1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:06,200 Speaker 1: Episode five refuse Dystopia. In the end, the state failed 2 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:08,840 Speaker 1: in more places than it succeeded. It was a matter 3 00:00:08,880 --> 00:00:12,080 Speaker 1: of sheer logistics. After more than a century of taking 4 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:15,000 Speaker 1: the United States for granted as a concept, the men 5 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:18,040 Speaker 1: women in jack booted thugs at the top were reminded 6 00:00:18,079 --> 00:00:21,520 Speaker 1: of just how big this country is. In response to 7 00:00:21,560 --> 00:00:25,279 Speaker 1: a government crackdown, wildcats strikes sparked up all across the 8 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:29,240 Speaker 1: big cities. Many were crushed by police and arrested. Activists 9 00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:32,159 Speaker 1: were often forced back into their old service industry jobs 10 00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:35,760 Speaker 1: as prison labor. But some of the strikes succeeded. With 11 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:39,200 Speaker 1: interstate commerce breaking down, police in many urban areas weren't 12 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:42,480 Speaker 1: able to maintain their supplies of riot munitions and ammunition 13 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:45,559 Speaker 1: in your own area, a spirited alliance with some of 14 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:48,159 Speaker 1: the rural communities near by allowed you to move like 15 00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:51,080 Speaker 1: water when the cops came in force while choking their 16 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:55,160 Speaker 1: access to supplies from the central government. Eventually they broke 17 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:59,160 Speaker 1: and left. That story more or less was repeated in 18 00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:03,000 Speaker 1: hundreds of com unities across the country. Eventually the Feds 19 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:06,399 Speaker 1: gave up. There were attempts to impose demands on the government, 20 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:09,080 Speaker 1: and some of those demands even went through, but most 21 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:12,120 Speaker 1: of the old States power devolved into a loose association 22 00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:15,000 Speaker 1: of local communities. What's going on in some of those 23 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:19,440 Speaker 1: communities sounds pretty scary. You've heard awful stories from other states, 24 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:22,720 Speaker 1: but where you live things are looking up. No one 25 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:25,880 Speaker 1: pays rent now in your neighborhood. People own the property 26 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:29,319 Speaker 1: they're willing to maintain. There are more houses than people still, 27 00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: as there have always been, so the biggest logistical hurdle 28 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:35,279 Speaker 1: has been organizing training and skill sharing across the city 29 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:39,160 Speaker 1: and nearby towns to ensure everything stays maintained. For the 30 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:42,959 Speaker 1: most part, it does. Power is almost as reliable as 31 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:45,360 Speaker 1: it used to be before things fell apart, and the 32 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:47,920 Speaker 1: hybrid solar wind set up you and your community put 33 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:50,640 Speaker 1: together works better than the old system did. By the end. 34 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 1: You all have to be more careful about your power use. 35 00:01:54,040 --> 00:01:57,160 Speaker 1: No leaving things plugged in, fewer personal appliances, and more 36 00:01:57,200 --> 00:02:00,240 Speaker 1: shared ones. During the summer, you run your ace at 37 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:02,440 Speaker 1: the heat of the day and keep your homes properly 38 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:07,720 Speaker 1: sealed so it stays cool at night. The food situation 39 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:10,440 Speaker 1: got bad at a couple of points. During the worst days, 40 00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:12,840 Speaker 1: you learned what it feels like to be truly hungry. 41 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:15,720 Speaker 1: But between the people who died and the people who fled, 42 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:19,160 Speaker 1: including most of the old money types, the overall caloric 43 00:02:19,320 --> 00:02:22,799 Speaker 1: need in your area dropped substantially. You all got better 44 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:26,520 Speaker 1: at aquaponics, building greenhouses, learning how to cultivate and survive 45 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:29,679 Speaker 1: off plants native to your area. Now chickens and even 46 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:32,560 Speaker 1: a few cows graze free in every neighborhood. You and 47 00:02:32,639 --> 00:02:35,280 Speaker 1: your next door neighbor keep goats and make cheese. You 48 00:02:35,360 --> 00:02:38,480 Speaker 1: trade for eggs every couple of weeks. You no longer 49 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:41,200 Speaker 1: own a car, or rather, your car is no longer 50 00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:44,040 Speaker 1: just your car. It was new enough that one of 51 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:46,440 Speaker 1: the mechanic collectives was able to modify it into a 52 00:02:46,520 --> 00:02:49,200 Speaker 1: purely electric vehicle, and now it runs off the same 53 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:52,400 Speaker 1: solar grid as everything else. Every block has a couple 54 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:55,320 Speaker 1: of vehicles just like this in common. They're used for 55 00:02:55,360 --> 00:02:59,200 Speaker 1: hauling produce, transporting small groups on occasional johnts across town, 56 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:01,800 Speaker 1: and even the odd joy ride. There's a sign up 57 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:04,720 Speaker 1: sheet for that. There are times when you miss the 58 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:07,480 Speaker 1: old days, but then you think about the people who died, 59 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:10,960 Speaker 1: and those last terrible convulsions of a broken system. You 60 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:13,040 Speaker 1: think about the friends you had who didn't make it 61 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:15,520 Speaker 1: through the months of hunger, or who died to gunfire 62 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:18,720 Speaker 1: by the police or from vigilantes. The new world you've 63 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:21,079 Speaker 1: helped to build isn't perfect, but you know it will 64 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:23,519 Speaker 1: never turn into the kind of monster that brought you here. 65 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:26,160 Speaker 1: You owe it to the dead to make sure of that. 66 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:36,600 Speaker 1: On Thursday June at approximately one am, the twelve story 67 00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 1: Champlain Tower South Complex in Miami, Florida collapsed. Dozens of 68 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:45,680 Speaker 1: people were buried in the rubble would ultimately die crushed 69 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:48,640 Speaker 1: to death by their own homes. It took weeks for 70 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:52,280 Speaker 1: rescuers to search through more than fourteen thousand pounds of rubble, 71 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:54,880 Speaker 1: and was just over a month before the final victim 72 00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:59,040 Speaker 1: was definitively identified. The story of how and why the 73 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:02,600 Speaker 1: Champlain Tower collapsed and killed so many of its residents 74 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:06,040 Speaker 1: is a perfect example of how social democracy can fail 75 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:10,160 Speaker 1: when confronted with an existential threat. See In a condo 76 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:13,720 Speaker 1: complex like the Champlain Towers, all the residents own part 77 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:17,240 Speaker 1: of the building. They elect representatives a condo board to 78 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:19,800 Speaker 1: make decisions about things like when to make repairs and 79 00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:23,080 Speaker 1: how much to spend on those repairs. In many ways, 80 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:25,800 Speaker 1: this is a better situation for the residents than say, 81 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:29,599 Speaker 1: living in an apartment complex. Your home is your own property. 82 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:32,120 Speaker 1: You don't live at the dictates of a landlord. But 83 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:34,200 Speaker 1: if one or a few of you recognize a major 84 00:04:34,279 --> 00:04:36,840 Speaker 1: problem with the larger building, you have to get everyone 85 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:40,600 Speaker 1: else on board in order to fund repairs. The Champlain 86 00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:43,480 Speaker 1: Towers Condo Board met repeatedly in the years that led 87 00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:46,160 Speaker 1: up to the collapse. Many on the board pushed their 88 00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:49,120 Speaker 1: fellow residents to pony up the cash hints of thousands 89 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:51,919 Speaker 1: of dollars apiece to fix the very obvious damage and 90 00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:55,640 Speaker 1: structural failures of their building. People don't like to spend 91 00:04:55,720 --> 00:04:58,040 Speaker 1: huge amounts of money to fix problems they're pretty sure 92 00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:01,080 Speaker 1: they can ignore, so the repair is kept getting put off. 93 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:04,000 Speaker 1: People would demand more inspections, which took more time and 94 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:07,040 Speaker 1: put off further votes on the millions and desperately needed repairs. 95 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:10,359 Speaker 1: With every year that went by, the damage deepened and 96 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:13,440 Speaker 1: the price of repair increased from nine million dollars to 97 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:17,600 Speaker 1: fifteen million dollars. For the people who accepted the severity 98 00:05:17,640 --> 00:05:21,480 Speaker 1: of the problem, this delay was intolerable. In two thousand nineteen, 99 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:24,680 Speaker 1: the President of the condo board, and at Goldstein resigned 100 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:28,159 Speaker 1: in protest. In a letter to the condo Association, she wrote, 101 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:30,839 Speaker 1: we work for months to go in one direction, and 102 00:05:30,839 --> 00:05:33,200 Speaker 1: at the very last minute objections are raised that should 103 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:35,840 Speaker 1: have been discussed and resolved right in the beginning. This 104 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:39,520 Speaker 1: pattern has repeated itself over and over, ego battles, undermining 105 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:42,919 Speaker 1: the roles of fellow board members, circulation of gossip and mistruths. 106 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:45,479 Speaker 1: I am not presenting a very pretty picture of the 107 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:48,640 Speaker 1: functioning of our board and many before us, but describes 108 00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:51,039 Speaker 1: a board that works very hard but cannot, for the 109 00:05:51,080 --> 00:05:55,560 Speaker 1: reasons above, accomplish the goals we set out to accomplish. 110 00:05:55,960 --> 00:05:58,800 Speaker 1: Residents signed a petition against an assessment that pegged the 111 00:05:58,839 --> 00:06:01,960 Speaker 1: price of repair between eighty thousand and two hundred thousand 112 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:05,880 Speaker 1: dollars per condo. People balked that the cost was akin 113 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:08,920 Speaker 1: to taking out a second mortgage. Dozens of them then 114 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:12,360 Speaker 1: died in their homes, lives over but bank accounts fuller. 115 00:06:12,760 --> 00:06:15,760 Speaker 1: They died alongside residents who saw the problem and supported 116 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:19,400 Speaker 1: taking action, but failed to force the issue. Like the 117 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:22,279 Speaker 1: residents of the Champlain Towers, we are stuck in a 118 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:26,160 Speaker 1: problem of collective action. We cannot fix anything without getting 119 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:27,960 Speaker 1: a hell of a lot of our fellow humans on 120 00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:31,200 Speaker 1: board a solution. And if we fail, opting out of 121 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:34,200 Speaker 1: the system, moving to the woods or whatever won't stop 122 00:06:34,279 --> 00:06:37,039 Speaker 1: us from burning from the same wildfires that scorched the 123 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:40,960 Speaker 1: homes of climate deniers. I tend to think that among 124 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:43,160 Speaker 1: the people who see the true scope of the problems 125 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:47,040 Speaker 1: facing us, you have two broad categories of response. They 126 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:49,840 Speaker 1: are the optimists, always at work trying to mitigate harm 127 00:06:49,839 --> 00:06:52,680 Speaker 1: and wake people up, and there are the nihilists. The 128 00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:56,240 Speaker 1: nihilists also break into two broad chunks. One chunk of 129 00:06:56,279 --> 00:06:58,239 Speaker 1: us want to go hide in the woods or drop 130 00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:01,200 Speaker 1: out in other ways. These are the dark mountain types. 131 00:07:01,400 --> 00:07:04,880 Speaker 1: They accept the situation as fucked beyond unfucking and try 132 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:07,599 Speaker 1: to enjoy what time they have left. On the other 133 00:07:07,640 --> 00:07:09,840 Speaker 1: side are people who decide the best thing they can 134 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:13,760 Speaker 1: do is light fires and break things. Over a billion 135 00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:16,680 Speaker 1: sea creatures died on the Northwest coast when the Pacific 136 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:21,120 Speaker 1: heat dome hit in early summer one. New research indicates 137 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:24,360 Speaker 1: that in recent years, global insect populations have declined by 138 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:28,000 Speaker 1: as much as seventy five one point five degrees celsius 139 00:07:28,040 --> 00:07:30,680 Speaker 1: of warming, which we absolutely will hit in the very 140 00:07:30,680 --> 00:07:33,640 Speaker 1: near future, will kill an additional hundred and fifty million 141 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:36,760 Speaker 1: people per year from air pollution alone. When you put 142 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:39,600 Speaker 1: the facts together and really force yourself to look at them, 143 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:42,200 Speaker 1: it is hard not to at least consider terrorism as 144 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:45,280 Speaker 1: a legitimate response to climate change. I would go so 145 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:48,040 Speaker 1: far as to say that on a moral level, violence 146 00:07:48,080 --> 00:07:51,520 Speaker 1: against the individuals, institutions, and governments most responsible for our 147 00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:55,720 Speaker 1: shared catastrophe is very much justified. Again, we're looking at 148 00:07:55,760 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 1: roughly fourteen holocausts per year of additional dead people, and 149 00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:02,480 Speaker 1: just from the air pollution caused by one and a 150 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:06,800 Speaker 1: half degree celsius of warming. There are people, individual human beings, 151 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:09,160 Speaker 1: who were warned about this decades ago and made the 152 00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:12,200 Speaker 1: decision to devote great wealth and power towards ensuring nothing 153 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:15,040 Speaker 1: was done. There are people who recognize the reality of 154 00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:17,360 Speaker 1: the situation and chose to deny it for the sake 155 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:20,240 Speaker 1: of their own political and media careers. In the wake 156 00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:22,800 Speaker 1: of the Second World War, with tens of millions dead, 157 00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:25,800 Speaker 1: the victorious Allies held a great trial at Nuremberg to 158 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:29,520 Speaker 1: punish those most responsible. You could probably get quite a 159 00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:32,920 Speaker 1: few people on board the idea of holding a climate Nuremberg, 160 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:37,440 Speaker 1: and if that's justified, why isn't some sort of insurgency. 161 00:08:37,640 --> 00:08:42,000 Speaker 1: Today we celebrate the French Resistance, the brave partisans from Czechoslovakia, 162 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:45,320 Speaker 1: Ukraine and Russia who struck hopeless blows against the Nazis 163 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:48,680 Speaker 1: despite the certainty of their own doom. It is probable 164 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:51,319 Speaker 1: that the people of the future will feel similarly about 165 00:08:51,320 --> 00:08:54,400 Speaker 1: our modern day eco terrorists, many of whom are currently 166 00:08:54,480 --> 00:08:59,360 Speaker 1: rotting away in federal penitentiaries. Most people outside of activist 167 00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:02,120 Speaker 1: circles have not heard of the Green scare. It's a 168 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:04,880 Speaker 1: term that refers to a concerted campaign by federal law 169 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:08,640 Speaker 1: enforcement and the federal government, both Republicans and Democrats, to 170 00:09:08,760 --> 00:09:12,600 Speaker 1: crack down severely on the activist wing of the environmental movement. 171 00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:16,079 Speaker 1: The culprits were people who had burnt down construction sites 172 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:20,400 Speaker 1: for housing developments, destroyed SUVs and car dealership lots, spiked 173 00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:23,280 Speaker 1: logging or mining equipment, and in one case, set fire 174 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:27,000 Speaker 1: to a McDonald's. Despite the fact that these activists did 175 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:30,120 Speaker 1: not kill human beings, they were treated by law enforcement 176 00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:33,319 Speaker 1: as terrorists, a tactic that has become increasingly common in 177 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:37,360 Speaker 1: the years since. Earlier this year, Jessica Resinesek, a Catholic 178 00:09:37,440 --> 00:09:40,840 Speaker 1: environmentalist activist, was sentenced to eight years in prison for 179 00:09:40,960 --> 00:09:44,040 Speaker 1: damaging heavy construction equipment meant for use on the Dakota 180 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:48,760 Speaker 1: Access pipeline. Resinesek was prosecuted as a terrorist. The judge 181 00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:52,040 Speaker 1: who sentenced her said that domestic terrorism charges were warranted 182 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:54,520 Speaker 1: because Jessica sought not only to stop the flow of 183 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:57,480 Speaker 1: oil through a pipeline, but to prevent government approval of 184 00:09:57,480 --> 00:10:01,400 Speaker 1: pipelines like Dapple in the future. Now, it is possible 185 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:04,320 Speaker 1: that the damage Jessica helped do to that construction equipment 186 00:10:04,320 --> 00:10:07,200 Speaker 1: de layed the construction of the pipeline that has certainly 187 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:11,400 Speaker 1: acclaimed the government made. The Dakota Access pipeline was completed, though, 188 00:10:11,400 --> 00:10:14,199 Speaker 1: and has gone on to leak several times. In July 189 00:10:14,280 --> 00:10:17,280 Speaker 1: of this year, a Department of Transportation regulator issued a 190 00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:21,040 Speaker 1: notice against the company that runs the pipeline, alleging multiple 191 