Doomer Optimism Doomer Optimism

In this episode, Jason and Roland Gunn (@rolandgunntn ) talk with C. Sandbatch (@csandbatch ) about his project Ecologica Americana. With a focus on the South but more broadly generalizable to America, they weave in ecology, history, and politics to talk about paradigm change, shifting from rigid ideology to cybernetic mythology, breaking through the cultural ennui, and creating a future worth our time

C. Sandbatch’s Substack can be found here: ecoamericana.substack.com

In this episode, Jason talks with Dru Zucchino, executive director of the Tractor Food & Farms food hub in Spruce Pine, NC to talk about local food systems, the challenges that farmers face, local distribution, quantifying the value of local food, the cultural dynamics of local food, and much more

Jake Hubbard is a farmer at Brookhaven Farms, nestled in the mountains of Northeast Tennessee. Hex has a life-long passion for animal husbandry and sustainable farming and hopes to win others to his cause.

You can find Jake at the following places:

Website: https://brookhavenfarms.net/

Twitter: @‌brookhavenfarms

Instagram: @‌brookhaven.farms

TikTok: @‌Jacobhubbard0

Email: Jake@brookhavenfarms.net

Rich Bartlett joins Ashley to discuss the art of crafting co-created events. Discover the intricacies of collaboration, community engagement, and fostering inclusivity.



Rich Bartlett co-founded tech co-op Loomio, community building network Microsolidarity, non-hierarchical management consultancy The Hum, and director of the social impact collective Enspiral.



You can check out his newsletter here: https://richdecibels.substack.com/



And you can find Rich on Twitter @RichDecibels

In this episode Ashley and Jason host Farahn Morgan (@farahnmorgan) to talk about her reporting on community pushback against lithium mining in North Carolina many other themes around ‘defending and cultivating land and people’

James Pogue describes his experience in Africa with Chris Mott and Ashley, including his experience getting detained in the Central African Republic, the role of empire and the United States in a deglobalizing world, and what this means for preparing for the future.

James Pogue:  I’m a Contributing Editor at Harper’s, and write about national politics for Vanity Fair. I’ve written for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, and the London Review of Books, among many others. I was a 2022 Alicia Patterson Fellow, and have received support from from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. I live in Los Angeles, where I help run a native plant nursery. My first book is called Chosen Country: A Rebellion in the West.

I have appeared on Real Time With Bill Maher, All In With Chris Hayes, NPR’s Today Explained, and many other TV and radio shows or podcasts.

Dr. Chris Mott is an international relations scholar focused on historical geopolitics, grand strategy, and the intersection of defensive realism and conceptions of sovereignty in an era of increasing multi-polarity. He holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the University of St Andrews, an MA in International Relations from London Metropolitan University, and a BA in History from Rutgers University.

He has published a book, “The Formless Empire: A Short History of Diplomacy and Warfare in Central Asia,” on the rise of indigenous forms of geopolitical strategy on the Eurasian steppe, as well as numerous peer-reviewed and general audience articles on foreign policy and historical topics in a variety of places. Dr. Mott is currently a fellow at Defense Priorities in Washington DC and a former researcher and desk officer at the U.S. Department of State.

Chris writes at https://geotrickster.com