Cultures of Energy

Dominic Boyer and Cymene Howe
  • 4.9 (56)
  • Social Sciences
  • Updated Semimonthly

Cultures of Energy brings writers, artists and scholars together to talk, think and feel their way into the Anthropocene. We cover serious issues like climate change, species extinction and energy transition. But we also try to confront seemingly huge and insurmountable problems with insight, creativity and laughter. We believe in the possibility of personal and cultural change. And we believe that the arts and humanities can help guide us toward a more sustainable future. Cultures of Energy is a Mingomena Media production. Co-hosts are @DominicBoyer and @CymeneHowe

  1. 5d ago

    256 - Land Art Generator (feat. Robert Ferry and Elizabeth Monoian)

    Cymene goes shopping with Beyoncé in this episode's dream sequence and if that weren't dreamy enough your co-hosts also break down the new film, Backrooms. Then (17:01) we welcome Elizabeth Monoian and Robert Ferry to the podcast to talk about their amazing Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI), a remarkable effort to surface the potential beauty of renewable energy. As a unique kind of public art enterprise, LAGI has been holding design competitions across the world since 2010. We talk about their mission to help inspire more ecologically and socially attuned modes of futurism and how land art can seed visions of better post-fossil worlds to come. We do deep dives into the projects they are currently developing in Fiji and Houston and then turn to some of LAGI's other projects including solar murals and art + energy camps. Hang in there, everyone, peace and love. Image notes = Arch of Time is a Land Art Generator artwork designed by Riccardo Mariano. Incorporating solar photovoltaic modules it will generate 400,000 kWh per year, offsetting the electricity demand of Mason Park. The artwork makes for an exceptional venue for events, learning, discovery, and play. As a time measuring device, the Arch keeps track of the sun as it moves across the sky, engaging visitors with a magical light display within a comfortably shaded outdoor space. The Arch was originally a submission to LAGI 2019 Abu Dhabi. The O by Alberto Roncelli incorporates solar photovoltaic and rainwater harvesting to produce 150,000 kWh of electricity and 1.2 million liters of filtered water each year. The winning submission to LAGI 2025 Fiji, a collaboration with the Village of Marou.

    1h 2m

  2. May 17

    255 - Accelerant (feat. Ciruce Mohavedi-Lankarani)

    Dominic and Cymene eat crepes, share limericks and wonder whether dogs and rabbits might hold the secret to world peace on this week's episode. Then (13:09) we welcome Ciruce Mohavedi-Lankarani to the pod to talk about his new book Accelerant: Energy Infrastructures and the Natural World in Making Modern Iran newly out from Stanford U Press. We begin with how natural gas overcame its second-class status among the hydrocarbons to become the central pillar of Iranian national development strategies in the middle of the 20th century. We talk about how the material density and volatility of gas impacted efforts at building infrastructure, how Iran had to navigate the imperial ambitions of Britain, the US and the Soviet Union to claim its gas for itself, and how Iran balanced industrial and environmental goals in its development process. Ciruce explains how gas seemed to offer Iran pathways to both a glorious future and a return to a cherished past. And he explains how the Islamic Republic continued to build upon the gas developmental visions of the Pahlavi era. We close by discussing the current conflict in Iran and what it reveals about deeply how Iranian nationalism is tied to petroleum. Hang in there, everyone, peace and love.

    55 min

  3. May 4

    254 - Shrinking Cities (feat. Fernando Ortiz-Moya)

    Cymene and Dominic talk about shrinky dinks, tiny sweaters, miniaturized submarines and elemental ethnography during this week's intro segment. Then (12:12) we welcome Fernando Ortiz-Moya to the conversation to talk about his excellent new book We're Still Here: Regenerating Shrinking Cities from the Ground Up (U California Press, 2026). Fernando explains his lifelong fascination with cities with dwindling populations and why urban shrinkage doesn't always mean decline. We move from there to talking about the hegemony of growth thinking in urbanism and why top-down planning for urban renewal so often fails to produce the effects intended. We wonder about how climate change will find new ways to shrink cities and, finally, we discuss different bottom up strategies for urban regeneration and how and why informal practices usually produce better results. Hang in there, everyone, peace and love.

    58 min

  4. Apr 20

    253 - Disappearing Waste (feat. Dan Sosna)

    Dominic and Cymene marvel at April snow and the ice cream stylings of Ben and Jerry. Then (8:28) we welcome Dan Sosna to the podcast to discuss his new book, Europe's Disappearing Waste (Berghahn, 2026). We dive into his background in archaeology and what attracted him to landfill in the first place, how wastepicking can be viewed as a practice of "quiet sustainability", and the differences between circular economy as a bureaucratic project and an embodied project. We move from there to tech futurism's genocidal quality, what the effort to disappear waste really means and why landfill spaces have exhibited haunted, magnetic, strange qualities throughout history. Hang in there, everyone, peace and love.

