Topic: Mayans

Latest

[ Episode #41 // Surviving Progress ]

May 27 2012

The complexity of modern civilization has obscured an ecological crisis through a finely crafted system of markets and trade. Local environmental problems can be exported across the world with modern technologies while placing the global economic ladder on ever shakier ground. Is our species capable of sparking a widespread and intelligent discussion of our trajectory as a species before the problems of social inequity and ecological collapse take civilization down?

In Extraenvironmentalist #41 we speak with Ronald Wright about his book A Short History of Progress which chronicles the idea of progress through human history and has been adapted into a new film, Surviving Progress. Then we hear from Mathieu Roy and Harold Crooks who directed and wrote Surviving Progress. We ask them about the challenges of adapting the story of our complex civilization into a succinct and slick film. Last of all, we report back from Montreal about the Maple Spring uprising and our interviews with numerous ecological economists at the Montreal Degrowth conference as our civilization attempts to redefine our economic priorities.

Be sure to view the Surviving Progress trailer.

// Music (in order of appearance)
Passion Pit - Take a Walk via Consequence of Sound
Penguin Prison - Fair Warning (Robotaki Remix) via Robotaki
Gossip - Perfect World (RAC Remix) via Idolator
Killer Mike - Ronald Reagan via our listener David, who also left a voicemail
Passion Pit - Take a Walk (Peking Duk Remix) via The Music Ninja

// Extended Clips (in order of appearance)
[Break] - 39'50
Jim Cramer on Bank Runs
Disaster Looms for Greece
Michael Hudson from Surviving Progress

[End]
Montreal Degrowth - Mary Evelyn Tucker

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[ Episode #33 // Year of Jubilee ]

Jan 5 2012

Mini Episode

Expectations for the year 2012 A.D. have grown from tales of Mayan calendrical cycles and timewaves. Were there truly ancient prophecies describing catastrophes in the coming year? Is a change in human consciousness imminent as human novelty reaches its concresence? What if the global consciousness shift we've all been asking for is barreling towards us as a complete transformation in the way we think about our economy?

In Extraenvironmentalist #33 we move through all the themes for the next 365 days: from Mayans to timewaves to economic collapse and debt retribution. Our journey begins with Patricia McAnany to learn the truth about the connection between the Mayan Calendar and 2012. Next, we speak with Dennis McKenna about his brother's legacy as we enter the year Terence popularized as a potential date for the eschaton and the cultural singularity. Then, Mike Ruppert articulates the trends converging as an economic collapse, threatening to disrupt the commercial goods we rely on. Lastly, Charles Eisenstein describes the necessity for a debt jubilee to relieve the burden crushing our national economies.

// Interviews

7'35" | Patricia McAnany on Mayan 2012 Prophecy
34'30" | Dennis McKenna on Terence McKenna and the Timewave
55'08" | Mike Ruppert on Collapse
88'25" | Charles Eisenstein on Debt Jubilee

// Music (in order of appearance)
Birdy - Young Blood (Naked and the Famous Cover) via Blahblahblahblahscience
Adam and the Amethysts - Prophecy via The Music Ninja
Counting Crows - Colorblind (Oliver Schories Edit) via The Music Ninja
Sophie Trilby - Guardian (2012)
Memoryhouse - This Will Be Our Year (The Zombies Cover) via Pretty Much Amazing

// Extended Clips (in order of appearance)
Alan Watts on the Great Depression
Zizek on The Silent Voice of a New Beginning

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[ Episode #32 // Apocalypse Never ]

Dec 24 2011

Mini Episode

Even though we live in an age of economic decline and collapse, do our expectations for the future act similarly to the thought patterns of religious faiths expecting the end of the world? For the last 3,000 years, our species has used the meme of apocalypse to create the expectation for a utopia that never arose. Beginning with the Zoroastrian religion, the monotheistic faiths have contained the notion of an end to the world. Our historical record contains many events where a date was set and nothing happened. How did it feel to be one of those that had sacrificed everything to be swept away by a deity that never arrived?

In Extraenvironmentalist #32 we speak with John Michael Greer about his latest book, Apocalypse Not: Everything You Know About 2012, Nostradamus and the Rapture are Wrong. We ask John about the historical context of monotheistic religions, where the apocalypse meme began and its implications in our expectations for the future. We ask if the world is going to end in 2012 and JMG explains how David Icke's evil space lizards are involved. Did Seth really see George W.Bush metamorph into a lizard? If he didn't, what happens when we reach the end of the current Mayan calendar long count?

// Music (in order of appearance)
Feist - How Come You Never Go There via Pretty Much Amazing
Jagwar Ma - Come and Save Me via Pigeons and Planes
G ruff Rhys - Post Apocalypse Christmas via Some Kind of Awesome
Nadastrom vs. Echo - Church via Chorus+Echo
Coldplay - The Scientist (Demitri Vangelis and Wyman need Howie's thin mint cookies remix) via Mufasas Revenge

// Extended Clips (in order of appearance)
Alex Jones: David Icke is the turd in a punchbowl
Austerity hits the Dead and Santa Alike
A Recession Christmas
Is China's Economy Collapsing?

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[ Episode #12 // Questioning Collapse ]

Mar 13 2011

Mini Episode

As anthropologists, historians and popular writers fit the complex events of the past into stories that relay morals to the modern world, sometimes details can be overlooked to make a point. Does a civilization collapse or does it merely transform? What role does human resilience play in the shifting structures of a society? Has a society failed if it still has millions of descendants and a rich cultural history?

In Extraenvironmentalist #12 we speak with Patricia McAnany, co-editor of Questioning Collapse which addresses many oversights in the complex narratives conveniently distilled to form the pages of Jared Diamond's Collapse. We discuss some of the issues with the often cited reasons for the collapse of Mayan civilization, including simplifications made in Diamond's writings. How can we identify and classify a civilizational collapse? While many historical examples of rapid societal change may appear to be a collapse, they might just represent a collection of people living in the aftermath of empire.

NOTE: All celebrity voices are purely very poor impersonations and are not meant to be real in any way, shape or form.

// Music (in order of appearance)
Chris Bathgate - No Silver via Chris Bathgate's Website
Oh Land - Wolf and I via Et Musique Pour Tous
RÜFÜS - We Left via FRENCH EXPRESS
Generationals - Greenleaf via Klubb Ace

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