Author: drmarchudson

The moorhens on the canal aren’t going to feed themselves. Well, of course they are, but I want to feed them more, and watch tiny smudges (as my wife and I call them) become adolescents and then moorhens themselves. And this I do, almost daily. Which means I am listening to moor (geddit?) podcasts. And among those, some on climate change, which has become unavoidable. And here, as a “public service”, a bit of a shout out to them, some brief reviews (other podcast reviews can be found here). PLEASE SHARE YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS!

I’ve structured this below from the very best to the okay (ymmv!) to the ugh.

Boiling Point (LA Times) The Fake News Pipeline

The other Boiling Point podcasts by the engaging Sammy Roth I had listened to were okay to good, but this one was simply excellent. Pink slime journalism, news mirages etc – Miranda Green is clearly a good journo, and a good interviewee.

Another Boiling Point, about “Hot takes about climate journalism” was also fine, with interviewee Sadie Babits. But didn’t historicise enough (e.g. the late Ross Gelbspan‘s work in the 1990s?!) or even mention structural pressures such as the Herman and Chomsky propaganda model.

Verdict – Boiling Point should be on your subscribe to list.

American Prestige: LA Fires and Lifeboat Capitalism

really good – Hamilton Nolan is clearly worth reading – but no historical context – (e.g. on re-insurers in 1990s).

Buut the fierce intelligence and humanity of the hosts and the interviewee shone through. Given the problem of “The missing institutions” (blog post pending), it’s unsurprising that the “what is to be done?” was cringe – “er, join union and vote for better politicians.”

See also the classic 2004 article Onion article “Libertarian reluctantly calls fire department”

American Prestige: Capitalism and Fire in the 19th Century with with Daniel Immerwahr

This as another really good one (or the bit I could listen to was). Immerwahr has a recent academic essay “All That Is Solid Bursts into Flame: Capitalism and Fire in the Nineteenth-Century United States” (For those not in the know, this is a riff on a quote by Karl Marx about how capitalism’s creative/destructive dynamics were leading to situations where “all that is solid melts into air.” It’s a dog whistle for radicals).

He also shouted out to Stephen J Pine.

Immerwahr has a fascinating essay about Frank Herbert’s Dune

London Review of Books: Have we surrendered to climate change

Brett Christophers interviewed on the book Overshoot by Andreas Malm and Wim Carton, which he had reviewed for the LRB (see here).

Yeah. It was fine for what it as, for as far as these people can think. But to pick up on specifics – at 16 mins 30 seconds they allude to consumers not citizens but don’t pick up on the decades long politicide of the west. I know Jurgen has blotted his copybook of late, but the basic tools for thinking about civil society, and the colonisation of the Lifeworld are WORTH USING.

Nonetheless, the podcast is good on the farce that is Negative Emissions Technologies and the career imperatives that “force” academics to pretend its a real thing.. Very weak on what to do differently – again, the missing institutions…

What’s Wrong with Democracy: Episode 18 Climate Change

So, this had someone talking – without much hesitancy – about “social tipping point” – hmmm. Then a Global Witness guy dating the problems of international climate diplomacy to the first COP in Berlin in 1995, when the real major defeats for the planet were dished out in the period 1991-2, and that is really really important to understand. There was . Good stuff on Ukraine and oil prices (the West basically choosing to keep the latter low, and chiding/withdrawing support if Ukraine’s actions got close to raising them). It all got a bit hopey changey in the final bit. No mention of civil society institutions. Can’t really recommend. Was relatively empty of any deep content (and yes, in half an hour that is possible)

Finally, there was a truly terrible one about “are we fucked?” (part of a climate podcast – not the one called “Are we f*cked,”, which I haven’t listened to) that was basically unlistenable – I got to the end, but only just, and deserve a medal.

I swear, people who think that they are good at giving an explanation of what is going on to a complete “know nothing” and then their explanation is garbled, with loads of assumed knowledge and no vivid images, metaphors or anything. Ugh. Just ugh.