Extraenvironmentalist

Though we often think the modern culture of consumerism is an export from United States and a product of capitalism, people long before today’s era were enjoying the benefit of soft shoes, beautiful cloth and exceptional goods. Acquisition has been an important part of community and identity, essential to societies even though only recently so many people have been part of a middle class, capable of affording the mass consumption of today's world. What insights can we glean from the history of consumption and economic thought for what it means to be human?

In Extraenvironmentalist #95 we first speak with Professor Frank Trentmann about his new book Empire of Things: How We Became a World of Consumers, from the Fifteenth Century to the Twenty-First. We hear from Frank about how we've come to live with so much stuff. Then, we talk to Professor Laurence Malone about his work and teaching on Adam Smith and in editing the Essential Adam Smith. Dr. Malone helps us understand the real meaning of the invisible hand.

//Books

Empire of Things: How We Became a World of Consumers, from the Fifteenth Century to the Twenty-First by Frank Trentmann

// Music (in order of appearance)

Jose Gonzalez - This is How We Walk on the Moon (Thomas Jack Remix) via Et Musique Pour Tous

// Production Credits and Notes

Our editor Kevin via Sustainable Guidance Youtube Channel

Episode #95 was supported by donations from the following generous listeners:

Scott in Ontario

The post [ Episode #95 // Economy of Things ] appeared first on Extraenvironmentalist.

Companies like Twitter can make billions of dollars in revenue while providing a widely used service and still be considered a financial failure. Though today's digital technologies provide new innovations that reorganize daily life, can the digital economy expand forever? Will our most promising tech ever reach its potential in an economy pushing for growth at all costs?

In Extraenvironmentalist #94 we first speak with Douglas Rushkoff about his new book, Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus: How Growth Became the Enemy of Prosperity. Douglas discusses drivers of recent tech businesses and how relentless financial incentives are undermining their possible value to society. Then we speak with Jennifer Hinton about the possibility of a not-for-profit model for business and technology described in her forthcoming book How On Earth: Flourishing in a Not-For-Profit World by 2050.

//Books

Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus by Douglas Rushkoff

//Clips (in order of appearance)

How private tech industry buses became a symbol of the economic divide in San Francisco

// Music (in order of appearance)

Overjoy - Another via Soundcloud

// Production Credits and Notes

Our editor Kevin via Sustainable Guidance Youtube Channel

Episode #94 was supported by donations from the following generous listeners:

Ian in Australia

The post [ Episode #94 // Rocking the Google Bus ] appeared first on Extraenvironmentalist.

After years of mediocre negotiations on an international agreement to limit future climate change, it is easy to be cynical about the viability of a global strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. What do these large conferences really mean for the future of the planet? Our correspondent reports back from the December 2015 COP21 meeting in Paris to discuss the context and the content of large-scale climate negotiations.

In Extraenvironmentalist #93 we speak with Mark Dixon to discuss his take on the COP21 Paris climate conference. We hear interviews Mark recorded at the meeting, including one with climate scientist Kevin Anderson on the problem with ambitious projections of carbon capture technology. We also discuss Mark's conversations with the attendees who voiced their perspectives on the future of the planet's climate.

//Additional Links

Carbon Capture in Pathways to 1.5˚?

//Clips (in order of appearance)

What is COP21?

// Music (in order of appearance)

St. Paul and the Broken Bones - Midnight on the Earth via IndieShuffle

// Production Credits and Notes

Our editor Kevin via Sustainable Guidance Youtube Channel

Episode #93 was supported by donations from the following generous listeners:

Stacey in Utah

The post [ Episode #93 // Climate Agreements ] appeared first on Extraenvironmentalist.

Digital communication technologies hold the possibility of re-orienting the way we exchange value and think about money. Do digital currencies like Bitcoin have the ability to change the global economic order? Can machine learning, automation, and cryptocurrencies unleash exponential innovations that unseat the financial institutions at the top of the monetary pyramid?

In Extraenvironmentalist #92 we first speak with Paul Vigna about his new book The Age of Cryptocurrency: How Bitcoin and the Blockchain Are Challenging the Global Economic Order to discuss how the Bitcoin currency and the blockchain distributed ledger system are laying the groundwork for alternatives to today's monetary system. Then, we talk about the potential influence of exponential technologies on education, learning and other areas of the economy with Jim Jubelirer.