    51 min

  5. Apr 5

    252 - Southern Anthropocenes (feat. Casper Bruun Jensen)

    Cymene and Dominic discuss what happened when ten art school kids were given a disney princess baking challenge on this week's episode of the podcast. Then (14:48) we welcome Casper Bruun Jensen to the pod to talk about a new collaboration and book project he organized called Southern Anthropocenes (Routledge, 2026). We begin with the Anthropocene concept and why Casper and his collaborators felt it was important to pluralize it. We turn from there to talking pluriversal politics, cosmopolitical openings, utopias, the need to take care of the possible and what tales of tomorrow we need to tell today. Check out Casper's Entangled Areas special issue here. And if you have time on May 11th beam into the Southern Anthropocenes conversation being hosted by the University of Tokyo. Hang in there, everyone, peace and love.

    51 min

  6. Mar 22

    251 - Deep Listening (feat. Zina Saro-Wiwa)

    Cymene and Dominic lament what is happening in Iran and explore what kinds of dogs they would be on this episode of the podcast. Then (15:47) we welcome to the podcast the amazing multitalented multimedia artist Zina Saro-Wiwa to talk about her work. We begin with her father Ken Saro-Wiwa's courageous activism on behalf of the Ogoni people and tragic death at the hands of Nigeria's Abacha dictatorship. We then talk about her career in journalism and how coming to terms with the past eventually propelled her toward art. We turn from there to her creative practice. Zina explains to us what she means by "deep listening", why she finds Ogoni traditions of masquerade so generative to create with and how art is an angel with many eyes. We close talking about what it takes to hear the voice of oil and the many projects Zina has now collected under the mantle of her new Mangrove Arts Foundation. Check out Zina/SIRA*'s new album Songs for the End of the World here (a taste of it can also be found in this episode's outro music). And if finances allow, please consider making a donation or contributing to a Go Fund Me campaign to help Zina to create a museum in honor of her father's life and creativity. We just did!  Hang in there, everyone, peace and love.

    1h 16m

  7. Mar 8

    250 - Energy Democracy (feat. Nikki Luke)

    Dominic and Cymene celebrate the 250th episode of the podcast with tales of steamy avian encounter. And then (16:14) we welcome Nikki Luke to the podcast, author of the brand-new book Electric Life: Utility Regulation and the Fight for Energy Democracy (MIT Press, 2026). We start with what energy democracy means to Nikki in the context of her work on utility regulation and then move to her case study of the famously recalcitrant utility, Georgia Power, and how the history of electricity in the American South has long been entangled with white supremacist politics. We talk about the politics of setting electricity rates, how and why investor-owned utilities undermine energy transition, and the intensifying grid politics of data centers. We touch on the poverty of imagination that electrical utilities so often display and then close with a discussion of what Nikki's analytics of feminist urban political ecology reveal about the quotidian labors involved in keeping the lights on. Check out your co-hosts at SXSW on a panel with Fire of Love and Time and Water director Sara Dosa (Friday, March 13, 530p-630p, 304 E 3rd Texas House, Austin) and Cymene's presentation on elemental attentions to the History of Consciousness program at UC Santa Cruz (Monday, March 9, 1p). More details here! Hang in there, everyone, peace and love.

    1 hr

  8. Feb 22

    249 - Weathering (feat. Astrida Neimanis and Jennifer Mae Hamilton)

    Dominic and Cymene talk about their Cathostant (or is it Protelic?) families in this week's intro segment. And then (11:59) we are thrilled to be joined by Jennifer Mae Hamilton and Astrida Neimanis to discuss their work as the Weathering Collective, especially their inspiring new book How to Weather Together: Feminist Practice for Climate Change (Bloomsbury, 2026). We begin with their collaborative relationship, how it began and has evolved over the past decade, and how they learned to balance theory and practice together. We discuss how both climate science and feminist theory are best considered as works in progress and then turn to weather and why its capacity to attune to constant change helps us to grapple with the larger existential challenges of the climate crisis. From there, we talk about their concept of weathering as the ability to redistribute shelter and vulnerability in a climate changing world in ways that run counter to settler colonial legacies. Finally, we turn toward why they are happy to be ecofeminist again, how weathering meets undercommoning and how to cultivate and practice 'low stakes vulnerability' through games. Check out Jen's blog here and a recent publication here. Also stop by the FEELed Lab for a visit. Hang in there, everyone, peace and love.

    1h 3m
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4.9
out of 5
56 Ratings

About

Cultures of Energy brings writers, artists and scholars together to talk, think and feel their way into the Anthropocene. We cover serious issues like climate change, species extinction and energy transition. But we also try to confront seemingly huge and insurmountable problems with insight, creativity and laughter. We believe in the possibility of personal and cultural change. And we believe that the arts and humanities can help guide us toward a more sustainable future. Cultures of Energy is a Mingomena Media production. Co-hosts are @DominicBoyer and @CymeneHowe

Information

  • Creator
    Dominic Boyer and Cymene Howe
  • Years Active
    2016 - 2026
  • Episodes
    256
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Show Website
    Cultures of Energy

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