Last Born In The Wilderness

Investigative journalist Arun Gupta returns to the podcast to report on the pro-Palestine student encampments that have bloomed on university and college campuses across the United States and around the world over the past several weeks. He has been documenting the protests on campuses across New York City, including Columbia University and City College of New York (CCNY), which has seen some of the most high-profile repression from police and counter-demonstration agitators. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/arun-gupta-4 // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

Lydia Pelot-Hobbs and Jack Norton, co-editors of the collection The Jail is Everywhere, join me in this interview to discuss the “quiet jail boom” in numerous counties across the United States. They examine how the county jail has become the preeminent site of the adaptive, expansive, and shapeshifting carceral state, as well as the local and nationwide struggles to end it. The Jail is Everywhere: Fighting the New Geography of Mass Incarceration is edited by Lydia Pelot-Hobbs, Jack Norton, and Judah Schept, with contributions by, and interviews with, numerous anti-jail organizers across the United States. It was published through Verso Books. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/pelothobbes-norton // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

Lydia Pelot-Hobbs and Jack Norton, co-editors of the collection The Jail is Everywhere, join me in this interview to discuss the “quiet jail boom” in numerous counties across the United States. They examine how the county jail has become the preeminent site of the adaptive, expansive, and shapeshifting carceral state, as well as the local and nationwide struggles to end it. Support the work and listen to the full interview: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness

Chris Christou, host of The End of Tourism podcast, discusses the collapse of global tourism during the pandemic, the impact of tourism on local cultures, responsible travel practices, interconnectedness through global travel, defining travelers versus tourists, and the complexities of tourism and cultural identity.

Chris Christou joins me in this winding discussion to explore the subjects and themes raised in his phenomenal podcast, The End of Tourism, described as “a project about the deep causes and consequences of tourism, wanderlust, spectacle, exile,” as well as “an invitation into the local resistance and resilience movements in the face of each of these things.” In my discussion with him, Chris reflects on the historical moment he chose to begin this project: during the earliest waves of the global pandemic, at a time when global tourism effectively collapsed. Support the work and listen to the full interview: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness

Journalist and filmmaker Eleanor Goldfield joins me to discuss her documentary To the Trees, which documents humankind’s relationship to the sacred Redwoods and the tactics tree defenders use to protect old-growth forests from the clear-cutting practices of the lumber industry. In our discussion, Eleanor disputes the claims made by the industry of practicing sustainable harvesting practices in the Pacific Northwest, and how it is part and parcel of a larger global effort by extractive industries to greenwash ecologically destructive practices in the name of sustainability and the "green energy" transition. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/eleanor-goldfield // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

Journalist and filmmaker Eleanor Goldfield joins me to discuss her documentary To the Trees, which documents the sacred Redwoods and the tactics tree defenders use to protect old-growth forests from the clear-cutting practices of the lumber industry. In our discussion, Eleanor disputes the claims made by the industry of practicing sustainable harvesting practices in the Pacific Northwest, and how it is part and parcel of a larger global effort by extractive industries to greenwash ecologically destructive practices in the name of sustainability and the "green energy" transition. Listen to the full interview: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness

Social critic and writer Nate Bear joins me to discuss his work over the years communicating his insights into the intersections between the ongoing pandemic, human-caused climate disruption, and biospheric collapse. Nate communicates how the abandonment of the population to repeated infection, mass illness, and death, is layered in the compounding crises affecting the living systems of the planet today. Listen to the full interview: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness

Independent journalist and documentarian Abby Martin joins me to discuss Earth's Greatest Enemy, a feature length documentary that examines one of the largest polluters and contributors to global climate change in the world: the United States military. I ask Abby what the seeds of this massive project were, and why the military-industrial complex is the "elephant in the room" in the political discourse on human-caused climate change. Also, we connect this subject to the horrific mass violence in Gaza being enacted by the State of Israel—with full US complicity—to the ecocide implicit in the maintenance of US hegemonic interests globally. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/abby-martin // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

Long Covid Action Project [LCAP] activists Stephanie and Linda, along with journalist and LCAP founder Joshua Pribanic, join me in this impromptu interview to discuss the recent direct action Linda and Stephanie participated in at the Senate HELP Committee Hearing on January 18, ostensibly held to address the ongoing and growing Long Covid crisis in the United States. This is the first in an ongoing series of interviews done in collaboration with journalist and LCAP founder and activist Joshua Pribanic to address the realities of what Long Covid is, and the action needed to address this issue comprehensively. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/lcap-activists // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast