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This podcast is produced by the Cultural Studies Department at George Mason University. The theme of our 2018-19 Colloquium is "Capitalism, Climate, and Culture." The industrial revolution liberated human beings from the cycles of nature — or so it once seemed. It turns out that greenhouse gases, a natural byproduct of coal- and petroleum-burning industries, lead to global warming, and that we are now locked into a long warming trend: a trend that will raise sea levels, enhance the occurrence of extreme weather events, and ultimately could threaten food supplies and other vital supports for modern civilization.
This podcast series examines the cultural and political-economic dimensions of our ongoing, slow-moving climate crisis. We engage experts from a variety of fields and disciplines to ask questions about capitalism and the environment. How did we get into this mess? How bad is it? Where do we go from here? What sorts of steps might mitigate the damage — or perhaps someday reverse it?
At stake are deep questions about humanity’s place in and relationship to nature — and what our systems of governance, production, and distribution might look like in the future.
The ninth episode of the Cultural Studies Podcast features an interview with Sheila Watt-Cloutier conducted by Christine Rosenfeld. They discuss discuss some ways to highlight the cultural and human dimensions of climate change, the value of understanding climate change as an issue of collective human rights, and what will be lost if decisive action is not taken immediately.
The eigth episode of the Cultural Studies Podcast features an interview with Ashley Dawson by Eric Ross. They discuss urban climate adaptation, loss, and damage; the role of the state in addressing climate change; and the politics of the Green New Deal and other significant political moments focused on mitigation and adaptation.
The seventh episode of the Cultural Studies Podcast features an interview with Christian Parenti by Richard Todd Stafford. They discuss the role of the state in times of environmental crisis, the challenges posed by the compressed time frame of climate change, as well as Parenti's new book project.
The sixth episode of the Cultural Studies Podcast features an interview with Leigh Phillips by Todd Stafford. They discuss Phillips's argument for a more democratic approach to planning and the control of social institutions in order to generate efficacious solutions to the climate crisis.
In the fifth episode of the "Capitalism, Climate, and Culture" podcast series from GMU Cultural Studies, Pavithra Suresh talks with Toby Miller about the relationship between corporate and culture industries and the environment.
In the fourth episode of the "Capitalism, Climate Change, and Culture" podcast series from GMU Cultural Studies, Richard Todd Stafford talks with Jason W. Moore about his world-historical research into the relation of capitalism, the environment, and social change.
The third episode of the "Climate, Capitalism, and Culture" podcast series from GMU Cultural Studies features an interview with Merlin Chowkwanyun by Tauheeda Yasin. They talk about his comprehensive project of creating the archive "Toxic Docs" and his larger academic interest in environmental justice causes.
The second episode of the Cultural Studies Podcast features an interview with Imre Szeman by Amy Zhang. They discuss Szeman's work on Petrocultures and the energy humanities.
The first episode of the GMU Cultural Studies Colloquium Podcast has been released. In episode 1, Richard Todd Stafford interviews John Cook on the topic of climate science denial and information inoculation.