Last Born In The Wilderness

In this episode, I speak with physicist, engineer, and popular science communicator Paul Beckwith. Paul is well known for his approachable and comprehensive analysis of the global climate crisis through his popular YouTube channel, where he provides a multidisciplinary examination into climate science data and research through his deep understanding of meteorology, oceanography and the Earth Sciences in general. At the beginning of this interview, I ask Paul to go over the latest scientific data of global climate change, which includes a thorough description of the alarming levels of warming we are witnessing in the Arctic region, and how this is producing a dramatic loss of sea ice cover and the albedo effect (reflection of the sun’s heat) in the region, potentially leading to what has been described as the “Blue Ocean Event” (an ice-free Arctic during the warm season). I asked Paul to explain what these rapid changes mean for global weather patterns, in particular how these rapid shifts in the global climate system are leading to more abrupt and severe floods, droughts, wildfires, and storms across the planet. As Paul explains, the implications are vast and dire, in particular when it comes to global food production and distribution. After exploring the science of these broad global trends, I ask Paul to describe his views on what can be done in light of these abrupt changes, including various geoengineering schemes to cool the Arctic region, and other techniques that may give humankind the time needed to avoid the worst impacts of abrupt climate disruption, including but not limited to the extinction of the human species. I contend a bit with Paul’s views on this subject, and pose some objections I have with these proposals, including the unintended consequences that would likely result from these attempts, and what these geoengineering schemes may end up serving within our current infinite-growth economic paradigm. We go over these subjects in depth in this episode. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/paul-beckwith // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with engineer and writer Dmitry Orlov. I ask Dmitry to provide an overview of the ongoing collapse of the United States empire on the geopolitical, economic, and political fronts, since our first interview recorded and released last year. As Dmitry explains in this interview, the United States is facing collapse. The U.S. is in massive debt, and wholly relies on its global military presence to maintain the dominance of the dollar—a situation in which we have to ask the question: how long before that, too, fails? Decades of United States global hegemony is being successfully countered by other global powers, namely Russia, although in a very different fashion from how the United States has traditionally exerted geopolitical influence up to the present moment. Why, and how, has this happened? Dmitry lays out the interrelating factors that are contributing to America’s faltering influence on the global stage, even as the U.S. Empire becomes increasingly belligerent towards other nations, whether ally or foe, as it seeks to maintain its place at the top of the global economic and political order. I ask Dmitry to go over the faltering shale oil industry and energy production in the United States; the failed attempt by the U.S. government, under the leadership and direction of John Bolton and Mike Pompeo, to instigate a coup in Venezuela (as of the recording and release of this episode); the forced expulsion of WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London (and possible extradition to the U.S.); Russia’s growing economic prominence and geopolitical influence in relation to the United States; the history of Ukraine’s deep and complicated relationship with the USSR, and more recently the United States; and the overwhelming social collapse we are witnessing in the United States, manifesting in widespread drug addiction, mental illness, political division, and hypernationalism. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/dmitry-orlov-2 // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with Birgitta Jónsdóttir—former Icelandic politician, anarchist, poet, and activist. Birgitta is the co-founder of the Pirate Party of Iceland (in which she served as a representative of from 2013 to 2017), and is well known for her collaboration with Wikileaks in the production and release of the “Collateral Murder” video, as a result of the courageous leak by whistleblower and former U.S. Army private Chelsea Manning. I ask Brigitta to describe the role she has played in some of the most historic and impactful political moments this past decade—including the founding of the Pirate Party and her time as a member of the Icelandic Parliament from 2013-2017; her collaboration with Wikileaks and its controversial co-founder and editor Julian Assange, leading to the release of the Collateral Murder video in 2010 (which depicts the murder of several citizens and journalists during the U.S. military occupation of Iraq in 2007); and her involvement in the high-profile legal case “Hedges vs Obama” in the United States (which challenged the legitimacy of the National Defense Authorization Act authorized by former U.S. president Barack Obama) during her term in Parliament. Brigitta’s activism has challenged the legitimacy of the rising global surveillance state and its corporate counterpart “surveillance capitalism,” has contributed to the unveiling of the true face of the so-called War on Terror around the globe, and has continuously defended the rights of whistleblowers (like Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, Reality Winner, and more) within the context of upholding the freedom of press and human rights. I ask Birgitta to explain her anarchist principles and philosophy and how this has informed her activism and political career. I ask her to express her opinion on the severe crackdown by the U.S. and its allies on whistleblowing over the past decade, as well as the troubling trends we are seeing in the rise of powerful tech corporations and their influence on individual human behavior and societies at large (as exemplified in the practices of Google, Facebook, Amazon, and more). Our discussion is wide-ranging, and these topics are just some of what we explore in this episode. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/birgitta-jonsdottir // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with Xabat—a representative of the Internationalist Commune of Rojava. We discuss the ecological dimension of the Rojavan Revolution in Northeast Syria, represented and explored in the book, Make Rojava Green Again, which examines the environmental perspective and ecological practices inherent in the egalitarian and anticapitalist revolution in the region. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/xabat // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with meteorologist and geoscientist Nicholas Humphrey. I ask him to detail the record-breaking flood in the Midwest United States this season, in particular the impacts this is having on the agricultural center of the country, and how this event is directly tied to the dramatic global changes associated with abrupt climate disruption as a result of human industrial activity. As Nick and I discuss, there are numerous reasons why this year’s flooding in the Midwest has been as destructive as it has been—with estimated damage, in economic terms, of “$12.5 billion, based on an analysis of damages already inflicted and those expected by additional flooding, as well as the lingering health effects resulting from flooding and the disease caused by standing water.” Nick’s interdisciplinary research into global climate change, especially in describing its direct impact on the hydrological (water) cycle and weather, helps us understand how this record-breaking event occurred. “Nearly two-thirds of the lower 48 states will have an elevated risk of some flooding from now until May, and 25 states could experience ‘major or moderate flooding,’ according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.” Record-breaking snowfall in the Midwest, with severe fluctuations in temperature in late-winter and early spring, coincided with a massive “bomb cyclone” visiting the region, leading to a rapid and massive overflow of the Missouri River—inundating numerous farms, cities, and towns, as well as overwhelm much of the overall infrastructure and spread toxic waste and pollution throughout the region. This doesn’t even include the impacts this event is already having on the financially burdened businesses in the region, and what the impacts will be for the region’s agricultural output in the future, as it is severely limiting farmers' ability to grow and harvest vital agricultural products this year. Overall, the prospects don’t look good, for the Midwest region, and for the United States. Nick and I take a dive into the science and the implications of this event, and fit it within the broader ecological and climate trends currently unfolding on this planet. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/nicholas-humphrey // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with lawyer, grief therapist, and community builder Holly Truhlar. We discuss her provocatively titled essay ‘Mainstream Psychology Can Go Fuck Itself,’ which addressed the ways mainstream psychology, as it is currently practiced today, largely lacks the framework, language, and tools required to adequately counsel those that are coming into the growing awareness that the systems we are embedded within are leading to societal collapse, ecological disintegration, and abrupt climate disruption on the global scale. Mainstream psychology “puts the onus on the individual and takes the focus off of the violent and divisive systems we’re in,”* which in turn disempowers the individual from preparing, in any meaningful sense, for what lies ahead as we begin to experience the impacts of a fraying socioeconomic and political system (mired in systemic oppression and corruption), the catastrophic loss of species (described as the Sixth Mass Extinction event), a radically changing climate system (as a result of industrialization), and the likely near-term extinction of the human species as a result of these converging crises. “As with all things capitalist, patriarchal, and committed to the growth of civilization, psychology is used mostly as a tool of the oppressor to keep us divided into individual causes rather than working in solidarity with our class structure.” Holly, in her work, seeks to make use of the tools provided in mainstream psychology, and incorporate Radical Attunement Work (RAW), which cultivates "a deep awareness of people and systems in order to fundamentally shift exploitative ways of being towards reciprocal relationship, collective liberation, and communities of care.” As Holly says in her essay “we don’t have time for this shit. We have a small window in which we MAY be able to learn the skills needed to co-regulate with each other and organize for the needed revolution (or end-of-life care for our species).” The stakes really are this high. We discuss this and more in this episode. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/holly-truhlar // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with heathen writer and poet Ramon Elani. In exploring his unique prospective on how to address the converging social, spiritual, and ecological crises on this planet, we examine three essays published for Gods & Radicals, which include Land, Home, and the Gods, World’s End, and Our Rage Against The Modern World, co-written with Rhyd Wildermuth. “Let the home and the idea of the home become a pillar of strength. Let the home become a site of defiance, a bold denial of industrial society. Let the home be made into a bulwark against the modern world.” Often, when I try to get at the vast moral dilemma we are forced to address in the face of the global climate crisis, the extinction of human and non-human life, and the hollowing of community and connection to the land implicit in the “progress” narrative of industrial civilization—the notion of addressing these converging crises on a collective level seemed apparent and obvious. While that may be true, another truth emerges from the prose of Ramon. In this interview, I ask Ramon to expound on the themes he’s presented in three essays on the subject of modernity, and that to “reestablish humanity’s relationship with the gods is also to reconnect with the land, for the land is the gods. The present crisis, which devastates humanity and the biosphere, is defined in both material and spiritual terms.” Ramon’s prose is intoxicating, blunt, poetic, beautiful, heartbreaking, and clarifying. Ramon doesn’t shy away from obvious truths implicit in modernity and the reality it has forged in its attempt to subject the Earth and its living systems to the logic of “progress” and endless growth. In Ramon’s work, the home and our relationship with the land becomes the center of our resistance to the life-destroying forces that are despoiling the planet. Modernity is reckoned with in these terms, as Ramon has thoroughly and lucidly explored in his writing, which I have delightfully read and incorporated into my own worldview. “For hundreds of years, humanity has expanded its domain over the earth, at the enormous cost of non-human life and human spiritual and physical well-being. Every moment that this world continues to exist means suffering and extinction for non-human life and soulless misery for humanity. We cannot stop what’s coming and it best that we do not try, for only in the death of this world is there hope for a new future to bloom.” // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/ramon-elani // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this collaborative interview with [RS], we speak with Yoav Litvin, doctor of psychology, photographer, and writer. Yoav's work focuses on the roots of the ideology of Zionism, in particular how trauma has informed its formation and practice, through the policies and actions of the State of Israel, and through such powerful organizations like AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee)—"a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to the Congress and Executive Branch of the United States."   In this discussion, Yoav expounds on his views and research into the settler-colonialist and supremacist roots of Zionism, not only from a socio-historical perspective, but from a neurological and psychological perspective as well. How has a collectivized form of post-traumatic stress disorder shaped the genocidal policies of the State of Israel, especially toward the Palestinian people and land that the State of Israel has been literally built upon? As Yoav gets into his piece in Monthly Review Online: “In response to antisemitism, Zionists embraced their fear and contempt of their abusers to produce defensive aggression, reinventing identity in a reactionary attempt to ensure survival and restore pride. The reward of violence–power-quickly enticed Zionist leaders to morph what began as a defensive strategy into an offensive one that culminated with a settler colonialist vision of a homeland in Palestine at the expense of its Indigenous population, the existing Palestinian people.” Along with addressing the trauma Jewish populations have individually and collectively experienced, we ask Yoav to explain the conflation between legitimate criticism of the policies of Israel and Zionism with antisemitism in general. This conflation is done primarily to obscure the real and existing genocidal policies of the State of Israel towards the Palestinian people, with the direct backing of the United States government. With U.S. politicians like Rep. Ilhan Omar coming under intense pressure to apologize for her accurate criticisms of AIPAC's influence in U.S. politics, the conflation between antisemitism and criticism of Zionism is no accident. It's specifically intended to shut down rightful protest and criticism of Zionism as an ideology and as a settler-colonialist project, which has lead to one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world to date (e.g. the Gaza Strip and the West Bank). // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/yoav-litvin // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with Truthout senior editor and lead columnist William Rivers Pitt. We discuss the federal investigation by former FBI Director Robert Mueller into Donald Trump’s potential collusion with Russian foreign agents during the 2016 presidential election, an investigation that lasted for most of Trump's time as President. Without buying into the media spectacle that has clouded lucid analysis into the implications of this investigation, William provides much needed perspective into what we can expect now that the investigation has officially concluded (the findings of which have not yet been publicly released, it must be noted). // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/william-rivers-pitt // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with Kevin Tucker, author of The Cull of Personality: Ayahuasca, Colonialism and the Death of a Healer, and the subject of this interview. The book takes a deep dive into the reality of the ayahuasca eco-tourism industry, and places it within the centuries-long history of colonialism and resource extraction in the Amazon Region, in particular Peru, where much of the narrative of this book is centered. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/kevin-tucker // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast