Last Born In The Wilderness

I speak with William Rees, human ecologist, ecological economist, Professor Emeritus and former Director of the University of British Columbia’s School of Community and Regional Planning in Vancouver, Canada. Dr. Rees is the originator and co-developer of the ecological footprint analysis, and the co-author, with Mathis Wackernagel, of Our Ecological Footprint, an exploration of this concept. The ecological footprint concept has become the world’s best-known metaphor for the human ‘load’ (the resources required of ecosystems to maintain our current mode of living) on the planet. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/william-rees // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with Zak Witus, freelance journalist and activist. Zak discusses the unfolding events in the Gaza Strip, in which thousands of Palestinians, over the past several months, have demonstrated against the horrific conditions imposed on the Palestinian people by the state of Israel. Over 100 Palestinian demonstrators have been killed by Israeli forces, with over 1,200 injured, during what has been called "The Great March of Return," a large-scale protest that demands “that Palestinian refugees and their descendants be allowed to return to what is now Israel.” Zak also goes over the recent decision made by the Trump Administration to move the U.S. Embassy to the city of Jerusalem, and how this decision fits into the demonstrations in the Gaza Strip. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/zak-witus // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with Franklin Lopez, also known as the Stimulator, host of SubMedia’s Here's The Fuckin' News, and former host of It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine). Franklin Lopez discusses the aims of the SubMedia media collective, as well as their iconic role as the shit-talking riot-loving anti-authoritarian character the Stimulator. Franklin also gets into the humble role filmmakers and content generators have in collective organizing and coordinating direct action. We discuss the catch-22 of using social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to promote independent media and news, while simultaneously trying to build decentralized forms of online organizing and social media outside centralized corporate media platforms. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/franklin-lopez // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

Agroecologist, entomologist, farmer, and beekeeper Dr. Jonathan Lundgren joins me for this episode. At the very beginning of our conversation, Jonathan discusses his time as a top scientist at the US Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service, during which time he conducted important research into the wide-scale use of pesticides in US agriculture. After conducting research that indicated that the use of certain chemicals (neonicotinoids) on fields was causing significant and alarming declines in insect pollinator populations, such as bees and butterflies, Jonathan was subjected to various forms of suppression and censorship from within the USDA—an attempt to hinder his work and inhibit his ability to publish his findings. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/jonathan-lundgren // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

Prolific author and historian Dr. Gerald Horne joined me to discuss his recently published book, The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, and Capitalism in 17th Century North America and the Caribbean.  In the 17th century, major European powers were undergoing massive colonization projects on the North and South American continents, resulting in mass genocide and enslavement of countless indigenous peoples. Simultaneously during this same period, millions of Africans were kidnapped from their respective homelands, transported across the vast Atlantic Ocean, and then sold for staggeringly high profits, resulting in one the most economically profitable periods—for the major European powers involved—in human history.  In this conversation, we explore how these monumentally disruptive events in the 17th century informed the initial formation and development of capitalism as the dominant socio-economic system of our time. Also, we explore the socially constructed and institutionally enforced concept of race, and how the historical development of both of these concepts, capitalism and race, are inextricably connected to the "apocalypse of settler colonialism" that arrived on the shores of the American and African continents during this time period. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/gerald-horne // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with John Feffer, director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies. This interview covers two major geopolitical trends currently developing in the world today: the reconciliation process currently unfolding between North and South Korea, and the inflamed tensions between the United States and Israel (and other regional players) with the government of Iran. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/john-feffer // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

I speak with Israel Bravo, an innovator in the world of beekeeping and bee colony storage. Israel has years of experience in beekeeping, and through experimentation and passionate dedication to the preservation of bee colonies, has managed to work through, and ultimately overcome, one of the major reoccurring problems experienced by many beekeepers around the world: the decline of bee populations in storage during the winter months. Beekeepers lose significant portions of their bee colony populations over those months of storage (often, up to 40 percent of the bee colony populations). It's common practice, at least in this part of the United States, to store bees through the winter months in vacant potato cellars, and for reasons discussed in this episode, provide less than ideal conditions for bee colony storage. Israel goes over the very practical methods and tools that can be adopted to prevent such significant losses. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/israel-bravo // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with Alley Valkyrie about the recent events in western France regarding the communal, long-term occupation at the ZAD (French: zone à défendre; English: zone to defend). Alley provides a much-needed explanation of the events currently unfolding there, contextualizing and expounding on the cultural, political, and historical trends that have led to the present situation on the ground. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/alley-valkyrie // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

Psychiatrist, lecturer, and author Dr. Iain McGilchrist joins me for this episode. We discuss some of the themes and ideas presented in his book The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World. In the very beginning of this interview, Dr. McGilchrist presents a detailed picture of the "divided brain"—specifically, the evolutionary and adaptive perceptual functions of the left and right hemispheres of the brain. We then discuss how the balance, or imbalance, of these relatively different perceptual functions inherent to each hemisphere of the brain informed the development and trajectory of human cultures and societies, up to the present. More specifically, we discuss how the Western worldview (the value systems that have been cultivated in predominantly Western societies), over the course of thousands of years, began to favor a more "left brain" form of organized thinking and cultural development, and how this predominantly "left brain" thinking has lead our civilization, now global in scope, towards the brink of wide-scale ecological devastation. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/iain-mcgilchrist // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with Max Dashu, founder of the Suppressed Histories Archive and author of Witches and Pagans: Women in European Folk Religion, 700–1100. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/max-dashu // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast