GND Media

Burnham or Bust?

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0100

Howdy, it's been a while!

Ads gets Andrew and Sean back on the podcast to discuss all things Green Party, Burnham and the rising threat of fascism.

What's is it like running as a Green in local elections? Should Socialist back Burnham to see off threats from Reform? Should the Green Party always consider itself in the gravity of Labour? and what is Sean having for tea? Listen on to find out!

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Chris Saltmarsh on Your Party and eco-socialism

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 07:00:00 +0000

This week Andrew and Lucy are joined by Chris Saltmarsh( @Chris_Saltmarsh), CEC candiate for Yorkshire in Your Party.

Chris was one of the original founders of Labour for a Green New Deal and in someways responsible for this podcast even existing. If that isn't worth a vote I don't know what is....

Andrew, Lucy and Chris discuss how Chris's view of climate politics has changed since the heady days of 2019 and the founding of Labour for a GND, why eco-socialists should be in Your Party over the Greens, what Eco-socialist Horizon wants to do in Your Party and why Chris should be on Your Partys CEC.

Check out the Grassroots slate which Chris is a part of here: https://grassrootsleft.org/candidates/

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Greens Organise: Making the Green Party the Eco-socialist party it needs to be

Tue, 23 Dec 2025 08:00:00 +0000

The Green Party of England and Wales has emerged as a contender for national power since Zack Polanski took over the leadership back in August. He talks the good talk about being an eco-populist and certainly knows how to get a message to people in a fractured media world. But surely he can't do it all by himself? Who else is burning the torch for eco-socialism in the greens?

This week Ads and Andrew are joined by Steve Jackson, a co-founder of Greens Organise. They discuss why Steve setup this group in the Green Party to drive the it leftward, what is the political culture of the greens and how it differs from the Labour Party and we discuss how the Greens can reach out to working class neighbourhoods who Reform are trying to court.

Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas, we shall see you next year.

Links

Learn more about Greens Organise with the link below.

https://greensorganise.uk/

Shout outs

To everyone

Andrea Egan - new Gen Sec of Unison!

Zack Polanksi - new leader of the Green Party

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Budget 2026: Is the planet in the plan?

Wed, 03 Dec 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Andrew and Lucy are joined by Dr Gareth Fearn to discuss the climate impacts of Rachel Reeves budget announcements last week.

Why can’t this government put forward a positive vision of the country? Are energy bills actually going to come down by £150? why the changes to the motorbility scheme are BS.

Shout outs

Village Green's in Prestwich

Manchester Urban Diggers

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After XR: live at the World Transformed

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 06:00:00 +0100

Over the weekend the GND Media team ran a radio station at The World Transformed festival, taking place in Hulme this year. Shout out to Josh, Becky, Stephen, Matthew, Mikki, Fitzroy and Barney!

XR not only brought climate issues into the mainstream, they also changed how people protested. However, since COVID XR's civil disobedience style protests have waned and protests in general seem to have gone back to the prioritising numbers over disruption.

Ads is joined by two of his old XR comrades to discuss how XR changed the game but also what protests needs to do today to stay a relevant part of political action.

The songs in the show are,

Terrorist, by Low Key

Health and Wealth by Bob Vylan

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TWT Live: Time (Still) Running Out: Renewing Socialist Climate Strategy

Sun, 19 Oct 2025 21:00:00 +0100

This panel was recorded live at the World Transformed Festival 2025, in Hulme Manchester.

The climate crisis continues to rage despite its disappearance from public discourse and the collapse of the climate movement.

We desperately need a new socialist climate politics, but what role does ‘Your Party’ play in its development and delivery?

Should we prioritise contesting elections or building eco-socialist revolution? Mobilising in the streets or organising workplaces? Shifting consumption or disrupting polluting production? And how do we prepare to respond to the impacts of climate change?

This session aims to unpack these tough questions and offer a renewal of socialist climate strategy.

Millie Kent is an eco-socialist organiser from London.

Chris Saltmarsh is a socialist climate campaigner and writer. He was co-founder of Labour for a Green New Deal and author of Burnt: Fighting for Climate Justice (Pluto).

Gaby Jeliazkov is Organising and Advocacy Lead at Platform and co-author of the Our Power report on just transition.

James Meadeway s a Trustee at Rethinking Economics International, and a former adviser to the former Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell MP. He hosts a weekly podcast called Macrodose.

Hary Holmes is a socialist activist and writer. He is on the editorial board of Prometheus and a member of rs21.

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Zack Polanski at The World Transformed

Tue, 14 Oct 2025 07:00:00 +0100

Over the weekend the GND Media team ran a radio station at The World Transformed festival, taking place in Hulme this year. Shout out to Josh, Becky, Stephen, Matthew, Mikki, Fitzroy and Barney!

We grabbed 15 minutes with the new leader of the Green Party Zack Polanski. We asked him how its going being shot into the limelight, the differences bewteen the Greens and Your Party, and what's it like having to deal with Piers Morgan?

Over the next week or so we will be uploading various bits from panels and interviews from across the festival. stay tuned.

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Rail nationalisation was never enough w/ Gareth Dennis

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 07:00:00 +0100

One thing you can say about the Labour Party, is that they stuck by their promise to renationalise the rail system. Or did they?

To discuss everything that's right and wrong about Britain's railways Andrew is joined by Gareth Dennis. Gareth is a rail engineer and author of HOW THE RAILWAYS WILL FIX THE FUTURE., and Hosts @Railnatter on Youtube.

They discuss Zack Polanski's landmark win for the Green Party leadership, why the rail network is bad for people with access needs and what we can do about it. And does Manchester really need a underground network like Andy Burnham desires?

Rail natter

https://www.youtube.com/@GarethDennisTV

Campaign for level boarding

https://www.levelboarding.org.uk/

Greens for HS2

Gareth Dennis book

https://repeaterbooks.com/product/how-the-railways-will-fix-the-future-rediscovering-the-essential-brilliance-of-the-iron-road/

Shout out

Possible

https://www.wearepossible.org/

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Now, the People! Jean-Luc Mélenchon book review

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 07:00:00 +0100

This week Andrew and Lucy are reviewing Now, the People! Revolution in the Twenty-First Century by the french politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

They discuss Melenchon's idea of "the People" how climate change is sown into this book and if Melenchon’s focus on population levels is necessary for his analysis. and we ask Is melenchon a degrowther?

Links

Get a copy of Now! the People! Revolution in the Twenty-First Century at Verso.

https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/3256-now-the-people-revolution-in-the-twenty-first-century?srsltid=AfmBOooFyWUlKOqFc2VKog1B_MX-lG4TGB7yJZbHCi8WgLi6dN4upgII

EP Thompson essay "Time, Work-Discipline and industrial Capitalism "

https://files.libcom.org/files/timeworkandindustrialcapitalism.pdf

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Podcasting at the end of the world.

Mon, 12 May 2025 07:00:00 +0100

We are back!

It's been a while and well.. everything is kinda getting a bit shit. We have breached 1.5C, the Labour Party are spent and its not rained in England for two bloody months.

Andrew and Lucy got together to discuss all the big events over the last six months and reflect on the local election results in England. We also covered Zack Polanski's leadership bid for the Green Party and if "Eco Populism" is the way to unite the left and send Nigel Farage packing.

Links

Listen to Lucy's episode of Trash Future here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmPbzlYNYZE

Zack Polanski's campaign website

https://backzack.com/

Shout outs

Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People

https://gmcdp.com/

James Taylor Manchester Unison

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Bhopal: Stories of an Ecocide. Episode 2: Green Revolution

Tue, 17 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Support the Bhopal Medical Appeal https://www.bhopal.org/
Episode two: The Green Revolution explores the historical, political and economic forces that came together to make the Bhopal Gas Disaster a catastrophe just waiting to happen. Focusing on India’s so called “Green Revolution” we discuss the long term consequences of short term technological fixes to the environmental challenges with which the new post-colonial state was confronted - not least the persistent problem of food security and the threat of famine. We explore how new laws such as the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act contributed to Union Carbide’s decision to cut corners in the building and safety of its plant in Bhopal, and we discuss some very different responses to the environment at the Green Revolution within India in the 1970s and 1980s.

This month, all new sign ups on Patreon will be given directly to the Bhopal Medical Appeal.

Music "Recurring anomaly" by Charles Holme
https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/bcoMezO9lb/

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Bhopal: Stories of an Ecocide. Episode 1: Tank 610

Mon, 02 Dec 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Support the Bhopal Medical Appeal https://www.bhopal.org/

Forty years ago on the night of December 2nd 1984 water entered the chemical storage tank 610 at the Union Carbide India plant in Bhopal causing an exothermic reaction that released a deadly cloud of gas into the air which was blown for miles across the city exposing more than 500,000 people to the deadly and enduring effects of methyl isocynate. In Bhopal: Stories of an Ecocide we tell explore the history, social, political and economic drivers behind the world’s worst industrial disaster and its devastating - and ongoing - human and environmental impacts.

In episode one we explore the deadly events of that night and hear from those who experienced it and are still supporting those living with the consequences.

This month, all new sign ups on Patreon will be given directly to the Bhopal Medical Appeal.

Music "Recurring anomaly" by Charles Holme
https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/bcoMezO9lb/

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Bhopal: Stories of an Ecocide coming December 2nd

Sat, 30 Nov 2024 11:00:00 +0000

First episode December 2nd

Forty years ago, on the night of December 2nd 1984, water entered the chemical storage tank 610 at the Union Carbide India plant in Bhopal, causing an exothermic reaction that released a deadly cloud of gas into the air which was blown for miles across the city exposing more than 500,000 people to the deadly and enduring effects of methyl isocynate.

In Bhopal: Stories of an Ecocide we tell explore the history, social, political and economic drivers behind the world’s worst industrial disaster and its devastating - and ongoing - human and environmental impacts.

New episodes every fortnight.

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Combating Climate Change Deniers

Mon, 04 Nov 2024 07:00:00 +0000

You may have noticed that all your favourite online spaces are rife with climate denial, skepticism and down right lies about how humans are effecting the globe. What is driving this change?Are these people working as individuals, in networks or backed by the oil and gas industry itself? This week we here from some who's trying to fight back against the tide of disinformation and climate denial.

Ads and Andrew are joined by "Tom" a scientist who has been working anonymously to combat climate denial and disinformation. We discuss why "Tom" has had to keep his identity secret and the threats made to him and his colleagues, how the Oil and Gas industry is using influencers and backing politicians to muddy the waters around climate change and what tactics can be used to combat the worst offenders.

Shout out
Climate Brawl - a community of people debunking climate denial online.

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Will Labour's GB Energy deliver the just transition?

Mon, 07 Oct 2024 07:00:00 +0100

Support the show https://www.patreon.com/gndmediauk

Labour's flagship policy of its election campaign was GB Energy. A phrase that would have pricked the ears of anyone who cared about getting off fossil fuels and combating climate change. With the government keeping its cards close to its chest we put together a crack team of guests who can breakdown what GB Energy could be and how it should develop to really build a just transition.

This week Andrew is joined by Melanie Brusseler from Common Wealth, Ellie Radcliffe from Carbon Co-op and Keir Milburn from Abundance to discuss how GB Energy is shaping up.

We discuss the current problems with the UK energy system, the resources committed to GB energy and if its a good start, how the governments response to industrial decline so far will inform their approach to the energy transition and how to keep people in the picture when it comes to energy.

Links
GB Energy- Government statement on the organisation
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/great-british-energy

Commonwealth report on GB energy
https://www.common-wealth.org/publications/the-greatest-generation-how-public-power-can-deliver-net-zero-faster-fairer-and-cheaper

Shout outs
Summer the cat
Carbon Co-op team @CarbonCoop
Green Organise @GreensOrganise

Climate and Community institute @cplusci
Johanna Bozuwa @johannabozuwa

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Nuclear Power to Save the Planet? (Part Two) with Mark Nelson

Mon, 16 Sep 2024 07:00:00 +0100

This week is our part two in our mini series on Nuclear Energy. You can listen to part one of this series with M.V Ramana here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/gnd-media/id1501980017

Ad's is joined by Mark Nelson (@Energy Bants) founder and managing director of Radiant Energy Group, a organisation that supports low carbon energy transition and keeping nuclear power plants open. They tackle the three big points of contention in the debate around atomic energy. Waste, the link between nuclear energy and nuclear weapons and the timelines it takes to get nuclear power plants completed. Ads and Mark also explore the current reach of nuclear technology around the world, How our perceptions of time play a role in feelings around nuclear waste and Marks thoughts on how political and spiritual thought around nuclear power has lead to its collapse in the last 20 years.

Links
Radiant Energy Group: https://www.radiantenergygroup.com/

"Into eternity" The documentary Ads was discussing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayLxB9fV2y4

Shout out
Mark's shout out this week is Ursula Von de Leyen @vonderleyen for stating that Europe needs more nuclear power.

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Nuclear Power to save the Planet? (Part One) with M.V. Ramana

Mon, 02 Sep 2024 07:00:00 +0100

For the next two episodes Ads is exploring one of the most debated and decisive topics when it comes to climate breakdown. Nuclear power.

In recent years many have seen nuclear power as a keystone technology that can help produce bountiful clean energy to get humanity off fossil fuels. For others, when nuclear power is mentioned the images of Fukushima, Chernobyl and the threat of apocalyptic war are front and center and believe that this incredibly powerful energy source should remain a relic of the 20th century, it is too dangerous.

This week we are joined by M.V Ramana, author of "Nuclear is not the solution", and a member of the international nuclear risk assessment group. Ads discusses with Ramana the main arguments against pursuing nuclear power. Who currently has access to it? Is it a viable technology on our climate timeline? Are Small Modular Reactors a real innovation? Are we aware of all the risks posed? What do we do with the waste? How are different countries approaching nuclear power and where do Nuclear weapons fit into this picture?

in Part Two Ads is joined by Mark Nelson to discuss the positive vision for nuclear power.

Links
Dismantling Sellafield Article
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/15/dismantling-sellafield-epic-task-shutting-down-decomissioned-nuclear-site

Get a copy of Ramana's book: Nuclear is not the Solution, from Verso.
https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/3013-nuclear-is-not-the-solution?_pos=2&_psq=nu&_ss=e&_v=1.0

World Nuclear Status Report
https://www.worldnuclearreport.org/

International Panel on Fissile Materials
https://fissilematerials.org/

International Nuclear Risk Assessment Group
https://www.inrag.org/

Pugwash group
https://pugwashgroup.ca/

Shout out
Ramana's co-authors at the world nuclear report
Mycle Schneider
Antony Froggatt
Julie Hazemann

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The migration crisis and the climate crisis both need our humanity. With Zoe Gardner

Mon, 29 Jul 2024 07:00:00 +0100

Humans have always moved. long before we started planting grains in the fertile crescent, we moved around the globe in search of food, shelter and other humans for trade and collaboration. If you're moving now without dollar in your pocket, your demonized, shunned and your humanity questioned, just for trying to find a better life. The climate crisis is going to have millions on the move. How do we bring solidarity and shared understanding to our fellow man?

This week on the show Lucy and Ads are joined by Zoe Gardner. Zoe is a migration and asylum policy specialist, researcher, advocate, and writer.

We discuss the current hell that migrants go through travelling to and through Europe, how Britain leaving the European Union ramped up the crossings by small boats, The potential danger of Robert Jenerick becoming the new Leader of the Tory party and what a humane asylum system would look like.

links

Gaia Vince: Nomad Century: How to survive the climate upheaval
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/444202/nomad-century-by-vince-gaia/9780141997681

Shout outs
AVID: the Association for Visitors to Immigrant Detainees
https://www.aviddetention.org.uk/

Manchester Mustard tree
https://mustardtree.org.uk/

And a shout out to the french left for keeping the far right at bay in the recent elections! hold on!

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How can we separate biodiversity from colonialism ? with Chris Armstrong

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 07:00:00 +0100

The Climate Movements key focus is on the reduction of emissions and stopping humanity from going over the edge into full blown climate breakdown. But by focusing so heavily on the parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere are we missing ways in which the natural world shapes our existence? Are we being negligent to the lives of other species that make up life on earth, and what affect does that have on humanity in turn?

Returning to the show this is Professor Chris Armstrong, to discuss his new book "Global Justice and the Biodiversity Crisis: Conservation in a World of Inequality". Chris is a Professor in Political Theory in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Southampton @sotonpolitics.

We start by discussing the current state of international nature conservation and how colonial powers still shape biodiversity schemes, how by fixating on carbon we miss the richness that nature provides for humans and how some efforts for conservation embed the structural inequality enforced on the global south. We also discuss how by viewing the world through economics, we make it worse for all living things on the planet.

Links

You can read Chris's latest book here:
Global Justice and the Biodiversity Crisis: Conservation in a World of Inequality
https://academic.oup.com/book/55992?

Ads reccomends some books by James Rebanks when we discuss farming. You can find his catalogue here:
https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/120316/james-rebanks

Shout out
survival international
https://www.survivalinternational.org/campaigns/conservation

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Election special: which Manifesto is best for the planet?

Mon, 01 Jul 2024 07:00:00 +0100

The election is in full swing in the UK, with 3 days to go until the polls open. Are the parties rising to the occasion and providing a vision of a world not decimated by the climate crisis? We put in the hard hours to read the manifestos on offer so you don't have to!

In this endeavor of analysis or political parities commitments we are joined by comrade of the pod Sam Knights! We discuss what is Labour's GB energy? Why haven't the Tory's mentioned water for the last six weeks, Are the Green's spending plans realistic? and Why are the Lib Dems more serious about climate than you expect?

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On Extinction and Denial: How humanity is coping with the climate crisis.

Mon, 17 Jun 2024 07:00:00 +0100

This week we are starting at the End.

This week on the show myself and lucy are joined by Tad Delay and Ben ware. Tad the author of Future of Denial:The Ideologies of Climate Change. He’s also an assistant Professor of Philosophy at Baltimore City Community College. Ben Ware author of On Extinction: Beginning Again At The End. Ben is the Co-director of the centre for Philosophy and art at Kings College London.

I imagine if you’re listening or watching this you’re probably in some state of shock when it comes to how humanity is responding to the collapse of the planet as we know it. Maybe you’re also finding yourself cringing or at odds with how some of those who are most seemingly committed to stopping climate breakdown go about their business. How are we to understand how humanity is reacting at this moment. Are we in denial about the end of the world? Are some of us enjoying the idea of the end? Is learning more and more facts about climate change actually helping? Or are we finding comfort in being correct about the rolling doom.

We decided to bring ben and Tad together to discuss there work as they both draw on psychoanalysis to understand how we’re reacting at the end of the world. We discuss how our relation to time affects our ability to act on climate change, how denial can manifest itself in government action, the joy at the end of the world and how joe biden can be the “best president on climate” while opening oil and gas fields and support a genocide in Gaza.

Links
Tad has done a great series of podcast discussing his book with varies thinkers and contemporaries. Listen to it here
https://open.spotify.com/show/64e8AfK6GmHyhztfTVY8sI?si=6c756546bfe94433

You can pick up Ben's book On Extinction: Beginning at the end from Verso here
https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2604-on-extinction

And you can get Tad's book Future to Denial: The Ideologies of Climate Change from Verso here.
https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2857-future-of-denial

Shout outs
Kairos, a new venue in London exploring radical ideas for social and cultural change in response to the climate and nature crises. @KairosClub
https://www.kairos.london/

All the staff at Stepping hill hospital in Stockport

Richard Seymour @leninology

Unite UCU
@UniteUCU

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"The Working Class Always have to Save Themselves" Working Class Climate Alliance.

Tue, 04 Jun 2024 07:00:00 +0100

Shout outs
Class work project
https://www.theclassworkproject.com/

Trade mark belfast

feminize Politics Now

Reclaim

Acorn tenants union

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Climate Researcher Fired for Not Flying! Dr. Gianluca Grimaldi

Mon, 20 May 2024 07:00:00 +0100

When our ethics clash with our work, who wins? and Who should win? Should we adhere to the orders of our mangers, even if we think its bad for the planet?

This week on the show Ads and Andrew are joined by Dr. Gianluca Grimaldi, a climate researcher. Gianluca tells his story of being fired from his job as a climate scientist for refusing to fly for work-related travel. He discusses the reasons behind his decision, including the environmental impact of air travel and the need to challenge the culture of excessive flying in academia. Gianluca also talks about the lack of support from his colleagues and the impact on his career.

Links
You can support Gian's research here
https://ko-fi.com/ggrimalda

Guardian Article about Gian's story https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/12/climate-researcher-who-refused-to-fly-back-from-research-trip-is-sacked

Check out Gian's research work here
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gianluca-Grimalda

Shout outs
Scientist Rebellion
@ScientistRebel1

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Organsing in Coal Mines and Car Plants for climate, with Nicole González

Tue, 07 May 2024 07:00:00 +0100

This week on the show we are joined by Nicole Kleinheisterkamp-González a PHD candidate at Syracuse University in New York state. Nicole's research is to bring the analysis of Labour and union organising into geography. Her field work has taken her to working in coal mines and car plants to understand the lives of workers in the US and Germany, and how their political formations are changing with the pressures of climate change.

Can workers from carbon heavy industries be the frontline in the just transition? Can the climate movement and workers come together to save the planet?

Links
Nicole's research paper
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/03091325231154222

Shout Outs

Support those affected by devastating wild fires in Chile
Fondo Nacional de Reconstrucción
https://donaciones.hacienda.gob.cl/english

United Auto Workers Union in the USA

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Kohei Saito on degrowth communism.

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 07:00:00 +0100

We've spoken to alot of degrowthers on this show, all coming from slightly different angles on the problems facing the planet. This week we are heading to Japan, to hear from one of the most prominent thinkers on Marx, to see how marxism and degrowth are really singing on the same hymn sheet.

This week on the show Ads and Andrew are joined by Philosopher Kohei Saito to discuss Degrowth Communism.

Kohei Saito is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Tokyo, and the best selling author of "Capital in the Anthropocene" (which sold over 500,00 copies in Japan), Marx in the Anthropocene and his new book "Slow Down: The degrowth Communist Manifesto".

Topics discussed
The popularity of Kohei's books on Marx in Japan

Marx on nature and the metabolic rift

Historical Materialism

How Degrowth is an extension of Marx's own work.

How to get move on from "Capitalist common sense" to abundance.

The Japanese Left.

How do we start putting these ideas into practice.

Links
You can get a copy of Kohei's latest book "Slow Down: The Degrowth Communist Manifesto" at the link below.
https://www.waterstones.com/book/slow-down/kohei-saito/9781399612975

shout out

Kohei's kids for inspiring him to keep fighting for a better world.

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Why are cars getting so much bigger? Finance, Loans and Debt with Dr Tom Haines-Doran

Mon, 08 Apr 2024 07:00:00 +0100

50% of all new cars are SUV's, which may come as a surprise to you, considering the various noises around the world about moves to green transport. Is this just people with more disposable income wanting bigger cars, is it for the prestige? Or do car companies need you to buy bigger?

This week on the show Lucy and Andrew are joined by political economist Dr Tom Haines-Doran, to discuss his recent paper " The financialisation of car consumption". They discuss how the car industry is slowly destroying itself through over production, why fiance and debt companies want you to own a bigger car, why the majority of cars are pretty much the same and the fall out of the the botched Low Traffic Neighbourhood scheme in Levenshulme.

Links

Read Tom's paper "The financialisation of car consumption" Here
https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/204987/

Read " The political economy of car dependence: A systems of provision approach" Here
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629620300633

Shout out
Streets for People- @s4plb
Walk Ride GM- @WalkRideGM

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XR founder Roger Hallam on revolution and climate movement strategy

Mon, 25 Mar 2024 07:00:00 +0000

When people think about environmentalists, the next words they probably say are, "Oh, like Extinction Rebellion?" The impact of XR on the the climate movement probably can't be over stated. From ubiquitous association to the effects on organising practice, Extinction Rebellion has been at the forefront of climate action for the last five years. In the U.K many campaigns and activist are holding their breath, waiting for the Labour Party to take the reins of government, so the question is: what next for XR?

This week Ads and Andrew are joined by XR and Just Stop Oil co-founder Roger Hallam. They discuss how the efffects of climate change spurred Roger into working on building a climate movement, how XR was built, its successes and shortcomings, why revolution is the only answer now as we head past 1.5 degrees and why citzens assemblies can be the mechanism for the revolution.

Check out Roger's "The Work We Need to Do" here
https://drive.google.com/file/d/13UFxnwIEb4afjEzRdZQ72WUtLvvPB0PM/view?ref=rogerhallam.com

Roger's Website
https://rogerhallam.com/

Shout out
You can check out Rogers humanity project and get involved here.
https://rogerhallam.com/humanity/

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Zack Polanski - Deputy Leader of the Green Party

Mon, 04 Mar 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Support the show on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/gndmediauk
Twitter: @gndmediauk
Instagram: gndmediauk

This week on the show we are joined by the Deputy Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, Zack Polanski. We discuss how Zack ended up in the Green Party, what makes the party different from Labour, what would a Green Party in Government mean for British industry and how Zack sees personal choices versus systemic change.

Shout Out
United voices of the world
https://www.uvwunion.org.uk/en/

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Green energy has never been cheaper, so why aren't we transitioning faster? With Brett Christophers

Mon, 19 Feb 2024 07:00:00 +0000

If there is any one word that is synonymous with tackling climate change it is “electrification”. Yes, getting off fossil fuels and taking the majority of CO2 out of our economy are the goals of many working on the climate, but if there was one silver bullet for the climate movement its generating more clean electricity.

Renewable forms of energy have sharply decreased in price over the last twenty years, and battery storage solutions are coming on in leaps and bounds, but most of the world is still tied to oil and gas for their electricity use. So our question today is: Why aren't we moving faster on the green energy transition? luckily we've found a guy who might know.

Our guest today is Brett Christophers, Brett is a political economist and economic geographer, and has just published his new book “The Price is Wrong “Why capitalism won’t save the Planet “ on Verso books. Andrew and Lucy discuss with Brett why the energy sector is so complex, how it favors fossil fuel based energy production , why isn't investment pouring into green energy and how china and India's energy needs should be a focus for the years to come.

Links
Pick up a copy of Brett's book here
https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/3069-the-price-is-wrong

Shout out
https://heatmap.news/

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"The Rich Need to Pay for Climate Action" Kevin Anderson on climate change and inequality

Mon, 05 Feb 2024 07:00:00 +0000

It's our yearly stock take, where are we now in the fight to save the planet, and what do we need to do, to make progress faster? Friend of the show Professor Kevin Anderson joins us to cut through the crap and get the heart of the matter.

Kevin is the chair of energy and climate change at the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering (MACE) at the University of Manchester and works at the Tyndall center for climate change research. Ad's and Andrew discuss how much more carbon has been emitted since last year, Why there is political cowardice at the top of the UK's politics, why inequality and climate change are intrinsically linked and how the framing around "Net Zero" has done more damage than good.

This episode was recorded before the Labour Party dropped their £28bn a year pledge on green investment. Thanks lads.

Shout out
Rena Jones- Notts and Derbyshire councils and all the climate officers at local authorities fighting hard for change with no resources.

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NASA scientist Peter Kalmus on how we can beat climate change in five years.

Mon, 22 Jan 2024 07:00:00 +0000

You would be very hard pressed to say 2023 was not an awful year for natural disasters and climate related tragedy. Wildfires in Canada and the US, extreme flooding in Bulgaria and Bangladesh, and record breaking heatwaves in Northern Africa and the Mediterranean. When the science is pointing in this direction, of destruction and chaos and those in power aren't listening, what do you do?

This week we are joined by Peter Kalmus, Climate scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California*. Peter is also a member of Science Rebellion and co-founder of Undeniable Network. We discuss how NASA plays it part in monitoring the changes in the earths climate, how he speaks to his family about climate change, what is the science behind reversing climate change and what political action needs to take place to do that. Then we discuss the importance of the next US election, and how it affects the global effort get off fossil fuels.

*Peter Kalmus speaks on behalf of himself and not NASA.

Links
undeniable network

Check out Peter's book "Live Well and Spark the Climate Revolution"
https://peterkalmus.net/books/

Shout Out
Peter's brothers and sisters in Scientist Rebellion

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The Mineral Politics of the Just transitions with Thea Riofrancos

Mon, 08 Jan 2024 07:00:00 +0000

To say the modern world is dependent on materials we dig out of the ground is an understatement. From the lithium in your phone battery to the cup you're drinking your tea in, mining and mineral extraction play a vital part of how survive on earth.

With the race to get off fossil fuels, and electrify our entire transport network kicking off, dependency on rare earth minerals like lithium is going to increase, and the conditions of the people mining it brought ever to our attention.

This week on the show Lucy and Andrew are joined by Thea Riofrancos, Professor at Providence College in the US and the author of "Resource Radicals" and "A Planet to Win". They discuss how Lithium is a key resource when it comes to the transition away from fossil fuels, how mineral exploitation in South America has shaped the politics of the region and how Unions are now driving the just transition in the Americas.

Links
Check out Thea's website here
https://www.theariofrancos.com/

The Lithium Problem (interview by Alyssa Battistoni). Dissent, 2023.
https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/the-lithium-problem

Electric vehicles alone won’t take us to a decarbonized future. The Hill, 2023
https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/3861795-electric-vehicles-alone-wont-take-us-to-a-decarbonized-future/

Chile: White Gold Rush. Chatham House’s The World Today, 2022
https://www.chathamhouse.org/publications/the-world-today/2022-06/chile-white-gold-rush

Shifting Mining from the Global South Misses the Point of Climate Justice. Foreign Policy, 2022
https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/02/07/renewable-energy-transition-critical-minerals-mining-onshoring-lithium-evs-climate-justice/?tpcc=recirc_latest062921

Shoutout
Friend of the show Asad Rahman of War on Want, for his stirring speech at COP 28 on Palestine.

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2023 Xmas Special "I was a very reactionary child"

Tue, 26 Dec 2023 07:00:00 +0000

2023 is over and the battle for 2024 is about to begin.

It's the end of the year so gather round the wireless to hear Ads, Alex, Lucy and Andrew discuss where we are at a end of 2023 and guess which of us had some very strong one nation Tory opinions as a child.

Have a fantastic Christmas and see you in 2024.

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"I'm an advocate for Gentle Anarchy" Supporting Bees and Insects in Ireland.

Mon, 04 Dec 2023 07:00:00 +0000

The worlds biggest climate negotiations are happening as you read this, in Dubai at COP28. The President of COP has just said "There is no scientific basis for climate change"

...... I think its time to take a breather, go outside and hangout with nature, and think a little locally.

This week Ad's is joined by Paul Handrick aka "The Bee Guy". Paul runs the worlds first native wild Bee sanctuary, based in the republic of Ireland. They discuss how Paul transitioned from gigging musician to running the only organic vegan farm in Ireland, the problem with the profit motive, frustrations working with the environment movement and how everyone can support Bees, Insects and other wildlife in their own gardens.

Links
Follow the link below for more info on the Bee sanctuary.
https://savingbees.ie/

Shout out

CEO responsible futures Sam Cande

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How Green Colonialism Damages the Arab Region

Mon, 20 Nov 2023 07:00:00 +0000

The world’s attention right now is focused on the desperate situation in Gaza. This human catastrophe has major ramifications for the wider Arab region encompassing North Africa and the Gulf States, an area that is also at the heart of fossil capitalism and thus an important region when it comes to turning the planet away from hydrocarbons and climate catastrophe. While being the generator of 35% of the all the hydrocarbons in the world, it is also the site of potentially immense green energy. So how might a just transition take place here? And how do the political and environmental conditions of the region shape this transition?

This week Alex is joined by Hamza Hamouchene ( @BenToumert) and Katie Sandwell (

@KatieSandwell) the editors of a new collection of essays called "Dismantling Green Colonialism, Energy and Climate Justice in the Arab Region"

Hamza and Katie both work for the Transitional Institute, an international research and advocacy institute committed to building a just, democratic and sustainable planet.

They discuss with Alex how Fossil Capitalism is already scooping up land for renewables and carbon offsets in the Arab region, how the World Bank and the IMF along with local elites push the Arab region toward extractive industries instead of focusing on climate adaption. How Green Colonialism has developed in the region and what a Just Transition would look like, that does not put North Africa at the service of Europe.

Links
Pick up a copy of Hamza and Katie's book from Pluto Press Here
https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745349213/dismantling-green-colonialism/#:~:text='A%20brave%20and%20timely%20book

Shout outs
Palestinians in Gaza and the Diaspora
Social justice and environmental justice activist in Arab region.

Mohad Gasmi: currently in prison in Algeria for criticizing the current government. You can learn more about what has happened to Mohad Here
https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/human-rights-defender-sentenced-3-years-prison

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WCV2 NY Communities for change "Let's not replace Oil Barons' with Solar Barons'"

Mon, 13 Nov 2023 07:00:00 +0000

For the final episode of this season of Working Class Voices, it's time to end with some real inspiration.

Ad's sits down with Alice Hu (@tweetsbyANH) of New York Communities for Change (@nychange), a working class community action group. Alice explain's how they organised across the issues of immigration, housing and good jobs to be more effect climate activists, How hurricane Sandy's effects on New York City spurned on climate action, and how to run a successful, diverse working class protest.

Links
New York Communities for Change.
https://www.nycommunities.org/

Here's Ad's article from the start of the series.
https://www.gndmedia.co.uk/articles/happy-flowers-dont-win

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WCV2 Duncan Exley "Working class campaigners want to change things"

Thu, 09 Nov 2023 07:00:00 +0000

We're on the home stretch of season two of working class voices. This week Ad's is joined by Duncan Exley . Duncan's work helps bring class diversity to institutions and support working class campaigners. They discuss the difference between working class and middle class campaigning, How one posh friend can change your life, the power of pride and humiliation and how we should be campaigning around a Just Transition.

Links
Resolution Foundation

Duncan's book
The End of Aspiration : social mobility and our children's fading prospects.
https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/the-end-of-aspiration

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GND Media Live: Climate Doom to Climate Bloom with Green New Deal UK

Tue, 07 Nov 2023 07:00:00 +0000

We all know that the Green New Deal is bold and ambitious in its vision, providing the solutions to the climate crisis that go hand in hand with solutions for social justice – a prosperous future where everyone can thrive.

Tune into this recording of our Lucy speaking at a panel event, hosted by Green New Deal Groupon 26 October, exploring further how a Green New Deal gives us reason to hope not only for the climate emergency, but also economic, social and racial justice.

Featuring Caroline Lucas, Ellen Fearon of GND Rising and Tyronne Scott of War on Want.

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WCV S2: We've run with it like a dog with a burst ball"

Mon, 23 Oct 2023 07:00:00 +0100

This week's episode is about action, community and not waiting for the council to come and sort it for you and how even those with the least can be leaders in the fight against climate breakdown.

Ads is joined by Terry McTernan, Secretary of the Darkwood Crew in Ferguslie Park , Scotland. Ferguslie Park has consistently been at the bottom of Scottish league tables for economic development and poverty, with decades of Holyrood led initiatives to try and change that and with little luck. Terry and his community decided it was their turn, for the working class to decide how to change their part of the world for the better.

Ads and Terry discuss how the Darkwood Crew knits community support and climate action together, how years of top down approaches from government haven't helped Ferguslie Park, the practical work of running successful community groups and how Ferguislie Park Community Council was formed.

Links
Ferguslie Community Council Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/fergusliecommunitycouncil
Darkwood Crew- Ferguslie community environment group.
https://darkwoodcrew.co.uk/

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WCV S2: Keir Milburn " Glorious Variation in the Global Working Class"

Mon, 16 Oct 2023 07:00:00 +0100

This week on Working Class Voices Ads' is joined by writer and activist Keir Milburn. Keir is the author of “Generation Left” and is a co-host of ACFM on Novara Media. Keir is also a founding member of the think tank Abundance.

They discuss how the definition of who is working class affects organising strategies, are the working class more resilient to police oppression and brutality and has this had an affect on groups like XR? Keir discusses the Spy Cops scandal, Why the working class has to build its own institutions to save the just transition from venture capital, the cycles of social movements and what the left needs to do when Starmer takes power.

Links

ACFM- Keir's podcast with Nadia Idle and Jeremy Gilbert
https://novaramedia.com/category/audio/acfm/

Red Plenty Games
https://redplentygames.com/

Abundance
https://www.in-abundance.org/

Under cover policing inquiry (Spy Cops inquiry )
https://www.ucpi.org.uk/

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WCV S2: Football Culture and Climate Change.

Mon, 09 Oct 2023 07:00:00 +0100

Fossil fuels and the companies that extract and distribute them are everywhere. Those companies seep into society from powering our homes, to buying off politicians and owning the sports teams we love. When these levithans take over our passions and interests, what should we do about it?

This week on Working Class Voices Ads is joined by Michael from Game Changer, the campaign to get football clubs to drop fossil fuel sponsorships. They discuss Micheal's journey from watching documentaries to organising football fans against fossil fuel companies, How those oil companies capture culture, and the challenges of bringing football fans into the climate movement.

Links

The Big Step: Campaign against advertising gambling in sports

Calling Time Scotland : The campiagn to kick out alcohol advertising in sports.

Game Changer

Get in contact with the Game Changer campaign below.
gamechanger@platformlondon.org

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"Build Public Renewables!" The DSA passes a HUGE climate bill in New York

Mon, 02 Oct 2023 10:00:00 +0100

This week we are organising for power, in more ways than one.

Andrew is joined by Lawrence Wang (@ltothewang), a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (@DemSocialists), and on the Eco-socialist working group for the New York City Chapter (@Nycdsa). Lawrence explains how the DSA in New York State organised and passed a bill that means the state has to develop publicly owned renewable energy generation. We discuss the DSA's mission and how it approaches politics in the USA, the tactics and strategy that got their legalisation passed and how they ended up running AGAINST one of the sponsors of the bill they were pushing through the congress!

Cheat sheet for the episode
DSA: Democratic Socialist of America
BPRA : Build Public Renewables Act
NYA : New York Power Authority
IRA: Inflation Reduction Act

Links
Democratic Socialists of America
DSA New York Chapter
NYC DSA Eco-socialists

Lawrence's recent article in Jacobin about the BPRA
https://jacobin.com/2023/07/new-york-bpra-green-new-deal-public-renewable-energy

Shout Outs
Stop Cop City
Pine Tree Power
Our Power coalition
Maine DSA

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Working Class Voices S2: "Everything's in the F**king bin"

Mon, 25 Sep 2023 07:00:00 +0100

This week Ads is joined by Fraser Stewart. Fraser is the just transition lead at Regen, a non for profit focused on pushing the UK towards cleaner energy. They discuss how weirdly similar their lives have been as working class lads in the environment movement, how the working class manage in middle class spaces, what are the best ways to talk about climate to people who are already struggling and how starting with reality is better than rhetoric.

Links
Frasers' article "New Tools"
https://fraserjfstewart-17.medium.com/new-tools-29028eacf86a

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"Its time to revive land politics in the UK" with Right to Roam

Mon, 18 Sep 2023 07:00:00 +0100

If you were to wander lonely as a cloud in England, chances are that you would find yourself on privately owned lands and committing a civil offence. if you were to do the same in Scotland however, you would be totally within your right to do so. So what gives? Why don't the English have access to the nature and countryside of God's green earth?‍

This week we are joined by land access campaigner and orgnaniser at Right to Roam, Jon Moses. Ads and Jon discuss the history of land being taken into private ownership, the difference between land access rights in England and Scotland, what actually might happen if you illegally trespass (spoiler not as much as you might think!) and Jon updates us on the access rights saga of Dartmoor national park.

LINKS
Right to Roam campaign website

Shout out
Daniel Grimstom, and congrats on the your play Corpse light.

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Working Class Voices: Season Two with Emma River Roberts

Wed, 06 Sep 2023 07:00:00 +0100

Welcome to season two of Working Class Voices on GND Media. This podcast is where we let the working class speak for themselves, on how to combat climate breakdown.

We believe the working class will be the ones to fundamentally drive the transition from fossil fuels, and only with their collective power could it ever be a truly just transition.

This season will focus on those from the working class who are already in the climate movement.

This week Ads is joined by Emma River Roberts. They discuss why Just Stop Oil's actions miss the point when it comes to accelerating climate action, Emma's experience of being working class in the climate movement, Emma's view of the Labour Party right now and what needs to be done to properly link the working class and climate movements together.

Links
Ad's article " Happy flowers Don't Win" on GND Media.

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"Out of the Lab and into the Streets" Scientists for XR

Mon, 04 Sep 2023 07:00:00 +0100

We're back! And not a moment too soon. After a summer of international extreme weather and political inaction, we're kicking things off combining science and activism.

This week we are joined by the co-founder of Scientists for XR Dr Aaron Thierry. We discuss why July this year was so hot globally, how climate scientist are portrayed in the media and whether their expertise gives them more standing in the media. Ad also digs into what revolution means to scientists, and if we can find hope in science.

Links
Kevin Anderson's talk that inspired Aaron.
https://www.lse.ac.uk/lse-player?id=1208

Scientists for XR
https://www.scientistsforxr.earth/

Shout outs
Dr. Rose Abramoff

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GND Classic: Climate Reparations with Dr Keston Perry

Mon, 28 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0100

This episode was first broadcast on June 14th 2021

This week on the show we are joined by Dr Keston Perry. Keston is a lecturer in economics and political economy at University of West of England (UWE).

We discuss in practical terms what reparations would mean, the historical racism embedded into Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal and how a Green New Deal must be designed in that context, as well as the reverberations of the Haitian Revolution and how taking a paternalistic approach to defeating climate change won't bring justice to those most effected by it.

Links
Sorting out the Mixed Economy by Amy Offner
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ehr.12988

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney
https://www.versobooks.com/books/2785-how-europe-underdeveloped-africa

William Sandy Darity on reparations
https://reparations4slavery.com/william-sandy-darity-jr/

Shout outs
Professor Maxine Burkett

Asad Rehman
@chilledasad100

Alex O'keefe- Ex Sunrise Movement leader for holding the movement to a higher standard
@_dotgov

Alex's Thread on the situation at Sunrise
https://twitter.com/_dotgov/status/1402249288818769920

Cycling UK- for their campaign Big bike revival
@WeAreCyclingUK

The fantastic organisations supporting refugees across the UK to mark Refugee Week 2021
@RefugeeAction
@GMIAU
@AmnestyUK
@FreefromTorture
@AsylumMatters
@FootballMuseum

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GND Classic: If the Economy doesn't support Humanity, whats the point? with Julia Steinberger

Mon, 21 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0100

This episode was first broadcast on November 9th 2020
Note: This episode was recorded before the results of the U.S election were published.

How do we define the success of a city? Or a country? Or human civilisation all together? The last 60 years we've been tied to GDP, growth, trade surpluses, amounts of debt, the strength of currency. Economic strength has been the barometer for the majority of the world to look to when we want to know how we're doing. If stock and shares are high surely there can't be any problems? When an economy bifurcates massively between the haves and the have nots, and to become a haver you need to extract from the environment considerably, measures of economic superiority really start to miss the point. So what's the alternative?

Joining us on the podcast this week is Professor Julia Steinberger ( @JKSteinberger). Julia is a Professor in social ecology and ecological economics at l'Université de Lausanne in Switzerland and is currently working on the next IPCC report on climate change . We discuss the links between consumption and capitalist affluence, how epicurean philosophy has informed economics of the past 50 years and the balancing act of extraction for a greener future.

Shout outs

Councillor Jon Burke
@jonburkeUK

Marcus Rashford
@MarcusRashford

Swiss campaign for corporate accountability

**LINKS**
Scientists warning on affluence (co-authored by Julia)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16941-y

The Flawed science of deep adaptation
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/faulty-science-doomism-and-flawed-conclusions-deep-adaptation/

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GND Classic: Climate Change as Class War with Matthew T Huber

Mon, 14 Aug 2023 07:00:00 +0100

This episode was first broadcast on September 5th 2022

This year on the show we have taken a closer look at class as a dimension of environmentalism and climate change. With our series Working Class Voices, we heard real stories and attitudes when it comes to the working class and climate.

Today's show is moving the conversation to look at the dynamics between classes and how that plays out in the struggle for a just, green world.

This week we are joined by Matthew T. Huber. Matthew is a Professor of Geography at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and the author of the new book, Climate Change as Class War: Building Socialism on a Warming Planet.

We discuss how focusing on consumption can blind class analysis of climate change and why individualistic "carbon guilt" stops real action occurring. We also dig into Matthew's critiques of the politics of degrowth and why trade unions need to shape a Green New Deal.

This interview was recorded on 15th of July 2022

Shout Outs

War on Want appeal to support those affected by the horrendous floods in Pakistan.
https://secure.waronwant.org/page/112424/donate/1

Labour Notes
@labornotes

Links

Matthews book "Climate Change as Class War" can be bought at Verso.

The grueling working conditions of the US Solar sector workers

Kim Moody: On New Terrain

Nico Poulantzas

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GND Classic: The Value of a Whale with Adrienne Buller

Mon, 07 Aug 2023 07:00:00 +0100

This episode was first broadcast on August 8th 2022

The global economy is fundamentally intertwined with the environment and with that climate breakdown. Fastidious bankers, hedge fund managers and capitalists are on the case trying to tackle the end of the world with the only tools they know how to use, finance and profit.

So what happens when models of extraction are used to fix models of extraction?

This week on the show we are delighted to be joined again by Adrienne Buller to discuss her new book "The Value of a Whale". In the book Adrienne critiques the methods of green capitalism as it attempts to save the planet through profit.

We discuss why offsetting encourages damage to ecology, what green economic ideas are the most dangerous, why market approaches to fighting climate change increase injustice and why Adrienne wrote this book to radicalise her mum.

LINKS
Steve Keen on Nordhaus' misleading economics

A history of the world is seven cheap things by Raj Patel

kate sopher on hedonism

Shout outs
Adrienne's editor Tom at Manchester University Press

Jon Moses for the Bristol botanist mass trespass

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GND Classic: How to Blow Up A Pipeline with Andreas Malm.

Mon, 31 Jul 2023 07:00:00 +0100

This episode was first broadcast on March 15th 2021

Peaceful protest could be seen as the hallmark of political movements in the late 20th and early 21st century, causing disruption to everyday life with mass gathering and turning the political headwind through chants, crowds and banners. From the Iraq War protests in 2003 to the Extinction Rebellion direct actions of 2019 turning the other cheek and love thy neighbour have been core tenants around a politics and respectability. The key questions is though, did they change anything? Does Capital listen to Labour without a threat?

Our guest this week is author and associate lecturer at Lund University Andreas Malm. Andreas is a prolific writer on climate change and capitalism with titles including "Fossil Capital" Corona, Climate, Chronic Emergency" and "White Skin Black Fuel". We discuss the sanitising of political and civil movements, the strategic value of property destruction for a cause and combating climate despair and fatalism.

Links
How to blow up a Pipeline
https://www.versobooks.com/books/3665-how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline

kim stanley Robinsons' Ministry for the future
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-ministry-for-the-future/kim-stanley-robinson/9780356508832

Ende Gelaende- the climate activsts Andreas has worked with
https://www.ende-gelaende.org/en/

Shout outs
Ende Gelande- climate activists based on germany taking on lignite mining
@Ende__Gelaende

Low Carbon Homes- for supporting the retrofit Get-in Project
@lowcarbonhomes

Friends of Carrington Moss- defending local green space in Greater Manchester
@FriendsMoss

Trees not cars - Congrats on beating Manchester council on the building of a carpark
@TreesNotCars

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Class Politics in a Warming World with Keir Milburn

Mon, 17 Jul 2023 07:00:00 +0100

It's been said on this podcast many times that the working class will be the ones who make sure we have a just transition. For the last few years deciding who the working class are has been up for debate. Are graduates in minimum wage jobs the working class? Are plumbers on £80k a year the working class? How will climate change affect these categories?

This week on the show we are joined by writer and activist Keir Milburn. Keir is the author of “Generation Left” and is a co-host of ACFM on Novara Media. Keir is also a founding member of the think tank Abundance.

We discuss who the working class in 21st century Britain are, how climate and class politics have expressed themselves in the past, the horrendous spycops saga and how it affected climate activists in the 2000's, what current climate activist have forgotten from previous movements, how to discuss the realities of planetary boundaries in politics without having a reductive vision for the future and whether climate organisers should use moral arguments in their campaigning.

P.S WE'RE ALL LEEDS ARNT WE?!

LINKS
Check out Working Class Voices HERE
https://www.gndmedia.co.uk/working-class-voices

Check out Keir's work at Abundance HERE
https://www.in-abundance.org/

You can listen to ACFM HERE
https://novaramedia.com/category/audio/acfm/

You can buy Keir's book Generation Left HERE
https://www.wiley.com/en-gb/Generation+Left-p-9781509532247

Listen to our episode with Jason Hickel HERE
https://www.gndmedia.co.uk/podcast-episodes/degrowth-jason-hickel

Shout out
Issac Rose and Manchester Housing Action. Check out Issac's work at Greater Manchester Housing Action HERE
http://www.gmhousingaction.com/

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“Degrowth means power for the working class" With Jason Hickel

Mon, 03 Jul 2023 07:00:00 +0100

We've always said that environmentalism needs to understand class if it wants to protect the world from climate catastrophe. Degrowth has been accused by some on the Left as green austerity or just a terrible political message.

To debunk degrowth myths and to discuss why class is at the heart of any just transition and a degrowth economy we are join by Jason Hickel. Jason is the author of"Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World" and a world-leading scientist and scholar on degrowth.

We discuss how class politics and environmentalism should work in tandem, why capitalism can't stop the climate crisis, why Universal Basic Services (UBS) is at the heart of a degrowth economy, how trade unions need to remember their radical past and how the EU conference on beyond growth is opening the doors for more radical policy in Europe.

Links
Read Jason's book "Less is More: How Degrowth with Save the World" HERE
Read "The Conquest of Bread" by Pëtr Kropotkin HERE

Shout outs
Prabhat Patnaik & Utsa Patnaik, authors of "Capital and Imperialism", which you can buy HERE

Max Ajl, Check out our episode with him back in 2021 HERE

Senegalese economist Ndongo Samba Sylla

Mark Burton for introducing Ads to Degrowth.

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The Uninhabitable Earth No More? With David Wallace-Wells

Tue, 20 Jun 2023 07:00:00 +0100

It is, we promise, worse than you think. Or maybe it was? For all the fear and genuine suffering covering the globe from actual happening climate change, maybe, just maybe, we are on a path that isn't all out destruction of the Earth?

This week on the show we are joined by climate writer and columnist David Wallace-Wells. David writes for New York Magazine, The New York Times and is author of best selling book The Uninhabitable Earth. We discuss how David got into climate journalism and how writing The Uninhabitable Earth made him more hopeful about the future, the paradox of Republican politicians and climate investment, and how we persuade people about the benefits of the green energy transition.

Links
Read Davids' original article HERE

Get a copy of Davids' book "The Uninhabitable Earth" HERE

Shout outs
Varshini Prakash - co founder of the Sunrise Movement

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Can we sail to Zero Carbon global trade?

Mon, 05 Jun 2023 07:00:00 +0100

In 1950, world shipping was roughly half a million tonnes of cargo. As of 2019 it's now 11 billion tonnes. A mind blogging increase in 70 years. Shipping is one of the most resistant and slow sectors to clean up its climate act, with only a commitment to reduce emissions by 50% from the International Maritime Organisation at 2050. So what can we do to green maritime trade? And has the answer been blowing in the wind all this time?

This week Ads and Andrew are joined by Dr Christiaan De Beukelaer to discuss his new book "Trade Winds: a voyage to a sustainable future of shipping". We discuss how a couple of weeks of research at sea turned into half a year due to COVID-19, How global shipping made capitalism even more extractive, the realities of going back to sail powered shipping and why the IMO might be more effective compared to other U.N institutions.

Links
You can pick up Christiaan's book Trade Winds: a voyage to a sustainable future of shipping" HERE

Read the International Maritime Organisations Carbon targets HERE

Learn more about the sail cargo organisations like Timbercoast HERE

Shout outs
Alson Kelen and the Waan Aelõñ in Majel (WAM) team. Check out their great work HERE

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What is Carbon Colonialism? How Rich Nations Fly-tip Their Emissions

Tue, 23 May 2023 07:00:00 +0100

If you're living in a house that was built in the last 20 years, chances are the bricks it's made from travelled 18,000 miles to build your front door. The question is, why? As ever, the pursuit of profit has the economy doing mad things and bad things for the climate. Turns out carbon emissions don't cross borders when you write them down.

This week we are joined by Laurie Parsons, Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at Royal Holloway, to discuss his new book "Carbon Colonialism: How rich countries export climate breakdown". We discuss the "Global Factory" and how rich nations export their emissions to the global South, and how the logic of colonialism has informed international development and aid programs. We also get into how, by accepting framing from elite universities on climate change, we miss different visions of value and society.

Links
Pick up Carbon Colonialism HERE

Shout out
Environmental defenders in Cambodia

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"The US's landmark climate legislation still supports fossil fuels" with Dharna Noor

Tue, 09 May 2023 07:00:00 +0100

It's time for our regular update from the climate movement in the USA. This week we are joined by fossil fuel and climate journalist Dharna Noor. Dharna has just started a new role as a climate reporter for the Guardian US, with previous work at the Boston Globe and Gizmo.

We discuss how the "biggest climate legislation" in the US is still supporting the fossil fuel barons, how Joe Biden has backtracked on oil drilling in the Arctic Circle, recent developments in the US climate movement and the tragic murder of a climate activist at the hands of the police.

Links
Alex's piece in the Bristol Cable about the sorry state of Bristol's housing stock.

David Griscom's piece for GND Media on the IRA

Shout outs
Anthropologist Nicole Fabricant
Journalist Lucas Batt
Any new climate conscious councillors. We need you now more than ever.

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Behind the Scenes at the IPCC with Yamina Saheb

Mon, 24 Apr 2023 07:00:00 +0100

The IPCC report always comes as a splash for those in the climate movement, ringing the alarm bells ever more about our planet's awful condition. But who writes it? And who gets to write it? how do these influential documents and frameworks come about and how do those who write it, affect the narrative around climate breakdown?

This week we are delighted to be joined by one of the leader authors for the latest IPCC report Yamina Saheb. We discussed how the IPCC reports get made and who gets to make it, the working conditions of the people writing it, how those most affected by current climate breakdown are cut out of the decision making processes. Yamina also updates us on the protests in France and how the Gilet Jaune and the climate movement are linked together.

Links
The Energy Charter Treaty

Why the The Energy Charter Treaty is a threat to climate action- article by War on Want

Yamina's piece on Sufficiency in Buildings and Cites

Shout outs
Friend of the show Julia Steinberger @JKSteinberger

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Dangerous Assumptions

Mon, 10 Apr 2023 07:00:00 +0100

What's that old line? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different outcomes is a sign of madness.

There is plenty of consensus around what we should be doing to mitigate the worst affects of climate breakdown, but if all the methods we are using the ones that got us in this predicament in the first place, chances are they're not going to work. Is the dominant climate strategy built on a series of dangerous assumptions?

This week on the show we are joined by Ben See. Ben is a high school teacher and climate activist based in Paris . We discuss the potential underlaying assumptions that could be scuppering radical change to save the planet. Is an economic system built on assumed rationality putting the brakes on necessary change? Are hopes of technological fixes wasting time? How do we communicate our situation to the children who will grow up in ecosystem collapse?

Links
Andrew's piece on climate grief

IPCC AR 6th synthesis report
IPBES report on global biodiversity and eco systems.

Environmental Audit committee report

Shout outs
The climate justice movement

Innes Fitzgerald- UK under 20s cross country runner who won't fly to take part in competitions due to its climate implications. Read about Innes here

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End Climate Silence with Dr Genevieve Guenther

Mon, 27 Mar 2023 07:00:00 +0100

If you're someone who is engaged with climate breakdown, you may be stunned by the lack of action you're seeing on it from our politicians, institutions and media. You may even find yourself frustrated at how climate change is framed as a problem that is looming on the horizon, or just a technical equation waiting to be solved. So why is this the case? Why do so many of those in power communicate on climate so poorly?

This week on the show we are joined by Dr. Genevieve Guenther. Genevieve is the founder of End Climate Silence, an organisation that is trying to tackle the sticky semantic subject of climate communication. We discuss how language itself can shape our responses to climate change, why journalists are all too happy to adopt right wing framings of the issue and how we can use art to understand our current predicament.

Links
End Climate Silence

Platforms just transition for oil and gas workers.

Working Class Voices series

Shout out
fossil fuel non proliferation treaty
https://fossilfueltreaty.org/

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"We Are Living Through Absurdity" with Dr James Dyke

Mon, 13 Mar 2023 07:00:00 +0000

This week we are taking stock with Dr James Dyke. James is a an Associate Professor in Earth System Science, and Assistant Director of the Global Systems Institute at the University of Exeter. James has written extensively for The i newspaper, The Guardian and The Ecologist on the climate crisis.

Ads, Andrew and James discuss where the the climate movement is right now, how deep time plays into the effects we are having on the planet, when good people do bad things because of poor systems and what happens next if 1.5°C fails.

Links
You can buy James Photographic essay on climate change " Fire, Storm and Flood: The violence of climate change" HERE

Check out James' blog HERE

Shout Outs
Edred Whittingham an activist who's taken part in direction action with Just Stop Oil and is currently on trail for trying to stop climate breakdown

Ali Roe, working with medical and health workers on the affects of climate change.

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Climate Change as Culture War

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 07:00:00 +0000

You might be forgiven thinking that something as huge and undeniable as climate change would manage to stay out of the way of the madness that is right wing culture wars. And you'd be wrong. As strategies to mitigate climate change start to be implemented around the world, the long shadow of conspiracy, moral panic and hysteria are circling the internet and their coming for your air source heat pump!

This week on the show we are joined by Ketan Joshi ( KetanJ0). Ketan is a communications and research consultant working with European climate organizations currently based in Norway and has recently been writing about how conspiracy theories and culture war can affect climate change policy. we discussed the bizarre controversy over gas stoves in the US, how Covid-19 conspiracy theorists have moved into climate change culture war and how to combat climate disinformation.

Links
Read Ketan's article "The Dawn of the Gas Stove Denialism" at New Republic

Tracking conspiracies during COP 27

Renew Economy Aus

Shout outs
first nations clean energy network in Australia
Senator Bernie Sanders

Josh Davies and David Wilkinson at UCU.

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Montane Ecology with Dr Sarah Watts

Mon, 13 Feb 2023 08:00:00 +0000

This week on the show we are joined by Dr Sarah Watts, an expert in all things montane botany. We discuss what over grazing has done to Scotland's mountainous regions, the complex systems of inter species co-operation that make up highland forests, what plants and trees should we reintroduce into Britain and how Scotland used to be and could like Scandinavia again.

Links
Read Sarah's paper on the benefits of mountain woodland restoration here.

Read Felicity Monger's paper on the impact of mountain tree planting on lowland floods here

Reforesting Scotland's mountain Birch Project.

Botanical society of Britain and Ireland

Shout out
All of Sarah's mates doing their PHDs at the University of sterling

All the people who took a stand against the fascists attacking the refugees in Knowesley on the weekend.

Support Care for Calais and help refugees in Calais and across Europe.
https://care4calais.org/donate-now/
@Care4Calais

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The Blue New Deal: How to Save our Oceans

Mon, 30 Jan 2023 07:00:00 +0000

This weeks show covers about 71% of the globe and some how we haven't talked about it before. The Green New Deal is a plan for economic and ecological transformation across the earth. But where do the sea and ocean play into this? Do we need a plan for making sure this vast space full of resources and natural beauty is saved from the logic of the market?

This week on the show we are joined by Professor Chris Armstrong, author of the new book "A Blue New Deal: Why we need a new politics for the ocean". We discuss with Chris how U.N. treaties have shaped the current exploitation of the Global South through fishing rights and sea bed mining , how we can develop carbon-negative industries by caring for the sea and he lays out the arguments for a treaty on the rights of sea life.

LINKS
Chris' website
you can buy Chris' book here

Progress on the High Seas Treaty

U.N Convention of the Law of the Sea

Stella Maris

Shout Outs
Ocean Rebellion @oceanrebellion
Sea Shepherd @seashepherd

Support to everyone out on strike on Feb 1st. Teachers, Rail workers, Nurses, Ambulance drivers. You're all fighting for a better world. @eiecampaign

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Inside COP 15. Saving Our Biodiversity

Mon, 16 Jan 2023 07:00:00 +0000

We've been sounding the alarm about biodiversity from the very beginning of this podcast. If the ecology of the planet goes, we all go with it. So what are nation states doing to reverse the damage done?

This week on the show we are joined by climate journalist Daisy Dunne. Daisy is a special correspondent for Carbon Brief and was part of their team covering COP 15 in Montreal. We discuss what happen at COP 15, what are the new biodiversity targets, how geopolitics shapes the targets and why the biodiversity summit gets scant attention compared to the COP on carbon emissions. We also discussed the difficulties of being a climate journalist and how to balance being the canary in the coal mine while leading a normal life.

Links

The COP15 Agreement

Daisy's coverage of COP 15

Daisy's piece on the disappearance of our glaciers for Carbon Brief

Marlowe Hood: Watching the world burn

Shout outs
Home Tree- a project to rejuvenate Ireland's Atlantic rain forest.
Marlowe Hood- excellent climate journalist
Lützerath bleibt! - German activists that have occupied a town to stop the expansion of a coal mine.

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Is It Too Late For 1.5°C?

Tue, 03 Jan 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Happy New Pod! It's a new year, so its the perfect time to reassess where we are and what we are fighting for. Let's get back to basics: Carbon emissions, average temperatures and 1.5°C. Can we still keep a habitable planet?

This week on the show we are delighted to have back on the podcast Professor Kevin Anderson. Kevin is a energy and climate scientist formerly of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change. We discuss what is Net Zero and why it is hindering our ability to reduce emissions. Is 1.5°C warming still viable? And what would that mean for the planet? Kevin also talks us through what governments of the world need to do right now to keep the planet safe.

Links
Climate Uncensored: Kevin's new climate science education project.

Shout outs
Michael Gove MP: for focusing the country on the government's disastrous fossil fuel projects, including the Cumbria coalmine.

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò: for their excellent work on climate change and colonialism. We'd love you to come on the show!

Everyone out there building and fighting for a better world in 2023.

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2022 Xmas Special

Mon, 26 Dec 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah and a happy festive time to all!

We've got the whole team around the Christmas dinner table to discuss the ups and downs of 2022. Expect copious amounts of gravy, a lump of coal in Cumbria's stocking and some half earth socialism too.

Thanks for everyone who's supported us on Patreon this year, with your help we've been able to commission fantastic articles over on gndmedia.co.uk , publish videos, send the team to events and run the best climate podcast in the north west.

why don't you give the gift of climate journalism this year and join the fine folk over at pateron.com/gndmediauk

We shall see you bright and early in 2023

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The Future of Energy Ownership: Live Panel from TWT 2022

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Public ownership is back on the agenda. With energy companies reporting record profits while people choose between eating and heating this winter, calls for renationalising our energy system are gaining traction. However, our demands cannot be shackled to past solutions. To create a truly democratic and sustainable energy sector fit for the 21st century, we must envisage new models of public ownership.

This weeks show is a live panel from The World Transformed at Labour Conference 2022.

Chris Saltmarsh co-founder Labour for a Green New Deal and author of "Burnt: Fighting for climate justice"

Hazel Nolan: regional organiser for GMB in the North East, Yorkshire and Humber

Matthew Lawrence founder of the think tank Common Wealth and co-author of "Owning the Future: Power and property in an age of crisis."

The panel is chaired by India Burgess from the think tank Autonomy

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GND Classic: The future of UK Energy supply with Jan Rosenow

Tue, 29 Nov 2022 12:00:00 +0000

This episode originally aired on November 8th 2021

If you've seen the news in the UK in the last month, you'll be well aware that our old energy system is having a bad time.

With gas prices spiking, all the noise from COP26, and the public's temperament towards climate activism cooling, it's probably worth figuring out what the hell is going on with our energy supply, and how we make it equitable and sustainable for generations to come.

This week on the show we are joined by Jan Rosenow (@janrosenow). Jan is the European director of the Regulatory assistance project (RAP) which is dedicated to speeding up the transition to clean and green energy. He also is a special advisor to the UK government's Department of Business, Energy and industrial Strategy (BEIS).

We discuss what is causing the current energy crisis, who has a stake in for the UK's future energy mix (and what measures they'll go to to defend those stakes,) what politics is created by energy production, and the viability of community energy systems.

Shout outs
Louise Sunderland (@sunderlandlouis)

Ellie Radcliffe and Laura Williams for their work on the community wealth building tool kit with CLES (@ellieradcliffe9)

Links
CLES Community wealth building toolkit
https://t.co/i7IhBNtewA?amp=1

Rhiannon Osbourne (@rhiannon_osborn) confronting Kwasi Kwarteng
https://twitter.com/StopCambo/status/1456271753223671810

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Pakistan Floods and COP 27 with Asad Rehman

Mon, 07 Nov 2022 07:00:00 +0000

This summer immense flooding struck Pakistan and devastated the landscape and its people. 31 million people have been displaced and the country is a long way from recovery. Today COP 27 starts in Egypt. Loss and Damages are right at the top of the agenda and the fight continues for reparation for those already affected by climate breakdown.

This week we welcome back on the show Asad Rehman from War on Want. We discuss the cataclysmic flooding in Pakistan, how colonialism exacerbated the flooding and how the global south is left defenseless through debt . Asad also talks us through COP27, what's on the line and how mass movements from Africa and round the world are fighting for change in Egypt and against the Egyptian government.

Links
Walter Rodney: How Europe underdeveloped Africa

Naomi Klein in the Intercept "from Blah Blah Blah to blood,blood blood"

War on want - https://waronwant.org/

Cop27 Coalition -https://www.cop27coalition.org/

Shout outs

Via Campesina- the global coalition of farm workers
https://viacampesina.org/en/

Refugee Council- for speaking out against the Home secretary
https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/

RNLI - who continue to rescue refugees in the English Channel against the will of the British Government.

DJ Pro P for bringing the heat at the working class voices event

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"Turning Trespass from a Crime into a Right" Right to Roam Campaign

Mon, 10 Oct 2022 07:00:00 +0100

If you've taken a walk in England chances are you've seen a sign that says "private property" or "trespassers will be persecuted". Turns out over 90% of the land in England is in private hands and our access to the green and pleasant lands are minimal. So how do we get it back?

This week on the show we are joined by Right to Roam campaigners Nadia Shaikh and Harry Jenkins. We discuss the history of Right to Roam campaign and the trespassing laws, why the language of trespass is framed against the working class, the hypocrisies of government ministers on access rights and why connecting back to the land is so important in building the climate coalition.

LINKS
The New Enclosure by Brett Christophers

The Twitter thread on mass trespass that inspired this episode

https://www.righttoroam.org.uk/

Shout outs
indigenous peoples stewarding 85% of all biodiversity in the world.
and Evie Muir(@xeviemuir) from Peaks of Colour (@PeaksOfColour)

Lilly Hill - save rybanks fields
Lilly's article on the rybanks fields campaign.

Ruth Sullivan - GRT activist

Our very own Dan Weegmann @DanLdnMcr for his cracking design work.

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The Fossil Politics of Texas

Mon, 26 Sep 2022 07:00:00 +0100

It's safe to say last week was political hell in the UK. So let's take a break and check out what happening on the other side of the pond. Texas, the second largest state in the USA, has one of the most deregulated energy sectors in the country and after biting cold snaps, intense heat and rocketing energy prices something has to change.

To discuss with us the forces at work in Texas and the challenges for Socialists, Trade Unionists and Progressives, we are joined by David Griscom (@DavidGriscom). David is a born and bred Texan and political commentator known from the Micheal Brooks Show and Left Reckoning.

We discuss the current state of Texas' energy sector, the union busting taking place at oil and gas companies, why the renewable sector isn't a just transition for workers yet and if the Inflation Reduction Act is all it's cracked up to be?

Links
David's piece on liberal climate politics
Alex's article on retrofit in the Guardian.
Texas Climate Jobs Project
Matt Huber's piece on the Inflation Reduction Act

Shout out

Texas Climate Jobs Project
@TXClimateJobs

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"Bargaining for the future" Trade unionism and fighting for climate in the workplace

Tue, 20 Sep 2022 07:00:00 +0100

For the last three years we've been discussing how climate breakdown needs to be drawn into all areas of life if we are to stand a chance of surviving it. This weeks guests have picked up the gauntlet and are intertwining there workplace fights and the climate.

We are delighted to be joined by two organisers from UCU, Marianne Quick Bargaining and Negotiations Official (Prisons and Sustainability) and Ben Crawford a green rep at the University of Liverpool to discuss UCU's Green New Deal pay claim.

We discuss how UCU brought climate into their bargaining agenda, the green pay claim at University of Liverpool, the tensions of traditional trade unionism and climate protection, and how trade unions can keep institutions honest when it comes to their Net Zero commitments.

Links

UCU- Green New Deal

The German Union Marianne mentions is DGB, here's a link to their just transition paper

Students organising for Sustainability

Shout out

Save Rimrose Valley https://twitter.com/saverimrose

Students organsing for Sustainability
All UCU members at the ballot or the picket at the moment.

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Climate & Revolution: How do we transition from catastrophe?

Mon, 12 Sep 2022 07:00:00 +0100

This episode was recorded on the 28th of July 2022

It could be argued that the climate movement is split into two camps. Those studying and discussing the affects of climate change and those that are drawing the new worlds we could live in when the catastrophe is finally over. So the question we should really be asking is

"How do we get from here, to there?"

This week on the show we are joined by GND Media stalwart Kai Heron and his co-author on a new piece about transition for the climate movement Jodi Dean.

We discuss how the Leninist tradition of anti-imperialism should be a key component in the political battles that will take place to stop climate breakdown, why institutions are key battle grounds for the climate movement and how the establishment is already adapting to climate breakdown.

Links
Jodi and Kai's article "Climate Leninism and Revolutionary Transition"

Shout outs
Tina Landis and there book climate solutions beyond capitalism

Party of Socialism and Liberation

Mick Lynch - General sec of the RMT

Thea Riofrancos review of Andreas Malms work at the Nation "Should the climate movement embrace sabotage?"

Rank and file union workers on strike

Dont Pay UK

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Climate Change as Class War with Matthew T. Huber

Mon, 05 Sep 2022 07:00:00 +0100

This year on the show we have taken a closer look at class as a dimension of environmentalism and climate change. With our series Working Class Voices, we heard real stories and attitudes when it comes to the working class and climate.

Today's show is moving the conversation to look at the dynamics between classes and how that plays out in the struggle for a just, green world.

This week we are joined by Matthew T. Huber. Matthew is a Professor of Geography at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and the author of the new book, Climate Change as Class War: Building Socialism on a Warming Planet.

We discuss how focusing on consumption can blind class analysis of climate change and why individualistic "carbon guilt" stops real action occurring. We also dig into Matthew's critiques of the politics of degrowth and why trade unions need to shape a Green New Deal.

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Enough is Enough

Mon, 22 Aug 2022 07:00:00 +0100

The U.K. is on the brink of a multitude of crises. With soaring energy bills, rampant inflation the highest we've seen in 40 years and don't forget the hottest days since records began. Mix that in with sewage being pumped into our rivers and seas, and a prime ministerial race which is based on who can be the cruelest to the most deprived. Well, Enough is Enough.

On today's show we are joined by Jake Johnson from Acorn (@ACORNunion) to discuss the new campaign Enough is Enough. Sprouting from the back of strikes from the RMT and CWU, Enough is Enough is a trade union labour movement campaign to demand a better future for the country. In the immortal words of Mick Lynch, "We refuse to be poor anymore."

On the show we discuss the campaign's five key demands, the struggles of organising in already difficult work conditions and how climate change is wrapped up in all of these demands.

Links

Tickets for the Manchester rally can be found HERE it's free!

Join the Enough is Enough campaign HERE.

Got a crappy landlord? Sign up to Acorn now

Shout out
0161 community
@0161community

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The Value of a Whale with Adrienne Buller

Mon, 08 Aug 2022 07:00:00 +0100

The global economy is fundamentally intertwined with the environment and with that climate breakdown. Fastidious bankers, hedge fund managers and capitalists are on the case trying to tackle the end of the world with the only tools they know how to use, finance and profit.

So what happens when models of extraction are used to fix models of extraction?

This week on the show we are delighted to be joined again by Adrienne Buller to discuss her new book "The Value of a Whale". In the book Adrienne critiques the methods of green capitalism as it attempts to save the planet through profit.

We discuss why offsetting encourages damage to ecology, what green economic ideas are the most dangerous, why market approaches to fighting climate change increase injustice and why Adrienne wrote this book to radicalise her mum.

LINKS
Steve Keen on Nordhaus' misleading economics

A history of the world is seven cheap things by Raj Patel

kate sopher on hedonism

Shout outs
Adrienne's editor Tom at Manchester University Press

Jon Moses for the Bristol botanist mass trespass

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"I love global warming and I love you too!" GND Summer Book club

Wed, 03 Aug 2022 07:00:00 +0100

It's time to shirk off that waged labour, for at least a couple of days, and dive head first into a cool pool of climate fiction.

On this first foray into a Summer Book Club our Lucy Burke and friend of the pod Sam Knights , discuss their favourite climate reads of the summer and the political power that fantastic fiction can have on the world. You'll find all the books mentioned below and we hope you find at least a weekend to imagine what a better would could look like.

links

Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake (2003) @ViragoBooks

Ghassan Kanafani, Men in the Sun (1962) Lynne Rienner Publishers, second edition,1998 (not currently in print but available second hand)

Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams (1990), @HarperCollins

Richard Lanchester, The Wall (2019) @FaberBooks https://www.faber.co.uk/journal/the-wall-by-john-lanchester-read-the-first-chapter/

Imbola Mbue, How Beautiful We Were (2021), Penguin Random House @penguinrandom

William Morris, News from Nowhere (1890) Penguin Classics @PenguinClassics

Ruth Ozeki, All Over Creation (2002), Canongate Canons @canongatebooks

Richard Powers, The Overstory (2018) @Vintagebooks

Kim Stanley Robinson Ministry For the Future (2020), Orbit, @orbitbooks
check out our episode with Stanley here

Neil Zink, The Wallcreeper (2014) @HarperCollins

These are the books that we mentioned in passing:

Edward Abbey, The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975) Penguin Modern Classics @PenguinBooks

Amitav Ghosh, The Great Derangement (2016), University of Chicago Press @UChicagoPress

Sahar Khalifeh, Wild Thorns (1976), Simon and Schuster @simonschuster https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/Wild-Thorns/Sahar-Khalifeh/9781623710798

Ian McKewan, Solar (2010), Vintage Classics @Vintagebooks

Jenny Offill, Weather (2020), Granta Books @GrantaBooks

Jules Verne, The Purchase of the North Pole (1889) CreateSpace Independent Publishing

Isobel Wohl, Cold New Climate (2021), Weatherglass Books, @WeatherglassBks

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Episode 100! Cuba's Life Task.

Mon, 25 Jul 2022 07:00:00 +0100

This week on our centenary! 100 episodes! We can't thank you all enough for supporting the show and listening to four Northerners (Alex is honorary) discuss and discover how we can make a Green New deal that could save humanity from fossil capitalism. Onwards and upwards. This weeks episode is a corker.

Cuba like all countries has to deal with the climate crisis . To add to that immense task, Cuba has had deal with crushing economic sanctions from the US. After the fall of the soviet union Cuba lost access to oil and had to reshape its economy away from fossil fuels. So how did they do it?

This week are delighted to be joined by Dr Helen Yaffe. Helen is a Visiting Fellow at the Latin America and Caribbean Centre and a Lecturer in Economic and Social History in the University of Glasgow. Helen is a specialist in the economic development of Cuba, and the economic ideas of Che Guevara.

We discussed how protection of the natural world was enshrined in the Cuban constitution, what collective acts were taken during the special period to move away from fossil fuels and how Cuba worked with it's citizens to transform the economy.

Links

Helen's Documentary :Tarea Vida de Cuba. Cuba's life task

Helens Book Che Guevara: The Economics of Revolution

Castro's speech from the 1992 UN earth Summit

Shout out
Cuban environmentalists
Full GND Media team for making it to episode 100!

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GND Mini: Hot in Here

Thu, 21 Jul 2022 07:00:00 +0100

It's been bloody hot, so Andrew and Alex wanted to whinge about it and discuss the political ramifications of the heat wave. Could this be the turning point we need for zero carbon?

Links

Tory candidates make u-turn and back net zero
Ads' article, 'Don't sing to your enemies', on our website

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Strategies of protest with Dr Oscar Berglund

Mon, 04 Jul 2022 07:00:00 +0100

It's shaping up to be a hot strike summer with multiple trade unions looking to ballot their members on strikes in the coming months. Thousands of people will be out on the street with their trade unions or with or social movements raising their voices against the litany of stupidity that is the UK government. When it comes to getting out on the streets it's important to measure the effectiveness of actions and how they push the fight against climate breakdown forward.

This week on the show we are joined by Dr Oscar Berglund (@berglund_oscar) from Bristol University. Oscar's research focuses on social movements and explores climate change activism particularly Extinction Rebellion (XR) and the use of civil disobedience. Oscar studies the strategies and discourses of civil disobedience in contemporary climate change activism.

We discuss where XR is now as a movement, how actions by the Tyre Extinguishers and Insulate Britain affect wider climate activism discourse, whether the media is pushing climate into the culture war, how car ownership has developed as an identify and the curious case of F1 driver Sebastian Vettel.

Links

Seeing like an activist by Erin Pineda

Matthew Patersons piece on Cars from I Peel

a piece Oscar wrote on protest for Bristol 247 back in 2021

Shout out

Gunilla Berglund (Oscars Mum!) who on retiring became a full time climate activist and his daughter at the age of 9 has been to several climate protests already.

Conrad bower from the Meteor

Kai Heron and Jodie Dean and their piece on "Climate Leninism" in Spectre

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Political climate education with Momentum

Mon, 27 Jun 2022 07:00:00 +0100

This week we are joined by Momentum co-chair Gaya Sriskanthan (@gayasktn). We discuss the importance of joining class struggle with climate action, what British environmentalists can learn from communities on the front line of climate breakdown and Momentum's new climate justice education program.

Links

Momentum Climate Justice education program

First session from the program

Momentum RMT picket tool

Sean's New Statesman piece

Shout outs

Sarah Woolley from the Bakers Union
@sarahwoolley01

Mick Lynch and RMT

Ellie Radcliffe
@ellieradcliffe9

Oldham Energy futures

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"Ice Cores Are Time Travel" Interview with Glaciologist Dr. Peter Neff

Mon, 20 Jun 2022 07:00:00 +0100

There's a heatwave happening in Europe so let's cool down this week by getting into some polar research and understand how we know the climate is changing from one of the most inhospitable places on earth.

This week on the show we are joined by Dr. Peter Neff,(@icy_pete) assistant research professor at the University of Minnesota. Peter is a glaciologist and climate scientist working primarily to develop glacier ice core records of past climate, environmental conditions, and atmospheric chemistry. We discuss the significance of Ice core data for understanding the changing climate, how ice cores are collected, the geo-politics of the antarctic and the military begins of polar research. Peter also discusses his ethos when it comes to communicating scientific ideas and dealing with social media doomerism.

Links

Peter's video on ice core drilling

Peter's publications and work

Peters Website

Joe Hansons Youtube channel

shout outs
Polar impact- supporting ethnic and racial minorities working in Polar research
@PolarImpact

Prem Gill founder of Polar Impact
@PolarPrem

Progressive Economic Forum
@PEF_online
James Meadway for organsing it
@meadwa

Councillor Linda Foley - @LindaFLabour
Manchester Schools, Teachers and Governors who are stepping forward for climate education

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"We gotta make peat sexy" Interview with Olivia Blake MP

Tue, 31 May 2022 07:00:00 +0100

This episode was recorded the week before the Government's U-turn on a windfall tax.

We are in the midst of a cost of living crisis, the war in Ukraine rages on and as ever climate breakdown is in full swing. Wet bulb events in India and south Asia pull into stark relief the potential future for the rest of the world. At the same time, our current minister for industrial policy and energy, Kwasi Kwarteng, is tweeting at young climate activists telling them to “shout and scream all they want… Britain is gonna be on oil and gas for years to come”.

It’s pretty safe to say that we need a change of government. As the official opposition the Labour Party is best placed to be that change so let's check in with Labour and discuss how they would respond to the climate crisis if they had the reins of the country.

This week we are joined by MP for Sheffield and Hallam Olivia Blake (@_OliviaBlake). Olivia is in the Shadow department for Climate change and previously at shadow DEFRA. We discuss the absolute mess that is the water and waste system in the UK, the importance of peatlands and the politics of burning peat, Labour's commitments on climate change and their "green sprint" policy. Then finally we discuss how activists should react to restrictions on protest.

Links
TUC rally in London June 18th.
https://www.tuc.org.uk/DemandBetter

Shout outs

UCU Bury College
@UCUBuryCollege

Deliveroo drivers on strike in Sheffield
@IWGBunion

Ed Milliband (come on the show Ed!)
@Ed_Miliband

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International Biodiversity Day Special with Josh Styles

Mon, 23 May 2022 07:00:00 +0100

It comes around quicker every year, it's only International Biodiversity Day!

To celebrate our United Nations mandated holiday we are throwing off our slippers, getting out the trowels from the shed and heading out into the garden with the tour de force that is botanist Josh Styles (@joshual95). Josh is a long time friend of the show and founder of the North West Rare Plants initiative. A project to help reintroduce extinct or rare plant species to the North West.

On this most green of days we discuss if symbolic events are useful for causes? The success of the Lesser Bladderwort, How we can make our gardens and lawns more bio-diverse and rare plant friendly, why Hoylake Beach needs protecting and of course... plant STDs.

Links

Sign the petition to save the SSSI that Josh talked about here

Here's a collection of botany and wildlife apps to help you out in the wild.

iNaturalist
https://www.inaturalist.org/

Plant snap
https://www.plantsnap.com/

Save hoylake beack

shout out
Lancashire Wildlife Trust

@Lancswildlife

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Working Class Voices #7 Níall Glynn

Wed, 18 May 2022 07:00:00 +0100

Our Ads is on a mission to understand why the working class is so hesitant to get involved in the climate movement in its current form. Each week he'll be talking to climate-conscious people who identify as working class to discover their thoughts on how working class people can become a force in the fight for our very survival.

This week Ads is joined by Níall Glynn, founder of Working Class Economist Group(@TheWCEG).

They discuss why he setup WCEG, Growing up in Manchester and Belfast, how the working class became individualized, why having the opportunity to travel can help develop class and environmental consciousness and how and why the two need blending together.

Links

Get involved in the Working Class Economist Group here

Books mentioned in the show;

Joseph Stiglitz - Globalization and Its Discontents

Kate Raworth - Donut Economics

Ha- Joon Chang - 23 things they don't tell you about Capitalism.

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Working Class Voices #6 Dan Marsden

Thu, 12 May 2022 07:00:00 +0100

Our Ads is on a mission to understand why the working class is so hesitant to get involved in the climate movement in its current form. Each week he'll be talking to climate-conscious people who identify as working class to discover their thoughts on how working class people can become a force in the fight for our very survival.

This week Ads is joined by friend and hip hop artist Dan Marsden to discuss the aesthetics of the climate movement and how working class people may view them. In this episode Ads and Dan try to have an honest discussion about what does and does not resonate with the working class in regards to art, music and performance to try to understand better some of the reasons why people are not getting involved in the fight of lives.

Dan goes by the stage name "Cheech" and is a part of the Hip Hop acts'Mothership Connection' and "Bluntskins". They kindly provided the tune "Hush One" for our outro music. Check out links to their music below.

Check out Dans music here

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Half Earth Socialism "We need to be humble in the face of unknowable nature"

Mon, 09 May 2022 07:00:00 +0100

It's gonna take some big ideas and even bigger actions for humanity to swerve the 2°C warming climate catastrophe coming down the road. So this week we're taking half the world away.

Joining us on the podcast are Drew Pendergrass (@pendergrassdrew) and Troy Vettese (@TroyVettese) the authors of "Half Earth Socialism: A Plan to Save the Future from Extinction, Climate Change, and Pandemics". Their book combines half earth re-wilding and the rich history of Utopian Socialism to illustrate a way of saving the earth from humanity and combating our hubris and domination of nature itself.

We discuss the works of Otto Neurath, Leonid Kantorovich and Stafford Beer; using neoliberal thinking against neoliberalism, how and why Malthusian ideas on over-population are embedded into society and the problems that arise from it, and how to create more efficient food chains through global veganism.

Links
Pick up a copy of half earth socialism from Verso books Here

Check out Drew and Troy's website for more info:
https://www.half.earth/

Play the Half Earth Socialism the game
https://play.half.earth/

Shout outs
UAWD - United All Workers for Democracy
@UAWD_Reform

Troy's girlfriend Xinyue

Minesh Parekh - congrats on being elected for Crookes and Crosspool in Sheffield
@min_esh

Fianna Hornby GND Councillor elected for Gorse Hill in Trafford
@fiannahornby

Angela Brown GND Councillor elected in Heywood
@Angel4brown598

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Working Class Voices #5 Zara Manoehoetoe

Thu, 05 May 2022 07:00:00 +0100

Our Ads is on a mission to understand why the working class is so hesitant to get involved in the climate movement in its current form.

So, each week he'll be talking to climate-conscious people who identify as working class to discover their thoughts on how working class people can become a force in the fight for our very survival.

This week Ads is joined by youth worker and community activist, Zara Manoehoetoe (@indigenousmanc). They discuss the relationships between working class people and the police compared with the relationship that the climate movement has with the police. They also discuss abolitionism, the importance of imaging what comes after revolution, how working class protests need to up their game, and what happens if protests become outlawed (spoiler) you protest harder.

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Working Class Voices #4 Khushi Himatal

Wed, 27 Apr 2022 07:00:00 +0100

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Your Tesla is exploiting workers in Congo

Mon, 25 Apr 2022 07:00:00 +0100

The big push by governments in the Global North for a move to electric vehicles (EVs) seems to be one of the central planks of the decarbonisation effort of capitalism. Rare earth minerals such as cobalt, lithium and nickel are strategic resources in this transition and play a huge part in the creation of EVs and the batteries that power them. The Largest deposits of these elements can be found in the global south and particularly central Africa in places like the Congo.

This week on the show we are joined by Anneke Van Woudenberg (@woudena) the CEO of RAID, a NGO that looks to hold corporations to account for their human rights and environmental abuses in the global south (@raidukorg).

We discussed the horrific working conditions of miners in cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the envrionmental damage of this resource extraction: how multinational companies like Glencore are abusing their position in DRC , the struggles of the labour movement organising in DRC, why taking these corporations to court in the UK is more effective than Congolese courts and what are the limits of justice.

