Once a month, we put together a list of stories we’ve been reading: news you might’ve missed or crucial conversations going on around the web. We focus on environmental justice, radical municipalism, new politics, political theory, and resources for action and education.
We try to include articles that have been published recently but will last, that are relatively light and inspiring, and are from corners of the web that don’t always get the light of day. This will also be a space to keep you up to date with news about what’s happening at Uneven Earth.
Happy new year! Tragically, another legend who was hugely influential on us editors passed away in December: Black feminist theorist, activist and professor bell hooks. We want to honour her incredible, rich life by featuring some of her work and legacy here. We also published a lot of articles after a long hiatus, and you’ll find sections on labor disruptions, planetary mines, and ‘nature-based’ colonialism. There’s a take on the very popular new climate satire Don’t Look Up, as well. Enjoy.
If you find these lists useful, you can support us by sharing them on social media and with your friends and family!
A small note that the articles linked in this newsletter do not represent the views of Uneven Earth. When reading, please keep in mind that we don’t have capacity to do further research on the authors or publishers!
Uneven Earth updates
Subverting imperial greenwashing | Thinking with and beyond “A People’s Green New Deal” for anti-imperialist organizing
Blueprints for impossible futures | “A People’s Green New Deal” demands a different kind of impossible
Faith in a frail world | A journey through British Columbia this November showed how fragile the economy really is. Our editor Aaron Vansintjan also appeared on the This Is Hell podcast to talk about this article.
Making sense of our multispecies world: Body-Forest as community | The border between the human and the non-human is far less clear than we once believed. How might this impact the way we relate to the Earth?
Chester is choking | In the face of ongoing toxic pollution in Chester, Pennsylvania, Veronica Gomes and Kimberley Thomas untangle divergent explanations for the disproportionate harm inflicted on African Americans
An Italian city struggles against a century of pollution and political negligence | Environmental injustice and political failure take an unbearable toll on a local community. Yet, someone is now trying to make the city rise from its ashes
Top 5 articles to read
Ten ways to confront the climate crisis without losing hope
The earthly community. Achille Mbembe on the coloniality of infrastructure.
The “White Saviour” Deal for Nature
Why we need a decolonial ecology
From rural China, a fresh critique of global capitalism
News you might’ve missed
Gabriel Boric vows to ‘fight privileges of the few’ as Chile’s president
Rio Tinto lithium mine: thousands of protesters block roads across Serbia and Serbia suspends plans for lithium mine after environmental protests
Chilean environmental activist who opposed dam projects found dead
‘Like putting a lithium mine on Arlington cemetery’: the fight to save sacred land in Nevada
Remembering Standing Rock five years later: Importance of Indigenous journalism
Campaigners force Shell to halt oil exploration on South African coast
Netherlands announces €25bn plan to radically reduce livestock numbers
Where we’re at: analysis
The age of Imperialism is not over—but we can end it
‘Everything is burning and your house is gone’. The stories of survivors of British Columbia’s summer wildfires.
Rest in power, bell hooks
A Twitter thread with free PDFs of bell hooks texts. Make sure to check out the comments as well. And bell hooks essays free on JSTOR
To read bell hooks was to love her. An overview of some of her most influential works.
Remembering bell hooks and ‘All About Love’
A brilliant video series of bell hooks on cultural criticism and transformation: part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4
Food politics
At an annual sustainability gathering, Big Ag describes its efforts to control the narrative
In southern Colombia, Indigenous groups fish and farm with the floods
‘An act of rebellion’: the young farmers revolutionizing Puerto Rico’s agriculture
Farming in the shadow of the shadow state
Labor disruptions
Why people are quitting jobs and protesting work life from the U.S. to China
Well, I quit. Anti-work discourse against the neoliberal utopia.
The supply chain disruption arrives ‘just in time’
New politics
Tanks to trains. Why we need a Green New Deal for Defense Conversion.
Puerto Rico’s shattered power grid could become a ‘big experiment’ for Biden
The art of mutual aid. Mutual aid is a political practice that sees collective care as permanent.
Planetary mines
Toxic legacy: The fight to end environmental racism in Canada
Canadian mining companies are devastating the Global South
Illegal gold mining booms in Brazilian Amazon, harming environment, health
‘Nature-based’ colonialism
Green energy push is contributing to forced labor, slavery
What is ‘green land grabbing’ – and why is it surging in Brazil?
Cities and radical municipalism
Can a citizens’ assembly solve climate change? France decided to find out.
The new enclosure: how land commissions can lead the fight against urban land-grabs
Why the luster on once-vaunted ‘smart cities’ is fading
How removing asphalt is softening our cities
Fearless communes: An interview with two Chilean mayors
Just think about it…
Your attention didn’t collapse. It was stolen
Sci-fi and storytelling
Bambi: cute, lovable, vulnerable… or a dark parable of antisemitic terror? A new translation of Felix Salten’s 1923 novel reasserts its original message that warns of Jewish persecution.
Dune and the inhuman agency of commoning
I told you so. On the satirical Netflix movie Don’t Look Up.
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