Green Dreamer: Seeding change towards collective healing, sustainability, regeneration

“The sooner we are able to get rid of these two commodities, oil and coal, the better it will be... But 'green' technologies such as electric cars, solar panels, and wind turbines, don’t come out of thin air.” –Guillaume Pitron In this episode, we revisit our past conversation with Guillaume Pitron, an award-winning journalist and documentary-maker for some of France’s leading TV channels. From Chinese rare earth metals, oil extraction in Alaska, to Sudanese gum arabic and khat trading in Djibouti, he focuses his work on commodities and on the economic, political, and environmental issues associated with their use. His first book, The Rare Metals War: The Dark Side of the Energy Transition and Digitalization, explores our new dependence on rare metals. Support our community-powered show: GreenDreamer.com/support (The musical offering in this episode is Power to Change by Luna Bec.)

“For Palestinians, agriculture seems to be the only option. This is why we see the vicious, atrocious, and systematic attacks against Palestinian farmers.” In this episode, we welcome Rami Barhoush, an activist and president of the Arab Group for the Protection of Nature, known as APN, based in Amman, Jordan. The independent non-profit organization seeks to enhance the capacity of Arab peoples, including those living under occupation and armed conflicts, to protect, sustain, and establish sovereignty over their natural resources and food, while strengthening the advocacy efforts of civil society organizations on regional and global environmental issues. Support our community-powered show: GreenDreamer.com/support (The musical offering in this episode is Power to Change by Luna Bec.)

“If you’re actually targeting migrants as the source of the problem, if we’re thinking about climate migration as one of the amplified 'threats' from the Department of Defense’s point of view, then you’re never actually going to solve the problem because you’re only addressing the symptom and not the root cause.” In this episode, we welcome A. Naomi Paik, an interdisciplinary scholar whose work examines the relationship between law and cultural politics, centering racism, state violence, and the limits of citizenship to secure rights and social equity. Paik is the author of three books, most recently, Bans, Walls, Raids, Sanctuary.  She is an associate professor at the University of Illinois, Chicago, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on topics including im/migration, U.S. imperialism, comparative ethnic studies, women of color feminisms, carceral spaces, and racial violence. Support our podcast: GreenDreamer.com/support (The musical offering in this episode is Deja Vu by M!tch. The episode artwork shared in the show notes is by art twink.)

"“There’s a lot of evidence that the world, and our experience of life, has massively sped up... We’re all speed-reading life now, and we’re living at a pace that makes deep thought impossible.” In this episode, we welcome Johann Hari, a writer and journalist who has written for the New York Times, Le Monde, The Guardian and other newspapers. His TED talks and NowThis viral video have been viewed almost 100 million times, and his work has been praised by a broad range of people. Johann is the author of Stolen Focus, which was published in January of this year. Support our community-powered show: GreenDreamer.com/support (The musical offering in this episode is Debt by Luna Bec.)

In this episode, we welcome Jason W. Moore, an environmental historian and historical geographer at Binghamton University, where he is professor of sociology. He is author or editor of several books: most recently, of Capitalism in the Web of Life; and, with Raj Patel, A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things. His books and essays on environmental history, capitalism, and social theory have been widely recognized, and he coordinates the World-Ecology Research Network.  Support our community-powered show: GreenDreamer.com/support (The musical offering in this episode is Debt by Luna Bec.)

“In a way, Western science compartmentalizes a lot of the information through those boxes or as I say, through those puzzle pieces. Indigenous science looks at the entire picture to formulate our information and our questions.” In this episode, we welcome Dr. Jessica Hernandez, a transnational Indigenous scholar, scientist, and community advocate based in the Pacific Northwest. Her work is grounded in her Indigenous cultures and ways of knowing. She advocates for climate, energy, and environmental justice through her scientific and community work and strongly believes that Indigenous sciences can heal our Indigenous lands. Jessica is the author of the newly published Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science. (The musical offering in this episode is Debt by Luna Bec.) Support our community-powered show: GreenDreamer.com/support

“One of the most powerful untapped resources is spirituality. Spirituality—particularly spirituality from Black and Indigenous communities all over the world—has been so denigrated and so viciously attacked that many people are unaware of its transformative potential.” This is a replay of our past interview with Chelsea Mikael Frazier, Ph.D., a Black Feminist eco-critic who writes, researches and teaches at the intersection of Black feminist theory and environmental thought. (The musical offering in this episode is Debt by Luna Bec.) Green Dreamer is an in(ter)dependent, community-powered podcast. If our work has inspired you, please consider reciprocating a gift of support to help sustain the show:  GreenDreamer.com/support

“We’ve collapsed the idea of community with 'connectivity'. But being 'connected' doesn’t mean you have any sense of community. To have a community, you need something very visceral, you need to be in close proximity with people, to communicate on a day-to-day basis, to understand the flaws of people. It’s not about curated existences.” In this episode, we welcome Brad Evans, a political philosopher, critical theorist, and writer, who specializes in the problem of violence. His work is particularly concerned with addressing the multiple forms violence takes in the world, while developing a more poetic critique that highlights the importance of the arts and the imaginary. The author of nineteen books and edited volumes, along with over a hundred academic and media articles, he currently holds a Chair in Political Violence & Aesthetics at the University of Bath, United Kingdom. (The musical offering in this episode is Debt by Luna Bec.) Green Dreamer is an in(ter)dependent, community-powered podcast. If our work has inspired you, please consider reciprocating a gift of support to help sustain the show:  GreenDreamer.com/support

"Why is it important to focus on regular people, people in the in-between, people who bear some cost but also reap some profit? Because it gives us an insight into most people’s lives. As long as we don’t understand how we become acquiescent, not much will change." In this episode, we welcome Amalia Leguizamón, Associate Professor of Sociology and core faculty at the Stone Center for Latin American Studies at Tulane University. Her research examines the political economy of the environment in Latin America, particularly Argentina’s swift agrarian transformation based on the early adoption and intensive implementation of genetically modified soybeans. She is also the author of Seeds of Power: Environmental Injustice and Genetically Modified Soybeans in Argentina (Duke University Press, 2020). The song featured in this episode is Things It Would Have Been Helpful to Know Before the Revolution by Father John Misty. Support the podcast: GreenDreamer.com/support Green Dreamer is a community-supported podcast and multimedia journal exploring our paths to collective healing, biocultural revitalization, and true abundance and wellness for all. Find our show notes, transcripts, and newsletter at GreenDreamer.com.

“This is what I call the agrobiopolitical paradox at the center of the modern agricultural state: Paraguay trying to push hard to get more soybeans out there and on the other hand trying to create institutions to protect people from all the soybeans that the left hand is putting in place.” In this episode, we welcome Kregg Hetherington, Ph.D., who is a political anthropologist specializing in the environment, infrastructure, and the bureaucratic state. He is the author of The Government of Beans. Kregg's long-term ethnographic work in Paraguay chronicles how small farmers caught in a sweeping agrarian transition have experienced the country's halting transition to democracy, showing how activists create new ways of thinking and practicing government. Subscribe and listen to Green Dreamer in any podcast app or read on for the episode transcript. (The musical offering in this episode is Debt by Luna Bec. The episode artwork is by Sara Mengual.) Green Dreamer is an in(ter)dependent, community-powered podcast. If our work has inspired you, please consider reciprocating a gift of support to help sustain the show:  GreenDreamer.com/support