Deceleration Podcast Marisol Cortez & Greg Harman

A community conversation with Arturo Escobar about environmental justice and the decolonial vision. Hosted by Deceleration and UTSA in San Antonio in April 2023 and including Kimiya Factory, Black Freedom Factory; Frankie Orona, Society of Native Nations; Diana Lopez, Southwest Workers Union, and Maria Turvin, Yanawana Herbolarios. Facilitated by Marisol Cortez of Deceleration and UTSA. Enjoy the following community circle discussion and dialogue with Escobar and Cortez only at Deceleration.news.

Attacks on US energy infrastructure across the US are increasing. Incidents in Texas logged by the US Department of Energy shot up in 2021 and 2022. Meanwhile, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission is mulling shifting more security obligations from plant owners to local law enforcement. Deceleration spoke with with Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, about all this and more.

In the middle of October, San Antonio played host to the Climate Justice Alliance's Our Power Communities Summit. The gathering called together roughly 50 frontline community environmental-justice organizers from around the nation to “reground” the alliance members and begin developing a collective response to emerging so-called false solutions to the climate crisis. I met a raft of organizers who modeled their love for their communities, shared stories of their successes and ongoing struggles, and provided a vision of what frontline-led movement means as the global oil cabal not only resists necessary rapid transition to new and cleaner energy sources but continues raking in record-setting profits—all while continuing to bankroll a soft coup in the US.

In order of appearance:
Christian Rodriguez, Ironbound Community Corp
Angel Ramos, The People's Port Authority
Mackenzie Marshland, Florida Rising
Alejandria Lyons, New Mexico No False Solutions
Ayana Grace, Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network
Katt Ramos, Richmond Our Power Coalition
Christine Cordero, Asian-Pacific Environmental Network

In the shadow of the port shipping most of all US crude oil to the rest of the world, four 'Clean Slate' candidates are running for local City Council seats. They are bound together by shared values and policy interests—including a prioritization of clean air and water and the defeat of proposed desalination projects being built almost exclusively to benefit industrial users. One candidate is the president of the local teacher's union. One is a history professor and Sierra Club member. Another helps lead the local League of Women Voters. And our guest today, Armon Alex, is a climate organizer and activist who has worked in a variety of interesting roles highlighting the immense challenge and opportunities of this moment of increasing climate destabilization. Learn more about the candidate at https://www.voteclean.org/.

This week, Deceleration speaks with the amazing team behind the Anti-Creep Climate Initiative, who utilize Marvel characters to educate the public about the dangerous fallacies behind fascistic thinking on global environmental challenges. Their webzine is a powerful and gorgeous read. In it they demonstrate how many of these dangerous concepts come straight out of Western environmental canon. They also show clearly why they are logically wrong. And who they ultimately serve. Wanna help stop the creep of ecofascistic ideas informing the manifestos of racist mass murderers? Here's some powerful food for thought.

Read more: https://deceleration.news/2022/05/19/against-the-ecofascist-creep/

Write to the creators themselves at thanoswasanecofascist@gmail.com.

Image: Courtesy Marvel

Somewhere in between decentralized rooftop solar and sprawling rural utility-scale solar farms is a middle path that could allow companies go 100-percent renewable in under a year. New solar startup Evergreen is about to unleash the "Goldilocks" of solar with a trio of projects in South Texas. And they expect to scale up quickly in this overlooked niche, says Evergreen CEO Cris Eugster. Local listeners may recognize that name as the former CPS Energy COO and one-time sustainability manager. "I feel like we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to figure out this energy transition and to tackle climate change," he said.