Beyond Green Podcast: Episode 12 – Aging Activists, Consumption and Framing the Environment

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This episodes run time is 56:14.

We cover a variety of topics this episode including responding to a comment we received on one of our previous podcasts. Unfortunately due to our ongoing technical difficulties (which will hopefully be solved within the next week) the comment is not visible under the other posts and therefore can be found at the bottom of this post. This episode mimics a format formally seen on ‘Over the Green Line’. We tackle three questions:

1) Should we be concerned about the effects of aging on activism?

2) What is the importance of how we frame environmentalism as an issue?

3) How do we speak about the changes required to our food system to those who see cheap abundant food as a right?

In the post I mentioned that I would link to the XKCD comic mentioned. It is the featured image on this post but I shall include it hear as well. You can click the image to go to the comic on its own page as well.

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As mentioned above, unfortunately we are currently experiencing difficulties with our comment system and therefore at the moment commenting is disabled. We are working to fix this issue but we are still very much interested in your feedback so if you have a comment or question contact us.

The music in this episode comes from the Diplo remix of Grizzly Bear’s song Will Calls.

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Comment:

I listened to a CBC program a few years ago and it amazed me.  Listening to your conversations now, I am reminded of it; particularly of how things change but also stay the same.  It’s with Charlie Allen, Grace Slick and Jim Morrison.  I would start with Jim, at the 21/22 min mark, and if you’re interested then listen to the others…  Or not 🙂

http://www.cbc.ca/archives/discover/programs/s/something-to-say/something-to-say-hard-rock-musicians.html

On a side note, I would say that the world is getting better, and worse.  The continuum of technologies that has helped us in the First World achieve beyond-comfortable/necessary living standards, and that are helping millions of impoverished people achieve better living standards, are the very technologies that are killing the planet.  That is, unless the technologies can be developed/used in such a way as to swing the earth back into balance.  It appears that the technologies are out there but the (financial) incentives are not.  Which brings us to the question of balance.  Over time the earth has shifted its climate and everything that lives on earth (nature) has had to adapt and balance itself accordingly.  At some point, humans (being part of nature) slowly began to lose that balance and began to dominate nature itself; with the very advent of tools/technology.  Can we really, then, call technology a part of nature?..  It’s more like a mutation of nature; and our millions/billions of overuses of those mutations have now come full circle and set the earth itself out of balance.  Which brings us to consciousness…  Our technical abilities and abilities to mutate nature itself have evolved and our use of them has gone way out of control; but our consciousness/mind itself has not evolved (literally, for thousands of years) and is now being suppressed (and ‘mutated’ itself – parts of our brain are changed/used less when we rely too much on technology) by the very things it has created; generally speaking.  So the question of environmental messaging is not just of the environment, but of messaging and consciousness itself…  And who controls the consciousness?..  Right now it is big money and big business (even more so than in the past); but it is also the over-consumption and undiscerning use of technology that keeps us unconscious (and, paradoxically, lowers the standard of living in the First World by our failing to make structural changes to government/society).  The very advances in communications technology have to be used to harness the power of getting people to pay attention and act.  And it’s already being done, somewhat scattered.  I also think that the more that different groups can come together, periodically, to strive towards common and specific goals, the better.  Things are so differentiated right now that it’s hard to grab the collective consciousness.  So, keep it up!  And great cow video!! 🙂