December readings

On remembering bell hooks, ‘nature-based’ colonialism, and labor disruptions

bell hooks via Wikipedia Commons

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?

Bram Büscher on Nature3



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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