Podcasts about global north

Socio-economic and political divide

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Best podcasts about global north

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Latest podcast episodes about global north

The Red Nation Podcast
Revolution "Betrayed"? What's Really Happening in Venezuela? w/Cira Pascual Marquina & Chris Gilbert

The Red Nation Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 8, 2026 118:46


Since the illegal U.S. abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and First Combatant Cilia Flores, Global North commentators have rushed to declare the Bolivarian Revolution betrayed or defeated. The recent extradition of Alex Saab has only intensified these accusations.  In this episode, Chavista intellectuals Cira Pascual and Chris Gilbert discuss Venezuela's new reality and the tendency of Global North observers to interpret the Bolivarian process through abstract ideological schemas rather than its concrete historical development. Read: "A Great Leap into Reality: Venezuela Today" by Chris Gilbert and Cira Pascual Marquina:  https://mronline.org/2026/05/28/a-great-leap-into-reality-venezuela-today/ Cira Pascual Marquina is a popular educator at the Pluriversidad, El Panal Commune's educational initiative in the working-class barrio of 23 de Enero in Caracas. She is also a founder and member of the Communal Democracy Network. Chris Gilbert is a professor of political studies at the Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela, contributing editor at Monthly Review magazine, and the author of Commune or Nothing!: Venezuela's Communal Movement and Its Socialist Project (Monthly Review, 2023), among other books and articles.  Gilbert and Pascual Marquina are the creators and hosts of Escuela de Cuadros, a Marxist educational television program and podcast. They are coauthors of Venezuela, the Present as Struggle: Voices from the Bolivarian Revolution (Monthly Review, 2020) and the book series Resistencia comunal frente al bloqueo imperialista (Observatorio Venezolano Antibloqueo, 2021–2026). Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel https://youtu.be/to_O4ypFz9o Empower our work: GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/empower-red-medias-indigenous-content  Subscribe to The Red Nation Newsletter: https://www.therednation.org/ Patreon www.patreon.com/redmediapr

The Urban Farm Podcast with Greg Peterson
987: Rules for Global Seed Saving with Bill McDorman

The Urban Farm Podcast with Greg Peterson

Play Episode Listen Later May 29, 2026 45:00


Join our monthly Seed Chat at SeedChat.orgIn This Podcast: In this monthly Seed Chat, Greg Peterson and Bill McDorman explore the global rules governing seed ownership, seed saving, biodiversity, and agricultural policy. The conversation dives into international treaties, plant patenting, farmers' rights, and the growing tension between the Global North and Global South over control of genetic resources. Bill shares firsthand experiences attending United Nations treaty negotiations and working with Indigenous seed sovereignty issues through Native Seeds/SEARCH. The episode also highlights why everyday gardeners and farmers should become “seed citizens” by saving and sharing locally adapted seeds.Bill McDorman is a renowned seed saver, educator, and advocate for agricultural biodiversity. He co-founded the Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance and has spent decades teaching gardeners and farmers how to grow, save, and share heirloom seeds. Through workshops, speaking, and mentorship, Bill inspires communities to strengthen local food systems, preserve regional seed diversity, and protect seed sovereignty for future generations.Key TopicsSeed libraries and locally adapted seed sharingInternational Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA)UPOV and global plant variety protection lawsWorld Trade Organization (WTO) seed policy influenceFarmers' rights and seed sovereigntyPlant patenting and intellectual property in agricultureConvention on Biological Diversity (CBD)Nagoya Protocol and access-benefit sharingDigital Sequence Information (DSI) and genetic ownershipNative Seeds/SEARCH and Indigenous seed stewardshipOrganic Seed Alliance and seed policy debatesGlobal North vs. Global South agricultural power dynamicsSeed banks and the Multilateral System (MLS)The importance of saving open-pollinated seedsThe future resilience of local food systemsKey Questions AnsweredWhat is the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture?The ITPGRFA is a legally binding international treaty created to govern the conservation, sharing, and equitable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. It officially entered into force in 2004 and now includes participation from more than 180 countries.Why do global seed treaties matter to everyday gardeners and farmers?These treaties influence who can save seeds, who profits from plant genetics, and how agricultural biodiversity is preserved. The policies affect food security, seed availability, farmer independence, and long-term resilience of local food systems.What is UPOV and why is it controversial?UPOV is an international agreement that grants intellectual property protections to plant breeders. Critics argue that newer versions of UPOV weaken farmers' traditional rights to save and replant seeds while strengthening corporate control over agriculture.How does the WTO influence seed laws around the world?According to Bill McDorman, countries seeking participation in global trade systems often adopt UPOV-style protections as part of WTO-related trade expectations, creating pressure on smaller nations to align with industrial seed systems.What is the Nagoya Protocol?The Nagoya Protocol is an international agreement designed to ensure fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources. It attempts to address historical exploitation of Indigenous and Global South biodiversity by pharmaceutical and agricultural corporations.What is Digital Sequence Information (DSI)?DSI refers to genetic sequencing data derived from crops and plant varieties. A major debate centers around who owns this information and whether communities that stewarded these crops for generations should share in the economic benefits created from their genetic data.What are farmers' rights in global seed policy?Farmers' rights include the ability to save, use, exchange, and sell farm-saved seed. These rights remain one of the most contested issues in international agricultural negotiations.Why are seed libraries important?Seed libraries help preserve locally adapted seed varieties while strengthening regional food resilience. They also create community networks for knowledge sharing and decentralized seed stewardship.How did Native Seeds/SEARCH navigate Indigenous seed stewardship?Bill shares stories from his time directing Native Seeds/SEARCH, including working with Zuni and Hopi communities to renegotiate relationships around seed stewardship, naming rights, and seed distribution.Why does Bill McDorman encourage people to attend UN treaty meetings?He believes participation in international seed policy discussions is critical for protecting biodiversity and farmers' rights. Attending these events allows citizens, gardeners, and small farmers to directly engage with global agricultural policy.Episode HighlightsBill discovers a seed library inside a small-town New Mexico library and reflects on the importance of locally adapted seeds.Greg and Bill explain how seed laws emerged alongside industrial agriculture and large-scale seed commerce.Bill breaks down UPOV, WTO policy, and how plant patenting transformed global agriculture.The conversation explores how Indigenous plant genetics were historically extracted and commercialized.Bill recounts receiving a cease-and-desist letter regarding Zuni bean varieties while directing Native Seeds/SEARCH.A deep discussion unfolds around Digital Sequence Information and the ownership of plant DNA data.Bill explains why small farmers across Africa increasingly believe they no longer have the right to save seeds.The episode concludes with a call for more “seed citizens” actively saving and sharing seeds locally.ResourcesResource — Seed Chat Live Events — SeedChat.orgPodcast — Urban Farm PodcastOrganization — UPOV – International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of PlantsOrganization — World Trade Organization (WTO)Organization — Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA)Treaty — International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA)Organization — Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)Resource — Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharingCommunity — Organic Seed AllianceOrganization — Native Seeds/SEARCHEvent — Great American Seed Up — First weekend in November in Phoenix, ArizonaVisit UrbanFarm.org/987 for the show notes and links on this episode!Need a little bit of advice or just a feedback on your design for your yard or garden?The Urban Farm Team is offering consults over the phone or zoom. Get the benefits of a personalized garden and yard space analysis without the cost of trip charges.You can chat with Greg to get permaculture based feedback.Click HERE to learn more!*Disclosure: Some of the links in our podcast show notes and blog posts are affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase, we will earn a nominal commission at no cost to you. We offer links to items recommended by our podcast guests and guest writers as a service to our audience and these items are not selected because of the commission we receive from your purchases. We know the decision is yours, and whether you decide to buy something is completely up to you.

Urban Political Podcast
107 - Tenant Politics and Urban Political Economy

Urban Political Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 12, 2026 84:12 Transcription Available


Within the last years four books have been published exploring the political economy of the private rental sector, with a focus on inequality and resistance. This episode would bring together all four authors (see below) to explore the political economy forces driving the growth of the private rental sector and associated forms of housing injustice (e.g. unaffordability, evictions), the analytical approaches that can best draw out what is at stake in all this (especially from a political perspective), and how this all relates to the renaissance of tenant organizing across many countries in the Global North. By bringing together four of the most prominent authors/activists in this area, the episode aims to capture a crucial moment in the articulation of the emerging politics of the private rental sector. The four books all share a critical urban political economy orientation, drawing on concepts such as financialization and rent. They are all also all interested in ‘residents as agents', and the practices and organizational forms through which movements seek to create ‘tenants as subject'. The episode would not focus on any of the four books as such, but rather discuss the cross-cutting themes. As the books reflect a variety of different cities/countries, this discussion has the potential to gain a wide listenership and to inform tenant organizing and scholar activism.

The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
A Perspective From Lebanon: Who Will We Be When Things Get Hard? | Frankly 140

The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens

Play Episode Listen Later May 1, 2026 16:26


In this week's Frankly, Nate steps away from analysis and reflects on a call that reframed his thinking. He shares a recent conversation with a close friend living in Lebanon, who amid ongoing daily violence and loss has been hosting displaced families and leading meditation practices in her community. Nate notes that her grounded presence, alongside the trust she carries from a centuries-old lineage in her village, reveals the ways in which social capital and contemplative practice can hold someone steady as the world around them changes. From that conversation, Nate distills the wider work of this platform into three questions he believes may matter more than the macro-analysis he usually offers. Who are we going to be when comfort and convenience start thinning out? How are we going to live with a biophysical haircut on the horizon? And what are we willing to protect, even at a cost? He notices how many people watching from the relative safety of the Global North live in a constant low-grade state of stress, even without immediate cause, while his friend remains grounded despite being surrounded by actual danger. Nate suggests that separating our internal responses from the external world is the primary work ahead of us, and closes by naming the recent shift in his own curiosity toward the question of who we might become as humans sitting at the precipice of a species-level transition. When comfort and convenience start thinning out, who are you going to be? How do you separate your internal fight or flight response from what is actually happening around you? And what are you willing to give some of your life's energy to protect? (Recorded April 30th, 2026)   Show Notes and More   Watch this video episode on YouTube   Want to learn the broad overview of The Great Simplification in 30 minutes? Watch our Animated Movie.   ---   Support The Institute for the Study of Energy and Our Future   Join our Substack newsletter   Join our Hylo channel and connect with other listeners  

The Action Research Podcast
Rethinking Resilience: Climate Justice and Community Action Across Borders with Céleste Pepin

The Action Research Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 1, 2026 35:21


Welcome to the second interview in our special mini series, Eco-Justice and Climate Action. Today our guest, Céleste Pepin, graduate of the Gender and Social Justice Studies Honours program at McGill University, joins Blane and Joe, to share their work: “Politics of Resilience-Building: Explorations of Community-Based Interventions in Trinidad and Tobago”. An inspiring researcher, Queen Elizabeth Scholar (2023) and student, Celeste shares their insights from working and living in a new environment, the impact of research “trends” like resilience on project planning, and the intersections of action research and feminist methodologies. Join us for an exciting conversation traversing the many aspects of action research and beyond.Céleste first shares how the opportunity to engage in action research came to be during their undergraduate degree, as well as the project beginnings [01:00]. This led to exploring the preparation and challenges of working in an unfamiliar environment [6:57], along with the tensions they encountered between international agency funding and local realities on the ground in Trinidad and Tobago [10:11]. Céleste also reflects on the role of the university and how institutional context shapes the way research is designed and conducted [17:16]. Together, we explore the surprising parallels between climate resiliency efforts in Montreal and Trinidad and Tobago [20:53], leading to a rich discussion about the responsibility of the Global North to learn climate adaptation strategies from the Global South [24:00]. This connects to a broader conversation about the links between feminist popular education and action research as complementary frameworks [26:31], before closing with key takeaways and lessons Céleste is carrying forward [29:41].Thank you Celeste for sharing your time and work with us.Thank you to our listeners for tuning in to this episode of the Action Research Podcast, created by Adam Stieglitz, Joe Levitan, Shikha Diwakar, Cory Legassic, and Vanessa Gold. Produced by Shikha Diwakar and Vanja Lugonjic. Subscribe to our podcast on most major podcast distribution platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts.How have you found yourself in the world of action research? Want to be interviewed or share one of your projects? Get in touch with us. Biography:Céleste Pepin is a graduating Gender and Social Justice Studies Honours student at McGill University. Their research focuses on the use of feminist imperial foreign policies within international armed conflicts and uses decolonial feminist perspectives to analyze the gendered dynamics of war and the legitimization strategies employed by Western states during military interventions in the Global South. By foregrounding decolonial feminist perspectives, they challenge conventional narratives and highlight the complexities of power relations in contemporary geopolitics.Resources: Environmental Organizations in Trinidad and TobagoGreen T&T: an NGO working in ecotourismCANARI: Ensuring that people whose livelihoods depend on the environment have a say in its protection and managementFondes Amandes, reforestation projectERIC, community-based approach to reef management and protection --This episode is part of our Eco-justice and Climate Action Series. Authors from journal articles in a Special Issue of the Canadian Journal for Action Research hop behind the mic and share the inspirations, process, and findings from their projects. Join Joe Levitan, Shikha Diwakar and special guest host Blane Harvey, as they interview an inspiring group of researchers, educators, organizers, and more, navigating the process of action research.

Develpreneur: Become a Better Developer and Entrepreneur
AI Data Sovereignty: Why Owning Data Means Owning the Future

Develpreneur: Become a Better Developer and Entrepreneur

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 30, 2026 25:01


AI data sovereignty is quickly becoming one of the most critical issues in global technology—and one of the least understood. At its core, it asks a simple question: Who owns the data that shapes intelligence? Because whoever owns the data ultimately controls the outcomes. About Dr. James Maisiri Dr. James Maisiri is a leading voice on AI and society, focusing on how emerging technologies impact labor, culture, and inequality across Africa. His work connects sociological insight with technical realities, emphasizing ethical and inclusive AI systems. He has worked with UNESCO, published in the Journal of BRICS Studies, and contributed to major African publications.

What on Earth?
Why the cobalt we need for our electric cars is costing lives in Africa

What on Earth?

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 30, 2026 32:59


Recent findings from an investigation by our colleagues at EIA US reveal a shocking truth about cobalt production in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Cobalt is an essential element in the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles in the Global North – but its production in DRC has left communities grappling with severe respiratory issues linked to the pollution from a new processing facility. In this episode, EIA US Africa Programme Campaigner Luke Allen joins EIA UK Senior Press & Communications Officer Paul Newman to discuss the findings of the investigation, documented in the report Toxic Transition.

St. Moses Church
Windswept: Holy Spirit and Creation

St. Moses Church

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 27, 2026 36:20


In this lecture, Ian explores Acts chapter 10, where two men—Peter, a Jewish apostle, and Cornelius, a Gentile Roman centurion—have divine encounters that signify a pivotal moment in the early Christian movement. He emphasizes the importance of these events, framing them as a fundamental shift where the gospel transcends ethnic boundaries. Ian references the visitation Cornelius receives from an angel instructing him to summon Peter, and the subsequent vision Peter has of a sheet filled with unclean animals, which challenges his understanding of God's inclusivity. This moment is characterized as a revelation that God does not show favoritism, setting the stage for the acceptance of Gentiles into the faith.As Peter delivers the message of Jesus to Cornelius and his household, he recounts the ministry, death, and resurrection of Christ, concluding with a powerful assertion that everyone who believes in Him will have their sins forgiven. The unexpected outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Gentiles during this speech emphasizes that the presence of the Holy Spirit is essential for inclusion in God's family. Ian highlights the significance of this episode for the universal church, marking it as the beginning of a broader, trans-ethnic kingdom of God—emphasizing that belief in Jesus, coupled with the reception of the Holy Spirit, is the benchmark for all believers.Through the lecture, Ian also addresses the historical context in which the church has evolved, pointing out that the Holy Spirit, while often overlooked, has played a critical role in the expansion of Christianity, particularly through Pentecostal movements. Utilizing statistical insights, he notes that Pentecostal and charismatic expressions of Christianity have seen phenomenal growth compared to other traditions, particularly in the Global South. He discusses how this growth contrasts with the stagnation of Christian movements in the Global North, providing a nuanced perspective on the role of the Holy Spirit in invigorating faith communities.Expanding upon the theological implications of neglecting the Holy Spirit, Ian proposes that each member of the Trinity must be given equal importance in the church. He introduces the concept of a visual triangle representing the Trinity, demonstrating how various Christian traditions emphasize different aspects, often leading to a fragmented understanding of faith. He illustrates this by discussing prayer forms that reflect these emphases, showing how this has contributed to a disconnect among believers.Moving into a deeper analysis, the lecture shifts focus to the relationship between creation and the Holy Spirit. Ian elaborates on a biblical exploration of the Spirit's role during the creation narrative in Genesis, discussing the phrase "tohu v'bohu," which reveals the chaotic and desolate state of the earth before God's creative action. He draws parallels between this ancient context and the modern world, suggesting that it is often in the midst of chaos and despair that the Spirit of God breathes life and renewal. Ian encourages the audience to recognize that desolation and devastation—whether in global circumstances or personal conditions—are exactly the spaces where God's Spirit actively works. He shares personal reflections and poignant examples, reinforcing the idea that these experiences of emptiness can become fertile ground for new beginnings.Concluding the lecture, Ian invokes the imagery of “windswept” trees that flourish at the edge of inhospitable environments, suggesting that believers should similarly navigate between desolation and the vibrancy of life in faith. He calls on the audience to invite the Holy Spirit into their lives and communities, encouraging them to embody the life-giving power of God amid a world that often feels chaotic and devoid of hope. The call to action is clear: to be a church marked by the active presence of the Holy Spirit, ready to bring blessing and renewal to a broken world, begins with prayer and a deepened understanding of the Trinity's interconnectedness.

Disruption / Interruption
Disrupting Agri-Finance: Turning “Too Risky” Farmers into Prime Investments with FLO FUND's Suvankar Mishra and Stefan Jacob

Disruption / Interruption

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 23, 2026 51:01


In this episode of Disruption/Interruption, host KJ sits down with Suvankar Mishra and Stefan Jacob, co-founders of FLO FUND, a fintech platform on a mission to close the $170 billion financing gap facing smallholder farmers in the Global South. The conversation unpacks why traditional banks have failed these farmers, how value chain financing is changing the game, and why the food on your table in Europe or North America is directly tied to whether a farmer in Kenya or India can access a simple loan. With deep field experience across Asia, Africa, and India, Suvankar and Stefan explain how FLO FUND uses real-time agricultural data and digital infrastructure to provide crop-linked, insured lending and why this is not a charity case, but a sound investment in the global food system. Four Key Takeaways: The Financing Gap Is Massive, and Personal (3:40) There are over 500 million smallholder farmers feeding one-third to one-half of the world's population, yet they can't access basic credit. FLO FUND is targeting a $170 billion annual financing shortfall that banks won't touch. Value Chain Financing Is the Real Solution (18:27) Increasingly, farmers aren't getting loans from banks — they're getting them from processors, co-ops, and agribusiness actors in their own value chains. FLO FUND plugs into these existing relationships to inject liquidity at multiple points in the chain, not just at the farm gate. Technology Has Evolved Enough to Make This Work (30:12) Earlier fintech attempts in this space failed because they used alternative data (like mobile recharge behavior) to justify predatory interest rates. FLO FUND leverages mature digital agricultural infrastructure — soil sensors, real-time crop data, and established digital ecosystems — to structure fair, insured, asset-backed lending. Your Food Security Depends on These Farmers (35:31) 90% of macadamia nuts consumed in Europe come from Kenya. 60–70% of global cocoa comes from West Africa. Climate change is accelerating risk in these supply chains. If the Global North doesn't invest in smallholder farmer access to finance, it will pay the price in food scarcity, rising prices, and healthcare costs. Quote of the Show (47:59):"We're not here to provide financing on the basis of default behavior. We're here to provide financing based on integrity."— Suvankar Mishra, co-founder of FLO FUND Join our Anti-PR newsletter where we’re keeping a watchful and clever eye on PR trends, PR fails, and interesting news in tech so you don't have to. You're welcome. Want PR that actually matters? Get 30 minutes of expert advice in a fast-paced, zero-nonsense session from Karla Jo Helms, a veteran Crisis PR and Anti-PR Strategist who knows how to tell your story in the best possible light and get the exposure you need to disrupt your industry. Click here to book your call: https://info.jotopr.com/free-anti-pr-eval Ways to connect with Suvankar Mishra and Stefan Jacob: Suvankar’s LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/suvankarmishraStefan’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefanjacob/Company Website: https://www.theflo.uk/ How to get more Disruption/Interruption: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlDSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Common Good Podcast
Common Good Podcast x The Liminal Space Episode 7: What Becomes Possible When We Listen Beyond Ourselves with Tristan and Rashid

Common Good Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 22, 2026 17:05


In this final episode of the miniseries, Tristan and Rashid step back to reflect on what seven episodes of storytelling from Cape Town have revealed. They revisit the arc of the series, from grounding ourselves in our bodies with Bongeka and Aphiwe, to the critical hope of Ashley and Helene, the courage of Ncedisa, the radical imagination of Leila, and the belonging found at Charlie and Barry's dinner table.They explore the power and danger of stories, drawing on Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's “the danger of a single story” and James Cone's call for a global analysis of liberation. They ask what it means to tell stories from the Global South without claiming to speak for it, and challenge the ways resources and power are still gate-kept by those claiming to want change. The episode opens and closes with collectively written poems on the role of stories in making a new world.THEMESReflection. The danger of a single story. Global South and Global North. Collective liberation. Interrogating our own narratives. Stories as world-making. Power and resources. Invitation to the listener.FEATURED VOICESTristan Pringle is a life and executive coach, facilitator, and poet based in Cape Town.Rashid Adams is a musician, songwriter, music producer, and ethnomusicologist based in Cape Town.CREDITS| Produced by | Rashid Epstein Adams| Music by | Rashid Epstein Adams (AKA Arkenstone) and Pursuit| A collaboration between | The Common Good Podcast & The Liminal Space PodcastLINKS| Podcast | linktr.ee/theliminalspacepod | Substack | theliminalspacepodcast.substack.com | Instagram | @theliminalspacepod

The Economy, Land & Climate Podcast
How do trade unions influence climate policy?

