Deceleration Podcast

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A conversation with Ursula Rakova of Tulele Peisa, a nonprofit formed by the elders of the Carteret Islands to direct the relocation of their communities from their low-lying island chain to the “big island” of Bougainville in Papau New Guinea. While the Paris framework considered 1.5 Celsius an aspirational target, increasingly cities are declaring 1.5 their goal right out of the gate, as has San Antonio. This movement from 'less-than-two' to 1.5 or less is hardly incidental but rather life or death for many of the world's low-lying island states, representatives of which pushed back hard on the 2-degree Paris proposal, insisting they needed “1.5 to stay alive.”

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This morning, Deceleration had the opportunity to interview representatives of Pocacito (Post-Carbon Cities of Tomorrow), an initiative of Ecologic Institute whose goal is to build trans-Atlantic solidarity and intellectual exchange around local creative efforts for a renewable economy and planet. As part of their “Eight to Infinity” tour (think eight cities, then lay the eight on its side to invoke ideas of a permanent economy/culture), they are on a mission to seed community building efforts around climate and environment with an understanding of the circular economy.

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Not all was well at this month's Global Climate Action Summit, heralded as a significant milestone in the world struggle with climate crisis. And not all the solutions were being found inside the conference rooms and banquet halls. Outside, protestors, led by indigenous leaders from around the country and beyond, were warning that in order respond effectively to this moment of dangerous imbalance requires bottom-up and community-level engagement. Greg Harman of the Texas Sierra Club speaks with Frankie Orona, executive director of the Society of Native Nations, and Juan B. Mancias, tribal chair of the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, about their anti-extraction work and attendance at the San Francisco summit.

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The "Say No to Radioactive Waste" tour crossing Texas this week features a giant inflatable 'cask.' It represents the effort of state, national, and international anti-nuclear groups to shut down a proposal that would have nuclear power plants shipping their high-level radioactive waste from around the United States to a West Texas facility for long-term storage. Following a press conference outside San Antonio's Alamodome on Wednesday, September 26, 2018, Deceleration had the following conversation with Karen Hadden (SEED Coalition), Diane D'Arrigo (NIRS), and Kerstin Rudek (Bürgerinitiative Umweltschutz).

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What is a truly sustainable building? Is it about how much dirty energy it consumes? The clean energy it produces? What about the building materials themselves and the “embodied carbon” they represent? What if those materials also were able to absorb greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and sequester it from the environment? This is the subject of sustainable buildings leader Bruce King's coming lecture at San Antonio College.It's a message of special value in San Antonio today, as the City pursues the development of its first climate action plan.So far, the staff and volunteers working on San Antonio's Climate Action & Adaptation Plan have discussed changing building codes, promoting “green” roofs and passive solar. But when considering the potentials of carbon sequestration the CAAP's “Community Measures” focus primarily on the landscape: “increasing plant material, restoring the soil landscape, and all high-tech solutions.”

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Rising temperatures, stronger storms, depleting global fertilizer supplies all mean extractive industrial agriculture is going to take a big hit from climate change. As the City's first climate plan percolates, a local foods revolution continues to quietly gather steam in San Antonio. Join the Alamo Group of the Sierra Club for a conversation with some of the leaders of the local food movement.Guests include: Mitch Hagney is the founder of the LocalSprout Food Hub, an urban farm and solar-powered gathering spot for small food businesses. Kate Jaceldo is a co-founder of the Compost Queens, a family business tackling the food waste side of that equation, helping residents and businesses convert discarded food into fresh soil. Nadia Gaona is founder of San Antonio Permaculture, a group of people from diverse backgrounds who come together to learn and share experiences of growing their own food and to discuss ways to create more regenerative communities.Hagney, Jaceldo, and Gaona join Lone Star Sierra Club organizer Greg Harman to discuss the burgeoning local foods movement that could help San Antonio evolve into a more sustainable city and ultimately a carbon sink, absorbing climate pollution from the atmosphere, a goal of the Sierra Club and Climate Action SA.

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Gil and Jo Ann Murillo, longtime residents and neighborhood activists, share some of the history of Government Hill, as well as current struggles that have emerged in the siting of high-dollar residential development within an historically working-class neighborhood.

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Tupac Enrique Acosta of Tonatierra speaks with Deceleration's Marisol Cortez on the March 5th DACA deadline from an Indigenous perspective, and the need for catalytic cultural shifts in how we conceptualize citizenship and constitutionality.

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Deceleration's Marisol Cortez speaks with visual artist (and one-time rooster victim) Jose Cabrera about his magical works, which fuse the earth's creatures with popular cultural references.

SXSW Eco: 'Cradle to Cradle' author William McDonough introduces his vision of the Carbon Positive City at SXSW Eco 2016. The concept integrates urban and agricultural development as a unified, productive and restorative system, thereby recognizing beneficial uses of carbon for short and long-term ecological, economic and social value.