00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:25,560 Speaker 1: serious safety violations. If Jessica really did delay construction, it's 192 00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:29,520 Speaker 1: possible she reduced the harm caused by the pipeline, but 193 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:33,600 Speaker 1: if so, the overall impact was sadly minimal. Hundreds of 194 00:10:33,679 --> 00:10:36,319 Speaker 1: thousands of gallons of oil still flow through the Dakota 195 00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:39,840 Speaker 1: Access pipeline every day. The company behind it suffered a 196 00:10:39,880 --> 00:10:43,240 Speaker 1: few million in damages, but Jessica rezinesex suffered much more. 197 00:10:43,720 --> 00:10:46,600 Speaker 1: She will spend almost a decade behind bars, an other 198 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:49,240 Speaker 1: three years under probation, and she owes more than three 199 00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:52,720 Speaker 1: million dollars in restitution, ensuring she will never be able 200 00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:55,760 Speaker 1: to lead more than an economically marginal life in the future. 201 00:10:56,720 --> 00:10:59,840 Speaker 1: That is, of course, the government's strategy here. When you 202 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:02,400 Speaker 1: come at people like the hammer of God, whenever they 203 00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:06,040 Speaker 1: consider environmental direct action, you reduce the chances of something 204 00:11:06,080 --> 00:11:09,200 Speaker 1: like that going viral. Think of the way direct action 205 00:11:09,280 --> 00:11:12,600 Speaker 1: got briefly picked up by liberals nationwide during the George 206 00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:15,640 Speaker 1: Floyd protests. For the first time, maybe ever, you had 207 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:18,480 Speaker 1: large numbers of normal people, the kind of folks the 208 00:11:18,520 --> 00:11:22,040 Speaker 1: cops can't brutalize without creating an outcry either doing or 209 00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:27,119 Speaker 1: physically supporting people doing damage to police infrastructure. This terrified 210 00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:30,199 Speaker 1: the people in power, both liberal and conservative, and as 211 00:11:30,200 --> 00:11:32,040 Speaker 1: a result, they've spent the last half year or so 212 00:11:32,120 --> 00:11:35,480 Speaker 1: pushing a raft of new laws to criminalize protest. More 213 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:38,360 Speaker 1: than that, we've seen cities like New York, Los Angeles, 214 00:11:38,360 --> 00:11:42,319 Speaker 1: and Minneapolis deploy a wildly excessive police and sometimes military 215 00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:45,319 Speaker 1: forces at the start of new protest movements. The goal 216 00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:47,840 Speaker 1: is to scare away all but the most committed activists, 217 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:50,599 Speaker 1: to avoid letting any protest reach the critical mass of 218 00:11:50,679 --> 00:11:55,000 Speaker 1: numbers that makes crackdowns dangerous. When considering this topic, I 219 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:57,160 Speaker 1: found a lot of wisdom in something J. R. R. 220 00:11:57,240 --> 00:12:00,000 Speaker 1: Tolkien wrote to his son Christopher in the dark day 221 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:04,280 Speaker 1: days of nineteen forty three concerning the global plague of industrialization. 222 00:12:05,160 --> 00:12:07,319 Speaker 1: There is only one bright spot, and that is the 223 00:12:07,360 --> 00:12:11,200 Speaker 1: growing habit of disgruntled men dynamiting factories and power stations. 224 00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:15,000 Speaker 1: I hope that encouraged now as patriotism, may remain a habit, 225 00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:17,880 Speaker 1: but it won't do any good if it is not universal. 226 00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:22,040 Speaker 1: And that is more or less the truth. Ecological direct 227 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:25,080 Speaker 1: action as an occasional fringe burst of fury does little 228 00:12:25,160 --> 00:12:28,120 Speaker 1: besides make a statement. It may be many things, but 229 00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:30,000 Speaker 1: it is not a path forward for us if we 230 00:12:30,080 --> 00:12:33,760 Speaker 1: care about more than just fenting our rage against industrial society. 231 00:12:34,400 --> 00:12:36,680 Speaker 1: I know that it can be extremely tempting to take 232 00:12:36,679 --> 00:12:39,920 Speaker 1: the attitude that the situation is already fucked, we might 233 00:12:39,960 --> 00:12:42,960 Speaker 1: as well just burn it all down, But that attitude 234 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:45,680 Speaker 1: isolates you, and while you are offering people nothing but 235 00:12:45,720 --> 00:12:48,280 Speaker 1: a sense of doom, the fascist is promising them that 236 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:51,080 Speaker 1: with enough state violence, they and their families can at 237 00:12:51,160 --> 00:12:54,360 Speaker 1: least be protected. Leviathan is coming to them and saying, 238 00:12:54,640 --> 00:12:56,840 Speaker 1: hand over power to the state, and we can bring 239 00:12:56,840 --> 00:13:00,000 Speaker 1: back some version of the good times. Every bad actor 240 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:02,559 Speaker 1: route there is coming with promises that they can improve 241 00:13:02,640 --> 00:13:05,840 Speaker 1: people's material conditions. If you want a better future and 242 00:13:05,880 --> 00:13:08,360 Speaker 1: not just revenge, we're going to have to be able 243 00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:22,080 Speaker 1: to offer that too. There is a line from the 244 00:13:22,080 --> 00:13:25,280 Speaker 1: book Climate Leviathan. I find it quite stirring. It's written 245 00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:28,400 Speaker 1: in response to Roy Scranton, a climate change philosopher and 246 00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:32,080 Speaker 1: author of the book We're Doomed Now What, commenting on 247 00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:35,560 Speaker 1: his claim that nobody has real answers and the problem 248 00:13:35,640 --> 00:13:39,520 Speaker 1: is us. Wainwright and Man say, quote, at a time 249 00:13:39,559 --> 00:13:42,520 Speaker 1: when the left everywhere must reinvent means to live together, 250 00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:47,200 Speaker 1: we cannot make acceptance of death our aspiration. They go 251 00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:50,959 Speaker 1: on to note that the coming crisis is not unmanageable. 252 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:54,880 Speaker 1: It is already here, already being managed by liberal capitalism, 253 00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:59,120 Speaker 1: if rather badly. Indeed, the very manageability of the crisis 254 00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:01,840 Speaker 1: is part of the problem we face. To address it, 255 00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:04,800 Speaker 1: we do not need to learn to die, but to live, 256 00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:09,479 Speaker 1: think and rebel. I tend to agree with this assessment, 257 00:14:09,679 --> 00:14:12,040 Speaker 1: and I think that face with the ultimate failure of 258 00:14:12,040 --> 00:14:14,840 Speaker 1: older attempts at rebellion, we need to be open minded 259 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:17,480 Speaker 1: in our search for a new rebellion. We may find 260 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:21,120 Speaker 1: that in a society built to facilitate mass death, learning 261 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:23,760 Speaker 1: how to survive and keep others alive is the most 262 00:14:23,760 --> 00:14:27,640 Speaker 1: effective method of revolt. Do I have suggestions for that 263 00:14:27,760 --> 00:14:30,760 Speaker 1: beyond start cooperative kitchens with your neighbors and hand out 264 00:14:30,760 --> 00:14:34,480 Speaker 1: supplies after disasters. Yes, But before we get into that, 265 00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:36,000 Speaker 1: I want to make the case for why I think 266 00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:39,360 Speaker 1: mutual aid is a viable path towards revolt. Earlier in 267 00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:40,960 Speaker 1: the series, I laid out what I see is the 268 00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:44,640 Speaker 1: most likely route towards radical change, a general strike with 269 00:14:44,680 --> 00:14:47,760 Speaker 1: a list of demands supported by a massive national and 270 00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:53,400 Speaker 1: ideally international mutual aid campaign. There is a tendency among 271 00:14:53,480 --> 00:14:56,120 Speaker 1: some radicals on the left to right mutual aid off 272 00:14:56,160 --> 00:14:59,160 Speaker 1: as charity dressed up to look like revolution, but the 273 00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:02,560 Speaker 1: evidence suggests that the state and the far right consistently 274 00:15:02,600 --> 00:15:05,720 Speaker 1: see effective mutual aid programs as what they are a 275 00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:09,400 Speaker 1: serious threat. In January of nineteen sixty nine, the Black 276 00:15:09,440 --> 00:15:12,760 Speaker 1: Panther Party held their first free for children breakfast program 277 00:15:12,800 --> 00:15:17,400 Speaker 1: at Saint Augustine Episcopal Church. They fed eleven children. They 278 00:15:17,480 --> 00:15:19,840 Speaker 1: kept going though every day, and by the end of 279 00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:22,360 Speaker 1: the week they had fed a hundred and thirty five kids. 280 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:25,320 Speaker 1: Billy X. Jennings was one of the Panthers there. At 281 00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:29,120 Speaker 1: the very beginning, he recalled to the Guardian every office 282 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:31,600 Speaker 1: was required to send two people to learn how it ran, 283 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:33,800 Speaker 1: so you can open one in your area. In a 284 00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:36,600 Speaker 1: matter of weeks, the breakfast program had expanded to twenty 285 00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:40,040 Speaker 1: three locations around Oakland. By the end of nineteen sixty nine, 286 00:15:40,040 --> 00:15:42,240 Speaker 1: the program had been incorporated into one of the Black 287 00:15:42,240 --> 00:15:46,240 Speaker 1: Panther Party's survival programs and regularly fed twenty thousand people 288 00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:49,920 Speaker 1: in nineteen cities. On the surface, this was just cooking 289 00:15:49,920 --> 00:15:53,520 Speaker 1: breakfast for poor kids. It certainly looked less radical than, say, 290 00:15:53,680 --> 00:15:56,480 Speaker 1: the armed patrols the Black Panthers carried out to monitor 291 00:15:56,520 --> 00:16:00,680 Speaker 1: police officers in black neighborhoods. But j Edgar Hoover, director 292 00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:04,600 Speaker 1: of the FBI, considered the breakfast program an existential threat. 293 00:16:05,160 --> 00:16:08,440 Speaker 1: The program represents the best and most influential activity going 294 00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:11,200 Speaker 1: for the BBP, and as such is potentially the greatest 295 00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:13,920 Speaker 1: threat to efforts by authorities to neutralize the b PP 296 00:16:14,040 --> 00:16:17,880 Speaker 1: and destroy what it stands for. Hoover recognized that the 297 00:16:17,920 --> 00:16:20,560 Speaker 1: Panthers were engaged in the most crucial task for any 298 00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:25,240 Speaker 1: insurgent movement, winning hearts and minds. The Maoist Marxist beliefs 299 00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:27,280 Speaker 1: of many Panthers were a lot easier to spread to 300 00:16:27,320 --> 00:16:30,320 Speaker 1: folks who saw them as the people feeding their damned children, 301 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:33,640 Speaker 1: because at the end of the day, for almost everyone, 302 00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:37,440 Speaker 1: the basic needs of your loved ones trump specific ideology 303 00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:41,000 Speaker 1: every day of the week. That's why the FBI targeted 304 00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:45,000 Speaker 1: the free breakfast program specifically. At one rate in Chicago, 305 00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:47,600 Speaker 1: agents smashed and urinated on all the food that had 306 00:16:47,640 --> 00:16:50,480 Speaker 1: been collected for the next day's meal. In some cities, 307 00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:52,960 Speaker 1: agents were sent door to door, visiting parents in their 308 00:16:52,960 --> 00:16:55,560 Speaker 1: homes and claiming the Panthers were using breakfast clubs to 309 00:16:55,600 --> 00:16:58,360 Speaker 1: teach children to be racist against white people and to 310 00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:02,320 Speaker 1: urge them to riot in school. Historian Franzisca Meister says 311 00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:05,919 Speaker 1: that in San Francisco, quote FBI agents actually brought one 312 00:17:05,960 --> 00:17:08,119 Speaker 1: of the breakfast programs to a halt by talking the 313 00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:10,960 Speaker 1: parents of the participating children into believing that the food 314 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:13,920 Speaker 1: the panthers were serving had been infected with funereal disease. 315 00:17:25,800 --> 00:17:28,600 Speaker 1: Mutual aid is just as frightening to our enemies to 316 00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:31,399 Speaker 1: day as it was to j Edgar Hoover. The Center 317 00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:34,440 Speaker 1: for Security Policy is a far right, anti Muslim, anti 318 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:38,520 Speaker 1: communist think tank founded by former Reagan administration official Frank 319 00:17:38,600 --> 00:17:41,840 Speaker 1: Gaffney JUNR. Earlier this year, they were leased a report 320 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:44,760 Speaker 1: analyzing the mutual aid efforts of a number of Texas 321 00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:49,359 Speaker 1: based leftist organizations, including the Elm Fork, John Brown Gun Club, 322 00:17:49,400 --> 00:17:52,000 Speaker 1: and the d f W chapter of the Socialist Rifle 323 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:56,720 Speaker 1: Association from the Center for Security Policy. But mutual aid 324 00:17:56,800 --> 00:18:00,879 Speaker 1: must not be understood as simply volunteerism, as its proponents 325 00:18:00,920 --> 00:18:04,320 Speaker 1: explicitly note, its true purpose is to build up capability 326 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:07,480 Speaker 1: for dual power, a kind of shadow governance. As much 327 00:18:07,480 --> 00:18:10,960 Speaker 1: as avowed anarchists might hate the term to be exercised 328 00:18:10,960 --> 00:18:13,920 Speaker 1: by a network of a narco communist and autonomous groups. 