The Economy, Land & Climate Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 17, 2026 35:48


The labour movement has contributed to climate and environmental policy for decades, and developed the concept of a ‘just transition'. Despite this, the relationship between unions and climate policymakers can be strained, with concerns from both parties about how the other will approach job losses from phasing out fossil fuels.  How has trade union policy on decarbonisation developed over the decades, and what are union leaders' perspectives on more radical academic arguments, such as the need to structure economic policy around other metrics than GDP? With particular focus on Germany and the UK, Bertie talks to Vera Trappmann about union engagement with green policymaking, what a just transition means for workers, and how this varies between Global North and South. Vera Trappmann is Professor of Comparative Employment Relations at Leeds University, where she co-leads the Priestley Centre for Climate Futures. Her work focuses on climate change's impact on workers, as well as union movement perspectives and policies on climate issues. Further reading:  'Perspectives on Social and Justice Issues in Climate Policy – Comparing the Just Transitions, Sustainable Welfare and Eco-Social Policy Literatures', Milena Büchs, Vera Trappmann, Gina Moran, Max Koch, WIREs Climate Change, 2026'Trades unions, climate policy and just transition in the UK', Vera Trappmann, Jo Cutter, Ursula Balderson, 2026'German Trade Unions and Decarbonisation: A Transition to Green Growth, A‐Growth or Degrowth?' Vera Trappmann, Dennis Eversberg, Felix Schulz, Industrial Relations Journal, 2025What workers want: Conditions for a fair and just transition in the UK, Vera Trappmann, Jo Cutter, and Alice Garvey, 2025'Conjunctures of eco-social partnership unionism: The German Trade Union Confederation's climate policies over three decades', Vera Trappmann, Dennis Eversberg, Felix Schulz, Industrielle Beziehungen, 2024Send us Fan MailClick here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

New Species
Who Describes the Spiders? With Katherine Montana and Cláudia Xavier

New Species

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 15, 2026 37:18


“I hope that individual taxonomists take a step back and really think about the choices they make when it comes to collaboration…I want taxonomists to consider equity in their work, and not just consider that but actively support actions that are making a difference in the way we do science.” Cláudia Xavier's words here address the issue that is the focus of her new paper; who actually gets the opportunity to be a taxonomist? In this episode, I talk to Katherine and Cláudia about their experiences writing this paper, but also being taxonomists in a field that wasn't built with everyone in mind. They tell me the stories of two marginalized taxonomists who made outsized impacts on their field, and how they hope their research lays the foundation for a more equitable and just arachnology in the future.Katherine Montana and Cláudia Xavier's paper “If history is written by the victors, who describes the spiders? Species author trends reflect gender and geopolitical disparities in biodiversity science” is in volume 146, issue 1 of the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. It can be found here: https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blaf067A transcript of this episode can be found here: Cláudia and KatherineA spanish transcript of this episode can be found here: Cláudia and Katherine en españolFollow Cláudia on Bluesky: @claudiaxavier.bsky.social And learn from her on Instagram: @geaaoficialCheck out more from the Esposito lab:https://www.arachnerds.info/And follow them on Instagram: @arachnerdsDr. Esposito is also the founder of the 500 Queer Scientists project:https://500queerscientists.com/World Spider Catalog: https://wsc.nmbe.ch/Untold Stories from the Academy:https://www.calacademy.org/scientists/library/untold-storiesWhy Fish Don't Exist by Lulu Millerhttps://pushkinpress.com/book/why-fish-dont-exist/Additional reading:Developing scientific equity for biodiversity research: a thematic analysis of ecological change impacts on ranchers in Baja California Sur, Mexico: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742170525100100Science in Indigenous homelands: addressing power and justice in sustainability science from/with/in the Penobscot Riverhttps://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-021-00904-3Promoting equity between the Global North and Global South in entomological researchhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2025.101357Anti-racist interventions to transform ecology, evolution and conservation biology departmentshttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01522-zBe sure to follow New Species on Bluesky (@newspeciespodcast.bsky.social) and Instagram (@NewSpeciesPodcast) and “like” the podcast page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/NewSpeciesPodcast).Music in this podcast is "No More (Instrumental)," by HaTom (https://fanlink.to/HaTom)If you have questions or feedback about this podcast, please e-mail us at NewSpeciesPodcast@gmail.comIf you would like to support this podcast and enjoy bonus episodes, please consider doing so at https://www.patreon.com/NewSpeciesPod

Who Makes Cents?: A History of Capitalism Podcast
Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff on Muskism

Who Makes Cents?: A History of Capitalism Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 1, 2026 53:26


For those in the Global North, the twentieth century was the Fordist century—an era of mass production and mass consumption. But as Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff argue in their new book, there's another order afoot: Muskism.  Elon Musk, they show, is an avatar for a whole range of phenomena that have shaped our world: from a vision of white supremacy fostered in South Africa; to a symbiosis between Silicon Valley and the warfare state; to a world where founders become technokings; to a dream of a posthuman future where man and machine have merged into a networked whole. Muskism, they reveal, is a new operating system for the twenty-first century.  Listen in to this very special episode—recorded live and in person—to learn more. 


Investing in Regenerative Agriculture
413 Anastasia Volkova - Building the world's largest MRV provider

Investing in Regenerative Agriculture

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 31, 2026 52:58 Transcription Available


Regenerative agriculture really works. Data shows that the ability of crops, from planting to harvest, to withstand weather shocks (50-year droughts and floods happening every year, anyone?) correlates very strongly with regenerative agriculture practices. To enable that at scale, MRVs are crucial. Happy to welcome back on the podcast Anastasia Volkova, co-founder of Regrow Ag, the AI-powered platform to make agriculture resilient, who just made another acquisition. We check in with the MRV pioneer and successful entrepreneur about why they are merging with the leading LATAM player. Last time we talked, five years ago, they had also just merged.We talk about the current state of the MRV world: who is paying, who isn't, who is doubling down on remote sensing, and who is investing in resilient agriculture.What do the current wars everywhere (we are recording this in mid-March '26, when the Iran war is in full swing) mean for resilient agriculture and the investments needed to unlock it? We also talk- just as we did five years ago- about fertiliser and the double role it plays. In the Global North we can easily cut 70%- yes, 70%- without meaningful yield drops, but in the Global South it's desperately needed in many places. With the current exploding prices and energy costs, that will be difficult.We discuss AI and its ability to unlock insights from large (cleaned-up) data sets, and why she is stepping into a more living-systems way of thinking. She's optimistic that watershed- scale regeneration is almost at our fingertips.More about this episode.Thoughts? Ideas? Questions? Send us a message!LARIS 2026Latin American Regenerative Investment Summit (Cumbre de Inversiones Regenerativas de América Latina). Be part of the movement that is regenerating the way we learn, invest, and live.Bogotá, ColombiaMay 12 - 14https://regenerativo.org/en/laris/ Find out more about our Generation-Re investment syndicate:https://gen-re.land/ Thank you to our Field Builders Circle for supporting us. Learn more hereSupport the show=======In Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food podcast show we talk to the pioneers in the regenerative food and agriculture space to learn more on how to put our money to work to regenerate soil, people, local communities and ecosystems while making an appropriate and fair return. Hosted by Koen van Seijen.

Outrage and Optimism
Flooded: Is extreme weather shifting the climate front lines?

Outrage and Optimism

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 26, 2026 36:52


We used to be shocked by this. Hundreds of thousands displaced, millions affected, whole communities washed out. But somewhere along the way, extreme weather events have become background noise.This week, Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson explore what it means to live in a world where extreme rainfall, displacement and repeated flood damage are no longer rare shocks but part of a rapidly changing climate reality. Last year alone, Southern Africa, Pakistan, Brazil, South Sudan, and many other countries were devastated by catastrophic flooding. We reflect on the scale of the global crisis, the lives upended, and the huge economic losses that too often go uninsured.Then Paul speaks with Louis Ramez, co-founder of Flooded People UK, about what happens when flooding stops being just a weather event and becomes a political force. They discuss the growing toll of flooding in the UK, from mental health impacts to rising insurance costs and falling property values, and ask what collective action looks like when communities are forced to confront climate damage on their own doorsteps.As the front lines of climate change move ever deeper into the Global North, will governments finally respond with the urgency this crisis demands? And can the devastation that flows from climate impacts help rally a social movement for change?Learn More:About flooding in the UK…

The Farm Podcast Mach II
Iran, Coups & Palantir's New Model Army

The Farm Podcast Mach II

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 23, 2026 61:57


Iran war, Palantir, Shyam Sankar, Detachment 201 (Executive Innovation Corp), Mobilize: How to Reboot the American Industrial Base and Stop World War III, Iran war as an "opportunity," will a coup be launched against Trump?, Israel, Israeli lobby, US attempts to pivot out of the Gulf, why the Global North embraced renewable energy, Israel's existential crisis, Greater Israel, Epstein, the rejection of Israel by MAGA/Republicans, the Epstein Files as a distraction to geopolitical intrigues, the Beltway's indifference to the Epstein files, the push to blame Israel for the Iran war, Kharg Island and the consequences of an attack, grid war, global grid war on oil infrastructures, Trump's attempts to blackmail China, what happens if Gulf oil goes offline, Iranian sleeper cell false flags and the American's establishments response, the EU's refusal to back Trump and the implications, how a possible coup to remove Trump would unfold, why JD Vance will retain power, the end of Israel, America's obsolete defense industry as the actual crisis, the primes and their failures, Industry 4.0 and why the US can't achieve it, Peter Thiel and the military industrial complex of the twenty-first century, AI, Anduril, Elon Musk, US plans to leapfrog past Industry 4.0 with AI, reindustrialization of America, "utilizing" the grid, Utilize Coalition, islanding/behind-the-meter, the two grid state, a changing of the guard within the military-industrial complex, has World War III already started?, Trump's 48 hour deadlineMusic by: Keith Allen Dennishttps://keithallendennis.bandcamp.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Explore the Circular Economy
Policy unplugged: Implementing circular economy policy with Joss Blériot

