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Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category

Hysteria, or hope?

Posted in Cultural politics, Politics, tagged , , , , , , , , , on August 29, 2017 | 20 Comments »

Based on its title and on the snippets I saw being quoted, I fully expected to dislike Lee Jones’ article “Charlottesville and the Politics of Left Hysteria,” posted a few days ago at The Current Moment. Instead, I’ve found it nuanced, cogent, and well worth reading. I myself have tried to broach this topic of the […]

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The Damore-Google dust-up

Posted in Academe, Cultural politics, Politics, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 12, 2017 | 12 Comments »

Here I go wading into a type of debate this blog does not often venture into: the debate surrounding Google employee James Damore’s firing for his ‘Ideological Echo Chamber’ manifesto. I find this to be a complicated and interesting conversation, and I’m curious to know how my thoughts align with others.

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Inequality and environmental crisis

Posted in Eco-culture, Politics, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 5, 2017 | 18 Comments »

As part of its Ford Foundation supported Inequality Project, The Guardian is providing a provocative glimpse of Oxford geographer Danny Dorling’s important research into inequality and the environment. It should be required reading for anyone interested in the complexities surrounding causes and potential solutions to the environmental crisis. Read the article here. No surprise that the US […]

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Trump vs. the world

Posted in Climate change, Politics, tagged , , , on June 2, 2017 | 2 Comments »

Trump’s speech on his decision to pull out of the Paris climate accord included so many questionable statements, it’s hard to know where to start. Fortunately, others have. Among the better fact-checks are the Washington Post’s (this one and this one), FactCheck.org’s, NPR’s, PolitiFact’s, and the Huffington Post’s. Foreign Policy’s summary (which comes from a partisan source, but […]

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On political volatility

Posted in Politics, tagged , , , , , , on May 3, 2017 | 3 Comments »

While the French elections arguably offer little choice for those looking for radical eco-political options, there is a tendency to see in them — as in other recent political shifts — something that is altogether more negative than it need be. Slavoj Zizek, for instance, argues that the choice between Macron and Le Pen is a […]

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May Day thoughts: on labor & livelihood

Posted in Manifestos & auguries, Politics, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 1, 2017 | 4 Comments »

May Day (Beltane, Walpurga’s Day, et al.) is a good time for reflecting on politics, ecology, and possibility. The following can be considered part of a series on this blog. When neoliberalism is understood as the alliance between economic liberalization and social liberalization — that is, between those who would “liberate” capitalist markets (who sometimes get called fiscal […]

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“We interrupt this programming…”

Posted in Politics, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on January 19, 2017 | 12 Comments »

Not that this blog has been very active recently, but with Inauguration Day upon us, a little reflection on our situation seems warranted… So, here’s where I see us. If a Clinton-led Democratic administration would have brought to power a coalition of neoliberal plutocrats and social and environmental progressives (with the balance probably tilting towards […]

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In search of silver linings

Posted in Manifestos & auguries, Politics, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 10, 2016 | 8 Comments »

So, Donald Trump will be president of the United States and both Congress and Senate will be dominated by Republicans. Environmentalists and social justice activists, almost universally, find this idea horrifying. But there are silver linings to be found amidst the wreckage. Let’s explore a few of them.

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McKibben & the frontlines of war

Posted in Anthropocene, Climate change, Politics, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 25, 2016 | 5 Comments »

I recently found myself in a part of Mississauga, Ontario (a bedroom community of Toronto), in which more than 90% of the visible landscape (excepting the sky) appeared to consist of concrete, in the form of pavement, asphalt, buildings, and such. The remaining 5-10% — rows of evenly spaced short trees, shrubs, a few patches of […]

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Assessing Murray Bookchin’s legacy

Posted in Eco-culture, Politics, tagged , , , , , , , on July 12, 2016 | 5 Comments »

Damian White has posted an excellent review of Janet Biehl’s book Ecology or Catastrophe: The Life of Murray Bookchin at the Jacobin blog. Bookchin’s legacy has undergone something of a revival of late thanks to the efforts of Kurdish eco-socialist communitarians in Rojava.

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The I=PAT of mass murder, and its antithesis — joy

Posted in Cultural politics, Politics, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 15, 2016 | Leave a Comment »

Just as I=PAT serves as a handy, if problematic, formula for thinking about the causes of environmental impact, so I think there is a similar formula underlying tragedies like the massacre at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub. It goes something like this: Hate + Technology + Distress = Carnage/Chaos

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Wark on the geopolitics of the Anthropocene

Posted in Anthropocene, Climate change, Politics, tagged , , , on May 7, 2016 | 2 Comments »

McKenzie Wark has written a very provocative piece on the geopolitics of the Anthropocene, or what he calls “The Geopolitics of Hibernation.” A quote: 

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