Podcasts about extreme cities

In today's episode we talk with author, professor, and activist Ashley Dawson about the neoliberal city in the context of climate change and the liberatory potential inherent in community solar energy projects. The first half of the episode follows our guest's book, Extreme Cities. The discussion starts from observations on the usual scale of reporting and perception of climate change – global or national, but not the urban scale. We talk about how large climate projects are often designed with planned obsolescence in mind, and first of all serve the interests of the elites; about the unequal impact of climate change and how communities often respond through what Ashely calls disaster communism; and about community solar energy as an example of such a collective (preventive in this case) response in the face of crisis. The second half of the ep. is based on Ashley's book, People's Power, and makes a case for community managed solar energy projects as a progressive tool through which to tackle the issue of energy poverty and the looming climate apocalypse. The topics that we cover include the solar commons as an analytical and discursive tool, issues of accessibility (financial, technological etc) surrounding solar projects, and reflections on how the state fits into the picture. ===== Re(Sources) Vlad Zaha: yt: @vladzaha806 fb: vlad.g.zaha ig: zaha.vlad Ashley Dawson https://ashleydawson.info/ Ashley Dawson, Extreme Cities: Climate Chaos and the Urban Future, Verso Books (2016). https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28952797-extreme-cities Ashley Dawson, People's Power: Reclaiming the Energy Commons, OR Books (2020). https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52636876-people-power People's power discussion series https://youtu.be/zIRen05iYSk https://youtu.be/r1T5rzf1ndc https://youtu.be/8uFujxQ-PJ0 https://youtu.be/tVwUw3H-6VE Public Power New York https://publicpowerny.org/ Community Renewables Podcast https://soundcloud.com/user-528766714 Thea Riofrancos, Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador, Duke University Press (2020). https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51897844-resource-radicals Michael Hardt & Antonio Negri, Commonwealth, Belknap Press (2009). https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6384328-commonwealth Pierre Dardot & Christian Laval, Common: On Revolution in the 21st Century, Bloomsbury Academic Press (2019). https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44175765-common After Oil Collective (AOC) https://afteroil.ca/ AOC, Solarities: Seeking Energy Justice, Univ of Minnesota Press (2022) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60615208-solarities Rob Nixon, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor, Harvard University Press (2011). https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10429440-slow-violence-and-the-environmentalism-of-the-poor Christoph Rupprecht (Ed.), Deborah Cleland (Ed.), Norie Tamura (Ed.), Rajat Chaudhuri (Ed.), Sarena Ulibarri (Ed.), Multispecies Cities: Solarpunk Urban Futures, World Weaver Press (2021). https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56906532-multispecies-cities Artwork by Alis Balogh Music: The Sound by Adelaide https://open.spotify.com/artist/5JrWus8N8CfANNXBNDMAfK ig: @_adelaide_band_ sotb podcast: https://www.seasonoftheb.com/

As of 2008, for the first time in human history about as many people live in urban areas as suburban or rural ones. That means there are a lot of people who think that they deal with greater levels of traffic, more crime, more overcrowding, and higher costs of living than residents of places they consider barely populated backwaters.

ASHLEY DAWSON talks about "extreme", or urban densities like New York City, where social inequalities and uneven effects of colonial violence and capitalist development are increasingly exacerbated by extreme weather and environmental degradation. He calls on the power of storytelling to radically imagine different futures.Dawson works across the fields of postcolonial studies, environmental humanities, and climate justice. He is a professor of English at CUNY Graduate Center and College of Staten Island, and leads a Climate Action Lab.