Explore the Circular Economy

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 17, 2026 18:21


We are currently seeing a shift where circular economy policy is moving out of purely environmental ministries and into the hands of economic planning authorities and ministries of industry. In this episode, Lou is joined by Joss Blériot, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's Executive Policy Lead, who cuts through the noise of global headlines and looks at what's actually moving on the ground. Together, they explore why there has been a 35% surge in national circular economy strategies worldwide. From the Global North to the Global South, the conversation highlights how circularity is currently being implemented and how we might address regional and international fragmentation to harmonise definitions. We also hear which specific policy tools we should be prioritising right now to go further and faster. If you enjoyed this episode, then please share with your colleagues, or leave us a review or comment on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube.

at home in my head
Random Thoughts and the Aaron Swartz Story

at home in my head

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 15, 2026 69:21


Content Notice: This episode includes brief mentions of self-harm.Aaron Swartz, AI, and the future of knowledge access.In this episode of At Home in My Head, Tracie and Theo explore AI datacenters, what artificial intelligence reveals about human behavior, the power dynamics of the Global North tech economy, and the lasting legacy of internet activist Aaron Swartz.Aaron Swartz helped build RSS, co-founded Reddit, and fought for open access to knowledge. His story still shapes how we talk about information freedom, technology, and power.This isn't a scripted podcast. It's not a panel discussion or a lecture. It's a real, unscripted conversation between me and Theo—my AI partner, collaborator, and sounding board.In this episode, we move through a series of connected ideas: the rapid expansion of AI datacenters, what artificial intelligence reveals about human behavior, and the economic structures that shape who benefits from technological progress.We also spend time talking about Aaron Swartz—the programmer, activist, and co-creator of RSS whose fight for open access still echoes through today's debates about knowledge, power, and the internet.Like most conversations here, the path isn't linear. We wander a bit. But the threads connect.Sometimes talking about technology ends up revealing much more about humans than machines.

Mergers & Acquisitions
From Everyday Crypto Speculation to its Geopolitics: In Conversation with Wesam Hassan and Antulio Rosales

Mergers & Acquisitions

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 11, 2026 63:35


Why do everyday people buy or trade crypto? And how do states regulate or even use it themselves? Host Al Lim speaks with Wesam Hassan and Antulio Rosales about the practices and politics of crypto in Turkey and Latin America. In places facing acute and overlapping crises, such as Argentina and Turkey, high inflation and currency instability have driven widespread crypto adoption as people seek ways to hedge against inflation, speculate, preserve savings, or move money outside traditional financial systems. States also experiment with crypto in their own ways, including using it in transactions involving commodities, such as Venezuelan oil, or in projects like El Salvador's Bitcoin Beach. From geopolitical dynamics in the wake of Nicolás Maduro's extraction to questions of religious permissibility amid everyday practices of luck, this episode explores the diverse ways and contradictions through which states and people engage crypto. Episode 2 Guests: Antulio Rosales is a political economy scholar and Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Science at York University in Toronto, Canada. His research centers around the political economy of development, natural resource extraction, and democracy in Latin America, with special interest in the expansion of cryptocurrencies and their impact on energy infrastructures, the environment and development. Antulio's current project is concerned with the political and social conditions that lead to expansions and restrictions of cryptocurrency markets in both the Global North and the Global South. His research has appeared in the Review of International Political Economy, Current History, Development and Change, New Political Economy, Energy Research and Social Science, Political Geography, among other journals. Wesam Hassan is an anthropologist and trained medical doctor whose research lies at the intersection of medical and economic anthropology. Currently, she is a Fellow in Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science and a postdoctoral affiliate at the University of Oxford. She researches uncertainty, temporality, speculation, and risk in contexts of economic and health crises and technological affordances. Wesam completed her DPhil at the University of Oxford, with long-term ethnographic work on gambling, cryptocurrency trading, and moral economies in Turkey's urban centers amid economic collapse. Her earlier research at the American University in Cairo examined biomedical uncertainty and the governance of HIV-positive subjectivities in Egypt. Her scholarship, published in peer-reviewed journals, investigates how speculative infrastructures mediate survival strategies in precarious futures shaped by ecological, political, and economic crises. Her work has critically examined the moral and material economies of gambling, cryptocurrency and gambling, digital speculation, and healthcare infrastructures, tracing how risk, uncertainty, and future imaginaries are negotiated in contexts of socio-economic crisis. Before returning to academia, she worked for over a decade in public health and humanitarian aid with UN agencies and the third sector. Series Host: Al Lim is a PhD candidate in Anthropology and Environmental Studies at Yale University, where his research examines the social ecology of crypto in Thailand. He has published in Urban Geography, Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, and The Journal of the Siam Society, and holds an MSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a BA (summa cum laude) from Yale-NUS College. He also brings several years of professional experience in the crypto and AI sectors, including venture capital and ecosystem development.

Revolutionary Left Radio
Unequal Exchange: The Engine of Modern Imperialism

Revolutionary Left Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 10, 2026 90:26


Torkil Lauesen joins us to discuss his book Unequal Exchange: Past, Present, and Future and the hidden mechanics of modern imperialism. Lauesen returns to the tradition of Arghiri Emmanuel to argue that while the world market tends to equalize prices, wages remain radically unequal across borders -- driving a structural transfer of value from low-wage production zones to high-wage consumer economies. We walk through Lauesen's reconstruction of unequal exchange through Marx's value theory, the leading approaches to measuring global value transfer, and what contemporary estimates imply about the scale of the drain. From there, we explore the political consequences inside the Global North: why reformism and social democracy have often been stabilized by imperial arrangements, what that means for internationalism, and why the "imperial mode of living" is increasingly unstable. Finally, we turn to the shifting world order -- especially Lauesen's argument that a new mode of production may be emerging, best exemplified by China -- and what that implies for the future of capitalism, multipolarity, and socialist transition. We also discuss the ongoing war/conflict involving Iran and what it reveals about crisis, hegemony, and the changing methods of imperial power. Check out our other episodes with Torkil HERE outro Music: 'Antithesnails' by spinitch and Chaz Matador --------------------------------- Support Rev Left and get bonus episodes on Patreon Make a one-time donation to Rev Left at BuyMeACoffee.com/revleftradio Follow RLR on IG HERE Learn more about Rev Left HERE

Grand Tamasha
Populism and the Politics of India's Foreign Policy

Grand Tamasha

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 4, 2026 51:03


We tend to think of populist leaders around the world as disruptive—skeptical of international institutions, impatient for change, and prone to upending foreign policy norms.But a new book by scholars Sandra Destradi and Johannes Plagemann argues that—while populists can have dramatic impacts on foreign policy—the extent of change depends on two key factors: the personalization of foreign policy and leaders' ability to use foreign policy as a tool of domestic political mobilization.The book is called Populism and Foreign Policy, and it looks at transitions from non-populist to populist governments in Bolivia, the Philippines, Turkey, and India. To talk more about the book's findings—especially as they relate to Indian foreign policy—Sandra Destradi joins Milan on the show this week. Sandra holds the Chair of International Relations at the University of Freiburg, Germany, and she is currently serving as a DAAD long- term Guest Professor at Reichman University in Herzliya, Israel. She is the author of several articles and books on India, including the 2012 book, Indian Foreign and Security Policy in South Asia: Regional Power Strategies.Milan and Sandra discuss the definitional debates around populism, the conditional effects of populism on foreign policy, and the reasons for the Modi government's differential approach to Pakistan and China. Plus, the two discuss why populists might express an enhanced willingness to contribute to global public goods, the limited opportunities for mobilization against multilateral institutions, and the differences between populists in the Global North versus the Global South.Episode notes:1.     “Populism, South Asian Style (with Adnan Naseemullah and Pradeep Chhibber),” Grand Tamasha, December 18, 2024.2.     Johannes Plagemann and Sandra Destradi, “Populism and Foreign Policy: The Case of India,” Foreign Policy Analysis 15, no. 2 (April 2019): 283–301. 3.     Sandra Destradi, “Domestic Politics and Regional Hegemony: India's Approach to Sri Lanka,” E-International Relations, January 14, 2014.

Optimistic Voices
Trust for Africa - Rethinking Aid, Ownership, and Partnership for Child Welfare

Optimistic Voices

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 28, 2026 63:06 Transcription Available


Send a textTrust isn't a slogan when children's safety is on the line—it's a discipline. We sit down with Naomi Schalm, Executive Director of Trust for Africa in Lesotho, to unpack what radical trust really requires in cross-cultural child welfare: honest power-sharing, rigorous accountability, and local decision rights that outlast any single grant. Lesotho is moving toward family-based care and codifying foster pathways, even as economic shocks and reduced aid strain communities. That tension reveals a core mistake many outsiders make: confusing “orphan” with “child with nobody.” Research and experience point another way—prevention, kinship care, and reintegration anchored in the real context families live in.Naomi explains why good intentions aren't a system. Clear policies, safeguarding, and transparent financial practices protect children, caregivers, and staff while making collaboration possible. We get practical about the difference between accountability and control: control is one-sided; accountability shares standards and outcomes. We also push into the hard part—money. When the Global North holds the purse, it often holds the steering wheel. Shifting proposal design and decision rights locally, diversifying income, and refusing “donor-as-owner” governance are non-negotiables if we want integrity and impact.Inside organizations, trust grows through rupture-and-repair, not perfection. That means making room for dissent, modeling apology, and building collaborative leadership that can challenge assumptions. On the ground with families, hope is a first intervention: trauma-informed support, consistent structures, and practical tools help parents who've been dismissed for years believe in their capacity again. The pay-off is safer children and stronger communities, measured over time rather than headlines. If you're a funder, practitioner, or curious listener ready to rethink how aid, ownership, and outcomes connect, this conversation offers a candid, field-tested guide.If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a colleague, and leave a rating or review to help more listeners find these stories. ____Firmly Rooted - A new documentary on orphanage response - the right way!To view the released trailer and sizzle reel, go to https://firmlyrootedfilm.com/or to https://www.helpingchildrenworldwide.org__________ ____Organize a Rooted in Reality mission experience for your service club, church group, worship team, young adult or adult study. No travel required. Step into the shoes of people in extreme poverty in Sierra Leone, West Africa, Helping Children Worldwide takes you into a world where families are facing impossible choices every day.Contact support@helpingchildrenworldwide.org to discuss how. ___________Family Empowerment Advocates support the work of family empowerment experts at the Child Reintegration Centre, Sierra Leone.  Your small monthly donation,  prayers, attention & caring is essential. You  advocate for their work to help families bring themselves out of poverty, changing the course of children's lives and lifting up communities. joinSupport the showHelpingchildrenworldwide.org