// Books

The Age of Cryptocurrency: How Bitcoin and the Blockchain Are Challenging the Global Economic Order by Paul Vigna and Michael J. Casey

//Clips (in order of appearance)

Full Story: on Bitcoin

// Music (in order of appearance)

Postiljonen - Supreme (Niva Remix) via Soundcloud

// Production Credits and Notes

Our editor Kevin via Sustainable Guidance Youtube Channel

Episode #92 was supported by donations from the following generous listeners:

Kathryn in Washington

The post [ Episode #92 // Decrypting Cryptocurrency ] appeared first on Extraenvironmentalist.

The common political conversation about our shared economic future focuses on achieving an escape velocity where the post-war growth boom can return as usual. While years of lackluster economic performance mount, a rapidly growing global economy is still discussed like it is readily just over the horizon. Can the factors creating a slower growth world find open discussion in time to avoid severe social strife? Is the drive for passive income in an age of stagnation placing the global economy in permanent peril and creating a context for social strife?

In Extraenvironmentalist #91 we first speak with Satyajit Das about his new book The Age of Stagnation: Why Perpetual Growth is Unattainable and the Global Economy is in Peril which questions the assumption that never ending economic growth is possible, or desirable. Das questions the ability of political leaders to enact the tough structural changes needed to avoid social chaos in a low growth world. Then, in the second half of our show we speak with Michael Hudson about his book Killing the Host: How Financial Parasites and Debt Bondage Destroy the Global Economy. Hudson describes how debt deflation is imposing austerity on the U.S. and European economies, siphoning wealth and income upward to the financial sector while impoverishing the middle class.

Note: Partial transcripts of our interviews in this episode are forthcoming in the next few weeks

// Books

The Age of Stagnation: Why Perpetual Growth is Unattainable and the Global Economy is in Peril by Satyajit Das

Killing the Host: How Financial Parasites and Debt Bondage Destroy the Global Economy by Michael Hudson

//Clips (in order of appearance)

Fourth Industrial Revolution tsunami warning in Davos - economy

// Music (in order of appearance)

Nifty Earth - Intertwine (Ft. Akhila Eechampati) via Indieshuffle

// Production Credits and Notes

Our editor Kevin via Sustainable Guidance Youtube Channel

Episode #91 was supported by donations from the following generous listeners:

Paul in California

The post [ Episode #91 // Age of Stagnation? ] appeared first on Extraenvironmentalist.

In our highly connected world of cell phones, ever expanding inboxes and regular social media updates, it is easy to be constantly immersed in the rich and dynamic worlds created by our technologies. While the internet gives us so much, it also changes our social relationships and mental environment in many subtle ways that can be challenging for brains that aren't too different from those of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. Can we develop a healthy relationship with modern digital technologies by thinking about what it really means to be human?

In Extraenvironmentalist #90 we talk with Christina Crook about The Joy of Missing Out: Finding Balance in a Wired World, her book on developing intentional and deliberate relationships with today's communication technologies. Then, we speak with Andrew Zenn about his experience at a digital detox camp, where people choose to experience a technology fast for encountering new dynamics of relating and conversing.

// Books

The Joy of Missing Out: Finding Balance in a Wired World by Christina Crook

//Clips (in order of appearance)

Is the internet really ruining your attention span

// Music (in order of appearance)

Easy Star All-Stars feat. Kirsty Rock - Paranoid Android (Reggae Cover) via Soundcloud

// Production Credits and Notes

Our editor Kevin via Sustainable Guidance Youtube Channel

Episode #90 was supported by donations from the following generous listeners:

Björn in Sweden

The post [ Episode #90 // Missing Out ] appeared first on Extraenvironmentalist.

In this Autumn 2015 Interlude of The Extraenvironmentalist we talk about research on how ancient humans perceived sounds with Steve Waller on rock art acoustics and Miriam Kolar about her archaeoacoustic research at Chavín de Huantar.

