Interplace

Hello Interactors,

It’s been awhile. I’ve been off getting our kids settled at college…including a transfer to Los Angeles. And I may have also been seduced by the lazy days of summer.

After dropping our son in LA, my wife and I took some time to return to Santa Barbara where we first met. I was reminded of how uniquely beautiful that place is. It’s also host to a unique collection of physical geography. And while it mostly enjoys a cool, calm environment, it can also endure bouts of destruction and renewal. A bit like all of us.

Let’s reflect, shall we…

MIGRATIONS, MOUNTAINS, AND MEMORIES

Traversing the globe dropping offspring is as old as humanity. As far as we know, early hominins like Homo erectus first stepped out of Africa two million years ago. The oldest human skeletal remains outside of Africa to date were found in Eurasia (now the country of Georgia) and are 1.8 million years old. These waves of migrations were likely driven by changes in climate, resources, societies, and technologies — the same factors driving migration today.

Our oldest kin dispersed widely across Eurasia, reaching as far as Southeast Asia. Some may have even used primitive boats to navigate to and between islands. This all set the stage for later migrations of other hominins, including Homo sapiens, as they spread across globe over the next million years.

I was reflecting on this on a hike my wife and I recently took in the foothills of Santa Barbara (where we had our first date 34 years ago!). The Santa Ynez Mountains were uplifted during the late Miocene (23.03 million years ago) to early Pliocene (2.58 million years ago) due to the tectonic interactions between the Pacific and North American plates. This exposed a complex layering of ancient marine and terrestrial sediments that were deposited over millions of years in a marine basin stretching from current day central valley of California to Northern Mexico.

These sandstones, shale, and conglomerates are revealed along the trails, cliffs, ridges, and valleys we traversed, all formed by folding, faulting, and fanning of eroded debris. The mountains continue to be pushed upward at a rate of 1 to 4 millimeters per year due to the ongoing compression between the tectonic plates along the dynamic San Andreas Fault — the same fault that originally formed them millions of years ago.

The Miocene epoch, with its warmer and more humid climate, supported dense forests of subtropical and temperate species in the Santa Ynez Mountains. As tectonic activity uplifted the region, new habitats emerged, setting the stage for diverse vegetation to develop. This period laid the groundwork for the ecosystems that would later evolve as the landscape continued to change.

By the Pliocene, global cooling led to drier conditions, favoring the transition from these lush forests to the more arid-adapted plant communities found today. The chaparral, oak woodlands, and coastal sage scrub we hiked through are products of this shift. These plants adapted to the region's famous Mediterranean climate, characterized by hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters, and further shaped by the ongoing geological forces at work in the area.

The resultant Santa Ynez Mountains significantly influence the weather patterns in Santa Barbara by acting as a barrier to the Pacific Ocean's marine air. Unlike much of the California coast, the Santa Barbara area faces south. During the summer, these south facing mountains trap the marine layer — a cool, moist air mass that forms over the ocean—leading to fog and low clouds along the coast. This marine layer helps keep temperatures in Santa Barbara cooler than in areas further inland, providing a mild and comfortable summer climate. Additionally, in winter, the mountains enhance orographic lift, causing moist air blown from the south to rise, cool, and condense, resulting in increased rainfall on the windward side of the range and benefiting the coastal regions. I recall one brisk winter morning in Santa Barbara in 1990 when frost appeared in the shadows on the roads and snow dusted the peaks of the Santa Ynez mountains.

However, these mountains also create a rain shadow effect on their leeward side, where descending air becomes warmer and drier, leading to less precipitation. This topographical influence also contributes to the occurrence of sundowner winds—warm, dry winds that descend from the mountains into Santa Barbara. These winds can cause rapid temperature increases and lower humidity levels, sometimes creating critical fire weather conditions. My wife, then girlfriend, and I ran a 5k in 1991 that was overcome with smoke from fire stoked by these sundowner winds.

BLAZE, BURST, AND BLOOM

Similar winds, Santa Ana winds, stoked a more and recent severe fire, the Thomas Fire, in 2017. These winds form east of the Sierra Nevada mountains over inland deserts and west towards the coast. Hot and dry winds channel through mountain passes and canyons, gaining speed as they descend across Southern California — and they can amplify even the smallest fire. The Thomas Fire was one of the largest wildfires in California history burning over 280,000 acres of wildlife and more than 1,000 buildings. Firefighters in Montecito, the northern-most destination, battled for days to save homes and lives.

This left big chunks of the Montecito foothills charred. As crews worked to clear debris over the next month, the area was hit with a torrent of rain. While rainfall in Montecito was relatively minimal on the morning of January 9th, 2018, rainfall further up the mountain, enhanced by the mountain’s orographic lift, was more severe. Residents were caught off guard as waves of water gained speed through canyons and creeks picking up charred debris and uprooting trees loosened by saturated soil.

These post-fire debris flows, which included mud, rocks, and tree branches, reached heights of up to 15 feet speeding an estimated 20 miles per hour. The disaster resulted in 21 fatalities, two missing persons, and about 163 people hospitalized. Property damage exceeding $177 million, emergency response hit at least $7 million, and another $43 million was slated for cleanup and restoration.

Six years later, hiking in these same hills, we saw evidence of county crews still restoring and re-shoring the foothills. We also saw evidence of plants re-emerging. Some of which are descendants of the same ancient plants that emerged in the Pliocene in the very same soil we were walking on.

Hiking, and sometimes running, through the recovering foothills of Montecito, I was struck by how much this landscape mirrors a story of resilience that extends far beyond these hills and long before our time there. Over the previous two weeks my wife and I had crisscrossed the USA, east to NYC and west to LA, dropping our kids far away — modern migration with echoes of long ago, still alive still today.

Like other humans that moved across vast distances, we and our kids are adapting to new environments and new stages in life. Just like the chaparral and black sage of these foothills.

The plants that now re-emerge from the scorched and scarred earth are descendants of those that first appeared in the Pliocene. They use fire to propagate and regenerate in challenging terrain. Chaparral species, like black sage, evolved to thrive in this fire-prone environment. Fire-stimulated germination allows seeds to lye dormant until they’re exposed to heat which triggers germination. Sprouts emerge from underground lignotubers, which are complex energy-storing structures that quickly regenerate new shoots — even amidst scorched soil. Serotiny, another adaptation, turns seed cones into popcorn like capsules that only open when exposed to fire's heat giving them a head start on invasive competition. These strategies enable chaparral plants to not only survive but to capitalize on the aftermath of wildfires and hillside scraping floods.

In the charred and healing soil beneath our feet, I saw the enduring connection between past and present, nature and nurture — a reminder that our journeys, like those of the landscapes we inhabit, are shaped by the unyielding push and pull of time — of adaptation, and resilience. Just as the chaparral plants of the Santa Barbara foothills have evolved mechanisms to thrive after fire, our kids, too, will develop new strategies to adapt and flourish in their new environments. In the face of life's inevitable challenges, they will learn to not only survive but to rise stronger, just as the ancient mountains of Santa Barbara continue to do. All the while, the landscapes beneath our feet continue their unbroken cycle of destruction, renewal, and growth amidst ever evolving climates, resources, societies, and technologies.

Hello Interactors,

Flying provides a great opportunity to catch up on books and podcasts, but it also brings feelings of guilt. My recent trip likely contributed about 136 hot air balloons' worth of CO2 to the atmosphere. Should I feel guilty, or should the responsibility lie with airlines, manufacturers, and oil companies? We all contribute to global warming, but at least our destination was experiencing an unusually cool July. However, globally, the situation is very different and worsening faster than expected. What’s to be done?

Let’s dig in.

CLIMATE CONUNDRUMS CONFOUND CALCULATIONS

There are two spots on the planet that are not affected by climate change, and I recently flew over one of them. It’s a patch in the ocean just off the coast of Greenland that our plane happened to fly over on a family vacation to Scotland. The other is a small band around the Southern Ocean near Antarctica. I likely won’t be visiting that one.

I learned this on the plane listening to a podcast interview by the physicist Sean Carroll with climate scientist and Director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Gavin Schmidt. Gavin has been at the forefront of climate science, spearheading efforts to quantify Earth's climatic fluctuations, develop sophisticated models for projecting future climate scenarios, and effectively communicate these findings to the public and policymakers.

In this discussion, they talked about the methods currently employed in climate research, while also offering insights into the anticipated climatic shifts and their potential impacts in the coming decades. Gavin is known for bridging gaps between complex science and accessible information. I’m writing this piece to bridge some of my own gaps.

For example, there’s often mention that climate change has created more extreme swings in temperature — that the weather is increasingly varying from extreme heat to extreme cold. In statistics, this is called variance. Some argue this variance may be hard for us to detect because temperatures have been shifting — a phenomenon known as shifting baseline syndrome.

Gavin says there’s more to this question than people realize. He notes that it is relatively straightforward to detect changes in the mean temperature because of the law of large numbers. Temperature varies across three dimensions - latitude, longitude, and altitude. We can calculate an average temperature for any two-dimensional slice of this 3D space, resulting in a single representative value for that area.

This video is a conceptual simulation showing a 3D volume of temperature readings (warmer toward the ground and cool toward the sky). The 2D plane ‘slices’ the cube averaging the values as it encounters them and colors itself accordingly. Source: Author using P5.js with much help from OpenAI.

With enough data, it's clear that there has been a significant warming trend almost everywhere on Earth since the 1970s. Approximately 98% of the planet has experienced detectable warming, with a couple exceptions like the ones I mentioned.

But determining changes in the variance or spread of temperatures is more complex. Calculating variance requires a comprehensive understanding of the entire distribution of data, which requires a larger dataset to achieve statistical confidence. Schmidt points out that while we have enough data to confirm that the distribution of temperatures has shifted (indicating a change in the mean), we do not yet have sufficient data to conclusively state that the variance has increased.

Recent temperature spikes tell this story well. For the last decade or more, many climate scientists have been confident in predicting increased global mean temperatures by looking at past temperatures. The global mean has been predictably increasing within known variances. But in 2023 their confidence was shaken. He said,

“Perhaps we get a little bit complacent. Perhaps we then say, ’Okay, well, you know, we know everything.’ And for the last 10 years or so, [that’s been] on the back of both those long-term trends, which we understand…”

He goes on to explain that they’ve been able to adjust temperature predictions based on past trends and the cyclical variances of El Nino and La Nina. Scientists have boldly claimed,

“’Okay, well, it's gonna be a little bit cooler. It's gonna be a little warmer, but the trends are gonna be up. You know, here's the chance of a new record temperature.’ And for 10 years that worked out nicely until last year. Last year, it was a total bust, total bust like way outside any of the uncertainties that you would add into such a prediction.”

How far outside of known uncertainties? He said,

“…we were way off. And we still don’t know why. And that's a little disquieting.” He added, “…we ended up with records at the end of last year, August, September, October, November, that were, like they were off the charts, but then they were off the charts in how much they were off the charts. So, they were breaking the records where they were breaking the records by a record-breaking amount as well. So that's record breaking squared, if you like, the second order record breaking. And we don't really have a good answer for that yet.”

There is ongoing research into why and some have speculated, but none of them add up.

For example, we’re currently nearing a solar maximum in the sun's 11-year cycle which increases solar irradiance, but that small increase doesn't fully explain the observed changes. Other factors may be at play. For instance, there have been significant shifts in pollution levels in China, and the shipping industry has transitioned to cleaner fuels, which, as hoped, could be influencing climate patterns.

However, Schmidt notes that the quantitative analysis of these factors hasn't yet matched the observed changes. Identifying potential contributors to climate variations is one thing, but precisely quantifying their impacts remains a challenge. Schmidt said climate and planetary scientists hope to convene in December to share and learn more, but the extreme shift remains concerning.

CALCULATING CLIMATE'S COUNTLESS COMPONENTS

The amount of data required to model the climate is daunting. In a separate TED talk, Schmidt reveals that understanding climate change requires considering variables that span 14 orders of magnitude, from the microscopic level (e.g., aerosols) to the planetary scale (e.g., atmospheric circulation). These accordingly have their own orders of magnitude on a time scale, from milliseconds of chemical reactions to weather events over days or weeks to long term changes over millennia, like ice ages or long-term carbon cycles.

Climate models must integrate processes across these scales to accurately simulate climate dynamics. Early models could only handle a few orders of magnitude, but modern models have significantly expanded this range, incorporating more detailed processes and interactions.

Schmidt highlights that climate models reveal emergent properties—patterns that arise from the interactions of smaller-scale processes. For instance, no specific code dictates the formation of cyclones or the wiggles in ocean currents; these phenomena emerge naturally from the model's equations.

But there is a staggering amount of data to model. And it all starts with the sun.

The sun provides 99% of the Earth's energy, primarily in the visible spectrum, with components in the near-infrared and UV. This energy interacts with the atmosphere, which contains water vapor, greenhouse gases, ozone, clouds, and particles that absorb, reflect, or scatter light.

The energy undergoes photolytic reactions. Photolytic reactions are chemical reactions that are initiated or driven by the absorption of light energy which breakdown molecules into smaller units. We couldn’t breathe without it. The earth’s ozone is decomposed into oxygen in the atmosphere through these reactions, which is initiated by sunlight — especially in the stratosphere. This too must be tracked as the Earth rotates, affecting sunlight exposure.

Upon reaching the ground, some sunlight is reflected, by snow for example, or absorbed by oceans and land. This influences temperatures which is then radiated back as infrared energy. This process involves complex interactions with clouds, particles, and greenhouse gases, creating temperature gradients that drive winds and atmospheric motion. These dynamics further affect surface fluxes, water vapor, cloud formation, and associated chemistry, making the entire system highly intricate. And this doesn’t even remotely begin to approach the complexity of it all.

To simplify Schmidt says they capture what they can in a column roughly 25 kilometers high and wide to study the inherent physics. Most of which he says,

“…is just vertical. So, the radiation you can think of as just being a vertical process, to very good order. Convection is also just a vertical process. So, there's a lot of things that you can do in the column that allows you to be quite efficient about how you solve the equations.”  Schmidt adds that “each column [can] sit on a different processor, and so you can do lots of things at the same time, and then they interact via the winds and the waves and those kinds of things.”

He said most of the calculations come down to these two sets of equations: Euler and Navier-Stokes. Euler equations are a set of partial differential equations in fluid dynamics that describe the flow of non-viscous and fluids, absent heat exchange. Named after the Swiss mathematician and physicist Leonhard Euler in the 18th century, these simplify the analysis of fluid flow by neglecting viscosity and thermal conductivity, focusing instead on the conservation of mass, momentum, and energy.

Navier-Stokes, named after the 19th century French civil engineer Claude-Louis Navier and the Irish physicist George Gabriel Stokes, is based on Euler’s work but adds viscosity back into the equation. Schmidt says these equations are sometimes used to measure flows closer to the surface of the earth.

This video is a conceptual simulation showing a 3D volume of vectors (randomly changing direction and magnitude) with particles entering the field of vectors. Each particle (e.g. dust, rain, aerosol) gets pushed in the direction of the vector each encounters. You can clearly see the emergent swarming behavior complex adaptive systems, like our atmosphere, can yield. Also present are the apparent challenges that come with measuring and predicting these outcomes. Source: Author using P5.js with much help from OpenAI.

These complex computational models are inherently approximations. They are validated against observations but remain simplifications of reality. This inherent uncertainty is a critical aspect of climate science, emphasizing the need for continuous refinement and validation of models.

And while human-induce climate change denialists like to say the climate models are wrong and not worth considering, Schmidt has a clever retort,

“Models are not right or wrong; they are always wrong, but they are useful.”

NAVIGATING NATURE'S NEW NORMAL

Many wish climate change predictions had the kind of certainty that comes with basic laws of physics. While there are indeed efforts in complexity science to identify such laws, we’re still in the foothills of discovery on a steep climb to certainty.

For example, to even achieve the current level of climate prediction took approximately 30 years of research, involving multiple methods, replication, and more sophisticated physical modeling. This led to accurate calibration techniques for the paleothermometers that measure ice cores which reveal temperatures from around the planet dating back three million years.

While there is some empirical certainty in this — derived from the periodic table, fundamental laws of physics, or observed correlations from spatially dispersed ice core samples — recent extreme variations in global temperatures give reason to question this certainty. These relationships were based on spatial variations observable today, but failed to account for change over time, which behave very differently.

Schmidt says,

“…it turns out that the things that cause things to change in time are not the same things that cause them to change in space. And so empirical relationships that are derived from data that's available rather than the data that you need can indeed lead you astray.”

It begs the question: how far astray are we?

We know over the last one hundred years or so the planet has warmed roughly an average of 1.5 degrees Celsius. This is a number that has been contorted in the media to mean some kind of threshold after which “something” “might” happen. But Schmidt cautions there is no way to know when we hit this number, exactly, and it’s not going to be obvious. Perhaps it already pushed passed this threshold, or it may not for another decade.

He says,

“we are going to continue to warm on the aggregates because we are continuing to put carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Until we get effectively to net zero, so no more addition of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, temperatures will continue to climb. The less we put in, the slower that will be. But effectively, our best estimate of when global warming will stop is when we get to net zero.”

Getting to net zero involves significant and radical changes in energy production, industrial processes, and consumption patterns. Moreover, it will require an unprecedented comprehensive and coordinated worldwide effort across all sectors of the economy, institutions, and governments.

This is true even for hypothetical and speculative climate engineering solutions like injecting sulfates into the atmosphere in attempts to cool the planet. According to Schmidt, not only would this require cooperation across borders, so long as we keep spewing emissions into the atmosphere, we’d be forever trying to cool the planet…for eternity or at least until we’ve exhausted all the planet’s fossil fuels.

It’s hard to imagine this happening in my lifetime, if ever. After all, climate change is already disrupting and displacing entire populations and we’re seeing governments, and their citizens, becoming increasingly selfish and isolationist, not collaborative.

As Schmidt admits,

“We're not on the optimum path. We're not on the path that will prevent further damage and prevent the need for further adaptation. So, we're going to have to be building climate resilience, we're going to have to be adapting, we're going to have to be mitigating, and you have to do all three. You can't adapt to an ever-getting-worse situation, it has to at some point stabilize.”

Schmidt says he derives no joy in telling people

“that the next decade is going to be warmer than the last decade and it was warmer than the decade before that.” He says, “It gives me no joy to tell people that, oh yeah, we're going to have another record-breaking year this year, next year, whenever. Because I'm not a sociopath. I'm a scientist, yes, but I'm also a person.”

Schmidt's words resonate deeply, reminding us that behind the data and predictions are real people—scientists, citizens, and future generations—all grappling with the weight of our changing world. As we stand at this critical juncture, we're not just passive observers but active participants in Earth's unfolding story, a story that's leaving its mark on nearly every corner of our planet.

The butterfly effect, as meteorologist Edward Lorenz proposed, isn't just about tornados in Texas being set off by a chain of events from the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil; it's a powerful metaphor for our collective impact. Each of us, in our daily choices and actions, creates ripples that extend far beyond our immediate sphere. In a world where only two small patches—one off Greenland's coast and another near Antarctica—remain untouched by climate change, our individual actions carry profound significance.

The path to net zero isn't just about grand gestures or technological breakthroughs. It's about millions of small, intentional actions coalescing into a force powerful enough to alter our trajectory. As we face the challenges ahead, let's remember that our individual agency, when combined, has the potential to create tsunamis of change, even in places we may never visit ourselves.

In the end, it's not just about preserving a habitable planet — it's about preserving our humanity, our connection to each other and to the Earth that sustains us. As we navigate this critical decade and beyond, let's carry with us the knowledge that every action, no matter how small, contributes to the larger narrative of our planet's future. We are all butterflies, and in a world where climate change-free zones are becoming as rare as a family vacation to Antarctica, our wings have never mattered more.

Hello Interactors,

I recently read an intriguing article about unexpected forms of life thriving deep within the Earth's crust. These discoveries are revitalizing environmental theories and processes that mainstream science has long tried to dismiss—yet I've been exploring them over the past few summers. While working outside, I realized that some of these processes are unfolding right under my nose...and possibly even inside it!

On that note, this might sound a bit awkward, but...

Let’s dig in!

WORLDWIDE WEATHERING WHISPERS

I’m behind on my pressure washing. This can have detrimental effects here in the predominantly damp Northwest as moss spores, tiny lightweight travelers, are lifted and lofted by the wind’s wings until they land on damp concrete. A new home for moss to roam.

Upon contact, the spores absorb moisture and germinate, developing into a protonema — fine lines of sprawling verdant vines. As the structure crawls through the creviced concrete an anchored lace unfolds. Atop it grows a carpet of green and gold, down below tentacles grab hold.

The rhizoid roots anchor mounding moss, absorbing food and water nature has tossed. As the concrete crumbles into nutrient stores, the soft moss blossoms with chromophores. Over time, atop the luscious mountains and rocky moistened pours, the wind releases more lofting spores.

It turns out the contrasting boundary between soft squishy plants and hard concrete is as pronounced as the divisions between the disciplines of biology and geology. But advances in Earth System Science are starting blur these boundaries, as integrative science tends to do. Like moss softening concrete.

My expansive moss colonies, part of the plant kingdom, house communities of tiny microorganisms like bacteria, fungi, and microscopic animals like rotifers and tardigrades. Many of these communities have symbiotic relationships with moss. For example, some bacteria promote moss growth through the production of the plant growth hormone auxin using specific enzymes in plant tissues.

As the moss and its associated microbes grow and expand, they can penetrate small cracks or pores in the concrete, potentially widening them and exposing more surface area to weathering processes. This can be accelerated by certain bacteria and fungi that produce organic acids as metabolic byproducts. These acids can slowly dissolve or weaken calcium carbonate and other minerals found in concrete.

The biogeochemistry contributing to rock weathering and sediment formation reveals the intricate connections between biological processes and geological phenomena. At massive space and time scales they can not only affect the meteorological conditions above ground, but also the layers of sediment below ground.

In a recent New York Times piece, Ferris Jabr, author of “Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life” reveals how

“Within the forest floor [of the Amazon rainforest], vast symbiotic networks of plant roots and filamentous fungi pull water from the soil into trunks, stems and leaves. As the nearly 400 billion trees in the Amazon drink their fill, they release excess moisture, saturating the air with 20 billion tons of water vapor each day. At the same time, plants of all kinds secrete salts and emit bouquets of pungent gaseous compounds. Mushrooms, dainty as paper parasols or squat as door­ knobs, exhale plumes of spores. The wind sweeps bacteria, pollen grains and bits of leaves and bark into the atmosphere. The wet breath of the forest — peppered with microscopic life and organic residues — creates conditions that are highly conducive to rain. With so much water vapor in the air and so many minute particles on which the water can condense, clouds quickly form. In a typical year, the Amazon generates around half of its own rainfall.”

Below ground, he describes work by Earth scientist Robert Hazen and colleagues.

“When Earth was young, microbes inhabiting the ocean crust were likely dissolving the basalt with acids and enzymes in order to obtain energy and nutrients, producing wet clay minerals. By lubricating the crust with those wet byproducts, the microbes may have accelerated the dissolution of both mantle and crust and their eventual transfiguration into new land.

The geophysicists Dennis Höning and Tilman Spohn have published similar ideas.

They point out that water trapped in subducting sediments escapes first, whereas water in the crust is typically expelled at greater depths. The thicker the sedimentary layer covering the crust, the more water makes it into the deep mantle, which ultimately enhances the production of granite.

In Earth’s earliest eons, micro-organisms and, later, fungi and plants dissolved and degraded rock at a rate much greater than what geological processes could accomplish on their own.

In doing so, they would have increased the amount of sediment deposited in deep ocean trenches, thereby cloaking subducting plates of ocean crust in thicker protective layers, flushing more water into the mantle and ultimately contributing to the creation of new land.”

LOVELOCKS LIVING LOOPS

This kind of Earth System Science has been given a name by one of first contributors, James Lovelock — geophysiology. Lovelock describes geophysiology as a systems approach to Earth sciences, viewing Earth as a self-regulating entity where biological, chemical, and physical processes interact to maintain conditions suitable for life. It integrates various scientific disciplines to understand and predict the behavior of Earth's systems, aiming to diagnose and prevent environmental issues by considering the planet as a cohesive, self-regulating system.

This concept, rooted in Lovelock’s initial Gaia hypothesis, emphasizes the feedback mechanisms that stabilize Earth's environment, akin to physiological processes in living organisms. Gaia is named after the primordial Greek goddess who personifies the Earth. This naming occurred in the context of Lovelock developing his ideas about Earth as a self-regulating system in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Lovelock had been working on methods to detect life on Mars at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which led him to consider how life might be detected on a planetary scale. This work eventually evolved into his hypothesis about Earth functioning as a complex, self-regulating system maintained by the community of living organisms.

As Lovelock was formulating these ideas, he was looking for a suitable name for his hypothesis. It was during this time that William Golding, Lovelock’s neighbor and renowned author of "Lord of the Flies", suggested using the name "Gaia".

In Greek mythology, Gaia is considered the ancestral mother of all life and one of the first beings to emerge from earliest chaotic stages of Earth's formation. She is often depicted as a maternal, nurturing figure who gave birth to the Titans, the Cyclopes, and other primordial deities. Gaia is associated with fertility, the earth's abundance, and the cycle of life and death.

In ancient Greek religion, Gaia was worshipped as the Great Mother and was sometimes referred to as "Mother Earth." That title, and her influence, extends beyond Greek mythology, perpetuating the concept of Earth as a living, nurturing entity — a concept that has resonated in various cultures for Millenia.

Elements of the Greek notion of Gaia likely have roots in earlier Middle Eastern knowledge.  Several ancient cultures had earth goddesses that predate or are contemporaneous with the Greek Gaia. For instance, in Mesopotamia, Sumerian mythology offers Ki is the earth goddess, and in Akkadian mythology, there is Ninhursag.

It turns out “Mother Earth” birthed similar concepts all around her. Egypt had Isis, Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) had Cybele, India’s Hinduism had Parvati and Durga, Pre-Columbian American cultures featured Pachamama, Celtic cultures had Danu and Brigid, while Norse mythology features Frigg and Freyja.

In 1960’s and 70’s America, “Mother Nature” and “Gaia” emerged among some environmentalists as New Age mystical beliefs associated with alternative spiritualities. Lovelock’s decision to use the word “Gaia” thus made him and his ideas a target among many Western trained scientists and his Earth system concepts endured harsh criticisms.

It’s worth mentioning that when Alexander Humboldt put forth similar ideas in his book "Cosmos" (first published in 1845), taking a holistic view of nature, exploring connections between various Earth systems and life forms, he was heralded as the greatest scientist of his time. Even Charles Darwin took a copy of Cosmos with him on his famous Beagle voyage. Humboldt, like Lovelock, uniquely and successfully integrated knowledge from diverse fields like astronomy, geology, biology, meteorology, and even art and literature.

But the specialization, reductionism, and quantification of dominant Western science distanced itself from these holistic approaches viewing them as too spiritual and outdated. By the twentieth century, the growing New Age interpretation of Gaia often personified the Earth as a conscious, living entity, drawing on both Lovelock's scientific hypothesis and ancient mythological concepts. Many modern religions and philosophical concepts about the origin of life still incorporate anthropomorphic elements, such as the idea of a creator with human-like qualities or intentions.

These mainstream images can lead to engrained tendencies to see humans and other living organisms as being born:

* into a world as separate entities from the world they inhabit

* onto a physical plane as a separate, tangible reality

* unto which they individually acquire and consume energy to live and grow.

This perspective sees living beings as somewhat separate from their environment, rather than as integral parts of a larger system. It’s a view consistent with traditional Western science that emphasizes reductionist approaches, breaking systems down into component parts. But it contrasts with more holistic perspectives, such as those found in ecological theories like Geophysiology, other branches of Earth System Science, or Traditional Ecological Knowledge which see earth’s components, including humans, as inseparable parts of their environments.

This was confirmed at the 2001 Amsterdam Declaration, signed by the Chairs of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP), International Human Dimensions Program (IHDP), World Climate Research Program (WCRP) and DIVERSITAS at the 2001 ‘Challenges of a Changing Earth’ conference. The declaration concluded:

“The Earth System behaves as a single, self-regulating system comprised of physical, chemical, biological and human components, with complex interactions and feedbacks between the component parts.”

Integrative Western scientists have now amassed enough data to recognize that living matter is born:

* into a living, interconnected Earth system,

* onto a dynamic web of relationships,

* unto which we belong as integral participants, exchanging energy and matter in a continuous cycle of life and growth.

In this view, my moss colonies and their microbial companions emerge as vital threads, weaving together the living and non-living elements of our planet. These intricate communities, from the tiniest bacteria to the visible expanse of moss, exemplify the self-regulating nature of Earth's systems that Lovelock envisioned.

As they slowly transform concrete through their metabolic processes, they participate in the larger process of biogeochemical cycling. They influence not only my cinderblock walls and concrete surfaces, but they also contribute to the broader patterns of weathering, sedimentation, and even microclimate regulation.

This interplay between the microscopic and the global, the biological and the geological, embodies the essence of Humboldt’s and Lovelock’s theory — a planet alive with interconnected processes, where every organism, no matter how small, plays a role in maintaining the delicate balance of life.

In this living system, my moss and its microbiome, like me and the symbiotic communities of microorganisms in me and on me, are not mere passive inhabitants, but active agents in the ongoing story of Earth's evolution. Together we demonstrate the profound interconnectedness that defines our planet's unique capacity for self-regulation and adaptation.

Now where’s my pressure washer?

Hello Interactors,

We’re fully into Summer in the Northern Hemisphere, and as the earth tilts toward the sun, Interplace tilts toward the environment. And what a crucial moment to do so. Just last week, the Supreme Court made sweeping decisions that could unravel over fifty years of environmental legislation, threatening to plunge us into chaos. This upheaval comes precisely when our world’s natural boundaries desperately need regulatory stability and security to make any meaningful progress in combating global warming.

Let’s dig in…

POLLEN, POLLUTING, AND POLITICS

I recently returned from the Midwest visiting family. I like looking out of the airplane window at the various crop patterns from state to state. Trying to discern which state I was over; I was reminded of a corny Midwest joke.

Why do Iowa corn stalks lean to the east? Because Illinois sucks and Nebraska blows. Folks in Illinois tell the same joke, but it’s Ohio that sucks and Iowa that blows. You get the idea.

The truth is the wind does commonly blow from west to east oblivious to state borders. It sends whatever it wants across the border — clouds, dust, seeds, pollen…pollution. And if there’s money to be made, borders become porous or disappear altogether.

Those rivalrous corn jokes mirror an economic reality. Bordering states all compete for federal subsidies and access to markets — mostly across international borders. Access to these markets can be impacted by corn pollen drifting from one state to another.

With the widespread adoption of genetically modified (GMO) corn varieties, there’s potential for contamination of non-GMO corn fields by pollen from GMO corn fields on state lines. One study suggest cross-pollination could be detected up to 600 feet away from the source, although counts dropped off rapidly beyond 150 feet.

But the more pressing concern isn’t pollen drift, but pollution drift. As part of the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a “Good Neighbor” rule designed to reduce air pollution that crosses state lines. It requires "upwind" states to reduce emissions that affect air quality in "downwind" states which can cause significant health problems.

Last week, on June 27, 2024, the Supreme Court's ruling in Ohio v. EPA temporarily blocked this rule.

Fossil fuel companies and industry associations celebrated the decision as a win, viewing it as a check on the EPA's regulatory power. Meanwhile humans with a heart and lungs worry the decision leaves upwind states free to contribute to their neighbors' ozone problems for years.

It's worth noting that this is a temporary stay, not a final ruling on the merits of the case. The legal challenge will continue in lower courts, with the possibility of oral arguments as soon as this fall. But this ruling can also be seen as part of a pattern of the Supreme Court's conservative majority expressing skepticism towards federal regulatory authority, especially in environmental matters.

Take, for example, the ruling that came the very next day on June 28, 2024. The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, curtailed EPA, and other executive agencies', power by overturning the Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council precedent. This shift endangers numerous regulations and transfers authority from the executive branch to Congress and the courts. Chevron has been a cornerstone in American law, cited in 70 Supreme Court and 17,000 lower court decisions.

The case began with fishermen challenging two similar rulings, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless v. Department of Commerce. These involved a 1976 law requiring herring boats to carry federal observers to prevent overfishing. A 2020 regulation mandated boat owners to pay $700 daily for the observers. Fishermen from New Jersey and Rhode Island, supported by conservative groups opposing the "administrative state," sued, arguing the law didn't authorize the National Marine Fisheries Service to impose the fee.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times reported the fisherman case was brought

“by Cause of Action Institute, which says its mission is ‘to limit the power of the administrative state,’ and the New Civil Liberties Alliance, which says it aims ‘to protect constitutional freedoms from violations from the administrative state.’”

Liptak also reports these institutions are funded by Charles Koch, the climate change denying billionaire who has long supported conservative and libertarian causes.

It's curious how the Environmental Protection Agency came from a conservative libertarian and the first most dishonest president in my lifetime, Richard Nixon. The EPA will likely be obliterated should the least trusted former president get reelected — Felonious Trump.

GORSUCH'S GRIM GREEN GUTTING

I wrote about the formation of the EPA in July of 2021. 👇

“There was growing concern entrusting those very institutions responsible for the destruction of the environment with devising schemes to save it. The country’s air, water, and land were being smothered in waste. Something needed to be done. So, on July 9th, 1970, 51 years ago today [in 2021], the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was proposed by Republican President Richard Nixon.

This agency was intended to focus on short-term fixes targeting violators of the law, so Nixon appointed Assistant Attorney General, Bill Ruckelshaus, to the post. Ruckelshaus promptly ordered a steel company to stop dumping cyanide into Cleveland, Ohio’s Cuyahoga River. It was so polluted that it had caught fire at least thirteen times. Ruckelshaus also banned the use of DDT.”

Ruckelshaus served from 1970 to 1973 when he left public office to become a private environmental attorney. He was replaced by Russell Train who served as the second EPA administrator under Nixon and continued under another Republican President, Gerald Ford. During his tenure, he supported the expansion of EPA's international affairs, approved the catalytic converter to reduce automobile emissions, and implemented key environmental legislation.

Then came Douglas Costle, the EPA’s third administrator, serving under the Democrat President Jimmy Carter. His administration faced significant environmental challenges, including the Love Canal disaster and the Three Mile Island nuclear accident. One of the most notable achievements during his tenure was the creation of the Superfund cleanup program by Congress.

In 1981, Republican President Ronald Reagan appointed Anne Gorsuch Burford, current Supreme Court Judge, Neil Gorsuch’s mother. She was the first woman to hold the position but was forced to leave in 1983 amid growing controversy and concern.

Gorsuch slashed the EPA's budget by 22%, eliminating 3,200 personnel and reducing the agency's workforce by 30%. This raised concerns about the impact on environmental programs and staff morale.

Foreshadowing her son’s actions, she rolled back environmental regulations, like clean air and clean water rules and other environmental protections and decreased environmental enforcement cases. The number of cases filed from regional offices to EPA headquarters declined by 79%, and cases filed from the EPA to the Department of Justice dropped by 69%.

Her approach to policymaking led to open conflicts with career EPA employees and several congressional committees investigating allegations of mismanagement of the Superfund program under her leadership. The House voted to cite her for contempt of Congress for failing to turn over subpoenaed records related to the program[5].

Reagan couldn’t escape the fall out and forced her to resign in 1983, less than two years into her tenure. He then asked Ruckelshaus to return to his duties as head of the EPA. Ruckelshaus promptly fired most of her leadership team and got back to work protecting the environment running the EPA until 1985.

Nearly fifty years after being appointed by a Republican president to become the country’s first EPA administrator in 1970, fighting for environmental justice at the international, federal, state, local levels – and in the private sector – Ruckelshaus passed away at his home in my neighboring town, Medina, Washington in 2019.

And here we are, five years after his passing, with a Supreme Court intent on returning to the policies of Anne Gorsuch Burford with the help of a son who holds a grudge and a host of billionaire activists intent on institutionalizing libertarian law.  

Neil Gorsuch not only joined the majority in a 6-3 decision to overturn the Chevron deference, he wrote a 33-page concurring opinion emphasizing the importance of this ruling. In his concurrence, Gorsuch stated,

"Today, the Court places a tombstone on Chevron no one can miss."

A cornerstone of environmental protection became a tombstone.

Perhaps hinting at his mother’s tenure and committing to his originalist interpretations of the constitution, Gorsuch argued that the decision simply means the courts will continue do ‘as exactly as it did before the mid-1980s, and exactly as it had done since the founding: resolve cases and controversies without any systemic bias in the government’s favor.’[6]

Gorsuch, like his mother, has long been a vocal opponent of the government siding with the protection of the environment, which he believes grants significant regulatory leeway to federal agencies over the judiciary. This opinion clashes with President’s Nixon (R), Ford (R), Carter (D), Reagan (R), George H. W. Bush (R), and Clinton (D) who all enthusiastically supported the need for agency oversight.

CONGRESS, COURTS, AND CLIMATE CHANGE

This ruling is seen as a significant shift in administrative law, potentially curtailing the power of federal agencies and changing how regulations are interpreted and enforced in the United States. Which is an administrative attitude that began with President George W. Bush.

His administration refused to advance a meaningful strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and opposed committing the United States to the Kyoto Protocol. He and his administration increased hostility towards climate science and resistance to significant policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

He prioritized economic considerations over environmental concerns, focusing on the potential costs of environmental policies. This approach marked a shift from the environmental legacy of his father and those before him, moving away from bipartisan cooperation on environmental issues that are unthinkable in today’s congress.

Optimists look at this ruling and claim it puts pressure on congress to write more specific and actionable legislation obviating the need for agency oversight or a need to go to court. The ruling could also clean up isolated cases of corruption between businesses and some government agencies.

But the EPA was created in part because members of congress lack the necessary scientific knowledge needed to write actionable legislation. Also, advances in science tend to outpace notoriously long legislative procedures. Besides, many members of congress today, especially on the Republican side, would rather not sponsor or partner on environmental legislation seeing it as a partisan issue.

I’m not advocating for more top-down government bureaucracy or believe federal agents necessarily always act in good faith, but this shift would transfer significant power from regulatory experts in agencies to judges. Given that many current Supreme Court judges tend to favor corporate interests, this shift likely weakens necessary regulatory oversight. Agencies, despite their imperfections, often have specialized expertise and are designed to protect public interests. Therefore, this transfer of authority to the courts may ultimately benefit large corporations at the expense of effective regulation and public welfare.

Looking back, the creation and support for the EPA reflected a broader trend in the tumultuous late 1960’s. The unease of the Viet Nam war coincided with the publishing of Rachel Carson’s literary environmental blockbuster, “Silent Spring”. The collective mood of the country yearned for solutions from environmental science to address complex environmental issues and their impacts on society. The creation of the EPA was a response to decades of rampant and highly visible pollution indicating that complex environmental problems required specialized agencies to address them.

But CO2 and other fine particulates and gasses wafting in the wind aren’t as visible as the smog of the 1970s. Nor are the effects of ozone depletion and acid rain of the 1980s. Now, with an activist Supreme Court with no term limits intent on weakening protective powers, we’re forced to breath the shifting winds of regulatory authority and environmental policy. In search of a view that embraces intention, action, and dynamism, I’m inclined toward Bruno Latour’s geophilosophy.

Latour’s Actor-Network Theory (ANT) underscores the agency of both human and non-human actors. It’s an approach that embraces the interplay between various entities—from legal bodies and industries to natural forces like wind and pollution—that shape our environmental reality.

The recent Supreme Court decisions, viewed through history and Latour’s lens, reveal a complex network where power is constantly negotiated and redistributed. The winds of the Midwest, carrying pollen or pollution across borders, symbolizes the intricate and often invisible connections that bind us. This includes regulatory changes that cross state and federal lines, impacting ecosystems and communities alike.

In this interconnected world, Latour reminds us that environmental and social issues cannot be compartmentalized or tackled in isolation. The rise of the Keeling Curve, recording raw and relentless increases in atmospheric CO2, serves as a stark reminder of the cumulative impact of countless actors and actions across the globe. It highlights the necessity for a holistic approach to environmental stewardship, recognizing the entangled nature of our existence.

Embracing Latour’s pragmatic realism, we best foster adaptive and resilient strategies, acknowledging the multiplicity of actors involved in environmental governance whether we like it or not. This perspective urges us to move beyond simplistic binaries of nature versus society, instead advocating for a collaborative effort to address the many crises we face. Until there’s a national bi-partisan rallying cry that unites divisions, we best integrate diverse voices and acknowledge the agency of all actors. Only then, in theory, can we better navigate the complexities of our environmental and social challenges and strive for a more sustainable, albeit ever changing, future.

Hello Interactors,

The lengthening northern days have unleashed verdant chaos in my yard and it’s challenging my desire for order. Some unruly growth demands surrendering control, embracing life's rhizomatic entanglements — an invitation to honor multiplicity over singularity, relation over individuality, and emergence over stasis.

Let’s dig in…

FERN FRENZY IN FULL FORCE

Those skinny unattractive immigrants are invading. They’re nudging their way through every nook and cranny stealing resources and opportunity from those already here. Before long, they’ll be taking over the place. I’m talking about Leptinella squalida (Derived from the Greek "leptos" meaning slender and the Latin “squalid” meaning unattractive). That is the scientific name for a New Zealand native ground cover commonly referred to as ‘Brass buttons’ and it’s taking over my garden.

Leptinella squalida is rhizomatous. It sends rootlike horizontal shallow subterranean stems — a rhizome — in a multitude of unpredictable directions. At various intervals in its journey, it progressively produces small nodules that send whisker roots below while sprouting shoots vertically to the surface to form miniature fern-like fronds — sometimes green and other times ‘brass’ colored. Once a year it produces a yellow ‘button’ blossom that can send seeds aloft leapfrogging the host to colonize another territory.

I planted it in a shady moist area of my small backyard after ripping out a grass lawn. Liptinella squalida makes an even carpet that can withstand a fair bit of foot traffic, making it an attractive alternative to grass. Unfortunately, other plants can’t withstand is aggressive propagation, starving them of light and nutrients. That’s exactly what this exponentially expanding rhizome is doing to the slower growing, less aggressively sprawling Sedum rupestre 'Angelina' — a variety I also helped colonize from Western Europe.

I suspect strict immigration laws should be applied to my little rambunctious rhizomatous island ferns. Last week I eradicated an entire section at the border with a shovel and then carefully extracted the spindly rhizomes from the starved roots and foliage of the ‘Angelina.’ I’m contemplating building a subterranean Trump-like wall to resist the invaders. I may even perform widespread extirpation and dig it all up — especially given the primary section of Brass buttons have also been colonized. They are slowly being overtaken by another aggressive invasive species — clover.

I didn’t plan for this, but I did create the conditions for it to occur. In place of a grass lawn — which offers nothing to ecology in any shape or form — I planted a variety of low growing ground covers, sedums, and clumping ornamental grasses. Many of these ground covers have now intermingled. Some are more dominant in areas than others forming a diverse kaleidoscope of height, color, and texture.

There’s little strict cartesian geometric control I can apply to this tufted tapestry without hard physical barriers. And even then, their airborne spores can gleefully fly where the wind may carry them — oblivious to any tyrannical terrestrial territorial triangulations I may map in my head.

Rhizomes are their own kind of experimental map. They randomly route with their roots. Their genes map the way as MicroRNAs modulate their sway. Meanwhile, subterranean phytohormones signal route initiation and elongation in a coordinated but random multi-directional, non-linear physical cartographic network.

Rhizomic networks have no real beginning or end. They make connections in a non-hierarchical, decentralized way without a single origin or terminus. It is in a continual emergent state of being in the middle of having been made and becoming something new. There is no dualistic hierarchical parent/child branching that dominates Western mental images of hierarchical networks — like a family tree or even a real tree where a trunk sprouts limbs with branches that terminate with leaves. Rhizomatous networks defy rational Cartesian logic.

I’ve been reflecting on the tension I’m experiencing as I wrestle and reason with my garden. On the one hand, I’m drawn to the top-down control of crafting a particular order and aesthetic as an amateur landscape architect. The same desire explains my affinity for urban and transportation planning and design…and I suppose my three decades of user interface design. I like attempts at bringing clarity to complexity.

Modern urban planning tries to achieve the same thing. Urban planning has historically relied on hierarchical models characterized by centralized control and top-down implementation. These traditional approaches often use structural or generative frameworks to shape and represent urban spaces. Emphasizing coherence and order, urban planning typically adheres to mapped zoning regulations and legally controlled growth patterns. The focus is usually on achieving defined end-states or visions, imposing order through marginated space with bordered zones and predetermined paths dictated by urban transportation planning policies.

The same can be said for the planning of countries and states. Colonial powers imposed structured urban plans to assert control and organize territories. Their maps, laws, police, and military impose order through variegated spaces at larger scales characterized by bordered zones and throughways. This reflects a continuity in the desire to manage and control urban growth and development of entire regions and even continents.

FRICTION FORMS FLUID FRAMEWORKS

The rhizome rejects arborescent structures, favoring non-linear, decentralized networks and connections, incompatible with traditional models. The French philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's influential "A Thousand Plateaus" introduced the "rhizome" philosophical concept - a non-hierarchical, decentralized network characterized by multiplicity, heterogeneity, and non-linearity. Challenging Western metaphysics, it proposed rethinking reality as a dynamic, interconnected assemblage, embracing a rhizomorphic approach of continuous transformation and new connections over linear thinking.

Insisting on mapping reality through open-ended experimentation rather than tracing existing structures, the concept embraces spontaneous ruptures forming new connections within emergent cultural networks resembling rhizomes. Having no beginning or end, existing in a constant state of becoming, it resists linear urban narratives and stagnant pure identities. Encouraging "lines of flight," the rhizome breaks from constraints of traditional thinking. The urban as a "smooth space" occupied by the rhizome contrasts sharply with hierarchies of Cartesian power and order.

Human cultures also show evidence of embracing this mode of thinking. They too form new connections regardless of imaginary borders.  Jean-Loup Amselle is a French anthropologist known for his studies on African societies, cultural hybridization, and postcolonialism. He introduced the concept of "branchement" (branching) to describe the fluid and interconnected nature of cultures that remind me of what I’m witnessing in my back yard.

Amselle's analysis of the N'ko movement in West Africa, which aimed to "debranch" the Manding culture from Arabic and European influences, offers parallels to the Palestinian context and others like Sudan and Ukraine.

The Palestinian struggle for self-determination and cultural preservation resists perceived Israeli/Western dominance by asserting Palestinian identity and drawing on global solidarity networks. It shows how local struggles are part of broader global narratives surrounding identities and cultures.

This conflict fuels identity-based movements reflecting Amselle's "identity wars" brought on by globalization and strict mapped borders. Amselle's framework rejects fixed identities, emphasizing the interconnections shaping Palestinian, Israeli, Jewish, and Arab identities. The concept of "branchement" highlights the complex entanglements of histories and global forces in the Palestinian conflict, challenging simplistic narratives of cultural purity and separation.

The same desire for purity and separation is what led me to ponder border control in my own backyard. I’m even contemplating extermination. All because I saw friction at a border where one plant was not ‘plugging in’ to the existing root network, but ‘debranching’ another plants by taking over their lives and land.

Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing is an anthropologist and professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She’s known for her interdisciplinary work on globalization, ecology, and the Anthropocene, and for her acclaimed 2005 book "Friction: An Ethnography of Global Connection,"

She writes,

"Cultures are continually co-produced in the interaction I call 'friction': the awkward, unequal, unstable, and creative qualities of interconnection across difference."

Tsing argues that global connections and universalizing projects like dominant forms of Western capitalism, science, and politics do not spread seamlessly but encounter friction and resistance when they engage with specific localities and cultures. These interactions produce new articulations and connections that challenge the universalizing claims of global forces. This, like Amselle, emphasizes the entanglement and co-production of cultures through these encounters.

These "zones of awkward engagement" or "cultural friction" are sites where universals collide with particular situations, producing unexpected outcomes and articulations. That’s what I witnessed between my “brass buttons” and “Angelina”.

“Zones of awkward engagement” and “cultural friction” exist at a city level too as immigrant populations integrate (“plug in” or branch) into established neighborhoods. This can create “cultural friction” as neighborhoods become “zones of awkward engagement”. Zoning and racial or socio-economic redlining are attempts at legal, cartographic, and cultural purity and separation that create awkward zones of friction.

But Tsing highlights the importance of collaborations and coalitions that emerge from these zones of awkward engagement. She says,

"Despite imperial standards for civil society, I have wandered into coalitions built on awkwardly linked incompatibilities."

These collaborations create new interests and ways of being, challenging the singularity of global forces and enabling practices of collaborative knowing and working.

PLANETARY PATHS, RHIZOME ROUTES

I’m starting to see that local urban frictions, be they down the street or in the streets of Cairo, Chicago, Caraco, or Cape Town, are complex entanglements of histories and global forces. They branch like rhizomes in local frictions of awkward engagement, but also branch to entire other parts of the world. My backyard is a reflection of this. I created a ‘branchement’ by planting plants native to vastly separated parts of the globe — New Zealand and Western Europe.

Neil Brenner is a critical urban theorist at the University of Chicago and Christian Schmid is a sociologist and urban researcher at ETH Zurich. They’re known for the influential concept of "planetary urbanization." They claim urbanization processes today are no longer confined to the traditional boundaries of cities, but rather extend across the entire planetary surface.

They argue the classic "city-centric" view is inadequate to capture the multiscalar and multiterritorial dynamics of contemporary urbanization.

Instead, they propose that urbanization today is a planetary phenomenon that cuts across the urban/rural divide and transcends the boundaries of individual cities or metropolitan regions. Urbanization unfolds through the constant production, transformation, and operation of socio-spatial configurations at multiple geographic scales, from the body to the globe.

This includes the urbanization of seemingly "non-urban" zones like oceans, deserts, and wilderness areas being operationalized and transformed through various urbanization processes. While cities remain vital arenas for urbanization processes, they are embedded within and co-constituted by broader planetary urbanization dynamics that extend far beyond their boundaries. They argue urban theory must move beyond the city as its primary unit of analysis and develop new frameworks, methodologies, and cartographies to grasp the multiscalar and multiterritorial nature of planetary urbanization.

This starts by recognizing the rhizomatic interconnections and interdependencies shaping urbanization at various scales, from local to global, and the diverse socio-spatial configurations and infrastructures that form the "urbanization fabric" across the planet. They argue that the "urban" is no longer a bounded condition but a generalized, planetary condition of socio-spatial transformation.

The rhizomatic approach emphasizes non-linear and decentralized networks. It offers a valuable framework for urban planning, ecological management, and cultural integration. And even my garden. Just as Leptinella squalida defies linear control in my garden, urban spaces and cultural landscapes resist traditional hierarchical planning. This perspective promotes adaptability and inclusivity, fostering environments that evolve organically and embrace multiplicity and spontaneous connections. They reject unfair dominance or ‘debranching’ or mechanisms by which dominant cultures or systems attempt to appropriate, assimilate, or subjugate other cultures or elements within their sphere of influence.

Deleuze and Guattari's rhizome and plateau concepts critique cultural dominance and embrace multiplicity, diversity, and coexistence without imposing dominant structures. Applying these ideas to urban integration highlights the potential for hybrid solutions and collaborative networks that recognize fluid identities and dynamic cultural interactions. Amselle's "branchement" and Tsing's "cultural friction" emphasize productive tensions from encounters, challenging narratives of purity.

Randomly routing rhizomatous roots, their genes mapping the way, are like the informal settlements and migrant networks. Their sways are modulated by global flows of capital with labor signaling route initiation and elongation in random multi-directional, non-linear physical and virtual networks that reject cartographic convention. Ultimately, this rhizomatic approach aligns with Neil Brenner and Christian Schmid's concept of planetary urbanization by acknowledging the interconnected and multiscalar nature of urban and cultural processes. It calls for new frameworks to understand and address the complex socio-spatial transformations shaping our world. How do we move beyond hierarchical, top-down models that use structural frameworks to shape urban spaces through regulated mapped zones, centralized control, and predetermined paths?

Instead of aiming to impose order and coherence by striving to achieve defined end-state visions of bordered, marginated spaces, how might we embrace the interconnected rhizomatous roots and vines of the global urban interlacement — without one crowding out another? Maybe it’s time we accept the woven flows of cultures, resources, and infrastructures of the past — and the ever-emerging present middle of rhizomatous networks — made from interplace, the interactions of people and place.

Hello Interactors,

In an era where Western leaders craft policies that oscillate between harsh border controls and selective humanitarian aid, our understanding risks being clouded by data-centric approaches. Through the lens of critical cartography, we see how enhanced data collection can reduce displaced individuals to mere numbers, obscuring their complex human stories behind cold statistics.

Insights into the disorienting effects of domineering multinational capitalism further illuminate how these data practices, though aimed at clarity, often mask the real experiences and struggles of those displaced.

I explore some contradictions in these policies—how they promise to protect yet perpetuate power imbalances, offering a guise of support while fundamentally failing to address the root causes of displacement.

Let’s go…

DISORIENTED BY DOMINANCE

The Dutch government recently took a giant political step to the right. Some say this is as far right as a democratically elected Dutch government has ever been. It’s probably the most intolerant since Hitler installed a Nazi occupation regime from 1940-1945 implementing racist policies which persecuted not just Jews but other minorities as well.

The Dutch government leaned right as recent as 2010-2012, when the right-wing politician Geert Wilders was Prime Minister. Wilders is now back in office, though not as Prime Minister, and has formed a coalition government seeking to implement racist immigration policies that echo an ugly past.

In one of his campaign speeches he said he desires a strict and harsh Netherlands where

"people in Africa and the Middle East will start thinking they might be better off elsewhere".

Wilders joins the ranks of intolerant European populists like Le Pen of France, Meloni of Italy, and Hungary’s Orban, using anti-immigrant and racist rhetoric as rallying cries. Meanwhile, here in the Americas, Biden and Mexico’s López Obrador have deported tens of thousands of migrants to Mexico despite known risks of kidnapping, extortion, and assault. Biden has been silent on the matter while López Obrador erodes democratic institutions by undermining judicial independence, demonizing critics, and shielding the military from accountability for abuses.

The EU practices its own repressive transactional diplomacy to evade human rights duties to asylum seekers and migrants — especially from Africa and the Middle East. While numbers fluctuated, there has been a significant overall increase in asylum seeker rates into EU countries since 2010 when Wilders first came to power. That surge was driven by conflicts like the Syrian war, which Western governments were complicit in intensifying, and broader regional instability — including detrimental environmental effects due to climate change.

The Syrian conflict triggered a surge in asylum applications to EU countries, peaking at over 1.2 million annually in 2015 and 2016. Following a dip between 2017 and 2020, applications rebounded to 962,160 in 2022, a 20% increase from 2021, with Germany receiving the most (243,800), followed by France, Spain, Austria, and Italy. From 2010 to 2022, EU asylum applications rose from approximately 259,000 to over 962,000, a near fourfold increase. The primary asylum seekers in 2022 were from Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey, Venezuela, and Colombia.

It’s curious how fear of immigration coincides with declining EU fertility rates. The average number of children per woman in the EU was 1.46 live births in 2022, well below the rate of 2.1 needed to maintain population levels without migration.

It could be these politicians, and the populist rhetoric they spew, are suffering from a kind of globalist vertigo. As political theorist and Director of the Institute for Critical Theory at Duke University, Frederic Jameson puts it,

“a profound sense of disorientation and inability to cognitively map their position within the larger global system of economic and social relations.”

As a Marxist, he pins this dilemma on “the immense complexity and abstraction of multinational capitalism.” A primary historical feature of global capitalism is indeed to offload deleterious effects of human labor exploitation and natural resource extraction to regions far from those privileged enough to enjoy the prosperity capitalism can yield. Pushing unwanted labor and development elsewhere is a kind of global “Not-In-My-Back-Yard.” Out of sight, out of mind.

This geographical and cultural distance mirrors the historical migration of freed slaves to the industrial North after the U.S. Civil War. Much like today, these migrants and their descendants faced (and continue to face) a starkly different world of affluence and encountering significant social and economic challenges. History illustrates how geographical and cultural distances can hinder societal understanding and integration, especially when newcomers seek better lives in regions of prosperity.

When those ‘distant others’ appear at the regional doorstep of relative opulence seeking a better life, it can be uncomfortable and disorienting to those who prefer to keep them ‘distant’. In the words of Jameson, it “transcends the individual's limited experiential sphere.”

What may be even harder to imagine is the ’experiential sphere’ most of these people inhabit or inhabited. Much attention is given to asylum seekers beyond their own borders, but most of those ‘distant others’ are forced or choose to stay within, or nearby, their own regions.

A DISPLACEMENT DILEMMA MAPPING THE MASSES

The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre's latest report reveals an unprecedented 75.9 million people were internally displaced across 116 countries in 2023, a significant increase from 71.1 million the previous year, driven primarily by escalating conflicts, violence, and disasters in various regions.

In terms of conflict and violence, the report notes a record high of 68.3 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), with the most affected regions being Sudan, Syria, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Colombia, and Yemen. These countries alone host nearly half of the world's IDPs. The report discusses specific conflicts such as those in Sudan and Palestine, which have led to massive displacement figures due to escalated violence.

Regarding disaster-induced displacement, the report records 7.7 million IDPs attributed to disasters by the end of 2023. It mentions that disasters triggered 26.4 million new displacements in 2023, with significant events occurring in China and Turkey due to severe weather events and earthquakes. The shift from La Niña to El Niño has altered global disaster displacement patterns, particularly affecting the number of people displaced by storms and floods across various regions.

The ’experiential sphere’ is unique as displacement contexts vary in different parts of the world. Sub-Saharan Africa, heavily impacted by both conflicts and natural disasters, remains the most affected region, with increasing frequency and severity of these events. The Middle East and North Africa experienced more displacements, notably from the conflict in Palestine and disasters like earthquakes and floods. Europe and Central Asia saw a significant rise in disaster-related displacements, primarily from earthquakes in Turkey and other natural events, while the conflict between Russia and Ukraine dominated conflict-related displacements. East Asia and the Pacific had the highest global disaster displacements in 2023, with ongoing conflicts like Myanmar exacerbating the situation. South Asia, particularly Afghanistan, faced substantial displacements from both conflicts and natural disasters, with significant impacts on women and girls, highlighting the continuing challenges in the region.

The IDMC report emphasizes the complexity of displacement, where many individuals face multiple displacements due to recurring or simultaneous occurrences of conflict and disasters. It highlights the need for durable solutions and calls for improved data collection to better address needs and facilitate more effective response and recovery efforts. The report concludes with a call for increased visibility and support for IDPs to ensure more sustainable solutions to displacement, stressing the critical role of international cooperation and national governance in mitigating the impact of displacement.

Through a critical cartography lens the call for enhanced data collection risks reducing displaced people to mere data points, stripping them of their individuality and complexities. This data-centric approach, while valuable in assessing the scale and magnitude of suffering (including for essays like this), can lead to surveillance and control, masking the human experience behind numbers and charts.

Frederic Jameson’s critique of the modern world’s disorientation in the face of the negative effects of multinational capitalism also reflects how such data practices might obscure the truth more than illuminate. Jameson might contend that these efforts, while well-intentioned, still fail to construct an accurate mental map of those displaced. Without being on the ground with them, technologies like remote sensing, GIS, mapping, and imaging alone can’t represent an experience that can be cruelly embedded within larger socio-economic systems that contribute to their plight.

Instead of offering clarity, the accumulation of data might reinforce the power imbalances between those with power and money and those without.

GLOBAL GOVERNANCE: GUIDING OR GOVERNING?

The push for international cooperation and governance, as advocated in the IDMC report, could be seen as a continuation of Western dominance under the guise of humanitarian aid. This can perpetuate a form of moral superiority, fostering dependency rather than empowerment, and embodying cultural imperialism that imposes Western values on diverse cultures.

Such humanitarian efforts are frequently designed to align more with the interests and visions of donors from those in wealthier countries, rather than addressing the actual needs of communities in poorer countries and regions. Furthermore, these aid practices can economically benefit the donor countries more than the recipients, sometimes tying aid to the purchase of goods and services from the donor country or using it as leverage to open markets in recipient countries.

The portrayal of aid in media typically emphasizes the generosity and heroism of donors while depicting recipients as passive and helpless. This only further distorts and perverts the complex socio-economic dynamics while undermining the agency of local communities.

These structures often propose top-down solutions that do not align with the needs or the agency of the displaced. They perpetuate a cycle where the root causes of displacement—often tied to the actions and policies of powerful nations—are inadequately addressed.

This critique aligns with Jameson’s observation of a global system where the affluent West remains disconnected from the repercussions of its policies on ‘distant others’, who are left to navigate the dire consequences of conflicts and climate change that are disproportionately caused by those in distant lands of prosperity.

It seems the challenges of addressing global displacement are not merely logistical or political but deeply ideological. What’s needed is a fundamental shift in how data is perceived and used and how international cooperation is structured, executed, and monitored. Only through transformative approaches can we hope to genuinely address the root causes and complex realities of displacement, ensuring solutions that are both just and effective.

Geert Wilders' resurgence signals a concerning trend where Western leaders adopt harsh anti-immigration and asylum policies, paradoxically coupled with a 'white savior complex' towards displaced people within their borders. They assert repressive border control, blocking humanitarian aid while projecting a narrative of benevolence through selective aid packages to 'distant others'.

Ironically, their military interventions, sanctions, and outsized climate change contributions exacerbate displacement crises, yet they deny resultant asylum seekers protection, claiming to 'save' their nations from this self-inflicted burden. Leaders across the spectrum from Biden to Wilders promote a narrative of moral superiority by mapping and surveilling the very displacement their policies precipitate.

This dual approach lays bare a profound hypocrisy at the heart of the Western response to global migration and displacement crises. It illustrates a cavernous disconnect between the root causes we perpetuate and the public stances of moral righteousness we profess on asylum and humanitarian issues.

In confronting this contradiction, we are called to a deeper reckoning — to evolve beyond paternalistic narratives and embrace an ethics of humility, context, and care. True progress demands forging genuine partnerships that respect local cultures, knowledge systems and self-determined priorities. It compels us to support sustainable, community-led development rather than perpetuating cycles of upheaval through military adventurism and plundering the planet's resources. 

Only through such a reorientation — by taking full accountability for our complicity while deferring to the resilience and wisdom of those we have displaced — can we hope to transcend the white savior paradigm. In its place, we must cultivate an ethos of global solidarity, one which honors our shared humanity and the inherent dignity of all people, regardless of borders. For it is in this spirit of radical empathy that the path to lasting justice and healing can be found.

Hello Interactors,

Biden’s recent reflective quip got me thinking about how European colonial doctrines like the "Doctrine of Discovery" and the "civilizing mission," continue to justify the dominance over Indigenous peoples, including those in Papua New Guinea.

These lingering narratives not only influence contemporary struggles for self-determination, they also impact global politics and economic globalism. Join me as I unpack the complex interplay of decolonization, sovereignty, and the roles international actors, and their maps, play(ed) in shaping these dynamics.

Let’s go…

MAPS MARK MYTHS

Biden recently suggested his uncle was eaten by "cannibals". Reflecting on World War II war veterans, he said,

"He got shot down in New Guinea, and they never found the body because there used to be — there were a lot of cannibals, for real, in that part of New Guinea."

Military records show that his uncle’s plane crashed off the coast of New Guinea for reasons unknown and his remains were never recovered.

Papua New Guinea's (PNG) Prime Minister James Marape didn’t take kindly to Biden's remarks, stating that

"President Biden's remarks may have been a slip of the tongue; however, my country does not deserve to be labeled as such."

Marape reminded Biden that Papua New Guinea was an unwilling participant in World War II. He urged the U.S. to help locate and recover the remains of American servicemen still scattered across the country.

President Biden is a victim of depictions of "cannibals" in Papua New Guinea that are part of a deeply problematic colonial and post-colonial narrative still debated among anthropologists. These often exaggerated or fabricated historical portrayals of Indigenous peoples as "savage" or "primitive" were used to justify colonial domination and the imposition of Western control under the guise of bringing "civilization" to these societies.

During the age of exploration and colonial expansion, European explorers and colonists frequently labeled various Indigenous groups around the world as “cannibals.” These claims proliferated in PNG by early explorers, missionaries, and colonial administrators to shock audiences and underscore the perceived necessity of the "civilizing mission" — a form of expansionist propaganda.

European colonial maps like these served as vital weapons. They defined and controlled space to legitimize territorial claims and the governance of their occupants. In the late 19th century, German commercial interests led by the German New Guinea Company, expanded into the Pacific, annexing northeastern New Guinea and nearby islands as Kaiser-Wilhelmsland. In response, Britain established control over southern New Guinea, later transferring it to Australia. After World War I, Australia captured the remaining German territories, which the League of Nations mandated it to govern as the Territory of New Guinea. Following World War II, the two territories, under UN trusteeship, moved towards unification as the Independent State of Papua New Guinea in 1975.

Today, Papua New Guinea is central to Pacific geopolitics, especially with China's growing influence through efforts like the Belt and Road initiative. This is impacting regional dynamics and power relationships involving major nations like Australia, the US, and China resulting in challenges related to debt, environmental concerns, and shifts in power balances.

The Porgera gold mine, now managed by a joint venture with majority PNG stakeholders, had been halted in 2020 due to human rights and environmental violations but is resuming under new management. While the extractive industries are largely foreign-owned, the government is trying to shift the revenue balance toward local ownership and lure investors away from exploitative practices. Meanwhile, Indigenous tribes remain critical of the government's complicity in the social, environmental, and economic disruption caused by centuries of capitalism and foreign intrusion.

SUPREMACY SUBVERTS SOVEREIGNTY

Early Western explorers used a Christian religious rationale, rooted in the "Doctrine of Discovery" and the "civilizing mission" concept, to justify the subjugation and "taming" of Indigenous peoples in lands like Papua New Guinea. This doctrine deemed non-Christian peoples as lacking rights to their land and sovereignty, positioning European powers as having a divine mandate to take control.

The "civilizing mission" substantiated a European moral and religious obligation to convert Indigenous populations to Christianity, underpinned by a profound sense of racial and cultural superiority. Terms like "savages," "beasts," and "cannibals" were used to dehumanize Indigenous peoples and justify their harsh treatment, with the belief that this would elevate them from their perceived primitive state and save their souls, legitimizing the colonization process and stripping them of autonomy.

Indigenous peoples around the world continue to fight for their autonomy and right to self-determination. Papua New Guinea's path to self-determination has been fraught with the complexities of defining "peoples" and their rights to form a sovereign state. The concepts of state sovereignty and the rights of Indigenous peoples, particularly in the context of decolonization, were significantly influenced by international leaders like Woodrow Wilson. (for more on how the U.S. was instrumental in drawing the boundaries for Ukraine and other European states, check out my 2022 post on how maps are make to persuade 👇)

He promoted national self-determination near the end of World War I with the dissolution of empires and the creation of nation-states, though initially focused on Europe. This idea was further developed in the Atlantic Charter of 1941 and embedded in the United Nations charter, helping to fuel global decolonization movements in the post-war era.

However, there are intrinsic tensions between the sovereignty of states and the rights of peoples to self-determine. The rise of the US and USSR as superpowers after WWII, both of whom (at least rhetorically) supported decolonization, put pressure on European nations to decolonize. But both powers also supported autonomous self-determination only if it did not infringe or threaten their own domination. This Cold War context further influenced decolonization as newly independent nations were often courted by both blocs in the global struggle for influence and access to resources.

Newly independent states, such as India and Israel, became vocal supporters of decolonization within the UN. Meanwhile, Arab countries in the Middle East, including founding UN members like Egypt, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia, played pivotal roles in shaping the Arab response to regional issues, particularly the Palestinian question. Collectively, these nations have used their UN membership to influence international discourse and actions related to the region.

The momentum for independence became unstoppable in many regions, particularly in Africa and Asia. However, economic interests, often aligned with former colonial powers, continue to influence the trajectories of independent states. In PNG, the extensive involvement of multinational corporations in mining and resource extraction poses questions about economic self-determination, intertwining with political self-determination. The struggle for self-determination in PNG is an ongoing process of negotiation among internal groups, the state, and external actors.

President Biden's recent gaffe could be seen as another instance of insensitivity toward Indigenous peoples, rooted in a "civilizing mission" mentality. Perhaps these unconscious biases influence Biden’s actions regarding other Indigenous populations lacking rights to their land and sovereignty. This mindset echoes the historical justifications used by European colonial powers to subjugate and control Indigenous societies — especially across the country he leads.

In fact, the American Indian Movement (AIM) in the 1960s and 70s played a pivotal role in inspiring the International Indian Treaty Council, which advocated for Indigenous rights at the United Nations. Much of the legally binding language used in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which the United States initially opposed but has since endorsed, was written in the original treaties drafted by the United States.

These efforts were instrumental in forming the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP) established in 1975 to address the rights of the Palestinian people, particularly their right to self-determination. However, the United States has not supported the CEIRPP. Curiously, while Ukraine initially found solidarity with the Palestinian cause they left the council under Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s first Jewish president.

These shifting geopolitical alliances reflect the ongoing complex dynamics surrounding the Palestinian issue. Microsoft (who opened its first R&D office outside of the U.S. in Israel in 1991) recently announced a $1.5 billion investment in a United Arab Emirates artificial intelligence holding company G42. This suggests capital interests are also shifting towards Arab countries.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has been leading negotiations with Palestinian contingents, other Arab states, and Western corporate leaders putting pressure on Israel to consider a future that includes Palestinian independence, self-determination, and autonomy.

It's worth mentioning from 2018 to 2022, Saudi Arabia was the second largest arms importer globally, accounting for 9.6% of worldwide arms imports. During this period, the United States was the principal supplier, providing 78% of the total arms imported by Saudi Arabia. This included 91 combat aircraft, hundreds of land-attack missiles, and over 20,000 guided bombs.

Perhaps the rise of AI data centers is a new form of "divine mandate" — a quasi-religious techno-utopian vision of progress and control cloaked in the language of innovation and efficiency. Just as Christian missionaries once sought to "civilize" and convert Indigenous populations with surveyors of land and resources, today’s tech purveyors seek energy sucking AI data centers in pursuit of loose regulations and a new frontier of cultural and economic domination.

Have we learned anything, or will this phase of technology and global capitalism be the next chapter of environmental and human exploitation at the expense of just and equitable futures? Maybe the globally networked AI overlord many preach can teach us how to better prioritize the rights, needs, and aspirations of local communities seeking their own visions of self-determination. Or will those in control fear that may itself cannibalize capitalism?

References:

Özsu U. Fixing Selves. In: Completing Humanity: The International Law of Decolonization, 1960–82. Cambridge University Press; 2023.

Slobodian, Quinn. Crack-Up Capitalism: The Deep Roots of the Disastrous Tilt. New York: Random House, 2023.

SIPRI. "SIPRI Fact Sheet: Trends in International Arms Transfers, 2022." March 2023.

Hello Interactors,

The horrific acts of violence in Palestine have prompted acts of violence on university campuses around the world. This post is about one thing they have in common — maps. Maps legally define territory, the rights of those who occupy it, and the rights of those in power to silence them, displace them, or ‘invisible’ them. A pattern we also see with America’s unhoused.

Let me try to map this out…

CAMPUS CONFRONTATIONS ECHO

Citing "clear and present danger," Columbia University recently called for the New York Police to intervene. On April 18th, students had set up tents on a small patch of grass on campus — a form of protest calling for the university to divest from Israel due to the violence in Palestine. Despite the peaceful nature of the protest, the President of the school claimed their presence was menacing and that they were trespassing. Evidently, parts of campus are closed to students during certain hours. The incident resulted in the arrest of 108 students. But many returned and were joined by more upon their release.

Nearly a week passed before House Speaker Mike Johnson called on the school’s President to resign if she can’t suppress the war protests at her school. He went on to threaten federal funding for colleges that he sees are creating unsafe environments for Jewish students. Many equate opposition to the state of Israel as opposition of Jewish people.

Meanwhile, the Jewish Voice for Peace is claiming the university is making it unsafe for both Jewish and non-Jewish students in their actions. Of the 85 students suspended for protesting the actions of the Israeli state, 15 are Jewish. The Jewish Voice for Peace writes,

“Yesterday’s statement by the White House, like the administrators of Columbia University, dangerously and inaccurately presumes that all Jewish students support the Israeli government’s genocide of Palestinians. This assumption is actively harming Palestinian and Jewish students.”

Restrictions on student rights have also led to Jewish students being obstructed from observing their religious events and blocking access to their Jewish community.

Columbia University, named after Christopher Columbus and echoing his legacy of exploration and exploitation, has experienced similar conflicts before. In 1968, protests erupted over the university's plan to build a segregated gym, viewed as oppressive by Harlem residents. There was also significant discontent with Columbia's involvement with the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), a center providing support to the U.S. Department of Defense during the Vietnam War.

Columbia’s recent protests spawned more across the country. The National Guard have been called to many campuses to sweep protesters away echoing the deadly protests at Kent State 54 years ago. Or Yale in 1986 when police extracted a student who had erected a replica structure found in South Africa’s shantytowns protesting apartheid.

One student protester said at the time,

“We find the Administrations actions highly ironic in light of the continuing efforts of the South African Government to remove the squatter committees with which our shanties expressed solidarity.” In defense of the school, a spokesman said of the protesters, “No group is permitted to have a monopoly on the space.”

No group except, perhaps, the administration.

These university confrontations are part of a larger pattern of forceful takeovers and displacement evident in various forms, including the routine 'sweeps' of homeless encampments in cities across America. These sweeps often involve the removal of homeless individuals from public or private spaces, displacing them without providing long-term solutions to homelessness. Critics argue that such actions not only fail to address the underlying issues of poverty and housing insecurity but also perpetuate a cycle of displacement and marginalization.

Similar critiques are leveled against these universities who in many cases have been pressured by powerful donors and alumni to silence voices speaking out against the ongoing violence in Palestine. A pattern consistent with conservative efforts to squelch diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and the teaching of alternative views of history and race. Such actions also serve to perpetuate, and propagate, cycles of protest against oppression.

This practice highlights how power dynamics continue to affect those with less power. From students choosing to sleep outside in solidarity to the most vulnerable populations sleeping outside in poverty. It’s a self-enforcing system where those without property and/or rights are subjected to repeated eviction from their makeshift homes. In the case of those unhoused, it only serves to further entrench the disparities and social stigmas associated with homelessness. In this broader context, both the struggle over property at a university or an urban park reflect the ongoing contention over who has the right to occupy and claim space within our communities.

MAPPING AUTHORITARIAN DISPLACEMENT

These relatively small local campus disputes over territory and legality mirror the larger geopolitical conflicts over land, territory, and displacement they are protesting.

In the Levant or Ash-Shaam (ٱلشَّام ) region of the Middle East, the 1948 establishment of the state of Israel led to the first Arab-Israeli War. In the period from 1948 to 1951, approximately 688,000 Jewish people immigrated to Israel. Many of these were survivors of the Holocaust and from refugee camps across Europe, as well as Jewish refugees from Arab countries.

This period is known as the "mass immigration period" in Israeli telling of history. In Palestinian Arabic history this period is called "Nakba" meaning "catastrophe" or "disaster" referring to the mass displacement of Palestinian Arabs.

Here’s a short video from the Jewish Voice for Peace explaining how this early history has led to current events…including the role of maps.👇

For more history on international recognition of territories in the Middle East through maps drawn by European governments, check out my post 👇 from 2021 on:

The mass displacement of Jewish people from Europe came as part of the Nazi’s European territorial expansion for resources called “Lebensraum” or “living space.” The term was coined by geographer Friedrich Ratzel in 1897 believing nations must expand their borders to acquire the resources necessary for their survival.

While written as part of a political geography text, it was a biological argument inspired by Darwinian theories of how species expand their habitats in the natural world. The concept had become a political weapon for German colonial expansion prior to World War II but was most exploited by Hitler.

Cartography was integral to the Nazi ideology of Lebensraum, underpinning its aggressive expansionist policies with maps that were used to justify and facilitate the annexation of territories. Nazi cartographers produced maps illustrating overcrowded Germanic lands to rationalize the need for territorial growth.

Historical claims were visually asserted through maps highlighting ancient Germanic territories or regions with ethnic German populations, while ethnic and racial maps of Europe reinforced narratives of Germanic superiority and the 'right' to conquer Eastern European lands. Furthermore, detailed maps served as vital tools for the strategic military planning of invasions, outlining the logistics necessary to secure Lebensraum for the perceived future prosperity of the Aryan race.

Cartography facilitated the Nazi's economic exploitation of conquered territories and orchestrated the forced resettlement of ethnic Germans while planning the expulsion of others.

This manipulation of geographical information extended into the realm of propaganda, with maps depicting an expansive and resource-rich 'Greater German Reich' designed to instill a sense of national destiny among the populace. Cartography thus transformed from a tool of navigation and exploration into a mechanism of propaganda and oppression, actively contributing to the enactment of the Nazis' genocidal and imperialist objectives.

Left leaning political and ideological groups, including students, criticized the Nazi ideology of Lebensraum and other aspects of Hitler's regime. These groups were staunch opponents of fascism and were among the first to be targeted by the Nazis for suppression due to their opposition and potential to organize resistance against the regime.

In Alberto Toscano’s book, “Late Fascism: Race, Capitalism and the Politics of Crisis” he writes,

“Fascism faced the necessity of making a void around itself, of making a tabula rasa of every organized force, whether political or syndicalist, proletarian or bourgeois, trade unions, cooperatives, workers’ circles, Labour Exchanges.”

After Hitler's rise to power in 1933, the Nazi regime moved swiftly to neutralize all forms of political opposition. The Weimar Republic (1919-1933) was a period of significant political involvement for Jewish people in Germany. They were active in various political parties, including the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), both of which had strong connections to labor movements and were integral to the republic's parliamentary democracy.

The KPD and SPD, and other leftist organizations were soon outlawed under Hitler, their leaders and members arrested, and their publications banned. The Nazis viewed the left as one of their main political enemies, associating them with Bolshevism, which they portrayed as a Jewish conspiracy against the Aryan race and the antithesis to their own nationalist and racial ideologies.

Within days of the Reichstag fire in February of 1933, an estimated 4,000 Communists were arrested. The ensuing months saw a dramatic escalation in the numbers of those arrested, with estimates ranging into the tens of thousands. By the summer of 1933, the number of political prisoners—Communists, Social Democrats, union officials, and other perceived or actual leftists—are reported to be over 100,000.

Many leftist leaders and activists were incarcerated in the early concentration camps, where they were subject to brutal treatment. The purges were not limited to the political elite; rank-and-file members of these parties, as well as trade unionists and others who represented the workers' movement, were also persecuted.

THE TERRITORIAL ROLE OF SOCIAL CONTROL

During the later stages of the regime, especially in the years leading up to and during World War II, the Nazis intensified their crackdown on any remaining leftist elements or dissidents, many of whom were sent to prison, forced labor camps, or executed.

Resistance activities continued, albeit at great risk, and those discovered were often summarily executed, particularly as the war progressed and the regime became increasingly paranoid and repressive.

Nazism managed to garner support from the German masses not solely based on pre-existing antisemitic and authoritarian tendencies, but rather through a systematic campaign that cultivated such ideas as part of a broader nationalistic and exclusionary ideology.

Hitler, effectively used propaganda, charismatic rhetoric, and the manipulation of societal fears and prejudices to gain political power. The Nazis' antisemitic and authoritarian doctrines were indeed not uniformly accepted across the entire population at the outset so he appealed to certain ideas and emotions within a diverse population. And Lebensraum was the pretense to spread these ideas and emotions throughout Europe.

The inherent racism, economic exploitation, and violent suppression of Lebensraum are hallmarks of colonial projects throughout history. Such historical and contemporary conflicts illustrate the painful reality of colonial projects, which are often marked by forceful takeovers and the displacement of people, revealing the stark power imbalances that still shape many societal and geopolitical structures today.

Cartography is a potent force, merging power with place. Maps do more than chart lands—they govern perceptions and control hierarchies. By defining territories, maps have historically empowered states over indigenous lands and interests, solidifying rulers' authority. Trespassing laws, working alongside maps, secure landowners' wealth and status, perpetuating a system that privileges property ownership above all else.

Legal instruments like maps once laid the foundations for empires, enabling harsh extractive economies. Their influence endures in today's urban design and surveillance, with satellite imagery and GIS optimizing resource control and shaping cultural views, often sidelining marginalized groups and deepening social disparities.

The current landscape of protest and civil unrest, as seen in the widespread student demonstrations calling for divestment and decolonization, reflects a continuation of this struggle over space and representation. When Columbia’s President invoked the specter of "clear and present danger" to dismantle peaceful protests, it was a stark reminder of the power that comes with controlling space.

The reaction of institutions across the globe, echoing Columbia's, highlights a pattern where those in authority use spatial control as a means to suppress dissent. The encampments, from New York to Sydney, stand as testaments to the resilience of those fighting for a fairer world, even as they face the prospect of being swept away by the forces of order.

As echoes of historical confrontations reverberate, from Kent State to the anti-apartheid struggles at Yale to present day Columbia — or past and present brutal bombings from Yemen to Ukraine or Pakistan to Palestine — they remind us of the stakes involved in the cartographic and legal delineation of our world.

These student movements illustrate the ongoing relevance of emancipatory theories found in all three Abrahamic religions that advocate for the reweaving of our social fabric, aiming to construct an inclusive society that empowers individuals to stand in solidarity against the divisive and oppressive applications of spatial law. The fight for a more equitable social order continues, a challenge to the entrenched hierarchies of land and power.

References:

Statement on Columbia University’s discriminatory and repressive treatment of Jewish students. The Jewish Voice for Peace. 2024.

78 Are Arrested in Yale Protest Over Apartheid. The New York Times. 1986.

Friedrich Ratzel and the Origins of Lebensraum. Woodruff D. Smith. German Studies Review. 1980.

Late Fascism: Race, Capitalism and the Politics of Crisis. Alberto Toscano. 2023.

The New German Chauvinism – Part II. Bue Rübner Hansen. LeftEast. 2024.

Hello Interactors,

Behind every map is intent. When it comes to making plans for a city, streets are more than mere passageways; they are the cartography of power, exacting politics and ideology for the unfolding of urbanity.

Paris is the blueprint of social order and control portrayed as a symbol of beauty and progress. I wanted to unravel the threads of intent, from communal aspirations to the heavy hand of authoritarianism — a kind of narrative map of a city renowned as much for its revolutions as for its romance.

Let’s go.

COMMON ROOTS, CONTRASTING COMMUNITIES

I’ll offer a word and you examine your emotional reaction to it. Communism. If you’re like me, you’ve been trained to have negative thoughts. Maybe even stop reading. Communism has been associated with authoritarian, repressive regimes that denied basic freedoms and human rights. Ask anyone who lived under these conditions and you can see why it’s been ideologically blackballed in America.

Now I’ll offer another word. Community. Ah, yes, good vibes. Who could possibly be against community? It’s strange how two words with common origins can differ so much by changing two letters.

The word Communism comes from Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel’s Kommunismus as early as 1847 and is derived from the French word communisme which first appeared three years earlier in 1843. This word comes from the Old French word comun meaning "common, general, free, open, public."

A group of people in common, “the common people” who are not rulers of property, clergy, or monarchy, is from the 14th century French word comunité meaning "commonness, everybody" or community.

I had the experience of checking my own reaction to the word communist while reading about how communist ideals helped a politician in Paris help his community.

The French Communist senator, Ian Brossat, lead housing policy in Paris for a decade. He said his

“guiding philosophy is that those who produce the riches of the city must have the right to live in it.”

He and the local government under Mayor Hildago are doing their best to live up to this. Over the past decade, the French Communist Party has emphasized social justice and economic equality, advocating for stronger public services, wealth redistribution, and workers' rights. They've also focused on environmental sustainability, aligning with broader movements to address climate change and social disparities.

People from all over the world are drawn to Paris for its diverse array of small shops, cafes, expansive boulevards, monuments, and museums. It exudes old-world charm complete with cobblers, tailors, jewelers, and luthiers tucked in and among various neighborhoods — some more manicured than others. It’s a dappled array of diverse color and verdant softscapes that when viewed from afar offers an impression of a picture-perfect pointillist painting.  

Paris exists as a seemingly organic and emergent unfolding of placemaking complete with public spaces and parks for the taking — by all walks of life. For many, it’s a composite of ideals that harken back to romantic images of a fashionable and stylistic ‘pick your favorite’ century in Europe making it a perennial favorite destination for tourists.

But surrounding the parks where healthy blossoms glow are stealthy property plots where wealthy funds grow. Amidst the green where healthy plants are planted longtime residents squirm as their neighbors are supplanted. Despite the city building or renovating “more than 82,000 apartments over the past three decades for families with children”, 2.4 million people are on the waiting list for affordable housing.(1)

This isn’t the first time economically disadvantaged people have been displaced from Paris. In 1853, one year after Napoleon Bonaparte’s nephew Napoleon III declared himself emperor in a successful coup d'état, he wasted no time embarking on what many believe to be the biggest ‘urban renewal’ project in history.

It was famously led by a former prefect administrator, Georges-Eugène Haussmann. His swift and heavy hand pushed powerless Parisians to the periphery to build the Paris so many adore, only to have them return. A pattern that exists today.

Napoleon III, exiled in England, was reluctant to return to a France in decline, marred by unemployment and poverty. By 1848, a massive influx of laborers had swollen Paris's population to over a million. Despite its picturesque image today, 19th-century Paris was a labyrinth of dilapidated buildings and narrow streets, lacking modern infrastructure, and grappling with increasing crime and deadly outbreaks, including a cholera epidemic that claimed 20,000 lives in 1832.

The French author Honoré de Balzac wrote of Paris at the time,

“’Look around you’ as you ‘make your way through that huge stucco cage, that human beehive with black runnels marking its sections, and follow the ramifications of the idea which moves, stirs and ferments inside it.’”

By 1848, France was besieged by societal strife as the monarchy's resurgence fueled public outrage, contrary to the Republic's ideals of liberty. Mass protests and strikes became common, culminating in a tragic clash at the Foreign Ministry where troops fired on protestors, killing 50. The slain were symbolically paraded through Paris, highlighting the oppressive turn of events.

This ignited the Revolution of 1848; a diverse coalition, from students to disillusioned aristocrats, took to the streets, overwhelming the army and storming the King's palace. This mass uprising prompted the formation of a provisional government while monarchist officials, including Haussmann, fled the turmoil.

In the power struggles of post-revolutionary France, neither Socialists nor Republicans could stabilize the economy or improve living conditions. As a result, calls for Napoleon III's return gained traction. He pledged to serve if elected, mirroring the American democratic elections model. He won a four-year term by a wide margin, but he did not have dominant support within the Assembly.

Facing political opposition and public discontent as his term ended, Napoleon III dissolved the Assembly, fired his adversaries, and named himself emperor. A government for the people and by the people was attempted and failed. Long live the King. Authoritarianism was back to the cheers of many in the streets as Napoleon was pulled through the streets by carriage for three hours amidst roars of support.

PARIS: FROM SIEGE TO CHIC

By 1848, Parisians had erected numerous barricades, limiting Napoleon’s access through the city. Originating in 1588 as a defense against soldiers, these barricades evolved from rudimentary stone walls into complex structures capable of withstanding cannon fire, serving both practical and symbolic roles in the city’s history of civil resistance.

Amidst the dawn of the Industrial Age in 1848, Napoleon III aimed to modernize Paris, differentiating it from the neo-gothic style of London's "Albertropolis." Preferring the era's new materials like iron and glass. Dismissing the gothic aesthetics, Napoleon, with Haussmann—a disciplined administrator with similar architectural sensibilities—set out to reshape Paris into a contemporary urban jewel.

In the words of Hausmann reflecting in his memoir,

“We ripped open the belly of old Paris, the neighborhood of revolt and barricades, and cut a large opening through the most impenetrable maze of alleys, piece by piece.”

In Balzac’s 1843 book Lost Illusions he captures the contrasting existence of society revealing the class Hausmann sought to favor at the expense of the other.

The proletariat

“live in insalubrious offices, pestilential courtrooms, small chambers with barred windows, spend their day weighed down by the weight of their affairs.” While the bourgeoisie enjoy “the great, airy, gilded salons, the mansions enclosed in gardens, the world of the rich, leisured, happy, moneyed people.”(2)

Haussmann, satirically termed the "Artiste Démolisseur," enacted a policy akin to 'creative destruction' to achieve it. This is a concept Karl Marx alluded to and the Austrian Economist Joseph Schumpeter later popularized. In Marx and Friedrich Engels popular 1848 book “The Communist Manifesto” they used the term Vernichtung which describes the continuous devaluation of existing wealth to pave the way for the creation of new wealth.

During the 1830s and '40s, monumental ‘devaluations’ came at the expense of land and rivers paving the way for infrastructure like railroads and canals. Including other parts of the world. Americans, Indigenous and colonized, saw over 3000 miles of canals being dug by 1840 and 9,000 miles of railroad by 1850. We can all think of examples of ‘creative destruction’ today — be it from bombs that fall or a wrecking ball.

This 19th century period of transformation also saw France's first passenger train and the spread of a national railway network, all under Napoleon III's ambition to fortify France's economic stature. He promoted and founded new national banks to fund these transformations, fueling Marx's view that economic efficiencies could be gained through improved transportation.

The rise of capitalism and the concept of 'the world market,' as Marx termed it, pushed for more efficient movement of people and goods, a task complicated by Paris's antiquated layout. Although Napoleon and Haussmann are credited with modernizing Paris, initiatives to improve urban circulation were already underway. Prior to 1833, significant canals, roads, and railways were constructed, and post-1832 cholera outbreak, efforts were made to expand the city and reduce congestion.

Architectural and urban planning, including the design of the Place de la Concorde by Jacques Hittorff, aimed to push the city's boundaries. In 1843, Hippolyte Meynadier proposed major urban changes to improve air quality and circulation. Haussmann later embraced and amplified these existing plans with and without Napoleon's support. For example, Napoleon did not see the need to bringing running water to Paris, but Hausmann did it anyway.

Hausmann was fond of expanding. Whereas these earlier plans were certainly grander than any in Paris, or possibly the world, Hausmann multiplied dimensions. Hittorf had drawn plans for some streets be obesely wide, even by today’s standards, but Haussmann tripled the dimensions. For example, the road leading to the Arc de Triomphe, known now as the Champs-Élysées, was first drawn to be 120 feet wide. But Hausmann insisted it be 360 feet wide with an additional 40 feet of sidewalks on each side. He tripled the scale of a project that had already been tripled.

What resulted was a diagonally criss-crossing web of stick straight boulevards with massive monuments strategically placed at nodes and termini. The Arc de Triomphe from above looks like a shining star with roads and boulevards as glimmering spires. Some scholars believe Hausmann, and his coconspirators, were the first to view the city as a technical problem to be solved from the top down.

It was a civic product to be worked on with little regard for the people who were working within. This view of a city may have been influenced by the aerial photographer Nadar who from 1855 to 1858 perfected aerial photography in France. He patented the use of aerial photography for mapmaking and surveying in 1855.

A WHOPPER OF A TRANSFORMATION

Soon after Hausmann finished the complete remaking of Paris in 1870, Friederic Engels published his 1872 book The Housing Question where he explored the housing crisis facing industrial workers of the 19th century. He criticized what became known as the Hausmannization of cities, writing,

“By ‘Haussmann’ I mean the practice which has now become general of making breaches in the working class quarters of our big towns, and particularly in those which are centrally situated, quite apart from whether this is done from considerations of public health and for beautifying the town, or owing to the demand for big centrally situated business premises, or owing to traffic requirements, such as the laying down of railways, streets, etc. No matter how different the reasons may be, the result is everywhere the same: the scandalous alleys and lanes disappear to the accompaniment of lavish self-praise from the bourgeoisie on account of this tremendous success, but they appear again immediately somewhere else and often in the immediate neighbourhood”

Groups of people struggling to live in a city, “the common people”, those who were not rulers of property, clergy, or monarchy, began organizing as a community. Property owners spared by Hausmann’s utter destruction saw their applications for building improvement permits rejected. In the years leading up to 1871, tensions were once again mounting in a city that had yet to form a municipal government.

Meanwhile the Francho-Prussian War erupted in July of 1870 as France sought to assert its dominance in Europe fearing a pending alliance between Prussia and Spain. During the war, the French National Guard defended Paris. Given their proximity to growing working-class radicalism, sentiments began to be shared among soldiers.

After a significant defeat of the French Army by the Germans, National Guard soldiers seized control of the city on March 18, killing two French army generals and refusing to accept the authority of the French national government. The community became a commune — common, general, free, open, and public.

The commune governed Paris for two months, establishing policies that tended toward a progressive, anti-religious system of their own self-styled socialism. These policies included the separation of church and state, self-policing, the remission of rent, the abolition of child labor, and the right of employees to take over an enterprise deserted by its owner.

Predictably, the Commune was ultimately suppressed by the national French Army at the end of May during "The Bloody Week” when an estimated 10-15,000 Communards were killed in battle or executed.

The Commune's policies and outcome had a significant influence on the ideas of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who described it as the first example of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Without it, it’s unlikely Ian Brossat would have a Communist party fighting for fair living conditions. A modern day nod to those Communards slaughtered in 1871.

Meanwhile, today’s City Hall also ensures the persistence of the bucolic, romantic, idealistic — and perhaps classist — proprietors who help to sustain the manicured experience Hausmann set out to achieve nearly 200 years ago. Just as the government plays a role in controlling rent so less financially privileged can live and work there, so too does the government subsidize select city shops and restaurants that attract the well heeled. But they have their limits.

The counselor in charge of managing commercial holdings said, “We don’t rent to McDonald’s, we don’t rent to Burger King and we don’t rent to Sephora.”

These stores obviously exist, so clearly landlords across the city have long sold out to ‘world market’ chains even Hausmann may frown upon. Even as the city take steps to ensure curated theme shops continue to exist. Hausmann may not have planned for this, but Paris did become a kind of a public theme park to the world.

Given the history of radicals and conservatives toiling in a tug of war for centuries over what exactly the city should be and for whom, perhaps the conservative former housing minister now commercial developer, Benoist Apparu, put it best —

“A city, if it’s only made up of poor people, is a disaster. And if it’s only made up of rich people, it’s not much better.” (1)

I, for one, was pleased to find a Burger King on the Champs-Élysées during my first trip to Paris as a teenager in 1984. After a few days of European food, I was ready for a Whopper. Of course, I was unaware of any of the socio-political or psychogeographical implications and ramifications of all this — both historically and in that moment.

I was a middle-class mini-bougie white American eating comfort food while obliviously participating in the exploitive world of ‘rich, leisured, happy, and moneyed people’ on a boulevard designed for it. But I was also in city that birthed liberty, the potential for revolutionary change, and the promise and struggle of egalitarian policies.

Hello Interactors,

We are fully into spring and that means a shift toward cartography. I’ll be exploring how abstract symbols, lines, and colors can both represent and misrepresent people, politics, and the physical environment. Maps are tools of power and persuasion, which can shape perceptions of space and reality, influence behavior, and maintain or challenge social norms and power structures.

Today’s post bridges Winter’s focus on human behavior with the maps, plans, and politics of cities. In this case, Los Angeles and their attempts at curbing rising traffic related fatalities through safer forms of transportation infrastructure…but not without a fight from some unlikely foes.

Let’s go…

CURBSIDE CASUALTIES LEAD TO ASPHALT ACTIVISM

Angelinos recently passed a controversial measure intended to save lives. It won 63 percent in favor to 37 percent opposed. Maybe it wasn’t so controversial after all. Why should helping save children from being violently killed be controversial in the first place? And why were firefighters leading the charge to kill a measure that saves lives.

Car collisions were the leading cause of death for children in Los Angeles County in 2022. Drug overdose and homicide have been in competition with ‘motor vehicle collisions’ for the top kid-killer spot over the last few years. Drowning, another preventable killer my wife is focused on eradicating, was the number three killer in 2021.

In January, the hyperlocal newsletter Crosstown reported data from the Los Angeles Police Department that 2023 was the “deadliest year on the roads in at least a decade, with 337 fatalities.”

More than half of these were pedestrians. In 2022, 160 pedestrians died from being struck by a motor vehicle. It’s been getting worse for some time.

If you’re not already depressed, this might push you over the edge. Hit and runs are also climbing.

In October of 2022, the County of Los Angeles Public Health Department published the “Leading Causes of Death and Mortality Rates (per 100,000) by Age Group” in Los Angeles County from January to June for 2019 to 2022. During these years, of those aged 0-17, 73 have been killed by motor vehicles. In 2022, it was the number one killer.

Alarmed by the trend, former Mayor Eric Garcetti formulated a “Mobility Plan 2035” in 2015 that “incorporates ‘complete streets’ principles and lays the policy foundation for how future generations of Angelenos interact with their streets.” This follows California state’s 2008 Complete Streets Act (AB 1358), which requires local jurisdictions to

“plan for a balanced, multimodal transportation network that meets the needs of all users of streets, roads, and highways, defined to include motorists, pedestrians, bicyclists, children, persons with disabilities, seniors, movers of commercial goods, and users of public transportation, in a manner that is suitable to the rural, suburban or urban context.”

The rise in traffic deaths reveals that the aspirational goals set in various levels of government often represent legal fictions—idealized plans that simplify complex issues, but don’t always lead to action. These legal frameworks, while not intentionally misleading, can result in a disconnect between policy intentions and outcomes, promoting a status quo bias due to the complexities of change, systemic inertia, and established interests — including those of firefighters.

But a group of citizen activists organized to bring action to the fiction and gain traction amidst the friction. They drew attention to the fact that although L.A. had laid out a progressive ‘complete streets’ plan, they had only executed 5% since its inception nearly a decade ago. At that rate they calculated it would take 160 years to build a minimum network of safe streets. All the while hundreds upon thousands would die while the legal fiction would continued to paint a different picture.

So, they devised Measure HLA, the Healthy Streets L.A. initiative, inspired by other cities to bring action to ‘complete streets’ fiction. The measure states every time a street is resurfaced, any corresponding Network Mobility Plan improvements must be implemented. For example, if a street has been designated as a segment of a bike network and is due to be resurfaced, the city must install the protected bike lane (or other complete street infrastructure) needed to fulfill the city’s Mobility Plan 2050. Common sense exceptions are included to ensure public works could still fix things like potholes, utility cuts, or emergency repairs.

But installing 560 miles of pedestrian paths, 300 miles of enhanced transit lanes, 520 miles of bike lanes safe enough for an eight-year-old, 830 miles of neighborhood enhancements, and 800 miles of bike networks for all levels of cycling requires some sacrifices. Motorists will have to sacrifice space on roadways to accommodate these changes. In doing so many roads will be narrowed and speeds lowered thus sacrificing speed of vehicles.

And this is where the firefighters come in. There’s a common misperception among many firefighters and emergency responders that safe streets, that is slow streets, lead to slower response times resulting in people dying. The hundreds of people, including young people, they scrape off the pavement or extract from a car after being obliterated by a ton of metal charging at excessive speeds seem to be excluded from this calculus.

It is true there was a time when speed bumps were added to slow speeding vehicles that also slowed first responders. But civil engineers and urban planners worked through these challenges and now speed cushions can be installed that permit fire trucks (and other large vehicles) to proceed through gaps in the speed bumps. There are also ways to design safe street networks in ways that allow speeding emergency vehicles to move quickly through road networks protected from or free of pedestrians and cyclists…and clogged traffic. In many cases, it’s the same paths carved out of stalled traffic for buses.

FIRST RESPONSE AND EMERGENCY OBJECTIONS

The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) seemingly haven’t gotten the memo from the Federal Highway Administration on how to calm traffic while not reducing response times. One LAFD Captain, Frank Lima, was quoted as saying “Firefighters are opposed to Measure HLA…[because] response times from 911 resources will increase…Every second in our profession means [life or death].” But Mr. Lima then exposes what is perhaps the true source of his opposition which is not related at all to his expertise or profession but likely a personal conviction.

“It’s going to hurt small businesses and it’s going to take away parking spaces,” he said. “It’s one of those projects that sounds good on paper, but when you put it in reality, it’s going to have a negative impact.”

He is right that legal fiction does sound good on paper, and on-street parking spaces may be taken away on some streets, but if done well other cities have shown small business improves as does property value. It turns out everybody wants to live on a safe and quiet street, expect maybe this LAFD Captain.

Mr. Lima is also a member of the International Association of Firefighters and presumably the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City Local 112 (UFLAC) who claim they spent $100,000 fighting this measure. Their president, Freddy Escobar, said Measure HLA “is full of lies…all these confusing lanes, dangerous bike lanes, pedestrian medians, and all the chaos - and nobody is using 'em." If that was extreme enough in his attempt to scare voters, he added, “If we pass HLA we're going to see chaos all over the city.”

Not to be out done, the president of the California Professional Firefighters, Brian Rice, also revealed his personal convictions while presumably speaking on behalf of all California firefighters stating,

"I hate to tell you men and women, California - and Los Angeles in particular - this is a car community. You may not like it, but it is."

He then took a shot at bus drivers and riders who are stuck in traffic today but will benefit from bus priority signaling and bus only lanes as part of the complete streets plan. He asked,

"Do you really think you're going to see buses go faster than 12 miles an hour?"

And then, he fully exposed his motivations for wanting to deny Angelinos safe streets. Dog whistling conservatives across L.A., he claimed the initiative came from “a small group of elite...Democratic Socialists.”

It might seem unusual for firefighters to be so misaligned with most people they serve (the measure passed by a 2 to 1 margin) or for their personal convictions or biases to seemingly conflict with their egalitarian duty to serve all members of the community, but it’s not.

Firefighters are unique. They’re the only profession that attracts people who need to be trained NOT to immediately run into a burning building. As one fire chief said to his trainees,

“Risk a lot to save a lot. Risk a little to save a little. Risk nothing to save nothing. We’re all here to help people... but you need to have your priorities straight: life safety first, incident stabilization second, and property conservation last.”

These people must not only endure and survive extreme physical conditions, but they are also exposed to human pain and suffering, mutilations, and death. All of which require a healthy support network and relationships to maintain their mental health. This is why their training and work environment also includes indoctrination an institutional culture that instills comradeship, respect, and devotion to service — for each other and the communities they serve.

But within any group of people each individual member shows up with their own implicit or explicit biases toward minority members of any community they may serve, be it class, race, ethnicity, gender, or apparently pedestrians, cyclists, transit riders, and those with opposing political views. How might these biases interfere with their duty to serve all community members?

Much of our behavior is subtly influenced by unconscious biases, deep-seated preferences we're often unaware of. These hidden biases can significantly impact daily decisions and societal dynamics, especially in critical areas like healthcare, where they contribute to disparities in patient treatment and outcomes.

Similarly, in the criminal justice system, implicit biases affect law enforcement actions, with studies indicating varying responses based on race. However, the connection between these unconscious biases and actual discriminatory behavior remains a topic of debate, with some research suggesting the link is weaker than previously thought, emphasizing the complexity of addressing such ingrained biases.

One researcher embedded himself in a fire crew in a small town in the southern United States to explore these complex behaviors. To be accepted as ‘one of the guys’ the researcher went through training and served on calls with the crew. It took weeks, but he eventually earned his insider status where he felt everyone was acting normally should he not be observing them. It wasn’t pretty.

AMIDST FLAMES OF PREJUDICE, A BROTHERHOOD IN THE BALANCE

As a member of a white crew serving a racially and ethnically diverse community, he indeed uncovered some alarming and explicit individual biases. In a banter of stories about various calls, he observed a trend in one-upmanship among story tellers. “Tall tales” is a form of bonding among groups of humans that have existed across time and culture. Each story becomes increasingly exaggerated and in the case of the culture of this group of firefighters, explicitly racist, sexist, and/or classist. One such crescendo culminated with this alarming tale (trigger warning, some nasty and disturbing language in here),

“Green Village is the worst because you’ve got all those Mexicans who don’t f*****g speak English. At least at Friendship Haven, you can say, ‘Listen, bro, I’m gonna call the f*****g cops,’ and they scurry off. [He simulates running, while holding up pants] These f*****g Mexicans don’t speak English, so they’re a pain in the ass. Those Jose Cuervos think they are doctors. There was that one call at Green Village, where there was this woman. It was toned out [dispatched] as a cardiac arrest, but we got there and the woman was having a seizure.

Anyway, it was me and Kelly and we pulled her out of the bed to this little spot on the floor between the bed and dresser and her two sons were like standing over her. One was flashing a light in her face, like a flashlight. And she was fat, obviously. And the other one was pulling her shirt down to cover up her fat, while yelling, “She dead. She dead.” The woman was fine. I walked out and called police on that f*****g Beaner. If I would have had a gun, I would have shot those two Speedy Gonzalezes.”

In another story, a Black woman in a hijab arrived at a residence where the crew was cleaning up after a call. Laughing, one of the firefighters asked his crew,

“Did you see what they were cooking? There were bones in that pot.” His colleague responded, “What was it? A cat? Rats? Hamsters?”

Amidst the laughter another story was shared.

“Remember we were at that fire last weekend, over in Africa, and that woman slapped the s**t out of that guy?” One of the Lieutenants replied how hilarious it was while stomping his foot performing a racist caricature and mimicking an African language saying “…she was yelling and really going off on him in Black.”

Upon hearing this, the researcher reported, one of the firefighters laughed so hard he lost his breath. As the laughter subsided another firefighter said of the neighborhood they were serving, “Friendship Haven can burn down and I wouldn’t give a f**k. F**k. That. Hellhole.”

It’s hard to read this and imagine why these bigoted firefighters bother even showing up to help these people. But according to the researcher, this is how a fraction of these “white, male, working-class firefighters cope with stress and forge solidarity” while most of the others passively laugh and follow along.

He claims these individual beliefs don’t interfere with their duty to serve because the one thing that would exclude a firefighter from the ‘brotherhood’ is allowing a human to suffer or die — regardless of how they may personally feel about them. He said that while this Southern white “working-class, locally raised, politically conservative peer culture dominates the social space…prejudiced beliefs take a back seat to enacting excellence on the fireground.”

He says because these extremely discriminatory words and actions are portrayed in private and only among other firefighters they entrust, and issued by those in command, there is little opportunity for disciplinary action. He also believes “it is a tall order to exorcise prejudice from individuals.”  The best remedy to counter these individual beliefs, the researcher writes, is to start by “educating staff about the populations they serve and teaching nonviolent approaches to conflict resolution.” He also believes “organizational incentives that encourage grassroots competition to provide optimal service or community engagement can stymie discriminatory behavior.”

In the case of the LA firefighters, they are clearly more ethnically and racially diverse than those this researcher observed in the South, so attacks on minority races is unlikely happening in the open. And what discriminatory prejudices these L.A. firefighters do have are clearly not just private. After all, they just spent $100,000 to make them public.

Should a social psychological researcher embed themselves in any number of these L.A. squads, I’m sure they’d reveal disparaging language there too. Their quasi-militaristic allegiance to the ‘brotherhood’ is evidently forged in a shared disdain for ‘cyclists’, ‘pedestrians’, liberal ‘elite social democrats’, and/or some ‘others’ outside their tribe.

As for those firefighters who may be partial to, or members of, these ‘other’ tribes, and perhaps even chided for being one of ‘them’, the group likely accepts them because even if they’re a negatively branded a ‘liberal socialist’ they’d still risk their life to save another crew member or community member.

American firefighters are portrayed as heroes in America. Movies like Backdraft or television shows like 9-1-1 portray firefighters as tough, rugged, fearless public saviors. The heroic narrative can attract those seeking action, adventure, and camaraderie awash in a glamorous glow of danger. But perhaps society’s hero worship can also insulate those with hateful and bigoted views from public scrutiny. They will perform heroic acts to society’s benefit, but perhaps with a bit more education, less bravado, and more tolerance they could become better firefighters and heroes.

One veteran of emergency services, fire marshal, and U.S. Marine Desert Storm war veteran, Daniel Byne, made a plea in 2007 to,

“Take off the macho T-shirts. Take down the pictures and posters that paint our profession in an unrealistic light and encourage our firefighters to take unwarranted chances in the pursuit of living up to an unrealistic image.”

He is echoing criticisms from a Swedish firefighter Dr. Stefan Svensson, a PhD in fire engineering. He says in many countries the ‘heroic deeds’ many American firefighters are lauded for “would probably had led to inquiries, changes in training manuals, the dismissal of the fire fighter and probably even prosecution of the fire fighter for causing immediate danger to others.” Perhaps the bigoted attitudes may also.

Curiously, some of these other countries happen to be social democracies like Sweden. After this country of nearly 10 million people instituted similar ‘complete streets’ initiatives in 1997, their pedestrian deaths dropped from 134 in 1990 to 25 in 2020. Sweden and Norway have the smallest numbers of traffic related deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in the world, thanks to Vision Zero and ‘complete streets’ initiatives.

Sweden’s Svensson’s message for American firefighters is this:

“Bravery and heroic deeds must result from knowledge, not from illusions.”

Perhaps it’s time more firefighters get educated on the negative effects of outwardly expressing hatred toward others, trust their fellow public service colleagues like city planners and engineers, and learn to operate their equipment on streets designed for all — even if that means learning it from people they disparage as ‘social democrats.’ After all, as that fire chief in the South said, “We’re all here to help people... but you need to have your priorities straight.”