KunstlerCast 440 — Dr. Shane Simonson on Zero Input Agriculture, Taming the Apocalypse, and the Neo-Medieval Future

KunstlerCast 440 — Dr. Shane Simonson on Zero Input Agriculture, Taming the Apocalypse, and the Neo-Medieval Future

Author: James Howard Kunstler March 18, 2026 Duration: 1:00:55

Dr. Shane Simonsen is an Australian experimental farmer, author, podcaster, and thinker based in the subtropical Sunshine Coast hinterland of Queensland (on around 40 acres among the Glasshouse Mountains). He holds a PhD in biochemistry and previously worked in academia and as a teacher before leaving in his late 20s — disillusioned by institutional structures, the global financial crisis, and concerns over peak oil— to pursue independent work in biology, ecology, and sustainable systems. For the last decade he obsessively developed hardy staple crops for his little mountain village. Australia is uniquely vulnerable to energy system disruptions and totally unprepared for post-industrial agriculture.

Shane blogs weekly at Recombination Nation.  His podcast of the same name interviews amateur plant breeders, geopolitical experts and culture innovators.

His non-fiction book Taming the Apocalypse explores a post-industrial future built purely on biological technology 

He also wrote a novel under the nom-de-plume Haldane P. Doyle, Our Vitreous Womb, imagining a biotechnological civilization in the distant future. 


Each week, author and social critic James Howard Kunstler sits down with host Duncan Crary for a series of frank discussions that form KunstlerCast-Conversations: Converging Catastrophes of the 21st Century. The dialogue, grounded in Kunstler's seminal works like "The Geography of Nowhere" and "The Long Emergency," moves beyond simple critique to explore the deep interconnections between the crises shaping our time. Listeners will find these conversations delve into the enduring consequences of suburban sprawl, the societal costs of disposable architecture, and the profound shifts awaiting us as the age of cheap oil recedes. This isn't a lecture, but a dynamic exchange that examines how these forces collide within our culture, economy, and daily lives. The podcast serves as an ongoing, thoughtful autopsy of the American built environment and the unsustainable habits it fosters, while also casting a wary eye on the news of the day. For anyone perplexed by the fragility of modern systems or curious about the roots of our social discontent, these episodes offer a coherent, if challenging, narrative. Kunstler's distinctive perspective, honed over decades of observation and writing, provides a lens through which the chaos of current events begins to form a clearer, if unsettling, picture. Tune in for a consistently provocative analysis that connects the dots between place, energy, and the future of community.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

KunstlerCast - Conversations: Converging Catastrophes of the 21st Century
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