329 00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:17,280 Speaker 1: As a result, the likelihood that mutual aid will also 330 00:18:17,359 --> 00:18:20,719 Speaker 1: involve the presence of community armed self defense groups like 331 00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:24,199 Speaker 1: the John Brown gun Club and other ANTIFA groups is high. 332 00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:27,679 Speaker 1: Such groups do not make a distinction between providing basic 333 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:30,880 Speaker 1: aids such as providing water, emergency meal and motel rentals, 334 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:33,520 Speaker 1: and direct clashes with law enforcement and others who they 335 00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:37,399 Speaker 1: perceive is threatening their agenda. Local and state officials dealing 336 00:18:37,400 --> 00:18:40,600 Speaker 1: with natural disasters should urge citizens to avoid contributing to 337 00:18:40,680 --> 00:18:45,679 Speaker 1: unknown or suspect mutual aid organizations and encourage support instead 338 00:18:45,760 --> 00:18:49,199 Speaker 1: to traditional, registered charities. They should likewise respond to an 339 00:18:49,240 --> 00:18:52,800 Speaker 1: increase in protest and activism activity generated by autonomous groups 340 00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:56,439 Speaker 1: seeking to use the disaster for propaganda purposes. Finally, they 341 00:18:56,440 --> 00:19:00,320 Speaker 1: should develop a comprehensive understanding of the extremist groups reading 342 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:03,480 Speaker 1: in their areas of responsibility. The think tank is of 343 00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:05,960 Speaker 1: course wrong with they attempt to cast the DFW, s 344 00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:08,160 Speaker 1: r A, and John Brown Gun Club, neither of which 345 00:19:08,160 --> 00:19:11,919 Speaker 1: have been tied to terrorism, as violent extremists, but they 346 00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:14,720 Speaker 1: are broadly right about the purpose of mutual aid. One 347 00:19:14,760 --> 00:19:17,040 Speaker 1: thing that sets it apart from simple charity is that 348 00:19:17,119 --> 00:19:20,639 Speaker 1: the goal of mutual aid is to build power. Not 349 00:19:20,880 --> 00:19:24,200 Speaker 1: hierarchical power, not a shadow governance put in the hands 350 00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:26,520 Speaker 1: of a leader or a pollit bureau, but the power 351 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:28,800 Speaker 1: of a community to meet its own needs and thus 352 00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:33,439 Speaker 1: resist domination. This is why mutual aid frightens those in power. 353 00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:36,080 Speaker 1: It's why in a two thousand and six lecture at 354 00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:39,720 Speaker 1: the Universities of Texas School of Law, the FBI Supervisory 355 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:43,879 Speaker 1: Senior Resident listed Food Not Bombs as an organization on 356 00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:48,000 Speaker 1: the local terrorist watch list in Austin. In writing for 357 00:19:48,080 --> 00:19:51,800 Speaker 1: Belling Cat, I analyzed the chat logs of Patriot Coalition, 358 00:19:52,119 --> 00:19:54,840 Speaker 1: a group of several hundred armed far right extremists in 359 00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:57,879 Speaker 1: the Pacific Northwest. They looked forward to the potential of 360 00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:01,879 Speaker 1: fights with Antifa, but they were terrorified when during the wildfires, 361 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:05,600 Speaker 1: Portland's anti fascists put together and distributed thousands of pounds 362 00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:08,879 Speaker 1: of aid supplies to people who'd been displaced. If we 363 00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:12,320 Speaker 1: judge the efficacy of resistance tactics by who they scare, 364 00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:16,199 Speaker 1: mutual aid ranks highly. Indeed, this is, of course not 365 00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:18,280 Speaker 1: the whole answer to the question, how do we pull 366 00:20:18,320 --> 00:20:21,000 Speaker 1: ourselves up out of the tail spin? I would be 367 00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:23,399 Speaker 1: an arrogant man. Indeed, if I pretended to know that, 368 00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:25,480 Speaker 1: or try to put myself forward as someone with the 369 00:20:25,560 --> 00:20:29,080 Speaker 1: ultimate solution to our problems. How would a national network 370 00:20:29,080 --> 00:20:31,919 Speaker 1: of mutual aid collectives organized to handle the manufacture and 371 00:20:31,960 --> 00:20:35,639 Speaker 1: distribution of more complex necessities like insulin. How would a 372 00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:38,479 Speaker 1: general strike movement reach some kind of agreement on an 373 00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:41,679 Speaker 1: actual list of demands without becoming bogged down in debate 374 00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:45,359 Speaker 1: and negotiations like a doomed condo board. How would we 375 00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:48,520 Speaker 1: protect such a movement from the kind of threats that food, medicine, 376 00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:52,159 Speaker 1: and good intentions can't defeat. Over the coming days and months, 377 00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:54,760 Speaker 1: we're going to try and find the answers to all 378 00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:58,040 Speaker 1: of those questions. Together. I'm going to bring on people 379 00:20:58,119 --> 00:21:00,560 Speaker 1: much smarter than me, and we're going to hear their answers. 380 00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:03,600 Speaker 1: I'm going to bring on activists and organizers from around 381 00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:06,720 Speaker 1: the world who have answered versions of those questions themselves, 382 00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:09,080 Speaker 1: and we'll see what we can learn from their struggles. 383 00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:12,240 Speaker 1: Together with a lot of help from our friends, I'm 384 00:21:12,280 --> 00:21:15,639 Speaker 1: hoping we can come to some conclusions. But before we 385 00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:18,520 Speaker 1: conclude this first week of episodes, I want to take 386 00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:20,600 Speaker 1: a look at the future we could have, or at 387 00:21:20,640 --> 00:21:23,840 Speaker 1: least new elements of it. Because when you tell people 388 00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:27,159 Speaker 1: the world needs to change very quickly or where fucked 389 00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:29,320 Speaker 1: it kind of behooves you to provide them with a 390 00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:32,800 Speaker 1: vision of the future you'd like to make instead. The 391 00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:35,760 Speaker 1: people of the Navajo Nation have been enduring the consequences 392 00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:39,160 Speaker 1: of capitalism for a very long time. Decades of US 393 00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:41,720 Speaker 1: government neglect has led to a situation in which thirty 394 00:21:41,760 --> 00:21:44,680 Speaker 1: to forty percent of their people lack access to clean water. 