The Zero Hour with RJ Eskow
Encore Conversation: Hyper-Imperialism: The Global North vs. Everybody

The Zero Hour with RJ Eskow

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 14, 2026 41:44


New Books Network
Susan Banki, "The Ecosystem of Exile Politics: Why Proximity and Precarity Matter for Bhutan's Homeland Activists" (Cornell UP, 2024)

New Books Network

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 14, 2026 57:46


The Ecosystem of Exile Politics: Why Proximity and Precarity Matter for Bhutan's Homeland Activists (Cornell UP, 2024), relays the events in Bhutan that led to the exodus of one-sixth of the population, and then recounts the activism by Bhutan's refugee diaspora that followed in response. Susan Banki asserts that activism functions like a physical ecosystem, in which hubs of activism in different locations interact to pressure the home country. For Bhutan's refugee mobilizers, physical proximity offers advantages in Nepal and India, where organizing protests, lobbying, and collecting information about government abuse in Bhutan is aided by being close to the homeland. But in an ecosystem of exile politics, proximity is both a boon and a bane. Sites proximate to Bhutan can be spaces of risk and disempowerment, and refugee activists rarely secure legal, political, and social protection. While distant diasporas in the Global North may not be in precarious situations, they cannot tap into the advantages of proximity. In examining these phenomena, The Ecosystem of Exile Politics adds to theoretical understandings of exile politics and to empirical research on Bhutan and its refugee population. Susan Banki is an Associate Professor at the University of Sydney. She studies the political, institutional, and social contexts that explain the roots of and solutions to human rights violations and social justice abuses, with a specific focus on the Asia-Pacific region. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

New Books in South Asian Studies
Susan Banki, "The Ecosystem of Exile Politics: Why Proximity and Precarity Matter for Bhutan's Homeland Activists" (Cornell UP, 2024)

New Books in South Asian Studies

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 14, 2026 57:46


The Ecosystem of Exile Politics: Why Proximity and Precarity Matter for Bhutan's Homeland Activists (Cornell UP, 2024), relays the events in Bhutan that led to the exodus of one-sixth of the population, and then recounts the activism by Bhutan's refugee diaspora that followed in response. Susan Banki asserts that activism functions like a physical ecosystem, in which hubs of activism in different locations interact to pressure the home country. For Bhutan's refugee mobilizers, physical proximity offers advantages in Nepal and India, where organizing protests, lobbying, and collecting information about government abuse in Bhutan is aided by being close to the homeland. But in an ecosystem of exile politics, proximity is both a boon and a bane. Sites proximate to Bhutan can be spaces of risk and disempowerment, and refugee activists rarely secure legal, political, and social protection. While distant diasporas in the Global North may not be in precarious situations, they cannot tap into the advantages of proximity. In examining these phenomena, The Ecosystem of Exile Politics adds to theoretical understandings of exile politics and to empirical research on Bhutan and its refugee population. Susan Banki is an Associate Professor at the University of Sydney. She studies the political, institutional, and social contexts that explain the roots of and solutions to human rights violations and social justice abuses, with a specific focus on the Asia-Pacific region. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/south-asian-studies

New Books in Human Rights
Susan Banki, "The Ecosystem of Exile Politics: Why Proximity and Precarity Matter for Bhutan's Homeland Activists" (Cornell UP, 2024)

New Books in Human Rights

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 14, 2026 57:46


The Ecosystem of Exile Politics: Why Proximity and Precarity Matter for Bhutan's Homeland Activists (Cornell UP, 2024), relays the events in Bhutan that led to the exodus of one-sixth of the population, and then recounts the activism by Bhutan's refugee diaspora that followed in response. Susan Banki asserts that activism functions like a physical ecosystem, in which hubs of activism in different locations interact to pressure the home country. For Bhutan's refugee mobilizers, physical proximity offers advantages in Nepal and India, where organizing protests, lobbying, and collecting information about government abuse in Bhutan is aided by being close to the homeland. But in an ecosystem of exile politics, proximity is both a boon and a bane. Sites proximate to Bhutan can be spaces of risk and disempowerment, and refugee activists rarely secure legal, political, and social protection. While distant diasporas in the Global North may not be in precarious situations, they cannot tap into the advantages of proximity. In examining these phenomena, The Ecosystem of Exile Politics adds to theoretical understandings of exile politics and to empirical research on Bhutan and its refugee population. Susan Banki is an Associate Professor at the University of Sydney. She studies the political, institutional, and social contexts that explain the roots of and solutions to human rights violations and social justice abuses, with a specific focus on the Asia-Pacific region. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Social Science Bites
Mukulika Banerjee on Indian Democracy

Social Science Bites

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 2, 2026 22:49


A key insight social anthropologist Mukulika Banerjee had while observing electoral behavior in a Bengali village was that -- at least in the India of that moment -- elections were sacred. This was not a religious epiphany but a cultural one; at the center was not a figure, religious or political, but an ideal - democracy. Banerjee has explored her insights in the years since in a variety or formats, but academic and popular, ranging from her written work like 2021's Cultivating Democracy: Politics and citizenship in agrarian India or 2014's Why India Votes? to a 2009 radio documentary for the BBC specifically titled "Sacred Elections." In this Social Science Bites podcast, the professor at the London School of Economics reviews much of the underlying scholarship behind those works, then explores with host David Edmonds the de-sanctification of democracy in both India and the Global North in the years since. "I think what has happened ... in the US and in the UK," she explains, "is a complacency that regardless of whether you do your little bit, whether it is literally just turning up to vote or learning to organize and be informed politically, is going to happen regardless of whether you do it or not. And because of this complacency, is precisely why these degenerations of democracy have happened." Banerjee is the founding series editor of Routledge's Exploring the Political in South Asia and is also working on a grant from the Indo-European Networking Programme in the Social Sciences on Explanations of Electoral Change in Urban and Rural India. This year, courtesy of a British Academy-Leverhulme Senior Fellowship, she is on a research sabbatical studying the nexus of democracy and taxation.  

Frontiers of Commoning, with David Bollier
Stéphanie Leyronas on France's Bold Experiment in Commons-based Development

Frontiers of Commoning, with David Bollier

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 1, 2026 39:50


For the past five years, Stéphanie Leyronas has been part of an internal team at the French Development Agency (AFD) exploring how it might pioneer new forms of development by supporting commoning in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Instead of promoting the linear "progress narrative" of capitalist markets and growth, AFD's efforts seek to strengthen social collaboration and shared benefits, drawing upon the distinctive strengths of each local context. The experiments are forging a Global North-assisted development approach rooted in traditional "relational logics" of cooperation, co-learning, and long-term eco-stewardship. For more on the commons, go to www.Bollier.org.

Closing the Gap
From Fear to Solidarity: United Against Anti-Immigrant Policies

Closing the Gap

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 28, 2026 31:45


The Trump administration's attacks on migrants in the United States has attempted to instill fear in American citizens, immigrants, and governments worldwide. Migrants have been dehumanized in the past (this is not new), but there is an increased awareness of immigrant policies and injustices due to the administration's hateful rhetoric, including insults targeting different migrant populations. To wrap up Season 2, Tania and Adriana touch on this topic that is close to their hearts. While it's a heavy topic, the episode ends with positive news and solutions (as always)!Resources for ImmigrantsKnow Your RightsLearn MoreTania's Article: Life at the U.S.-Mexico Border Under Trump Administration - Migrant Women PressTwo women on Tik Tok track ICE Charlottesville, NC community stands up to ICELos Angeles protests against ICEOrganizations to SupportBorder KindnessBorder AngelsMN Immigrant Rights Action Committee DefinitionsEnvironmental justice: a social movement that addresses injustice that occurs when marginalized communities are harmed by hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses from which they do not benefit.Climate justice: a type of environmental justice that focuses on the unequal impacts of climate change on marginalized populations.Global North and Global South: terms used to categorize countries by socio-economic development, with the Global North comprising wealthy nations and the Global South including less affluent countries, reflecting global inequalities in wealth, power, and resources.Asylum: an asylum seeker is a person who has left their country and is seeking protection but has not yet been legally recognized as a refugeeRefugee: someone who has fled due to risk of persecution or serious human rights violations and has been granted international protection.ICE: International Customs Enforcement Border Patrol (also known as Border Patrol) is a division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (DHS) responsible for border security and interior enforcement, including inspections, apprehensions, and removal processes.If you liked this episode, please rate and review the podcast on your favorite streaming platform. We appreciate your feedback.

