Ashes Ashes

Episode 107 - "Face Off" We're back with more discussions about facial recognition and the draconian world we're quickly building. Updating our previous discussion with new information out Clearview AI, the 2020 protests, coronavirus and our new masked world, and much more. We're thrilled too have a special interview with fashion designer, activist, and technologist Kate Bertash to discuss the implications of facial surveillance and how we can start to fight back. A lot to unpack so sit back and hit play. Chapters A full transcript will be available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org. Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast. CC BY-SA 4.0

Episode 106 - "Human Nature" This week we get back to the basics with an episode about climate change and the many people waking up to it. Join us as we explore everything from a new European report on need for renewable energy to fuel economic growth to the work archaeologists are doing on how humans have always had an impact on the earth. A dive into humans, nature, and our place in the world. Chapters A full transcript will be available soon and detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) are on our website ashesashes.org. Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast. CC BY-SA 4.0

Episode 105 - "School's Out" Friend of the podcast Moriah sits down with us to discuss life as a grad student during the pandemic. Then, we dive into Wendell Berry, a brief history of the start of some universities, the school-to-sports pipeline, competition in the workforce, and we ask what is the purpose of education anyway? Join us on a meandering walk down the hallway of another broken system (don't worry, we'll be back on this soon for deeper dives). Chapters Detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) are available on our website ashesashes.org. Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast. CC BY-SA 4.0

Episode 104 - "This Land Is My Land" You might be surprised how much our cities and streets are designed to keep people out. From spikes on sidewalks, baby shark music in our parks, to gates, buzzers, bouncers, water, deeds, and a whole bunch of clowns, and more! Why are our places designed to be so hostile to common enjoyment and peace? Why is it so important for white people to wall themselves off from the rest of the world? What does it mean to live in places designed like prisons on the eve of historic climate calamities? These and other questions are all explored as we contemplate and reflect on the crazy world that's driving us all nuts! Chapters Detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) are available on our website ashesashes.org. Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast. CC BY-SA 4.0

Episode 103 - "Minimum Justice" Mandatory minimums, three strike rules, and other similar laws were created to strengthen the "justice" system and make us safer - but have they done the opposite? This week we interview newly minted activists working to free a man caught up in this system and explore in detail the how's and why's of this tragedy of justice. Chapters A full transcript will soon be available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org. Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast or follow our live shows at twitch.tv/ashesashescast. CC BY-SA 4.0

Episode 102 - "The Then, The Now, and The Next" We've been away for a while and this episode exists to fill in the gap. Catch up with us as we discuss what we've been up to, a small state of the world, and the big question of where do we go from here? We hope you've been healthy, happy, and working towards a better future because we've certainly been (well - maybe we haven't been totally happy). Chapters Detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org. Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast. CC BY-SA 4.0

Episode 101 - "We Didn't Start the Fire" Jack from Uni Students for Climate Justice joins us to discuss the bushfires in Australia, some of the resulting political and economic fallout and ways to respond. Then, with fire and ashes on our mind, we turn our attention to the unfolding catastrophes catalyzed by COVID-19, how we are each responding as individuals, and ways to move forward in our communities. Chapters A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org. Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast. CC BY-SA 4.0

Episode 100 - "One Hundred Years of Ashes" We're incredibly lucky to spend this week celebrating our 100th episode with all of you. Looking back at all the episodes we've recorded, the many systemic threats, issues, and problems explored, we thought it would be a nice change to look forward instead. This week we discuss one hundred years of the future, imagining what that might look like, good and bad, in some of the key areas of this show. What lessons have we learned? What obstacles will we face? Can we really build a better world? In this time of great uncertainty, it's important to look inside and imagine the future we want for the world so we know how to go ahead and start building it. Join us for Ashes Ashes #100 and to imagine a better future for all. Chapters A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org. Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast. CC BY-SA 4.0

Episode 99 - "Collapse Chat: Border Patrol Catch COVID-19" It's time for another chat show as David and Daniel review more bad news // from the border involving a recent Supreme Court decision // which reminds us to reflect on the real gun control debate not being had // recent labor struggles in education // indigenous activists fighting big gas // COVID-19 aka coronavirus and what we might expect economically, politically, and medically Chapters A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org. Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast. CC BY-SA 4.0

Episode 98 - "Water World (Spoiler: Not So Good)" The latest IPCC report details observed effects of climate change on the ocean and cryosphere (really really cold places), which are altering the environment from the highest mountain peaks to the lowest depths of the ocean. The implications for our world are significant. The ocean, which has been absorbing 90% of the excess heat we produce, is giving way to critical levels of acidity and hypoxia threatening the foundation of all marine life. Sea level rise caused by melting ice and thermal expansion threatens to transform once-in-a-century sea level events into regularly occurring annual events by 2050. As if that were not enough, arctic sea ice is decreasing, marine heatwaves are accelerating, permafrost is melting, and planet-scale ocean currents are slowing. If you want to learn more, you've come to the wrong place. You'll find nothing here but rants and nonsensical metaphors. Chapters A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org. Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast. CC BY-SA 4.0

Episode 97 - "Collapse Chat: Borders, Fires, Viruses, and Cannibalism" We've published our big border show and now take a chance to reflect on the production (and why it took so long) as we ease back into weekly episodes. A lot happened over the past few months and we briefly address new border developments, the Australian Fires, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Daniel chats about business, Christopher Columbus, and cannibalism and you don't want to miss it. Chapters A full transcript is coming soon and you can find detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org. Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast. CC BY-SA 4.0