395 00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:48,239 Speaker 1: Climate change, drought, and reduced rainfall have further strained their 396 00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:52,240 Speaker 1: access to water, making farming and simple survival much more difficult. 397 00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:55,640 Speaker 1: Cameron sou who lives in the Navajo Nation, told an 398 00:21:55,640 --> 00:21:58,399 Speaker 1: interviewer some of them have to drive an hour and 399 00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:00,399 Speaker 1: a half one way to town to get drink water. 400 00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:03,679 Speaker 1: People say, well, water is not expensive. Sure, if you 401 00:22:03,720 --> 00:22:06,040 Speaker 1: have access to the store it's around the corner. Yes, 402 00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:08,240 Speaker 1: But for us, the reality is that just going to 403 00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:11,199 Speaker 1: the town of Flagstaff, you're spending maybe fifty dollars on 404 00:22:11,280 --> 00:22:13,560 Speaker 1: gas and other things. When you go by water in town, 405 00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:16,439 Speaker 1: a case of bottled water is actually costing you around 406 00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:20,560 Speaker 1: sixty eighty dollars. But while climate change has strained the 407 00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:23,800 Speaker 1: Navajos access to water, it has provided them with additional 408 00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:27,520 Speaker 1: reserves of another resource, sunlight. This has led many in 409 00:22:27,560 --> 00:22:31,000 Speaker 1: the nation to embrace solar businesses. Especially after in two 410 00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:34,880 Speaker 1: thousand nineteen they voted against continuing to operate a coal 411 00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:39,080 Speaker 1: power plant that employed some eight hundred people. At this moment, 412 00:22:39,200 --> 00:22:42,359 Speaker 1: some Navajo entrepreneurs are working with a company called Source 413 00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:45,879 Speaker 1: Water to install hundreds of hydro panels on isolated homes. 414 00:22:46,560 --> 00:22:49,879 Speaker 1: The hydro panel is a solar powered water generator. It 415 00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:53,760 Speaker 1: condenses clean water out of the atmosphere. A standard tupanel 416 00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:56,320 Speaker 1: array can make four to ten liters of water per day, 417 00:22:56,520 --> 00:23:01,400 Speaker 1: even in fairly dry conditions. This is a small solution 418 00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:04,040 Speaker 1: in the grand scheme of things, but it is a solution. 419 00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:07,520 Speaker 1: At the moment. Fifteen Navajo families have access to regular, 420 00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:10,919 Speaker 1: clean water because of these panels. Five hundred more homes 421 00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:14,080 Speaker 1: should receive panels in the near future. The technology is 422 00:23:14,119 --> 00:23:16,960 Speaker 1: still very new and as a result, not particularly cheap. 423 00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:20,240 Speaker 1: This is not a Norman boer Log style mass solution 424 00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:23,240 Speaker 1: to our problems, but it is a good development, and 425 00:23:23,280 --> 00:23:25,880 Speaker 1: it provides us with some texture to how our futures 426 00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:28,880 Speaker 1: might look once we've adapted to the inevitable new normal. 427 00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:33,400 Speaker 1: Solar stills and atmospheric condensers glittering atop roofs and alongside 428 00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:36,679 Speaker 1: gardens in all the places where useless lawns once sucked 429 00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:40,760 Speaker 1: up water, and speaking of the Navajo, our hopeful future 430 00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:42,640 Speaker 1: will have to involve a hell of a lot more 431 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:47,000 Speaker 1: input from indigenous peoples. This isn't woke politics. It's our 432 00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:49,800 Speaker 1: best hope for reversing some of the damage already done 433 00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:53,960 Speaker 1: to our ecosystems. In two thousand seven, the swin Amish tribe, 434 00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:58,359 Speaker 1: located in Washington's northwest coast, published a climate proclamation that 435 00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:02,080 Speaker 1: declared climate adaptation a top priority in securing their long 436 00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:05,280 Speaker 1: term future. In two thousand ten, while every government on 437 00:24:05,320 --> 00:24:08,080 Speaker 1: Earth dithered, they published an action plan that ensured their 438 00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:11,640 Speaker 1: people's food security under climate change. They began to build 439 00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:14,920 Speaker 1: rock walls to expand the intertitle zone that clams call 440 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:17,879 Speaker 1: home and boost shellfish numbers to compensate for die offs 441 00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:20,320 Speaker 1: and over fishing. I want to quote from a rite 442 00:24:20,359 --> 00:24:24,040 Speaker 1: up by Yale School of the Environment, quote to protect 443 00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:26,600 Speaker 1: salmon runs. The tribe is working on the Skagit River 444 00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:29,199 Speaker 1: to create better spawning beds and as planting trees to 445 00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:32,679 Speaker 1: provide shade and reduced river temperatures. In addition, the tribe 446 00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:35,359 Speaker 1: is fighting to block mining operations and the headwaters of 447 00:24:35,359 --> 00:24:38,840 Speaker 1: the Skagit in British Columbia, which could impact waters downstream 448 00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:42,320 Speaker 1: Across North America, other indigenous communities are stepping up to 449 00:24:42,359 --> 00:24:45,280 Speaker 1: formulate and enact climate action plans to protect their way 450 00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:48,800 Speaker 1: of life. In twenty nineteen, the Carrick Tribe of Northern 451 00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:52,480 Speaker 1: California released its climate adaptation plan with a recommendation to 452 00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:55,920 Speaker 1: return to prescribed burning, an old idea that might help 453 00:24:55,960 --> 00:25:00,840 Speaker 1: to ease California's wildfire problems. The Tulalip Tribes Washington State 454 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:04,400 Speaker 1: are relocating nuisance beavers from urban areas back to traditional 455 00:25:04,440 --> 00:25:08,480 Speaker 1: watersheds to help lower river temperatures and aid salmon populations. 