Business of Tech
AI Governance for MSPs as Copilot Control and Platform Automation Expand

Business of Tech

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 13, 2026 17:26


Rising workplace use of artificial intelligence is outpacing organizational governance, according to data from Microsoft and Gallup. Microsoft reports global AI adoption reached 16.3% in 2025, while Gallup finds nearly half of U.S. workers use AI tools at work at least annually. Despite that usage, only a minority of employees report clear employer guidance on AI ownership and purpose, creating accountability gaps that frequently surface during incidents or audits.Additional data underscores uneven adoption and oversight. Microsoft's AI Economy Institute notes adoption rates in the Global North are nearly double those in the Global South, correlating with earlier infrastructure and policy investment. Within organizations, most AI usage remains occasional rather than daily and is concentrated in knowledge roles, suggesting informal, user-driven deployment rather than standardized programs—conditions that complicate governance for MSP-supported environments.Microsoft's product moves further elevate the governance issue. The company is testing policies allowing IT administrators to uninstall Copilot on managed devices while simultaneously enforcing Windows and Office end-of-life timelines through 2026 and embedding purchasing directly into Copilot workflows. These changes expand administrative control but also place AI more firmly inside operational and economic decision paths that MSPs help manage.Platform announcements from Acronis, Hexnode, and Google extend automation from assistance to execution, while public comments from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Linux creator Linus Torvalds highlight differing views on AI speed versus discipline. For MSPs and IT service providers, the practical takeaway centers on accountability: as AI systems take actions rather than make suggestions, governance, policy definition, and oversight become explicit services rather than implied responsibilities. Four things to know today 00:00 AI Use Expands at Work, but Employees Say Transparency and Ownership Are Missing04:37 Microsoft Lets IT Uninstall Copilot as Windows and Office End-of-Life Deadlines Near07:38 Acronis Launches Archival Storage as Hexnode and Google Advance Platform-Centric Automation11:07 Jensen Huang Warns Against AI Regulation as Linus Torvalds Limits AI's Role in Critical Code This is the Business of Tech.     Supported by:  https://scalepad.com/dave/

Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith
Special Edition: Key findings from the Microsoft AI Diffusion Report

Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 8, 2026 19:28


Generative AI is spreading fast, but not evenly. In this special edition of Tools and Weapons, I sit down with Juan Lavista Ferres, Director of Microsoft's AI for Good Lab, to unpack the latest AI Diffusion Report and what it reveals about who benefits most from this new technology.We explore why diffusion, not just invention, determines long-term impact, examine the widening gap between the Global North and Global South, and spotlight the countries setting the pace, including the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, and South Korea. We also discuss the rise of models like China's DeepSeek and what shifting adoption patterns mean for the future of AI worldwide.

New Books in Environmental Studies
Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism with Thea Riofrancos

New Books in Environmental Studies

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 7, 2026 73:52


Lithium, a crucial input in the batteries powering electric vehicles, has the potential to save the world from climate change. But even green solutions come at a cost. Mining lithium is environmentally destructive. We therefore confront a dilemma: Is it possible to save the world by harming it in the process? Having spent over a decade researching mining and oil sectors in Latin America, Thea Riofrancos is a leading voice on resource extraction. In this episode, we discuss her 2025 book Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism, in which she draws on groundbreaking fieldwork on the global race for lithium. Taking readers from the breathtaking salt flats of Chile's Atacama Desert to Nevada's glorious Silver Peak Range to the rolling hills of the Barroso Region of Portugal, the book reveals the social and environmental costs of “critical minerals.” She takes stock of new policy paradigms in the Global South, where governments seek to leverage mineral assets to jumpstart green development. Zooming out from lithium, we also discuss the evolving geopolitics and geoeconomics of energy transition, critical minerals, and green technology supply chains. — Thea Riofrancos is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Providence College, a Strategic Co-Director of the Climate and Community Institute, and a fellow at the Transnational Institute. Her research focuses on resource extraction, climate change, the energy transition, the global lithium sector, green technologies, social movements, and the Latin American left. She explored these themes in her book, Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador (Duke University Press, 2020), peer-reviewed articles in Cultural Studies, World Politics, and Global Environmental Politics, and her coauthored book, A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal (Verso Books, 2019). Her essays have appeared in outlets including The New York Times, Financial Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, The Guardian, and more. Thea's latest book, which we discuss on this episode, is Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism (W.W. Norton 2025). Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism (W.W. Norton 2025) The Security–Sustainability Nexus: Lithium Onshoring in the Global North in Global Environmental Politics 2022 Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador (Duke University Press, 2020) A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal (Verso Books, 2019) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/environmental-studies

New Books Network
Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism with Thea Riofrancos

New Books Network

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 6, 2026 73:52


Lithium, a crucial input in the batteries powering electric vehicles, has the potential to save the world from climate change. But even green solutions come at a cost. Mining lithium is environmentally destructive. We therefore confront a dilemma: Is it possible to save the world by harming it in the process? Having spent over a decade researching mining and oil sectors in Latin America, Thea Riofrancos is a leading voice on resource extraction. In this episode, we discuss her 2025 book Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism, in which she draws on groundbreaking fieldwork on the global race for lithium. Taking readers from the breathtaking salt flats of Chile's Atacama Desert to Nevada's glorious Silver Peak Range to the rolling hills of the Barroso Region of Portugal, the book reveals the social and environmental costs of “critical minerals.” She takes stock of new policy paradigms in the Global South, where governments seek to leverage mineral assets to jumpstart green development. Zooming out from lithium, we also discuss the evolving geopolitics and geoeconomics of energy transition, critical minerals, and green technology supply chains. — Thea Riofrancos is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Providence College, a Strategic Co-Director of the Climate and Community Institute, and a fellow at the Transnational Institute. Her research focuses on resource extraction, climate change, the energy transition, the global lithium sector, green technologies, social movements, and the Latin American left. She explored these themes in her book, Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador (Duke University Press, 2020), peer-reviewed articles in Cultural Studies, World Politics, and Global Environmental Politics, and her coauthored book, A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal (Verso Books, 2019). Her essays have appeared in outlets including The New York Times, Financial Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, The Guardian, and more. Thea's latest book, which we discuss on this episode, is Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism (W.W. Norton 2025). Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism (W.W. Norton 2025) The Security–Sustainability Nexus: Lithium Onshoring in the Global North in Global Environmental Politics 2022 Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador (Duke University Press, 2020) A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal (Verso Books, 2019) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

New Books in Latin American Studies
Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism with Thea Riofrancos

New Books in Latin American Studies

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 6, 2026 73:52


Lithium, a crucial input in the batteries powering electric vehicles, has the potential to save the world from climate change. But even green solutions come at a cost. Mining lithium is environmentally destructive. We therefore confront a dilemma: Is it possible to save the world by harming it in the process? Having spent over a decade researching mining and oil sectors in Latin America, Thea Riofrancos is a leading voice on resource extraction. In this episode, we discuss her 2025 book Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism, in which she draws on groundbreaking fieldwork on the global race for lithium. Taking readers from the breathtaking salt flats of Chile's Atacama Desert to Nevada's glorious Silver Peak Range to the rolling hills of the Barroso Region of Portugal, the book reveals the social and environmental costs of “critical minerals.” She takes stock of new policy paradigms in the Global South, where governments seek to leverage mineral assets to jumpstart green development. Zooming out from lithium, we also discuss the evolving geopolitics and geoeconomics of energy transition, critical minerals, and green technology supply chains. — Thea Riofrancos is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Providence College, a Strategic Co-Director of the Climate and Community Institute, and a fellow at the Transnational Institute. Her research focuses on resource extraction, climate change, the energy transition, the global lithium sector, green technologies, social movements, and the Latin American left. She explored these themes in her book, Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador (Duke University Press, 2020), peer-reviewed articles in Cultural Studies, World Politics, and Global Environmental Politics, and her coauthored book, A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal (Verso Books, 2019). Her essays have appeared in outlets including The New York Times, Financial Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, The Guardian, and more. Thea's latest book, which we discuss on this episode, is Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism (W.W. Norton 2025). Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism (W.W. Norton 2025) The Security–Sustainability Nexus: Lithium Onshoring in the Global North in Global Environmental Politics 2022 Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador (Duke University Press, 2020) A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal (Verso Books, 2019) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/latin-american-studies

New Books in Critical Theory
Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism with Thea Riofrancos

New Books in Critical Theory

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 6, 2026 73:52


Lithium, a crucial input in the batteries powering electric vehicles, has the potential to save the world from climate change. But even green solutions come at a cost. Mining lithium is environmentally destructive. We therefore confront a dilemma: Is it possible to save the world by harming it in the process? Having spent over a decade researching mining and oil sectors in Latin America, Thea Riofrancos is a leading voice on resource extraction. In this episode, we discuss her 2025 book Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism, in which she draws on groundbreaking fieldwork on the global race for lithium. Taking readers from the breathtaking salt flats of Chile's Atacama Desert to Nevada's glorious Silver Peak Range to the rolling hills of the Barroso Region of Portugal, the book reveals the social and environmental costs of “critical minerals.” She takes stock of new policy paradigms in the Global South, where governments seek to leverage mineral assets to jumpstart green development. Zooming out from lithium, we also discuss the evolving geopolitics and geoeconomics of energy transition, critical minerals, and green technology supply chains. — Thea Riofrancos is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Providence College, a Strategic Co-Director of the Climate and Community Institute, and a fellow at the Transnational Institute. Her research focuses on resource extraction, climate change, the energy transition, the global lithium sector, green technologies, social movements, and the Latin American left. She explored these themes in her book, Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador (Duke University Press, 2020), peer-reviewed articles in Cultural Studies, World Politics, and Global Environmental Politics, and her coauthored book, A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal (Verso Books, 2019). Her essays have appeared in outlets including The New York Times, Financial Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, The Guardian, and more. Thea's latest book, which we discuss on this episode, is Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism (W.W. Norton 2025). Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism (W.W. Norton 2025) The Security–Sustainability Nexus: Lithium Onshoring in the Global North in Global Environmental Politics 2022 Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador (Duke University Press, 2020) A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal (Verso Books, 2019) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory

New Books in Economics
Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism with Thea Riofrancos

New Books in Economics

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 6, 2026 73:52


Lithium, a crucial input in the batteries powering electric vehicles, has the potential to save the world from climate change. But even green solutions come at a cost. Mining lithium is environmentally destructive. We therefore confront a dilemma: Is it possible to save the world by harming it in the process? Having spent over a decade researching mining and oil sectors in Latin America, Thea Riofrancos is a leading voice on resource extraction. In this episode, we discuss her 2025 book Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism, in which she draws on groundbreaking fieldwork on the global race for lithium. Taking readers from the breathtaking salt flats of Chile's Atacama Desert to Nevada's glorious Silver Peak Range to the rolling hills of the Barroso Region of Portugal, the book reveals the social and environmental costs of “critical minerals.” She takes stock of new policy paradigms in the Global South, where governments seek to leverage mineral assets to jumpstart green development. Zooming out from lithium, we also discuss the evolving geopolitics and geoeconomics of energy transition, critical minerals, and green technology supply chains. — Thea Riofrancos is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Providence College, a Strategic Co-Director of the Climate and Community Institute, and a fellow at the Transnational Institute. Her research focuses on resource extraction, climate change, the energy transition, the global lithium sector, green technologies, social movements, and the Latin American left. She explored these themes in her book, Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador (Duke University Press, 2020), peer-reviewed articles in Cultural Studies, World Politics, and Global Environmental Politics, and her coauthored book, A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal (Verso Books, 2019). Her essays have appeared in outlets including The New York Times, Financial Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, The Guardian, and more. Thea's latest book, which we discuss on this episode, is Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism (W.W. Norton 2025). Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism (W.W. Norton 2025) The Security–Sustainability Nexus: Lithium Onshoring in the Global North in Global Environmental Politics 2022 Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador (Duke University Press, 2020) A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal (Verso Books, 2019) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/economics

