island. This erasure is just as much physical and is it cultural and spiritual. For those that carry the values and perspectives of the dominant culture, to respectfully and humbly embrace traditional Indigenous knowledge, wisdom, and perspectives requires taking a hard look at what has brought us collectively to this moment. This includes listening and full acknowledging Indigenous people and their history, including all the pain, sorrow, and beauty that comes with it. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/stan-rushworth // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with Filipino citizen and activist Ja Reyalidad from his residence in Manila. We discuss the current situation in the Philippines in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the nation undergoes a national lockdown. As Ja explains, large segments of the Filipino population, particularly in the crowded metropolitan areas of the nation (like Manila), are facing staggering levels of "involuntary hunger" as the nation grapples with the outbreak of COVID-19. Very little is being done to aid the most affected (the working class and poor), as social distancing measures are imposed, domestic travel is severely limited, and testing kits and personal protective equipment (PPE) is being hoarded by the political and economic elites. To make matters even worse, President Duterte "took to the airwaves with a chilling warning for his citizens: Defy the lockdown orders again and the police will shoot you dead." // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/ja-reyalidad // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with author, journalist, and political researcher Shane Burley. We discuss mutual aid in the time of COVID-19, the Autumn of the Alt Right, and the underlying structure of conspiracy theories in the age of information. We begin this discussion with Shane describing what mutual aid and solidarity looks like in our time of the coronavirus pandemic, with millions of workers in the United State without jobs as a result of widespread economic disruption and lack of a comprehensive government aid. From there, we move into what he explored in an earlier article he published at Commune Magazine, titled Autumn of the Alt Right. I asked him what the state of the Alt Right is currently, in particular what the ultimate failures and successes the far right movement has made in their attempt to shift the political discourse in the U.S. further to the Right. Finally, we end this interview with an examination of the underlying structure of conspiracy theories in the age of information, which is especially relevant in light of the spread of baseless suppositions surrounding the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, that the pandemic is a “hoax,” and so on. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/shane-burley-4 // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with Gods & Radicals Press co-founders and Empires Crumble co-hosts Alley Valkyrie and Rhyd Wildermuth. This discussion was recorded on March 22nd, 2020 from each of our respective locations, with Alley currently living in France and Rhyd in Luxembourg. We discuss the "state of exception" and “a world that has stopped” in the midst of this global pandemic and state-mandated lockdowns, as discussed in Alley’s essay, Dispatches From a World That Has Stopped, and Rhyd’s essay, Pandemics and the State of Exception. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/valkyrie-wildermuth-2 // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with Brian Mier, journalist and co-editor at Brasil Wire and correspondent for TeleSur English. I asked Brian to discuss the current political situation in Brazil under far right president Jair Bolsonaro, as the nation begins to reel from the coronavirus pandemic and the wholly inadequate, and frankly psychopathic, response from President Bolsonaro. The editors at Brasil Wire starkly condemned the Brazilian president in their recent article, Bolsonaro and Coronavirus: A Tragedy Foretold. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/brian-mier-2 // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with Joe Brewer—change strategist, complexity researcher, cognitive scientist, and evangelist for the field of culture design. We discuss living regeneratively in the COVID-19 pandemic and the message Gaia is sending in the midst of this crisis, community resilience in the age of planetary collapse, the Earth Regenerators study group, and the Earth Regeneration Fund and the "Regenerative Death Clause" as presented in his recent essay, A “Regenerative Death Clause” for Coronavirus. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/joe-brewer-3 // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with Forrest Palmer, writer and editor at Wrong Kind of Green.  Forrest and I discuss the impact the novel coronavirus COVID-19 is currently having on US society, as it wreaks havoc on human health and the global capitalist economy at large. We explore what the response to this pandemic means in the grand scheme of things as we confront numerous cascading crises, whether that be ecological, climatological, economic, or cultural in nature. As Forrest illustrates so well in this discussion, this pandemic is but a precursor of things to come, as we collectively head towards the inevitable collapse of industrial civilization, and our potential extinction as a species as well. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/forrest-palmer // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast