Planet: Critical

Truth is stranger than fiction—but fiction is better written.

We know their playbooks and their networks, but the bad guys of this story are in no rush to change their tactics. From funding dodgy research to bleating lies on prime time television, the fossil fuel industry and its allies are audaciously villainous. They’d been getting away with it for decades—but now independent media has them running scared.

Amy Westervelt is an award-winning investigative climate journalist and media founder with 20 years on the climate beat. Her investigations have exposed the worst crimes of the fossil fuel industry, and she now leads an international team of climate reporters at Drilled who uncover the connections between governments, industry and policy.

She joins me today to discuss their recent exposé of The Atlas Network, the shadowy ecosystem of think tanks pushing for the criminalisation of climate activists all around the world. Amy explains the roots of the network’s beginnings in World War Two, its rapid expansion as neoliberalism sunk its teeth into global politics, and its vast grip today on policy-makers around the world. This is a startling conversation, revealing the terrifying reach of right-wing extremism and corporate capture, with Amy suggesting the only path forward may indeed be revolutionary.

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On this episode of the Mongabay Newscast, host Mike DiGirolamo takes you on a journey through the most biodiverse marine region in the world, Raja Ampat. 

He speaks with three guests about how ecotourism has provided stable incomes through conservation, including documentary filmmaker Wahyu Mul, veteran birding guide Benny Mambrasar and resort owner Max Ammer, whose biological research center trains and employs local people in a variety of skills.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to get access to our latest episodes at your fingertips.

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See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage, mongabay.com, or follow Mongabay on any of the social media platforms for updates.

Image credit: Cape Kri, Sorido Bay Resort, Raja Ampat Regency, by Rhett Butler for Mongabay.

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Timecodes

(00:00) Introduction

(02:20) The Role of Ecotourism in Raja Ampat

(03:01) Wahyu Mul

(10:03) The Raja Ampat Research and Conservation Centre

(15:00) Max Ammer 

(39:36) Into the Forest - Benny Mambrasar

(47:00) Threats of Development

(52:47) Credits

If society is sick, how do we heal?

The idea of an “original trauma” bears similarities with the concept of an “original sin”: We fell, from grace, and have suffered ever since. The sinner, traumatised, cannot find his way back into paradise. The devil whispers in his ear. Hurt people hurt people.

Wisdom suggests there may be some truth to these tales. That a portion of humanity aeons ago faced terrible strife and were traumatised to the extent their relationship with the world suffered, and they became extractive accumulators, unable to trust in the gift of life, suspicious of the world and one another. These people took without giving, and the trauma spread through the land. From this, the “veneer of civilisation” was imposed upon the wildness of the natural world, a bid to control which resulted in the eventual destruction of nature.

My guest this week, Paddy Loughman, is my friend. He describes himself as a strategist and narrative consultant working in the climate space. I think of him as a story-teller and word-weaver. Paddy and I have weekly phone calls about the state of the world, and he kindly acquiesced to recording one of them. We discuss original trauma, civilisation vs savagery, sickness, collapse, healing and story. This conversation spans life and decay, death and possibility, love, hope and reality, with Paddy offering we may be in a position now where the best we can do is create crash pads to save all that is beautiful when the veneer comes tumbling down.

Paddy is the cofounder of Stories For Life and Inter-Narratives, focusing on the interplay of narrative change and systems change. He’s a former advisor to the UN’s Climate Champions and some of the world’s biggest businesses. This week he has launched his own Substack which offers a gentle yet unflinching exploration of the world as it is, and how it could be.

Planet: Critical investigates why the world is in crisis—and what to do about it. Support the project with a paid subscription.

Objectivity is a pillar of journalism, but its definition and application are loosely defined and humanly impossible to achieve, experts say.

Podcast guest Emily Atkin argues that an uncritical adherence to objectivity (over trust) has led to gaslighting readers about the real-world causes and urgency of the climate crisis.

She quit her day job to launch the acclaimed newsletter “HEATED,” which was spurred by a desire to report on the human causes of climate change and ecological destruction more directly. She discusses why with host Rachel Donald on this episode.

Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you get podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website, or download our free app for Apple and Android devices to gain instant access to our latest episodes and all our previous ones.

Image: An abstract AI-generated photo of a wildfire in the forest. Image from CharlVera via Pixabay. 

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Timecodes: 

(00:00) Introduction

(02:48) The Birth of Heated: A Climate Journalism Venture

(05:19) The Challenges of Mainstream Media

(14:17) The Role of Objectivity in Journalism

(32:34) The Role of a Journalist and Power Dynamics

(35:49) The Relationship Between Press and Government

(38:48) The Role of Independent Journalism

(47:33) Journalism Ethics

(50:41) The Roots of Objectivity

(01:00:35) Conclusion

If they won’t get it done, then we’ll do it ourselves.

Chaytan Inman is uninspired by politics. The computer science student was fed up or energy-blind and materials-blind promises made by big political names, promises of unlimited economic growth on a finite planet and infinitely available renewable energy, all tied up in the language of “Net Zero”. Chaytan didn’t see anyone running on a political platform which promised a liveable future. So he decided to run for Governor of Washington State.

“We cannot consume our way out of an overconsumption problem.”

Chaytan joined me to discuss his decision and his political platform: Enshrining the rights of nature in the state constitution. He aims to ensure the Pacific Northwest will “still have rain, trees, food and water” for the future, envisioning a radical shift in how natural resources are valued by giving nature the same rights as people, and embedding citizenship in the state’s natural ecosystem. He also reveals two other policies around taxation and agriculture, offering a true degrowth platform for Washington residents.

Chaytan is young—and he says he truly does not want to have to run for governor—but his elders have failed his generation. It's truly heartbreaking to see how many young people are having to put themselves on the line because of this failure. We should have a society of elders that knows how to lead, that can use all of their life experience to seed their imagination with possibilities for the future. Elders know when it's time to move on. In such a society, young people should have the freedom to be idealists, not burdened with the pressure of being realists. But, in our world, we are led by no one, and run by idiots and ideologues. This crisis demands leadership. It may come from surprising places.

© Rachel Donald

What do W.E.I.R.D countries have in common?

Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic. The citizens of these countries exhibit markedly more extreme psychological characteristics than those of non-WEIRD nations. One of the weirdest characteristics is a belief in a fixed “self’ which will behave in a reliable and predictable manner no matter the environment. The belief in this unchanging self is what makes it very difficult for us to change our minds—and even concoct wild rationalisations to justify our behaviour. Welcome to the age of cognitive dissonance.

Sarah Stein Lubrano, a researcher at Oxford University, joins me to explain the cognitive dissonance phenomenon, its roots in the alleged security granted to us by a fixed sense of self, and why it’s so hard to change our beliefs. She then reveals what neurophilosophy tells us about how to help others change our minds, the power of storytelling, and the importance of social infrastructure for creating cohesive, fluid and non-judgemental communities. It is these brave communities which dare examine themselves, their beliefs about the world—and change their maladaptive behaviours. This is an episode about how to dare change our minds.

© Rachel Donald

Planet: Critical investigates why the world is in crisis—and what to do about it. Support the project with a paid subscription.

Did you know the government doesn’t spend your taxes?

Welcome to the world of Modern Monetary Theory, a revolutionary way of decoding our monetary systems—and making them work better for us. I’m joined by Steven Hail, economist and lecturer, who explains, using MMT, what we get wrong about money, taxes, inflation and even currency. Steven reveals how the notion of states not being able to afford certain necessities—like education, health, the green transition—is nonsense, explaining how the supply of resources impacts our economy, not running a deficit. Alongside debunking a range of money myths, he also reveals the fascinating history of taxation as a means to create a citizenry and their dependence on a centralised state.

This is a technical episode, but Steven’s explanations are clear and concise, and we successfully cover a lot of ground to uncover the real relationships between governments, markets and the monetary system they swear by.

Episodes referenced include my interviews with Fadhel Kaboub, Jason Hickel and Kate Raworth.

© Rachel Donald

Planet: Critical investigates why the world is in crisis—and what to do about it. Support the project with a paid subscription.

Neoliberalism is the disease which keeps on killing.

But did you know the neoliberal economic gospel we live under today is a deliberate misinterpretation of the original theory?

In her new book, The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market, historian of science Naomi Oreskes shows how a group of American plutocrats distorted the the conservative teachings of Friedrich van Hayek’s theory of neoliberalism in order to plunder the world’s resource, unleash the markets, and undermine federal power.

Naomi joins me today to give an incisive and brutal summary of why our world is in crisis, detailing the criminal avarice of these plutocrats; how institutions, lobbyists and corporations continue to undermine democracy; and why a renewable world threatens the powers that be. This phenomenal explanation shows why the climate crisis is not a scientific problem, but a political, economic and social issue, with Naomi revealing tactics civilians used throughout history against the destructive elite.

© Rachel Donald

Planet: Critical investigates why the world is in crisis—and what to do about it. Support the project with a paid subscription.

‘It’s Not the End of the World’ book assumptions & omissions spark debate

Check out my latest episode on Mongabay’s Newscast in Hannah Ritchie and I go head-to-head about her book, It’s Not the End of the World, and the data omissions which paint a far rosier picture of the polycrisis than her backer, Bill Gates, would have us believe.

Data scientist and head of research at Our World in Data, Hannah Ritchie, says her 'radically hopeful' new book that's getting a lot of press, "Not the End of the World: How We Can be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet," offers a pathway to solving the multiple environmental crises our world faces.

However, co-host Rachel Donald finds that key geopolitical challenges are left unaddressed by the book, leaving out important frameworks such as the planetary boundaries, and attempts to ride an "apolitical" line on solutions that inherently need policy shifts in order to be effectively implemented.

In this podcast interview, Donald challenges Ritchie on these questions and more. To hear specific topics discussed, refer to the chapter marks noted below.

Related reading at Mongabay:

The nine boundaries humanity must respect to keep the planet habitable

Mongabay Series: Planetary Boundaries

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, or download our free app in the Apple Store or Google Store to get access to our latest episodes at your fingertips.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find and follow Mongabay on all the social media platforms.

Episode artwork by Pawel Czerwinski via Unsplash.

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Timecodes: 

(00:00:00) - Introduction

(00:03:57) - Renewable Energy and Political Will

(00:07:06) - Realism of Tech Solutions 

(00:09:03) - Degrowth & Decoupling

(00:17:33) - Doomerism, Inequality & Politics

(00:28:45) - How does a transition happen? 

(00:36:51) - Hannah defends terminology used in the book

(00:44:58) - Deforestation

(00:53:11) - Our World In Data & Bias

(01:06:19) - Mike & Rachel post-chat 

(01:26:19) - Credits

We can’t do this without taking power back.

But with the systems of power so effectively tied up in the complex system of unelected officials, hidden relationships and the ownership of natural resources, there seems to be no clear strategy for taking power back. One theory of change is putting pressure on the system until it caves—becoming ungovernable at scale.

Fabian Dablander, an energy transition researcher at the University of Amsterdam, and a member of the activist group Scientist Rebellion joins me to discuss that strategy: Is it possible? How do we do it? We also discuss nonviolence vs sabotage, hope and denial, and the tipping points of social change. We then confront power: Where does power lie? How much is power willing to give up? And should we recognise that power is not willing to come to the table to negotiate?

© Rachel Donald

Planet: Critical investigates why the world is in crisis—and what to do about it. Support the project with a paid subscription.