Episode 96 - "Walls That Divide U.S." There is a crisis at the border between the U.S. and Mexico. Global forces of climate change, development and war conspire in a deadly feedback loop of human suffering. At the heart of this crisis is the most sprawling system of detention and surveillance the world has ever seen, relying on unjust criminalization for the benefit of a few sources of power. What does it all mean, how did we get here, and what can we do about it? Learn more at https://borders.ashesashes.org Chapters (00:00) PART I: The Border Crisis (3:02:50) PART II: How We Got Here (6:49:57) PART III: What Can We Do? Special Thanks Humane BordersEl RefugioNew American PathwaysProject SouthSoutheast Immigrant Freedom Initiative Music by Juan Camillo Garza Detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) are available on our website ashesashes.org. Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast. CC BY-SA 4.0

Episode 95 - "Collapse Chat: Silviculturists, Entrepreneurs and Social Science" A real silviculturist provides inputs on last week's show // David provides first-hand knowledge of essential bathroom upgrades // The big business of promoting entrepreneurship abroad // Co-opting social scientists // Future show updates Chapters A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org. Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast. CC BY-SA 4.0

Episode 94 - "If a Tree Falls" We're missing the forest and the trees. Not only has logging exploded in recent years, but it is has done so often in the explicit name of sustainability and green energy. We examine the authenticity of these practices as well as look at some of the long-term destructive consequences that forest disturbances can wreak, in some cases (e.g. extinction debt) reverberating a century in the future. Additionally, the same economic forces that destroy pristine and critical ecosystems are the same that seek to divide and conquer indigenous people by pitting them against one another and against the health of the very land they depend on. Chapters A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org. Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast. CC BY-SA 4.0

Episode 93 - "Collapse Chat: Birds, Vindictive Climate, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch" You asked for topic updates so we deliver. Bird populations are not doing well in North America and researchers are shocked at how effective it is to connect the dots. Tropical storms in Texas remind us of the economic paradoxes we've placed ourselves in. In addition, we reflect on Friday's climate strike from New York and Boston and start tackling the looming question in all of our minds over the climate crisis, "What now?" Chapters A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org. Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast. CC BY-SA 4.0

Episode 92 - "Good Heavens" In 1967 the world witnessed the signing of the Outer Space Treaty, and now over 100 countries have joined the international agreement to declare space as "the province of all mankind," to be used "exclusively for peaceful purposes", and kept free of weapons and military installations. This idealism is a far cry from current reality, with US officials espousing values of domination and exclusive advantages to be maintained in space, while other countries are blowing satellites out of the sky with missiles to prove themselves mighty "space powers." Will we ever reclaim space as the peaceful province of all mankind, or will the road to Donald J. Kessler's infamous scenario be paved with neutral particle beams, lasers, nano-satellite swarms, machine-gun mounted satellites, and giant tungsten rods? Chapters A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org. Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast. CC BY-SA 4.0

Episode 91 - "Collapse Chat: Name and Shame, Community, and Re-Imaginings" It's another chat episode as we take a break between deep dives and this week we explore in more depth some of the experiences Daniel has had in the organizing for his new work. It turns out there are important lessons to be learned for not just Daniel, but all of us even in his first few days on the job. David also shares his latest organizing work and explores some trends in the world around us. Reflections on naming and shaming, community work, food justice and agricultural sustainability, the tipping point of a global future, community radio, rants, and more - this week we've got it all! Chapters A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org. Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast. CC BY-SA 4.0

Episode 90 - "A Grave Situation" Over 100 billion people have died on this planet and been laid to rest through countless burial traditions and customs, and while a majority of these passings simply re-entered natural ecological cycles, many popular burial traditions of today require exorbitant additions of resources that cause dramatic natural disturbances guaranteed to have a lasting environmental impact. But beyond this, it appears that the way we live in society carries over to the ways we die. The same alienation, segregation, and disconnection from our land and ourselves that we experience in life can all be found in our cultural habits surrounding death. Can we imagine a better way? Or will this grave situation only deepen? Chapters A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org. Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast. CC BY-SA 4.0

Episode 89 - "Collapse Chat: Banality, Good, and Evil" Another week, another collapse chat! This week we explore bullshit jobs through a listener email, dive into the upcoming Earth Strike event through interviews with activists and organizers, and take a look at the playbook of the forces who want to stop activism at all stages. There's a lot to learn as we jump through all these different topics so settle in and enjoy the ride! Our most sincere apologies for the sound quality in some of these interviews, sometimes you just have to roll with what you're given. Chapters Recommended Reading The origin comment of Earth StrikeThe Duchin Formula Links from Jacob UPROSEOutlive Them NetworkBronx Climate Justice NorthRise and ResistAFT Links from Cosmo By 2020 We Rise UpInternational Rebellion Oct 7thEarth StrikeExtinction RebellionGlobal Climate Strike A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org. Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast. CC BY-SA 4.0

Episode 88 - "This Land is Our Land" The IPCC released their special report "Climate Change and Land" to examine how human-led land use change is contributing to global warming irrespective of our direct GHG emissions, and how this might impact our future resilience in the face of desertification, land degradation, and food insecurity. This episode features a ton of facts: surface air temperature is warming twice as fast above land compared to the global average; land change alone accounts for a whopping 1/4 of all anthropological based warming; agriculture is responsible for 70% of global freshwater use; and industrial agricultural methods along with nitrogen fertilizer use have exploded so rapidly over the past several decades that top soil is being lost at rates 100 times faster than the earth's ability to replenish it. But more importantly, these facts are just the tip of the rapidly melting iceberg and give way to plenty of endless rants on all of the usual failures of the IPCC's failures and omissions. Chapters A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org. Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast. CC BY-SA 4.0