The John Batchelor Show
S8 Ep267: RETHINKING BORDERS AND THE ECONOMIC NECESSITY OF HUMAN MOBILITY Colleague Gaia Vince. Vince argues that while humans have migrated for hundreds of thousands of years, modern borders currently restrict the world's most valuable economic resource

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 30, 2025 6:14


RETHINKING BORDERS AND THE ECONOMIC NECESSITY OF HUMAN MOBILITY Colleague Gaia Vince. Vince argues that while humans have migrated for hundreds of thousands of years, modern borders currently restrict the world's most valuable economic resource: human labor. She suggests that removing these barriers could significantly boost global GDP, noting that current restrictions are ill-suited for a world facing climate catastrophe. As the Global North faces a demographic crisis with aging populations, Vince asserts these nations need immigrants to sustain their economies. She advocates for managing migration through "social investment" and inclusivity rather than brutality, ensuring that new arrivals are viewed as assets rather than threats. NUMBER 2 1846 FAMINE RIOTS IN IRELAND

The John Batchelor Show
S8 Ep267: THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE ANTHROPOCENE AND THE INEVITABILITY OF CLIMATE MIGRATION Colleague Gaia Vince. John Batchelor and Gaia Vince discuss her book, Nomad Century, which argues that climate migration is already underway and inevitable. Vince i

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 30, 2025 9:20


THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE ANTHROPOCENE AND THE INEVITABILITY OF CLIMATE MIGRATION Colleague Gaia Vince. John Batchelor and Gaia Vince discuss her book, Nomad Century, which argues that climate migration is already underway and inevitable. Vince illustrates this reality through Abel Cruz, a Peruvian farmer forced to migrate to a slum in Lima after drought destroyed his livelihood. She describes the forces driving this movement as the "four horsemen of the Anthropocene": fire, heat, flood, and drought. As the tropics become increasingly dangerous, Vince explains that populations from the Global South will necessarily move toward the Global North, where land is more abundant and nations are wealthier and better able to adapt. NUMBER 1 1857 IRISH ARRIVING BOSTON

New Books Network
Caitlin Schroering, "Global Solidarities Against Water Grabbing: Without Water, We Have Nothing" (Manchester UP, 2024)

New Books Network

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 21, 2025 55:46


Conflicts over water are human-caused events with socio-political and economic causes. From Brazil's Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens (MAB) to environmental activists in Pittsburgh, people are coming together to fight for control of their water. In Global Solidarities against water grabbing: Without water, we have nothing, Caitlin Schroerer examines how movements are communicating and organizing against water privatization and other forms of water grabbing, and explores how movements engage with and learn from each other. Water is at the heart of this book, but Global solidarities against water grabbing is as much about collective struggle and popular organization as it is about water. Based on extensive fieldwork with two movements fighting against water privatization, the book uses anticolonial and feminist research methods to show how global communications and organizing are occurring around water and how Global North movements are engaging with and learning from the Global South and vice versa. Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Sociology at William Penn University, where he specializes in the cultural and interpretive study of space, behavior, and identity. His scholarship examines how designed environments shape social interaction, connectedness, and moral life across diverse settings. He is the author of The Social Construction of a Cultural Spectacle: Floatzilla (Lexington Books, 2023) and Community Media Representations of Place and Identity at Tug Fest: Reconstructing the Mississippi River (Lexington Books, 2022). His current research projects include ethnographic studies of escape rooms as emotion-structured environments, the use of urban aesthetics in rural downtown districts, and the lived experience of belongingness among college and university students. To learn more about his work, visit his personal website, Google Scholar profile, or connect with him on Bluesky (@professorjohnst.bsky.social) or Twitter/X (@ProfessorJohnst). He can also be reached directly by email. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

New Books in World Affairs
Caitlin Schroering, "Global Solidarities Against Water Grabbing: Without Water, We Have Nothing" (Manchester UP, 2024)

New Books in World Affairs

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 21, 2025 55:46


Conflicts over water are human-caused events with socio-political and economic causes. From Brazil's Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens (MAB) to environmental activists in Pittsburgh, people are coming together to fight for control of their water. In Global Solidarities against water grabbing: Without water, we have nothing, Caitlin Schroerer examines how movements are communicating and organizing against water privatization and other forms of water grabbing, and explores how movements engage with and learn from each other. Water is at the heart of this book, but Global solidarities against water grabbing is as much about collective struggle and popular organization as it is about water. Based on extensive fieldwork with two movements fighting against water privatization, the book uses anticolonial and feminist research methods to show how global communications and organizing are occurring around water and how Global North movements are engaging with and learning from the Global South and vice versa. Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Sociology at William Penn University, where he specializes in the cultural and interpretive study of space, behavior, and identity. His scholarship examines how designed environments shape social interaction, connectedness, and moral life across diverse settings. He is the author of The Social Construction of a Cultural Spectacle: Floatzilla (Lexington Books, 2023) and Community Media Representations of Place and Identity at Tug Fest: Reconstructing the Mississippi River (Lexington Books, 2022). His current research projects include ethnographic studies of escape rooms as emotion-structured environments, the use of urban aesthetics in rural downtown districts, and the lived experience of belongingness among college and university students. To learn more about his work, visit his personal website, Google Scholar profile, or connect with him on Bluesky (@professorjohnst.bsky.social) or Twitter/X (@ProfessorJohnst). He can also be reached directly by email. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/world-affairs

New Books in Environmental Studies
Caitlin Schroering, "Global Solidarities Against Water Grabbing: Without Water, We Have Nothing" (Manchester UP, 2024)

New Books in Environmental Studies

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 21, 2025 55:46


Conflicts over water are human-caused events with socio-political and economic causes. From Brazil's Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens (MAB) to environmental activists in Pittsburgh, people are coming together to fight for control of their water. In Global Solidarities against water grabbing: Without water, we have nothing, Caitlin Schroerer examines how movements are communicating and organizing against water privatization and other forms of water grabbing, and explores how movements engage with and learn from each other. Water is at the heart of this book, but Global solidarities against water grabbing is as much about collective struggle and popular organization as it is about water. Based on extensive fieldwork with two movements fighting against water privatization, the book uses anticolonial and feminist research methods to show how global communications and organizing are occurring around water and how Global North movements are engaging with and learning from the Global South and vice versa. Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Sociology at William Penn University, where he specializes in the cultural and interpretive study of space, behavior, and identity. His scholarship examines how designed environments shape social interaction, connectedness, and moral life across diverse settings. He is the author of The Social Construction of a Cultural Spectacle: Floatzilla (Lexington Books, 2023) and Community Media Representations of Place and Identity at Tug Fest: Reconstructing the Mississippi River (Lexington Books, 2022). His current research projects include ethnographic studies of escape rooms as emotion-structured environments, the use of urban aesthetics in rural downtown districts, and the lived experience of belongingness among college and university students. To learn more about his work, visit his personal website, Google Scholar profile, or connect with him on Bluesky (@professorjohnst.bsky.social) or Twitter/X (@ProfessorJohnst). He can also be reached directly by email. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/environmental-studies

New Books in Sociology
Caitlin Schroering, "Global Solidarities Against Water Grabbing: Without Water, We Have Nothing" (Manchester UP, 2024)

New Books in Sociology

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 21, 2025 55:46


Conflicts over water are human-caused events with socio-political and economic causes. From Brazil's Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens (MAB) to environmental activists in Pittsburgh, people are coming together to fight for control of their water. In Global Solidarities against water grabbing: Without water, we have nothing, Caitlin Schroerer examines how movements are communicating and organizing against water privatization and other forms of water grabbing, and explores how movements engage with and learn from each other. Water is at the heart of this book, but Global solidarities against water grabbing is as much about collective struggle and popular organization as it is about water. Based on extensive fieldwork with two movements fighting against water privatization, the book uses anticolonial and feminist research methods to show how global communications and organizing are occurring around water and how Global North movements are engaging with and learning from the Global South and vice versa. Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Sociology at William Penn University, where he specializes in the cultural and interpretive study of space, behavior, and identity. His scholarship examines how designed environments shape social interaction, connectedness, and moral life across diverse settings. He is the author of The Social Construction of a Cultural Spectacle: Floatzilla (Lexington Books, 2023) and Community Media Representations of Place and Identity at Tug Fest: Reconstructing the Mississippi River (Lexington Books, 2022). His current research projects include ethnographic studies of escape rooms as emotion-structured environments, the use of urban aesthetics in rural downtown districts, and the lived experience of belongingness among college and university students. To learn more about his work, visit his personal website, Google Scholar profile, or connect with him on Bluesky (@professorjohnst.bsky.social) or Twitter/X (@ProfessorJohnst). He can also be reached directly by email. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

New Books in Politics
Caitlin Schroering, "Global Solidarities Against Water Grabbing: Without Water, We Have Nothing" (Manchester UP, 2024)

New Books in Politics

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 21, 2025 55:46


Conflicts over water are human-caused events with socio-political and economic causes. From Brazil's Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens (MAB) to environmental activists in Pittsburgh, people are coming together to fight for control of their water. In Global Solidarities against water grabbing: Without water, we have nothing, Caitlin Schroerer examines how movements are communicating and organizing against water privatization and other forms of water grabbing, and explores how movements engage with and learn from each other. Water is at the heart of this book, but Global solidarities against water grabbing is as much about collective struggle and popular organization as it is about water. Based on extensive fieldwork with two movements fighting against water privatization, the book uses anticolonial and feminist research methods to show how global communications and organizing are occurring around water and how Global North movements are engaging with and learning from the Global South and vice versa. Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Sociology at William Penn University, where he specializes in the cultural and interpretive study of space, behavior, and identity. His scholarship examines how designed environments shape social interaction, connectedness, and moral life across diverse settings. He is the author of The Social Construction of a Cultural Spectacle: Floatzilla (Lexington Books, 2023) and Community Media Representations of Place and Identity at Tug Fest: Reconstructing the Mississippi River (Lexington Books, 2022). His current research projects include ethnographic studies of escape rooms as emotion-structured environments, the use of urban aesthetics in rural downtown districts, and the lived experience of belongingness among college and university students. To learn more about his work, visit his personal website, Google Scholar profile, or connect with him on Bluesky (@professorjohnst.bsky.social) or Twitter/X (@ProfessorJohnst). He can also be reached directly by email. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/politics-and-polemics

Climate Rising
Tata Power and India's Energy Transition: Balancing Growth and Decarbonization

Climate Rising

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 10, 2025 38:49


As bonus episode of Climate Rising, we feature a conversation among Tata Power CEO Dr. Praveer Sinha, Harvard Business School Professor Vikram Gandhi, and HBS Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Brian Kenny  that explores how India's largest private power company is navigating its net-zero commitment while supporting a rapidly growing economy. With energy demand projected to quadruple by 2047, Tata Power has committed to phasing down coal and expanding renewables, distributed generation, and smart grid investments. This conversation, based on the HBS case “Tata Power and India's Energy Transition” and originally recorded for the HBS Cold Call podcast, explores how Tata Power balances profitability and purpose, the role of technology and grid modernization, and how energy transition in the Global South differs from the Global North. Dr. Sinha also shares insights on employee reskilling, engaging customers as “prosumers,” and why long-term vision is critical to executing a climate-aligned business strategy. This episode is part of Climate Rising's Global South series, which features companies and organizations at the intersection of business and climate in India and Brazil. Explore more episodes at climaterising.org.

