How a Community on the Frontlines of the Climate Crisis Took its Story to the Screen and Forced a Land-Grabbing Corporation to Go Off Script

Discussion with writer and director Seán Devlin on his recent genre-busting films, which were made in partnership with typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) survivors, who participated and ad-libbed in his films. We discuss how art can be interventionist and serve a frontline community’s needs, by allowing a community to direct the narrative. Additionally, we discuss how efforts to aid frontline communities, without buy-in or leadership from such communities can be exploitative and harmful. We also discuss climate change vulnerability, disaster capitalism, red-tagging and transgender rights in the Philippines.

For More Info: http://thegravity.fm/#/episode/64

Perils to the Deep Sea From Bottom Trawling, Climate Change and Mining and the Need to Protect Its Stunning Biodiversity

Discussion with Matt Gianni from the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition on the critical importance of the deep sea to our air, climate, the marine food web, our food security and health. We discuss the biodiversity of the deep sea and our continual discovery of new extremophiles. We discuss the threat of bottom trawling, which indiscriminately catches a multitude of bycatch and disrupts nutrient flow. We discuss the looming threat of deep sea mining for critical minerals for the energy transition and the International Seabed Authority’s conflicting mandate to establish the industry while protecting the deep sea. We also discuss how mining companies are exploiting Pacific Island nations, which are the most vulnerable to climate change. Additionally, we discuss the growing schism between climate mitigation and biodiversity protection and the need to view these as one problem that demands an integrated, holistic solution.

For More Info: http://thegravity.fm/#/episode/63

American Resistance and Repression, Identity and Intersectionality and the LGBTQI+ Rights Movement

Discussion with Professor Timothy Patrick McCarthy on American radicalism and the need for multivocality rather than metanarratives in analyzing history. We discuss the construction and interpellation of identities, their historical contingencies and intersectionality. We discuss the power dynamics of identity construction, in entrenching the status quo and serving to cleave mass mobilization and conversely in empowering marginalized groups. We discuss the need for origin myths in the context of the Stonewall uprising and its significance to the LGBTQI+ rights movement. We also discuss the AIDS epidemic as a health and housing crisis, the callousness and myopia of the Reagan administration’s lack of response and how the epidemic also led to solidarity and fostered community. Additionally, we discuss the movements for marriage equality and transgender rights. We also discuss polarization, disassociation, the need for active listening and brave communication.

For More Info: http://thegravity.fm/#/episode/62