Ashes Ashes

David and Daniel are in person in Tucson, AZ reflecting on their time at the US Border Patrol Museum, running into border patrol agents on New Mexico state road 9, walking into Juarez, Mexico, and much more.

David's tweet gallery from the Border Patrol Museum: https://twitter.com/davidtorcivia/status/1159978514289954816

Where to start if you want to visit an immigrant in detention:

Medic stuff:

A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org.

Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast.

CC BY-SA 4.0

What began as a harmless attempt by the wealthy to escape the poor peasants they were forced to rub shoulders with in the cities turned into the greatest infrastructural nightmare ever to be unleashed upon this world: the American suburb. Countless people and generations of their progeny who got swept up in the fervor of suburban sprawl experienced a radical shift in physical space that has left communities in shambles or precluded their existence and paved over much of the land we should have conserved for agricultural use. Economically, what began as a financial shot of adrenaline to kickstart the post-war economy has now culminated in a ticking time bomb of unpaid infrastructure and health liabilities threatening to bankrupt municipalities throughout the country. If that wasn't enough, sprawl is an ecological and environmental disaster that contributes more to climate change than any other development pattern.

We can trace some of these consequences to the early foundation of property law in the United States, as well as a handful of powerful men destined to drive a stake in public transportation and influence generations of engineers and city planners. More importantly, we can rant and rave for two hours about how much we hate the suburbs.

A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org.

Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast.

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What compels a group of truck owners to drive in a procession down the sandy Florida coast (and how does racism relate to environmental issues)? How can you bypass the paywall to access the latest scientific papers? Why do you need an adblocker? Can the world create a co-op burger joint with vegetarian options? More importantly, what is the quickest and surest way to trigger David? These questions and more are discussed on the latest collapse chat.

A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org.

Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast.

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They're the single biggest polluter on earth in both chemicals and greenhouse gas emissions, their effects can be felt around the world in both rising temps and destroyed lives, in fact they're in the very business of destruction: it's the US Military. This week we are joined be researcher Dr. Patrick Bigger to discuss the paper he coauthored (Hidden carbon costs of the “everywhere war”: Logistics, geopolitical ecology, and the carbon boot‐print of the US military) covering some of the far reaching impacts of imperialist policies and what it really costs to have the most powerful military on Earth. Tune in to hear about logistics, supply chains, concrete, solar powered tanks, and so much more in our exploration of the everywhere war.

A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org.

Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast.

CC BY-SA 4.0

Collapse Chat is back and it's here to stay. This is the first of a new period for Ashes Ashes. To keep up our high levels of research, we're going to need a little more time per episode and will be transitioning to an every other week schedule for our deep dives. But fret not, collapse chat will fill in the gaps and educate you on what's happening in our immediate worlds as well as our thoughts on everything going on in the larger world around us. This week we cover Daniel's new career shift, how both of us came to our current thinking, what media we're currently consuming, some talk about salmon, and a whole bunch of other interesting tidbits. We hope you enjoy this and stick around for our deep dive back next week!

A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org.

Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast.

CC BY-SA 4.0

South Korea is eliminating coins and requiring shoppers to upload their cash receipts to a digital database; Indians are still reeling from a 2016 decision that turned 86% of the country's cash worthless in a matter of hours; migrants and refugees are being targeted for new schemes of financial inclusion, but not experiencing the promised benefits; US cities are retaliating against cash-only retailers eager to speed the flow of customers, increase spending, and surveil our every purchase while excluding undesirable demographics; and despite our technological proficiencies, fiction writers 500 years ago still had more creative solutions to our money woes.

It seems like a straight-forward topic and yet we still manage to ramble off script.

A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org.

Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast.

CC BY-SA 4.0

It has threatened to start wars and it has (arguably) finished them; its effects and influences can be found throughout our world today; it has nearly limitless power for creation and destruction; and according to some people it may be our only hope. This week (and the last one too) we are digging deep into the controversial world of nuclear power generation. Over the course of two episodes we'll explore the basics of this technology (which is coincidentally where most other podcasts and videos seem to stop) and go from there to really truly explore the pros and the cons - including plenty that you've probably never considered. Is this technology our best hope for a carbon free future? Or is it another example of too many promises and technological optimism clouding out the realities of our situation?

All this and more in a special two part series on everything nuclear power.

A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org.

Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast.

CC BY-SA 4.0

It has threatened to start wars and it has (arguably) finished them; its effects and influences can be found throughout our world today; it has nearly limitless power for creation and destruction; and according to some people it may be our only hope. This week (and the next one too) we are digging deep into the controversial world of nuclear power generation. Over the course of two episodes we'll explore the basics of this technology (which is coincidentally where most other podcasts and videos seem to stop) and go from there to really truly explore the pros and the cons - including plenty that you've probably never considered. Is this technology our best hope for a carbon free future? Or is it another example of too many promises and technological optimism clouding out the realities of our situation?

All this and more in a special two part series on everything nuclear power.

A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org.

Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast.

CC BY-SA 4.0

Part II of Ep 79 - Death Dealers

Merchants of Death. War Profiteers. Death Dealers. These are the people who fan the flames of war to transmute human suffering into profit. They play one nation against another to sell to both sides. Although the international community condemned these actors as conspirers in the tensions leading up to WWI, no policy effectively curbed their influence. In fact, such is the clout of wealth and power accumulated through arms deals that these merchants of death now litter the administrations of our governments’ institutions. Their presence is felt in the profligate overspending that results in $10,000 toilet seats for military cargo planes, it is seen in the constant rebuke of humanitarian law, and it is revealed through the habits of our politicians who espouse ideals of democracy and freedom while pedaling billions of dollars of weapons into regions rife with human rights abuse and violent conflict.

As our world clings ever more desperately to life, it seems our leaders can think of nothing but death.

A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org.

Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast.

CC BY-SA 4.0

Merchants of Death. War Profiteers. Death Dealers. These are the people who fan the flames of war to transmute human suffering into profit. They play one nation against another to sell to both sides. Although the international community condemned these actors as conspirers in the tensions leading up to WWI, no policy effectively curbed their influence. In fact, such is the clout of wealth and power accumulated through arms deals that these merchants of death now litter the administrations of our governments’ institutions. Their presence is felt in the profligate overspending that results in $10,000 toilet seats for military cargo planes, it is seen in the constant rebuke of humanitarian law, and it is revealed through the habits of our politicians who espouse ideals of democracy and freedom while pedaling billions of dollars of weapons into regions rife with human rights abuse and violent conflict.

As our world clings ever more desperately to life, it seems our leaders can think of nothing but death.

A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org.

Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast.

CC BY-SA 4.0