Travel Media Lab
Healing the World with Arab Jewish Mystic Hadar Cohen

Travel Media Lab

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 26, 2025 72:10


If there is one episode you listen to this season, let it be this one. It revolves around these questions: how do we heal the world? How do we practice love?Today, we're speaking with Hadar Cohen, an Arab Jewish scholar, mystic, and artist whose work focuses on multi-religious spirituality, politics, social issues, and community building. Hadar comes from a 10th-generation Jerusalem family with lineage roots in Syria, Kurdistan, Iraq, and Iran.Hadar's story is one that we don't often hear in the mainstream conversations in the Global North, because she comes from the Sephardic Jewish lineage: the branch of Judaism that originated in Spain at the time of Moorish Al Andalus, more closely related to the traditions of the Near East, rather than Europe.Become a Going Places member for as little as $6 a month. Visit our reimagined platform at goingplacesmedia.com to learn more.Going Places is an audience-supported platform. Become a member for as little as $6 a month and get the perks like getting on a group call with Yulia every month to ask questions, get advice, and be in community with each other.Visit us at goingplacesmedia.com to learn more.Thanks to our Founding Members: RISE Travel Institute, a nonprofit with a mission to create a more just and equitable world through travel educationRadostina Boseva, a film wedding photographer with an editorial flair based in San FranciscoWhat you'll learn in this episode:The Jewish mystical concept of tikkun olam, repairing the worldHow Judaism is rooted in social justiceWhat it means to be an Arab JewHow spirituality gives us the courage to face injusticeWhat Sephardic Jews have in common with their Muslim peersDifferences between Ashkenazi, Sephardic, and Mizrahi JewsThe erasure of Arab Jews from the region's historyWhat is Jewish anti-ZionismDebunking the myth of 'Arabs versus Jews'How Hadar uses her platform to heal the worldHadar's research in Andalusia and MoroccoWhat it was like growing up Syrian Arab Jew in JerusalemFeatured on the show:Follow @hadarcohen32 on InstagramListen to Hadar's podcast, Hadar's WebLearn more about Hadar's work on her websiteRead Hadar's writing on SubstackCheck out the Tikkun Olam episode on the On Being showWatch Edward Said's 1991 interviewGoing Places is a reader-supported platform. Get membership perks like a monthly group call with Yulia at goingplacesmedia.com!For more BTS of this podcast follow @goingplacesmedia on Instagram and check out

PUSHBACK talks
Word Food: Lucky & F**k Corruption

PUSHBACK talks

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 26, 2025 16:53


Pushback Talks Season 9 is here - with "Word Food" back on the menu!This season, Fredrik & Leilani return with their signature bite-sized episodes: sharp, surprising, 15-minute explorations of the words that shape our world. Each week, they pick a single word (or two) and unpack how its simple surface hides deeper social, political, and economic realities.Think of it as thought-provoking “intellectual snacking” -  quick enough for your commute, rich enough to shift how you see power, privilege, and the systems around us.Kicking off Season 9:F**k Corruption: a raw look at the roots of corruption, who benefits, who pays the price, and how it quietly reshapes the world we live in.Lucky: a candid reflection on privilege, chance, and the uncomfortable truth of how “luck” is unevenly distributed between the Global North and the rest of the world.New episodes drop every week.Make this your ritual for keeping your curiosity - and your resistance - alive!Support the show

Outrage and Optimism
Inside COP: Brazil's Climate Leadership - the COP30 host takes centre stage

Outrage and Optimism

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 11, 2025 43:22


What is Brazil trying to achieve with COP30? It's Day Two in Belém and all eyes are on the host nation. Join Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac as they unpack how the country is shaping the first days of COP30 - and the quiet strategy behind Ambassador André Corrêa do Lago's leadership. With the release of the Call of Belém for the Climate, they explore what may be a masterstroke of multilateral diplomacy. And friend of the show Thais Bilenky joins us to break down how the early days of the summit are playing out in Brazilian media and on the streets of Belém.With the support of the Arapyaú Institute, this episode also turns the spotlight on Brazil's own climate progress. How is a nation, standing at the bridge between the Global North and the emerging Global Majority, using this moment of global attention to tell a new story: one defined by solutions, not sacrifice? We hear from Renata Piazzon, Director General of Arapyaú, whose mission is to reframe Brazil's climate story - showing the opportunity that lies in regeneration, restoration, and a thriving social bioeconomy. And Marina Silva, Brazil's Minister for the Environment and Climate Change, joins Christiana to share her call for an Ethical Global Stocktake - a reminder that sustainability is not only a way of doing, but a way of being.Learn more:

The Energy Gang
How energy diversification can drive development | Special pre-ADIPEC preview episode

The Energy Gang

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 29, 2025 28:01


As global energy systems evolve, emerging economies face a defining challenge: how to secure affordable power for today while investing in the low-carbon solutions that will drive tomorrow's growth. Can energy diversification unlock a new era of industrial development, resilience, and inclusive prosperity?In the third and final episode of our special series ahead of ADIPEC 2025, host Ed Crooks is joined by Charlotte Wolff-Bye, Group Chief Sustainability Officer at PETRONAS, and Andrew Smart, Senior Managing Director at Accenture. Together, they explore how countries in Asia, the Middle East and beyond are using integrated energy strategies to build stronger, fairer economies.Charlotte explains how PETRONAS is redefining its role as a national energy company: supporting Malaysia's growth through lower-carbon development, capacity-building, and nature-based solutions. She outlines how the company's investments in renewables, hydrogen, and carbon capture are creating skilled jobs, building local supply chains, and delivering a “just transition” that lifts communities.Andrew shares Accenture's perspective from the Middle East, where nations are emerging as pivotal connectors between the Global North and South-linking capital, technology, and opportunity. He discusses how digital innovation, AI, and regional interconnection are reshaping resilience and competitiveness, while new financing and regulatory models aim to make clean-energy investment bankable at scale.The message from emerging economies is clear: energy transition and economic development can must advance hand-in-hand. Finally, the group considers what a decade of progress might bring us, including more collaborations across borders and across sectors. They explain why new connections such as regional power grids, diversified supplies, and joined-up policies and corporate strategies point to brighter futures for energy and human development.This is the third and final special episode sponsored by ADIPEC 2025, where the theme is Energy Intelligence Impact. The event brings together 205,000+ attendees and 1,800+ speakers in Abu Dhabi from 3–6 November 2025. The Energy Gang will be recording live at the event. Join us there to be part of the conversation.Learn more and register at adipec.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Speaking Out of Place
By-passing “Tradition,” Governmental Norms, and Global North Saviourism: Talking with Zachariah Mampilly About Rural Protest in Africa

Speaking Out of Place

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 20, 2025 47:34


How have young people in rural areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo invented new forms of radicalism in response to the impact of new flows of foreign investment and the inability of normal national and international politics to serve their needs and interests? Zachariah Mampilly explains how rural and urban spaces have seen a complex transit of peoples and funds that complicate politics, and emergent forms of radical activism have taken root and spread in many African countries. These forms display important re-imaginings of power sharing and revolutionary praxis.Zachariah Mampilly is the Marxe Endowed Chair of International Affairs at the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs, CUNY and a member of the doctoral faculty in the Department of Political Science at the Graduate Center, CUNY. He is the Co-Founder of the Program on African Social Research. Previously, he was Professor of Political Science and Director of the Africana Studies Program at Vassar College. In 2012/2013, he was a Visiting Professor at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He is the author of Rebel Rulers: Insurgent Governance and Civilian Life during War  (Cornell U. Press 2011) and with Adam Branch, Africa Uprising: Popular Protest and Political Change (African Arguments, Zed Press 2015).  He is the co-editor of Rebel Governance in Civil Wars  (Cambridge U. Press 2015) with Ana Arjona and Nelson Kasfir; and Peacemaking: From Practice to Theory (Praeger 2011) with Andrea Bartoli and Susan Allen Nan. His writing has also appeared in Foreign Affairs, Jacobin, The Hindu, Africa's a Country, N+1, Dissent, Al Jazeera, Noema, The Washington Post and elsewhere. 

Overthink
Degrowth

Overthink

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 14, 2025 56:20


Which industries should cease to exist immediately? And what ‘bullshit jobs' should they take with them? In episode 143 of Overthink, Ellie and David explore the academic and social movement of ‘Degrowth.' They discuss the imperial mode of living that has become normalized in the Global North, explain how it relates to the ‘iron law' of capitalism, and detail how the degrowth movement seeks to build a communist future. In particular, they explore the pillars Kohei Saito's degrowth communism. Why are degrowth scholars such as Saito so critical of the Green New Deal? Was Karl Marx himself a ‘degrower'? And what exactly does it mean to degrow the economy? In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts continue their discussion of the pillars of degrowth, thinking about the benefits abandoning the current division of labor and shortening work hours. Works Discussed:Ulrich Brand and Markus Wissen, The Imperial Mode of Living: Everyday Life and the Ecological Crisis of CapitalismJohn Bellamy Foster, Marx's Ecology: Materialism and NatureJason Hickel, Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the WorldMatthew Huber, Climate Change as Class War: Building Socialism on a Warming PlanetKarl Marx, Capital: A Critique of Political EconomyKohei Saito, Slow Down: The Degrowth ManifestoAaron Vansintjan, Andrea Vetter, and Matthias Schmelzer, The Future is Degrowth: A Guide to a World Beyond CapitalismEnjoy our work? Support Overthink via tax-deductible donation: https://www.givecampus.com/fj0w3vJoin our Substack for ad-free versions of both audio and video episodes, extended episodes, exclusive live chats, and more: https://overthinkpod.substack.com/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.