GND Media

This week is our part two in our mini series on Nuclear Energy. You can listen to part one of this series with M.V Ramana here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/gnd-media/id1501980017

Ad's is joined by Mark Nelson (@Energy Bants) founder and managing director of Radiant Energy Group, a organisation that supports low carbon energy transition and keeping nuclear power plants open. They tackle the three big points of contention in the debate around atomic energy. Waste, the link between nuclear energy and nuclear weapons and the timelines it takes to get nuclear power plants completed. Ads and Mark also explore the current reach of nuclear technology around the world, How our perceptions of time play a role in feelings around nuclear waste and Marks thoughts on how political and spiritual thought around nuclear power has lead to its collapse in the last 20 years. 

Links
Radiant Energy Group: https://www.radiantenergygroup.com/

"Into eternity" The documentary Ads was discussing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayLxB9fV2y4


Shout out
Mark's shout out this week is Ursula Von de Leyen @vonderleyen  for stating that Europe needs more nuclear power. 

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For the next two episodes Ads is exploring one of the most debated and decisive topics when it comes to climate breakdown. Nuclear power.

In recent years many have seen nuclear power as a keystone technology that can help produce bountiful clean energy to get humanity off fossil fuels. For others, when nuclear power is mentioned the images of Fukushima, Chernobyl and the threat of apocalyptic war are front and center and believe that this incredibly powerful energy source should remain a relic of the 20th century, it is too dangerous. 

This week we are joined by M.V Ramana, author of "Nuclear is not the solution", and a member of the international nuclear risk assessment group. Ads discusses with Ramana the main arguments against pursuing nuclear power.  Who currently has access to it? Is it a viable technology on our climate timeline? Are Small Modular Reactors a real innovation? Are we aware of all the risks posed? What do we do with the waste? How are different countries approaching nuclear power and where do Nuclear weapons fit into this picture?

in Part Two Ads is joined by Mark Nelson to discuss the positive vision for nuclear power.

Links
Dismantling Sellafield Article
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/15/dismantling-sellafield-epic-task-shutting-down-decomissioned-nuclear-site

Get a copy of Ramana's book: Nuclear is not the Solution, from Verso.
https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/3013-nuclear-is-not-the-solution?_pos=2&_psq=nu&_ss=e&_v=1.0

World Nuclear Status Report
https://www.worldnuclearreport.org/

International Panel on Fissile Materials
https://fissilematerials.org/

International Nuclear Risk Assessment Group
https://www.inrag.org/

Pugwash group
https://pugwashgroup.ca/

Shout out
 Ramana's co-authors at the  world nuclear report
Mycle Schneider
Antony Froggatt
Julie Hazemann

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Humans have always moved. long before we started planting grains in the fertile crescent, we moved around the globe in search of food, shelter and other humans for trade and collaboration. If you're moving now without dollar in your pocket, your demonized, shunned and your humanity questioned, just for trying to find a better life.  The climate crisis is going to have millions on the move. How do we bring solidarity and shared understanding to our fellow man?

This week on the show Lucy and Ads are joined by Zoe Gardner. Zoe is a migration and asylum policy specialist, researcher, advocate, and writer.

We discuss the current hell that migrants go through travelling to and through Europe, how Britain leaving the European Union ramped up the crossings by small boats, The potential danger of Robert Jenerick becoming the new Leader of the Tory party and what a humane asylum system would look like.


links

Gaia  Vince: Nomad Century: How to survive the climate upheaval
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/444202/nomad-century-by-vince-gaia/9780141997681


Shout outs
AVID: the Association for Visitors to Immigrant Detainees 
https://www.aviddetention.org.uk/

Manchester Mustard tree 
https://mustardtree.org.uk/

And a shout out to the french left for keeping the far right at bay in the recent elections! hold on! 

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The Climate Movements key focus is on the reduction of emissions and stopping humanity from going over the edge into full blown climate breakdown. But by focusing so heavily on the parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere are we missing ways in which the natural world shapes our existence? Are we being negligent to the lives of other species that make up life on earth, and what affect does that have on humanity in turn? 

Returning to the show this is Professor Chris Armstrong, to discuss his new book "Global Justice and the Biodiversity Crisis: Conservation in a World of Inequality". Chris is a Professor in Political Theory in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Southampton @sotonpolitics.  

We start by discussing the current state of international nature conservation and how colonial powers still shape biodiversity schemes, how by fixating on carbon we miss the richness that nature provides for humans and how some efforts for conservation embed the structural inequality enforced on the global south. We also discuss how by viewing the world through economics, we make it worse for all living things on the planet.

Links

You can read Chris's latest book here:
Global Justice and the Biodiversity Crisis: Conservation in a World of Inequality
https://academic.oup.com/book/55992?

Ads reccomends some books by James Rebanks when we discuss farming. You can find his catalogue here:
https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/120316/james-rebanks



Shout out
survival international 
https://www.survivalinternational.org/campaigns/conservation

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The election is in full swing in the UK, with 3 days to go until the polls open. Are the parties rising to the occasion and providing a vision of a world not decimated by the climate crisis? We put in the hard hours to read the manifestos on offer so you don't have to!

In this endeavor of analysis or political parities commitments we are joined by comrade of the pod Sam Knights! We discuss what is Labour's GB energy? Why haven't the Tory's mentioned water for the last six weeks, Are the Green's spending plans realistic? and Why are the Lib Dems more serious about climate than you expect? 

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This week we are starting at the End. 

This week on the show myself and lucy are joined by Tad Delay and Ben ware. Tad the author of Future of Denial:The Ideologies of Climate Change. He’s also an assistant Professor of Philosophy at Baltimore City Community College. Ben Ware author of On Extinction: Beginning Again At The End. Ben is the Co-director of the centre for Philosophy and art at Kings College London. 

I imagine if you’re listening or watching  this you’re probably in some state of shock when it comes to how humanity is responding to the collapse of the planet as we know it. Maybe you’re also finding yourself cringing or at odds with how some of those who are most seemingly committed to stopping climate breakdown go about their business. How are we to understand how humanity is reacting at this moment. Are we in denial about the end of the world? Are some of us enjoying the idea of the end? Is learning more and more facts about climate change actually helping? Or are we finding comfort in being correct about the rolling doom. 

We decided to bring ben and Tad together to discuss there work as they both draw on psychoanalysis to understand how we’re reacting at the end of the world. We discuss how our relation to time affects our ability to act on climate change, how denial can manifest itself in government action, the joy at the end of the world and how joe biden can be the “best president on climate” while opening oil and gas fields and support a genocide in Gaza. 

Links
Tad has done a great series of podcast discussing his book with varies thinkers and contemporaries. Listen to it here
https://open.spotify.com/show/64e8AfK6GmHyhztfTVY8sI?si=6c756546bfe94433

You can pick up Ben's book On Extinction: Beginning at the end from Verso here
https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2604-on-extinction

And you can get Tad's book Future to Denial: The Ideologies of Climate Change from Verso here.
https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2857-future-of-denial

Shout outs
Kairos, a new venue in London exploring radical ideas for social and cultural change in response to the climate and nature crises.  @KairosClub
https://www.kairos.london/

All the staff at Stepping hill hospital in Stockport 

Richard Seymour @leninology

Unite UCU
@UniteUCU

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Shout outs
Class work project
https://www.theclassworkproject.com/

Trade mark belfast

feminize Politics Now

Reclaim 

Acorn tenants union 

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When our ethics clash with our work, who wins? and Who should win? Should we adhere to the orders of our mangers, even if we think its bad for the planet? 

This week on the show Ads and Andrew are joined by Dr. Gianluca Grimaldi, a climate researcher. Gianluca tells his story of being fired from his job as a climate scientist for refusing to fly for work-related travel. He discusses the reasons behind his decision, including the environmental impact of air travel and the need to challenge the culture of excessive flying in academia. Gianluca also talks about the lack of support from his colleagues and the impact on his career. 

Links
You can support Gian's research here 
https://ko-fi.com/ggrimalda 

Guardian Article about Gian's story https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/12/climate-researcher-who-refused-to-fly-back-from-research-trip-is-sacked

Check out Gian's research work here
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gianluca-Grimalda

Shout outs
Scientist Rebellion 
 @ScientistRebel1 

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This week on the show we are joined by  Nicole Kleinheisterkamp-González  a PHD candidate at Syracuse University in New York state. Nicole's research is to bring the analysis of Labour and union organising into geography. Her field work has taken her to working in coal mines and car plants to understand the lives of workers in the US and Germany,  and how their political formations are changing with the pressures of climate change.

Can workers from carbon heavy industries be the frontline in the just transition? Can the climate movement and workers come together to save the planet?



Links
Nicole's research paper 
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/03091325231154222

Shout Outs

Support those affected by devastating wild fires in Chile
Fondo Nacional de Reconstrucción
https://donaciones.hacienda.gob.cl/english 

United Auto Workers Union in the USA

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We've spoken to alot of degrowthers on this show, all coming from slightly different angles on the problems facing the planet. This week we are heading to Japan, to hear from one of the most prominent thinkers on Marx, to see how marxism and degrowth are really singing on the same hymn sheet. 

This week on the show Ads and Andrew are joined by Philosopher Kohei Saito to discuss Degrowth Communism. 

Kohei Saito is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Tokyo, and the best selling author of "Capital in the Anthropocene" (which sold over 500,00 copies in Japan), Marx in the Anthropocene and his new book "Slow Down: The degrowth Communist Manifesto".

Topics discussed
The popularity of Kohei's books on Marx in Japan

Marx on nature and the metabolic rift

Historical Materialism

How Degrowth is an extension of Marx's own work.

How to get move on from "Capitalist common sense" to abundance.

The Japanese Left.

How do we start putting these ideas into practice.

Links
You can get a copy of Kohei's latest book "Slow Down: The Degrowth Communist Manifesto" at the link below.
https://www.waterstones.com/book/slow-down/kohei-saito/9781399612975

shout out
 

 Kohei's  kids for inspiring him to keep fighting for a better world. 

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