456 00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:13,240 Speaker 1: They are also redirecting agricultural runoff for electricity generation. The 457 00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:17,600 Speaker 1: Jamestown Squalum Tribe and Washington is removing invasive butterfly bushes 458 00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:19,920 Speaker 1: from the banks of the Dungeness River to help protect 459 00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:23,680 Speaker 1: its salmon. The Confederated Salish and Kutanaie tribes of Montana 460 00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:26,480 Speaker 1: are gathering and planting seedlings of the white bark pine 461 00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:29,480 Speaker 1: that are more resistant to warming related diseases such as 462 00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:34,160 Speaker 1: blister rust. Alaskan tribes are using microscopy to identify harmful 463 00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:39,160 Speaker 1: algae blooms spurred by warming waters. The list goes on. Now, 464 00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:42,560 Speaker 1: these are all examples of direct action, most of which 465 00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:44,959 Speaker 1: not all of which won't land anyone in prison, and 466 00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:48,080 Speaker 1: all of which will help mitigate the on Rushian catastrophe 467 00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:52,440 Speaker 1: in real ways. Alone, indigenous peoples cannot pull us out 468 00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:55,240 Speaker 1: of the mess we've gotten ourselves into. But if we 469 00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:58,760 Speaker 1: can develop a political situation which gives them back control 470 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:02,399 Speaker 1: of their land, we can institute measures like this on 471 00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:05,800 Speaker 1: a much wider scale, and it will benefit every single 472 00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:10,159 Speaker 1: person on the planet. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate 473 00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:13,760 Speaker 1: Changes recent reports have noted that they have high confidence 474 00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:17,800 Speaker 1: that global adaptation efforts will benefit from including indigenous knowledge. 475 00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:22,639 Speaker 1: Mead Crosby, a conservation biologist with a University of Washington, notes, 476 00:26:23,240 --> 00:26:25,760 Speaker 1: one of the things that comes across really clearly is 477 00:26:25,840 --> 00:26:29,280 Speaker 1: that indigenous people are by far the most effective stewards 478 00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:34,280 Speaker 1: of biodiversity. They do the best job. One recent study 479 00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:37,480 Speaker 1: showed that deforestation rates in the Amazon, the world's largest 480 00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:40,919 Speaker 1: carbon sinc were two to three times lower in indigenous 481 00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:44,840 Speaker 1: held lands. At present, indigenous people's hold or manage about 482 00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:47,520 Speaker 1: twenty eight percent of the planet's land, but more than 483 00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:51,920 Speaker 1: forty percent of its protected wildlife areas. Some eighty percent 484 00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:56,680 Speaker 1: of the world's biodiversity exists under their stewardship. It is 485 00:26:56,760 --> 00:26:59,360 Speaker 1: so very easy to lose hope when all you consume 486 00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:02,680 Speaker 1: is a day the drumbeat of bad news, ocean die 487 00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:06,080 Speaker 1: offs and wildfires, and crooked corporate deals to piss more 488 00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:09,879 Speaker 1: poison into the atmosphere. Those stories are important, and you 489 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:13,680 Speaker 1: should be angry. But bad news is not the only news. 490 00:27:14,119 --> 00:27:17,400 Speaker 1: Indigenous peoples have been fighting for generations in the face 491 00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:21,560 Speaker 1: of genocide and relentless oppression to reverse the damage unchecked 492 00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:24,840 Speaker 1: greed has done to our climate. What excuse do the 493 00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:27,199 Speaker 1: rest of us have to give into doom when they 494 00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:30,800 Speaker 1: could really fucking use our help. This may sound silly 495 00:27:30,880 --> 00:27:32,679 Speaker 1: to you, there is a good chance you just had 496 00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:35,160 Speaker 1: a visceral gut reaction to the idea of a hopeful, 497 00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:39,160 Speaker 1: solar powered future driven by hard earned knowledge of indigenous custodians. 498 00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:41,960 Speaker 1: This is because all of us, left and right, have 499 00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:44,679 Speaker 1: spent most of the last twenty years ingesting a steady 500 00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:48,520 Speaker 1: diet of apocalyptic fantasies. Even Star Trek, meant to be 501 00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:51,560 Speaker 1: a utopian vision of possibility, tends to focus more on 502 00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:54,800 Speaker 1: war and violence these days we're one to compare the 503 00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:58,119 Speaker 1: science fiction of fifty years ago with today, they might 504 00:27:58,240 --> 00:28:01,760 Speaker 1: think we'd lost our ability to hope. And so at 505 00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:04,000 Speaker 1: the end of all this, I'd like to provide you, 506 00:28:04,359 --> 00:28:06,920 Speaker 1: the ongoing listeners of it could happen here with a 507 00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:10,320 Speaker 1: promise this is a show about hope as much as 508 00:28:10,359 --> 00:28:13,440 Speaker 1: it is a show about collapse. I believe firmly that 509 00:28:13,520 --> 00:28:16,120 Speaker 1: the ability to build a better world starts with being 510 00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:19,480 Speaker 1: able to imagine one. So as we dive into the 511 00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:22,480 Speaker 1: muck and grime of a system on the brink, let's 512 00:28:22,520 --> 00:28:25,560 Speaker 1: accept that with hard work and above all else, love, 513 00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:28,600 Speaker 1: it's still possible to turn this ship around.