// Music (in order of appearance)

St. Germain - Forget Me Not

// Production Credits and Notes

Our editor Kevin via Sustainable Guidance Youtube Channel

The post [ Autumn 2015 Interlude // Archaeoacoustics ] appeared first on Extraenvironmentalist.

We're launching The Energy Transition Show with Chris Nelder - the first show on our forthcoming podcast network! This is the only episode we'll place in our Extraenvironmentalist podcast feed so please go to http://energytransitionshow.com/ to subscribe.

Episode #0 features the conversation we had with Chris in XE #89 on how global macro trends are presently influencing the ongoing process of energy transition.

The first few episodes are slated for a regular Wednesday release over the coming weeks. Enjoy the show! We'd love to hear your feedback at podcast [at] extraenvironmentalist.com so be sure to let us know what you think.

The post The Energy Transition Show – [Episode #0] – subscribe @ energytransitionshow.com appeared first on Extraenvironmentalist.

Today's textbook notions of business were developed during an unprecedented global economic expansion - a cultural condition that faces diminishing returns in today’s world. Can we build enterprises for a post-growth future that thrive among challenges of the next century? By reversing the process that privatizes profits, would unsustainable trends and drivers of inequality be subverted? Can a modern media and journalism industry flourish within a not-for-profit framework?

In Extraenvironmentalist #89 we first speak with Donnie Maclurcan of the Post Growth Institute about their organization's upcoming book, How On Earth: Flourishing in a Not-for-Profit World by 2050. Donnie explains ways that organizing business activities under the framework of not-for-profit enterprises can make meaningful change in the face of a seemingly intractable situation wrought by immense private wealth accumulation and slowing global growth.

In the second half of the show, we talk to Chris Nelder, host of the Energy Transition Show - the first regular podcast on the forthcoming XE Audio Network! We ask Chris about the ongoing contraction in US shale oil production during 2015 and the deteriorating financial condition of the industry in the face of a global deflationary undertow. The conversation is Episode #0 of the Energy Transition Show, which launches with Episode #1 beginning September 23.

Bonus Segment

// Links and News Items

The Energy Transition Show - launching September 23rd

As We Lay Dying -

// Books

How On Earth: Flourishing in a Not-for-Profit World by 2050 by Donnie Maclurcan and Jennifer Hilton

// Music (in order of appearance)

Lazy Knuckles - Polyglot via Soundcloud

// Production Credits and Notes

Our editor Kevin via Sustainable Guidance Youtube Channel

Episode #89 was supported by donations from the following generous listeners:

Stephanie in North Carolina

The post [ Episode #89 // How on Earth ] appeared first on Extraenvironmentalist.

Our governments, businesses and economic institutions were built on a society that was supercharged with fossil fuels to get as big as possible as fast as possible. Now, with the challenges of the 21st century, resilience is a more appropriate principle for reinventing and reorganizing our economic life. Is it possible to develop economic and financial arrangements that can emphasize aspects of humanity other than individual greed?

In Extraenvironmentalist #88 we discuss the Resilience Imperative: Cooperative Transitions to a Steady-State Economy with co-authors Michael Lewis and Pat Conaty. We talk about ways to create a decentralized, cooperative steady-state economy that can work as an alternative to the highly globalized and financialized economic paradigm of today.

Bonus Segment

// Links and News Items

Bloomberg: This Wharton Grad Wants You to Live in His Shipping Containers

China coal use falls: CO2 reduction this year could equal UK total emissions over same period

An example of how neoclassical economics works if we are immortal

Give me some China Investment Plays

// Books

The Resilience Imperative: Cooperative Transitions to a Steady-state Economy by Michael Lewis and Pat Conaty

// Extended Clips (in order of appearance)

[Break] - 41m

Economic globalization

[End]

Growth first. Then these other things can be dealt with, whatever they are.

// Music (in order of appearance)

Polodoore - But I Do via Soundcloud

// Production Credits and Notes

Our editor Kevin via Sustainable Guidance Youtube Channel

Episode #88 was supported by donations from the following generous listeners:

Christopher from NY

The post [ Episode #88 // Resilience Imperative ] appeared first on Extraenvironmentalist.