No matter how we tackle climate change, cities are key. They emit massive amounts of carbon and they're ground zero for the climate crisis. But could they also prove to be the sites of our best climate solutions? That's this week on The Laura Flanders Show. “It takes a lot of energy to keep buildings cool. In New York City, buildings contribute about 70% of the city's carbon emissions. So in addition to transportation, those are the major factors in cities, and we've got massive cities growing around the planet.” – Ashley Dawson “I think you have to start with a dream and thinking outside the box. And creating policy that actually directly affects change. And that comes from the ground up. It doesn't come from the top down.” – Mychal Johnson “It's our public environment, it's our public spaces, it's our city. If we think that we have the right to the city, we have to actually verify that we have some agency over what happens. And right now we don't.” – Aurash Khawarzad Featured Guests: Ashley Dawson, Professor of English, CUNY Graduate Center “My fields of specialization are cultural studies, environmental humanities, and postcolonial studies. Areas of interest of mine include the experience and literature of migration, including movement from colonial and postcolonial nations to the former imperial center (Britain in particular) and from rural areas to mega-cities of the global South such as Lagos and Mumbai. I have also worked recently on contemporary discourses of U.S. imperialism and on the movement for climate justice.” Get his book, Extreme Cities: The Peril and Promise of Urban Life in the Age of Climate Change Mychal Johnson, Co-Founder, South Bronx Unite “Mychal Johnson has a long-standing track record in community-based advocacy for environmental and economic justice. Mychal is the co-founder of South Bronx Unite, a coalition of residents, organizations and allies confronting policies that perpetuate harm and building support for viable community-driven solutions in the South Bronx, where one in five children suffer from asthma because of the oversaturation of industrial facilities and diesel truck intensive businesses and decades of neglect.” Aurash Khawarzad, Artist, Educator and Urban Planner “Aurash Khawarzad is an Artist, Educator, and Urban Planner. His work uses a combination of research, creative practice, and multi-disciplinary collaboration, as a means of visioning communities. Most recently he created of The Upper Manhatta(n) Project, a model for creating resilience to climate change. He is originally from Virginia and has been practicing in New York City since 2009.” Get his book, The Upper Manhatta(n) Project Become a Patron at Patreon.  That's also where you'll find research materials related to this episode along with links and more on our guests.

This week we talk to Ashley Dawson about capitalism and climate change. In our intro, we talk about the unfolding and cascading allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh — and what this says about the power of #MeToo. Ashley Dawson is a professor at the City University of New York and the author of many books, including Extinction: A Radical History and most recently Extreme Cities: The Peril and Promise of Urban Life in the Age of Climate Change. He is working on a new book about energy transition and energy democracy, and he's the founder of the Climate Action Lab. On the first anniversary of Hurricane Maria, we talked to Ashley about why storms are increasing in frequency and intensity as a result of climate change. We also discuss “climate apartheid” and how race, class and global inequalities shape how the effects of climate change are experienced. We talk about how Trump’s economic nationalism is fueling right-wing climate change denial — and why liberal, market-oriented solutions do not offer an alternative. Instead, Ashley points to the power of social movements, both in the global South and here in the U.S., to demand real reforms. Ultimately, however, saving the climate will require going beyond capitalism and linking the struggle for the environment to the fight for a socialist society organized on an entirely different basis. Links for this week’s interview: • Ashley Dawson’s book, Extreme Cities, discusses why cities are ground zero for climate change and is available from Verso Books (http://bit.ly/ExtremeCities). • In this Socialist Worker interview, Danny talked to Ashley about his book Extreme Cities and the impacts of flooding and hurricanes in urban areas (http://bit.ly/DawsonSW). • Socialist Worker had recent coverage of Hurricane Florence’s impact on North Carolina’s poor (http://bit.ly/FlorenceSW) as well as a piece on the recovery and resistance in Puerto Rico a year after Maria (http://bit.ly/PuertoRicoRecoverySW). Links for this week’s intro: • Socialist Worker editorial on what the fight against Kavanaugh’s nomination represents (http://bit.ly/KavanaughEditorialSW). • Nicole Colson on #MeToo vs the Senate (http://bit.ly/MeToovsSenate). Music and audio for this episode: The Boy & Sister Alma, “Lizard Eyes” (Dead Sea Captains Remix) Radiohead, “Creep” Lana del Rey, “Ultraviolence” Beastie Boys, “Time To Build” The Pixies, “Monkey Gone To Heaven” Marvin Gaye, “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” Talking Heads, “(Nothing But) Flowers”

Climate change will affect cities in many different ways, and not just on the coasts of our continents. Our guests discussed what actions we can take as a society to save our cities, and a new book is out called "Extreme Cities" by Professor Ashley Dawson. Out guests in the KOOP studio were: Professor Ashley Dawson of City College of New York, is the author of "Extreme Cities". He is the Currie C. and Thomas A. Barron Visiting Professor in the Environment and Humanities at Princeton Environmental Institute. Bobbie Tsukahara is one of the founders of 350-austin.org James Cole, with the Democratic Society of America.

A conversation with writer and professor Ashley Dawson on his latest book, Extreme Cities. Here, he presents a disturbing survey of the necessarily ecological history of global urbanization and industrialization, as well as the unstable futures they are producing. As much a harrowing study as a call to arms Extreme Cities is a necessary read for anyone concerned with the threat of global warming, and of the cities of the world. The book is available for sale at Verso Books: https://www.versobooks.com/books/2558-extreme-cities