on fire

on fire

Author: youssef bouchi January 17, 2025 Duration: 3:58

As wildfires rage across Los Angeles, Erika takes a moment to reflect on the personal and the political dimensions of this catastrophe.

We urge listeners to think critically about the individuals and communities most impacted by this situation, and by the climate crisis more broadly.

These fires expose and remind us all that the vulnerability of physical structures people call home hinges upon the vulnerability of social structures that render home-making a precarious luxury.

With every crisis, cracks are exposed. In one of the richest economies in the world, and despite the fact that California has experienced wildfire after wildfire over the past years, we still saw an underfunded LA Fire Department with incarcerated folks on the frontlines of the fires and a crumbling water infrastructure. Is this climate adaptation? Transferring wealth from the bottom-up, shrinking the public purse, and converting taxpayer money to capital fueling the military-industrial complex?

We need a new system.


Here are some articles we urge you to engage with:

‘Running to danger and saving lives’: 1,100 incarcerated firefighters are on the LA frontlines

Shattered in the Fire: A Historic Black Haven

Who Will Pay for LA’s Wildfires?

How Big Oil Made It Harder to Fight the Los Angeles Fires

There’s No Such Thing as a Natural Disaster

And here's a displaced Black families GoFund Me directory:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pK5omSsD4KGhjEHCVgcVw-rd4FZP9haoijEx1mSAm5c/edit?gid=0#gid=0


Hosted by Youssef Bouchi, geopolitical ecology is a podcast that digs into the complex and often unseen connections between political power, global systems, and the natural world. Each episode moves beyond simple environmental discussion to examine how borders, resources, and international relations are fundamentally shaped by-and in turn shape-our planet's ecology. We look at the stories behind the headlines, from water conflicts and energy corridors to the politics of conservation and extraction. The conversations aim to unravel how control over nature is exercised, contested, and reimagined across different landscapes and communities. This isn't just about science or policy in isolation; it's about their messy, fascinating intersection. Tune in for thoughtful analysis that frames the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, and resource scarcity as deeply geopolitical issues, revealing the intricate webs where environment and power meet. You'll find this podcast sits at the crossroads of critical social science and ecological thinking, offering a necessary lens for understanding the forces structuring our contemporary world.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 17

geopolitical ecology
Podcast Episodes
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A People's Green New Deal w/ Max Ajl [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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City Planning for Just Transitions w/ Holly Caggiano [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:52
Holly Caggiano is an Assistant Professor in Climate Justice and Environmental Planning at the University of British Columbia’s School of Community and Regional Planning. Her research explores social dimensions of climate…
Pipelines & Settler-Colonial Extractivism w/ Liam Fox [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:20:28
Liam is a PhD researcher in Geography at the University of Toronto and a volunteer tenant organizer in Vancouver. He’s interested in labor, community, and movement organizing strategy, and the politics of reproduction un…