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.
This time, we feature interesting reads on the state of work and ‘quiet quitting’; post-car societies, future and present; the false promise of saving the planet by planting trees; the Turkey-Syria earthquakes; big beef’s climate messaging machine; de-extinction and why it isn’t worth the ethical cost; the conundrums of climate fiction; the new How to Blow Up a Pipeline movie, a dramatization of Malm’s 2021 book of the same name; and so much more.
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
On planning and disaster: Notes from an earthquake | How disasters are baked into Turkey’s developmental model—and what kind of opposition could emerge out of the ruins of the earthquake
Top 5 articles to read
How to make friends. Fighting the system may take a while. Why not go to a bar?
Is a post-car future actually possible? Experts say yes — here’s how we could get there
The illusion of saving the planet with a trillion trees
Universal public services: the power of decommodifying survival
News you might’ve missed
Illegal gold mining influencers are tearing up the Amazon
Methane leaks from oil and gas industry are 70% higher than EPA estimates, study shows
Chile plans to nationalize its vast lithium industry
Manuel Teran’s death: DeKalb County releases autopsy for ‘Cop City’ protester. Tortugita’s death has officially been ruled a homicide.
Where we’re at: analysis
Climate diplomacy is hopeless, says author of How to Blow Up a Pipeline
So much of the world economy has been going in reverse
The lithium problem. Can we rapidly reduce carbon emissions while minimizing the damage caused by resource extraction?
The real-world costs of the digital race for Bitcoin. Bitcoin mines cash in on electricity — by devouring it, selling it, even turning it off — and they cause immense pollution. In many cases, the public pays a price.
The toxic dust from Turkey’s earthquakes
Why Asia’s early heat wave is so alarming
Global struggles
There’s no greater feminist cause than the climate fight – and saving each other
My continent is not your giant climate laboratory. Chukwumerije Okereke urges African governments to stand against the ploy by Western organizations to normalize research on risky geoengineering technologies.
Indigenous Pataxó demand land demarcation amid rising violence and murders
As tiger count grows, India’s Indigenous demand land rights
FEMA sued over using disaster funds to rebuild Puerto Rico’s power grid
Cities and radical municipalism
How Tokyo became an anti-car paradise
Exactly how much less America walks than other countries, in five charts
Spain and Portugal tackle property crisis by embracing public housing
What Barcelona can teach New York City about truly affordable housing
Return of the child-friendly city? How social movements are changing European urban areas
Let the postpandemic city grow wild
Food politics
Food corporations paid shareholders $53.5bn while millions went hungry
Blood, soil, and grass-fed beef
Inside big beef’s climate messaging machine: confuse, defend and downplay
You can’t eat profits. A democratic vision for England’s tormented farmlands.
Just think about it…
Why intergenerational thinking is essential to heal the planet
The planetary emergency is a crisis of spirituality
Bringing back woolly mammoths and dodos is a bad idea
These adorable tiny owls are thriving in the most unlikely place
I lead a litter-picking group, but I will always defend litterers. This is why
Degrowth
The ideology of growth and its origins. An excerpt from The Future is Degrowth.
Sci-fi, art and storytelling
Climate fiction won’t save us. As the world burns, readers increasingly look to climate fiction for hope, predictions, and actionable solutions. But can the genre really be a manual for useful change?
Is eco-terrorism now self-defence? Inside explosive film How to Blow Up a Pipeline
How to Blow Up a Pipeline movie poses terror threat, Kansas City Intel Agency claims
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