Topic: Capitalism

[ Episode #36 // Art Into Action ]

Feb 16 2012

Mini Episode

With an educational system that trains artists to develop their talents into commercial skills, our culture is missing out on the ability for art to disrupt normalcy. Why should we hope for systemic reform when the vast majority of water cooler conversations turn to American Idol and the fashion at awards shows? Will concerted efforts from artists allow us to breach difficult topics and address the economic elephant in the room? Can we use art to support behavior change, moving deeper than simply building awareness?

In Extraenvironmentalist #36 we discuss art and activism with Steve Lambert. Steve describes how his work as an artist has allowed him to create temporary utopias that prompt people to question the fundamental assumptions of society. We ask Steve how his varied work experience has helped him understand our education system and barriers to reform. What if the people around us aren't lazy and are just optimizing where their agency can have an effect?

Give Steve a follow on Twitter to keep track of his thoughts... and jokes.


 

// Music (in order of appearance)
Active Child - Johnny Belinda (White Arrows Remix) via Tell All Your Friends
Django Django - Storm via Music That Isn't Bad
Talking Heads - Road to Nowhere (Rosebuds Cover)  via The Rosebuds Bandcamp
Ra Ra Riot - Oh, La (Submarines Remix) via The Burning Ear
Bonobo - The Keeper (Banks Remix) via The Music Ninja

// Extended Clips (in order of appearance)
[First Break]
Cuts and Chaos - Desperation Drives Greek Clashes
Occupy the Dream - From Wall Street to Congress
US Economic Collapse - Dmitry Orlov + Max Keiser
[Second Break]
The Secret World of Shoplifting
Bill Moyers Interview with David Stockman
[End]
Meeting an awakened person - Thomas Hübl

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[ Episode #34 // Why America Failed ]

Jan 19 2012

Mini Episode

Twilight is on the horizon for American culture. After spreading an ideology of endless economic growth around the world, the definition of modernity has been defined by the United States. American values are now written into the cultural textbook for nations across the globe. Now that America is failing, what does it feel like to look back and what did we achieve? Was the collapse written in the opening chapters? What if our technological legacy comes with a terrible dark side?

In Extraenvironmentalist #34 we speak with author and historian Morris Berman about his recent look back at the history of American values as chronicled in the book Why America Failed. We ask Morris why American culture has dominated the globe despite so many dark aspects within its technology and values. Our discussion covers the ways in which people can seek meaningful lives as part of a counterculture and why our ideologies of technology and infinite growth were born on the landscape of an endless frontier. Is there a way to avoid the culture of hustling by channeling the alternative values that have arisen from those discontented by capitalism? Is it best just to become an expat?

Check out the new Extraenvironmentalist blog edited by Louisa, the newest member of our team.


 

// Music (in order of appearance)
Marvin Gaye - Sunny (Mercury II Edit) via Pigeons and Planes
FM Belfast - American  via Iceland Music Maffia
Electric Guest - This Head I Hold via Blahblahblahblahscience
Cheerleader - Do What You Want via Turntable Kitchen
Buddy Holly - Slippin' and Slidin' (Jacques Renault Remix) via RCRDLBL

// Extended Clips (in order of appearance)
Chris Hedges - Brace Yourself for America's Collapse
Detroit Savaged by Economic Problems
America's New Poor
Judge Napolitano
Frank Zappa on Schools
Ray Kurzweil on Technology
Kevin Kelly on Technology
Terence McKenna on Western Civilization
Jiddhu Krishnamurti - Why Do We Live With Stress

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[ Episode #30 // Austerity + Hope ]

Dec 2 2011

Mini Episode

Through the transfer of private debt to balance sheets of governments around the world, we've entered an age of austerity where citizens are experiencing drastic cuts to basic necessities. Civil unrest has resulted from people demanding that corporate greed should be punished instead of individuals. As the Occupy movement reaches a transition point, have we witnessed the spark of global anti-captialist movement or has it just been a brief glimpse of the anger developed from decades of economic injustice? Are there true reasons for hope with an increasing number of youth facing diminished opportunities for participating in the promises that capitalist markets once offered? Is this truly a turning point in history? If so, what does it mean to live in the midst of a global revolution?

In Extraenvironmentalist #30 we speak with David McNally about themes from his book Global Slump: The Economics and Politics of Crisis and Resistance, that draw on examples of successful populist uprisings around the world to demonstrate that in the Western world we too have options for resisting the tyranny of an age of austerity. We discuss the natural evolution of the Occupy movement and the potential to ensure that the movement grows while keeping food on the table and meaningful work available for the unemployed. Have elites secretly been preparing for unrest as they use taxpayers to bail out an unsustainable industry built on the pipe dream of perpetual growth? Are youth willing to accept their role as movement builders instead of iPhone owners?


 

 

// Music (in order of appearance)
Pretty Lights - Finally Moving via Et Musique Pour Tous
Hezekiah Jenkins - The Panic is On  via Ghostcapital
Makana - We Are The Many
Connor Youngblood - Will You Be There (Michael Jackson Cover) via Pigeons and Planes
Aarab Muzik - Let it Go via SkeetBeatz

// Extended Clips (in order of appearance)
America's New Poor Fending for Food Stamps
 Doug Stanhope - Fear in the US News Media
 Steve Keen on BBC Hardtalk
 WBEZ on Oligarchy: How the Super Rich Defend Their Wealth
 Public Sector Workers Strike in the UK

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[ Episode #28 // At Growth’s End ]

Nov 10 2011

Mini Episode

European economies are teetering on the brink of collapse as low rates of GDP growth are no longer able to justify continued investments in piles of debt. On the other side of the Atlantic, the United States is struggling to acknowledge its ever larger ranks of underemployed and unemployed while managing the world's largest national debt. Now that the American debt to GDP ratio has surpassed 100% can the nation ever return to a state of stability? Is this just a prolonged recession or has our system of economic growth suddenly and radically changed forever?

In Extraenvironmentalist #28 we speak with Richard Heinberg about his most recent book The End of Growth which uses data on global economies and international energy supplies to argue that the paradigm of economic growth has ended forever. Richard says that while our economies will still grow in the future, they'll be constrained to lower and lower rates of growth that won't be able to support money systems and financial obligations. If the global economy follows a prolonged period of contraction driven by depleted energy availability, what will this do to our notions of technology and society? We discuss how global contraction will impact trends of specialization, urbanization and wealth accumulation. Seth and I ask if the end of economic growth has to be fraught with strife or if life after growth can lead to a richer existence.


 

// Music (in order of appearance)
Navet - Leave and Let Go (Niva Remix) via Niva Bandcamp
Bill Cagle and the Spirit of '68 - The Other Ninety Nine  via WFMU's Beware of the Blog
Washed Out - Call it Off  via Pretty Much Amazing
Death Cab for Cutie - Codes and Keys (Yeasaer Remix) via Stereogum
Camo & Crooked - James Bond Theme (Official Rework) via The Music Ninja

// Extended Clips (in order of appearance)
Oakland Revolt: Occupy Cop Crackdown via RT
Oakland-DC-NYC: Occupy dot-to-dot to make big picture via RT
Robert Newman's History of Oil
David Suzuki speaking at the University of British Columbia Chan Centre on November 3rd, 2011

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[ Episode #26 // The Four Horsemen ]

Oct 22 2011

Mini Episode

Is capitalism failing or is it producing an intended outcome? There are a group of people privy to the internal mechanisms of our global economic rationale who are willing to share a vision of how the system really works. Though their original intent was to serve what appeared to be a beautiful machinery of supply and demand, they soon realized how greatly the assumptions of our economy are disconnected from reality. Is economics labeled as the dismal science only because of the way we currently practice it?

In Extraenvironmentalist #26 we speak with Ross Ashcroft about his upcoming film The Four Horsemen which explains how the world really works through interviews with 23 of our planet's leading alternative economists, Wall Street insiders and economic thinkers. Ross describes how his desire to become a farmer led him to understand the problems of international finance and how a career in the film industry provided the catalyst to create a documentary about the global economic system. Ross talks about what he learned from interviewing such a well accomplished group of economic experts and what it was like to be in the same room, talking one-on-one with Noam Chomsky. Will our economy collapse because it is being orchestrated to do so or will finance fall apart because it is based on junk science?


