Extinction Rebellion Radio

Oh what a night. The Democratic Party's historic gains came from climate issues, without actually calling them 'climate change.' The War on Iran, inflationary cost of living, and high gas prices are all the short-term manifestations of the climate crisis, and those are what propelled this midterm electoral wipeout. In a straight factual way, we talk through the results and what they mean for climate campaigning moving forward.

In this episode we hear all about Citizen's Assemblies, randomly selected groups of ordinary people who have a facilitated deliberation on policy. If we did this with climate change, we might get a genuine response to the crisis instead of the dithering of professional politicians. We hear from expert Bob Kolodny about the strengths and weaknesses of this approach and what's happened when it's been done before in New York, and in several European countries.

We hope that one of the ways of appealing to people that action on the climate emergency is urgent and requires actual sacrifice, inconveniences, and adjustments to our collective life is to say what the climate crisis is—right now. So we do that every few episodes to show what's already happening. This episode takes us into October.

A lot of social unrest and political problems aren't entirely due to climate change. But they are PARTLY due to climate change; climate change makes them worse. We encourage listeners to notice the role that climate might be playing in things that don't seem obviously climate-caused. Explaining that is part of climate advocacy: It might help to reach people who aren't already aware of the vast scope of this crisis. The examples we discuss are the student protests in France, interest rates going up thereby slowing down the housing market even more, and the recent mass casualty event on a military base in Canada.

This week on XR Radio, we hear about XR's recent actions in New York: Blocking three major banks simultaneously. Citigroup, Bank of America, and JP Morgan Chase are among the largest funder of fossil fuels in the world and XR activists disrupted their flagship branches or headquarters buildings with creative non-violent civil disobedience. We hear about how news media were denied access to at least one of the blocking sites and discuss some of the implications with Jack Baldwin, who also spoke at a coalition building event called Rising Together. Then we round out the show with a report on the spike in murders of environmental activists worldwide last year. 

In the United Nations Genera Assembly, of all places, President Trump threatened to "annihilate" Iran and to ensure "no future generations." He is suggesting nuclear holocaust on the most severe level. For the President of a nuclear superpower to make such a threat is the biggest news of the year, and yet no one seems to be talking about it. Well, we are. And we're letting you know what it has to do with the climate crisis and global oil supplies.

Amid other climate news in this episode: One of the more bizarre pardons President Trump has issued came for a man who claimed he was making electric trucks when he was not. The bizarre circumstances of this case show nothing bad at all about the climate tech industry. In fact, they prove there is great eagerness and a large market for electric trucks. What they discredit is the competence of the finance industry, and we explain why.

A rebel group on the Arabian Peninsula called the Houthis have seized the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the narrow strip of water between the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. This is the corridor for a vast amount of global shipping, the way from Asia to Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Yet another major disruption, or threat of disruption, to oil supplies. Yet another hike in prices of just about everything because the world cannot wean itself away from burning oil. In this episode, we talk about this latest big development in the Middle East and why it is one more reason to stop depending on oil as fast as we possibly can.

To avoid forgetting immediately about the climate disasters that are ending and disrupting life all around the world, this episode continues the occasional series of recounting what the climate crisis is doing right now. We cover the glacial collapse in Nepal and Tibet, Typhoon Dolphin shutting down much of Asia, and actual death in Death Valley, among many others.

Europe just had the summer from hell, and incredibly, they have changed E.U. policy to allow MORE carbon emissions, not less. Their land will burn faster and their rivers will dry up faster as a result. This is climate suicide. Also, our comments on the US-Canada trade war, and the US-Venezuela oil extraction agreement.