 

// Music (in order of appearance)
TV Girl - Benny and the Jets via Break on a Cloud
Penguin Prison - Don't Fuck With My Money via Hard Candy
Charles Bradley - The World (Is Going Up in Flames) via Quit Mumbling
Shotgun Radio - A Bad Place ft. Mimi Page (Minnesota Remix) via Big Green Beats
Lana Del Rey - Blue Jeans (PatrickReza Dubstep Remix) via Movements and Nonsense

// Extended Clips
Tarek El Diwany on Financial Fallout via Renegade Economist
US Jobless Epidemic Masked by Statistical Shenanigans via RT
USA Might Face a Potentially Violent Revolution via RT
Elizabeth Warren on Fair Taxation via American Spectator

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[ Episode #24 // Redesigning Business ]

Sep 23 2011

Mini Episode

Are we truly free or has our search for freedom led to entrapment by dysfunctional organizations? As the global monetary paradigm fails, it takes the internationl business structure along with it. This dynamic allows for the application of design principles to the foundations of the new organizations replacing corporations in meeting our human needs. How much power truly rests at the top of the megalithic corporations around us and how much is dictated by the demands of fiat currency and compounding interest? In this new age of austerity, can even the lowest on the societal hierarchy spark the change needed for a new society?

In Extraenvironmentalist #24 we speak with reformed lawyer, business thinker and blogger Patrick Andrews about how the failure of business to understand our ecological reality presents an opportunity to introduce new business structures that can prevent groupthink and allow responsible stewardship.  We discuss how businesses that seek only profit are failing to actualize the power that business transactions have to transform our world. Can the failure of our economy allow us to reimagine business?

 

// Music (in order of appearance)
Active Child - Hanging On via Gorilla vs. Bear
Phaeleh - Afterglow feat. Soundmouse viaIndieShuffle
Young the Giant - Islands (Polaris at Noon Remix) via SoundCloud
Figure - Wonderwall (Finger Drumstep Edit) via Club Tunes

// Extended Clips
David McNally - Global Slump and the Age of Austerity on WORT
The Coming Collapse: We Can Buy Time, We Can't Change the Outcome via Yahoo Finance
Godfrey Bloom: Euro Christmas Fail via RT

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[ Episode #22 // Picking Battles ]

Aug 30 2011

Mini Episode

Formerly abundant raw materials which enabled the creation of capitalist economies are falling short of allowing the system to grow any further. With this historic moment, the opportunity to re-imagine the nature of work and the structure of society arises. Maintaining a balance between the steps necessary for self preservation in a depleting culture while decoupling from the system and pursuing more meaningful work is a key challenge to thriving in the near future. If the status quo is being blatantly exposed as a fiction, what role can we play in writing the new society? Out of the 168 hours in any give week, what can be done outside of the 40 given to our employers to create the new world we envision?

In Extraenvironmentalist #22 we speak with writer, thinker and podcaster Doug Lain about his outlook on life in the time of Late Capitalism which is the primary topic of his recent non-fiction book Pick Your Battle.  We discuss the need to manage expectations around work at what feels like the end of history and how to avoid cynicism about social change while being surround by so many catastrophes. As we produce our lives, how much of living is a fiction? What role do dystopian and utopian writers have in forming a vision of the world ahead? Can we use creative acts to derail the capitalist system before it derails us while creating abundant cities for all?


 

// Music (in order of appearance)
Juj - My Room via SoundCloud
The Drums - Money (Craft Spells Remix) via Neighborhood Brains
Kermit the Frog - It's Not Easy Being Green (Andrew Bird Cover) via You Ain't No Picasso
Moloko - Sing It Back (Can 7 1390's Remix) via IndieShuffle
 Frenic - New World via The Chuckness
Minnesota - Breathe via The Breakbeat Depot

// Extended Clips
Unwelcome Guests #565 - The World Crisis and the Wholeness of Life
 The Delusion of Green Capitalism
 All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace
 Nature Does Not Exist

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