Links
https://www.raid-uk.org/

RAIDs report on Cobalt mining in Congo. read it here.

Industriall Union Miners Union in Congo

Lucha- Congolese Youth group

Apple and Google named in Human rights abuses and child labour in Congolese Cobalt mining

Shout outs

CAJJ- who've been working with RAID on their recent report
https://www.cajj-rdc.org/public/home

Dan Weegmann

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Working Class Voices #3 Jay Chambers

Wed, 20 Apr 2022 07:00:00 +0100

Our Ads is on a mission to understand why the working class is so hesitant to get involved in the climate movement in its current form.

Each week he'll be talking to climate-conscious people who identify as working class to discover their thoughts on how working class people can become a force in the fight for our very survival.

This week Ads is joined by Jay Chambers, a friend of the family who grew up in Blackley where Adam is from. Topics discussed are the differences between North and South Manchester, when they both first saw a wealth divide in Blackley, music, art, language, and how outreach programmes may be the key to connecting Working Class people to the climate movement.

Check out the rest of Jays music here: https://soundcloud.com/jaycmcr/blackley-boy

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Working Class Voices #2 Rebecca Pollitt

Wed, 13 Apr 2022 07:00:00 +0100

Our Ads in on a mission to understand why the working class is so hesitant to get involved in the climate movement in its current form.

Each week he'll be talking to climate-conscious people who identify as working class to discover their thoughts on how working class people can become a force in the fight for our very survival.

This week Ads chats with an old Labour comrade Rebecca Pollitt. The themes for this episode centers around the contrasts between working class meetings and environmental meetings, the effectiveness of protests, spirituality and oneness and what working class movements can learn from the environment movement.

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"The IPCC opened the degrowth Pandora's box" – interview with Timothée Parrique

Mon, 11 Apr 2022 07:00:00 +0100

With the UN IPCC Working Group 3 report coming out last week, and it explicitly saying economic growth will be a prevailing factor in burning the world into a crisp, it’s time to ask again: what are the alternatives? How do we build societies that don't have fossil-based growth at the heart of them?

This week on the show we are joined by Timothée Parrique (@timparrique). Timothée's writings include his PhD “The political economy of degrowth”, which is he currently writing as a book adaptation, and “Decoupling debunked - Evidence and arguments against green growth”, a report for the European Environmental Bureau (EEB). We discuss the upcoming French elections (recorded before the results of the first round), degrowth in the latest IPCC report, the language of degrowth vs a Green New Deal, and why growth is a poor way to describe economic behaviour.

Check out our Just As Well series of articles with great writers across the world looking at just transitions.

LINKS

Delphine Batho - French presidential candidate on degrowth during a primary last year:

https://www.tellerreport.com/life/2021-09-09-delphine-batho-pleads-for-degrowth-in-the-face-of-the-climate-emergency.H1dgs0PzF.html

1972 Donella Meadows' report, The limits to Growth:

https://www.donellameadows.org/wp-content/userfiles/Limits-to-Growth-digital-scan-version.pdf

IPCC Group 3 report

https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/

The social shortfall and ecological overshoot of nations

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-021-00799-z

The World Happiness Index

https://worldhappiness.report/

SHOUT OUTS

Scientist rebellion

@ScientistRebel1

The one and only Julia Steinberger (all the love to your mum right now)

@JKSteinberger

Ben Crawford

Suzie lawrence - our fantastic illustrator for the Just as Well series

@zanillustration

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GND Media Presents: Working Class Voices #1 John Williams

Wed, 06 Apr 2022 07:00:00 +0100

Our Ads in on a mission to understand why the working class is so hesitant to get involved in the climate movement in its current form.

So, each week he'll be talking to climate-conscious people who identify as working class to discover their thoughts on how working class people can become a force in the fight for our very survival.

We start the series by meeting Ad's cousin, John. This episode explores themes around perspectives on protests, the depiction of violence between classes, and how documentaries can be a gateway to knowledge on climate change.

Links
Seaspiracy
https://www.seaspiracy.org/

Game Changers
https://gamechangersmovie.com/

Artwork by Daniel Weegmann

Support the show

"When the disabled are seen as a problem everyone suffers"

Mon, 04 Apr 2022 07:00:00 +0100

When it comes to getting around, we normally jump to the big topics: public transport, buses, trains, cars, ownership, low traffic neighbourhoods and so on. We spend a lot of time wondering what we should be using for transport over who is using it and how they can use it.

But disabled voices have been at the bottom of the list when it comes to many aspects of society and unfortunately tackling the climate crisis is one of them. That needs to change.

On today's show, we are joined by the fantastic Harrie Larrington-Spencer (@tricyclemayor). Harrie is a researcher working in the Healthy Actives Cities team and the Sustainable Housing and Urban Studies unit at the University of Salford (@ActiveCitiesUoS). On top of that, she is a disabled rights activist specifically around active travel and transport and a PHD candidate at the University of Manchester.

Harrie, Lucy and Alex discuss the intersection between climate and disability, how disabled people are excluded from their local neighbourhoods by poor design and road law enforcement, how the climate movement can be more inclusive for disabled activists, and what our cities can do to make transport and active travel more accessible for all.

Links

Healthy actives cities

https://blogs.salford.ac.uk/healthyactivecities/

Some of Harries current work “levelling up locally”

https://blogs.salford.ac.uk/healthyactivecities/2172-2/

Manchesters New active travel commissioner Dame Sarah Storey

https://www.itv.com/news/granada/2022-03-14/dame-sarah-storey-appointed-new-active-travel-commissioner

Shout Outs

Harrie’s colleagues at the Healthy active cities team Graham, Luke and Nick

UCU strikers at Manchester Universities including;

Ria Deakin

@RiaDeakin

@mscrow who worked on The Picket Line Podcast which you can listen to here

https://bit.ly/3u27eJ7

Staten Island Amazon workers who just voted to unionise and become Amazons first Union!

@amazonlabor

You can support their strike fund here too!

https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-amazon-labor-union-solidarity-fund?utm_campaign=p_nacp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer

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GND across the UK: Local Election Week Part Two

Thu, 31 Mar 2022 07:00:00 +0100

It's Part 2 of our Local election week.

In this episode we are meeting Green New Deal council candidates from outside of Greater Manchester and looking at the picture across these green and pleasant lands.

On this show we are joined by Minesh Parekh (@min_esh) who is running in Crookes and Crosspool, Sheffield and we are also joined by Matt Buckley (@_Matt_Buckley) running in Caversham Heights, Reading.

We discuss what brought them into environmental politics, the balance of green space vs housing, what can councils actually do for the climate? How living in wards next to national parks affects that balance and what their big Green New Deal ideas are for their local councils.

Links

If you'd like to support either candidates campaigns here's how you can reach them

Minesh- Crookes and Crosspool
https://twitter.com/CACLabour

https://www.facebook.com/minesh4cc

Matt- Caversham Heights
https://twitter.com/_Matt_Buckley

https://twitter.com/RDGLabourCllrs

support the stewart foods strikers

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GND candidates In GM: Local Election Week Part One

Mon, 28 Mar 2022 08:00:00 +0100

With the local elections a little over a month away, we are dedicating an entire week, with two shows, meeting Labour for a Green New Deal candidates from around the country. We are finding out what a GND could mean for local communities even with a hostile government still in power and what tools councils have to tackle climate breakdown.

We are starting off at home with West Heywood candidate Angela Brown (@Angel4brown598) and Gorse Hill candidate Fianna Hornby (@fiannahornby). Angela a Labour for a Green New Deal Legend who spoke on behalf of the 2019 motion at conference and Fianna a community wealth building and GM for Labour for a Green New Deal stalwart.

This week we ask them what got them into politics, green politics in the UK Labour Party, what they will do if they win and how climate breakdown goes down on the doorstep.

Shout outs
Restoring Hope West heywood
https://www.facebook.com/restoringhopeheywood

Middleton cooperating
@MiddCooperating

gorgeous gorse hill
@gorse_hill

Links

Fianna
Gorse Hill Labour Party
https://www.facebook.com/LabourGorsehill

Labour party website
https://events.labour.org.uk/

Angela
Angela Brown for West Heywood Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100078734591941

West Heywood Labour party
https://www.facebook.com/HeywoodLabour

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"We all should be botanists" Interview with Leif Bersweden

Mon, 21 Mar 2022 07:00:00 +0000

As spring begins to bloom into life we're heading back into the garden to see how biodiversity, botany, and our green and pleasant land is vital in our fight against climate change.

We are joined this week by Leif Bersweden. Leif is a Botanist, plant geneticist and writer who specialises in flora across the British Isles. Leif spent a year travelling the British Isles to discover how people and communities connect to their environments and explored the rich biodiversity of the isles. We discuss how we can rejuvenate Britain's wild meadows, cultivating empathy with wildlife, how poor soils can create biodiversity and Britain's most devious plants.

Links
You can check out Leif's books here:
https://leifbersweden.com/books/

Shout outs
Sarah Watts for her mountainous plant conservation work
@Watts_SH

P&O workers
@nautilusint

CHEPS pallet workers
@Unite_NorthWest
You can support the CHEPs Pallet workers strike fund by donating to
Unity Bank NW/1 Strike Fund. Account 20217873. Sort code 60-83-01.

Louis McKechnie - Louis tied himself to goal posts during the Newcastle VS Everton game to bring to light the amount of fossil fuel investment in the game.

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GND Rising "Young people have the moral authority"

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 08:00:00 +0000

We have rebranded as GND Media!

Head over to www.gndmedia.co.uk to see all the wonderful new stuff we are doing on there.

Our first big project is our article series "Just as Well' that looks at what a Just Transitions will look like across the world. Friend of show and Eco Socialist Legend Max Ajl kicks off the series with looking at climate breakdown in Latin America and the Middle East.

You can read Max's article here.
https://www.gndmedia.co.uk/articles/why-the-world-needs-eco-socialism

On this weeks show we are delighted to welcome Rosanna Wiseman (@RoWise1) from Green New Deal Rising (@GNDRising). GND Rising are most well known for their MP challenges and you may have seen them challenge Rishi Sunak, Nichola Sturgeon and Keir Starmer on their climate policies. We discuss the tactics of these challenges and their affects, the delicate balance of supporting people in multiple political parties, how GND rising is organised , keeping racial justice tied to climate justice and how to generate new movements while learning from the past.

Links
GND Rising
gndrising.org

GND Rising Leadership programme
https://350.org/uk/gndrising2022/

Shout outs

Clive Lewis MP
@labourlewis

Fi Quekett - GND rising organiser
@FionaQuekett

Lucas Clay - the legend that designed our new website!
@LTMClay

Timothée Parrique
@timparrique
18 tips to make your company look green even though it's not
https://twitter.com/timparrique/status/1494584152020168713?s=20&t=buyWTYiSLIHU439YknS4Vg

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"We're all Recovering Marxists" Interview with Prof. Mark Blyth

Mon, 07 Mar 2022 07:00:00 +0000

This is one of those episodes where we talk about EVERYTHING. Populism, Climate Change, Crypto Currencies, Inflation, GREENflation, Bad Carbon Politics, Prosecco , the success or failure of the Euro, why growth isn't evenly spread around countries and Scottish independence!

We are bloody delighted to join us on the show this week Professor Mark Blyth. Mark is a Professor of International and Public Affairs at Brown University, and the director of the William R. Rhodes Centre for International Economics and Finance. Mark has written some fantastic books most notably, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea, and Angrynomics.

Mark is one of the authors that radicalized Andrew into politics, so it's safe to say he's pretty excited about this episode.

Links

Prosecco growers article
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/dec/31/politics-prosecco-democrats-joe-manchin-key-bill

Fiona Hill "There's nothing for you here"
https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/There-Is-Nothing-for-You-Here-by-Fiona-Hill/9780358574316

climate shocks to US timber supply- Greenflation
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2022/02/greenflation-prices-inflation-climate-change-coffee-lumber/621456/

Shout outs

James Ashley Morrison- for his new book Englands Cross of Gold
https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501758430/englands-cross-of-gold/#bookTabs=1

published by @CornellPress

Adam Tooze
@adam_tooze

Adams Substack channel is a great resource.

https://adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-93-russias-720m-per-day?r=1nkgw&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

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Kim Stanley Robinson "Sci-Fi is a Metaphor for How Now Feels"

Mon, 21 Feb 2022 07:00:00 +0000

We spend a lot of time trying to divine futures that leads humanity away from climate breakdown and extinction but relying on reality can only take you so far. This week we dive into the futuristic world of Sci-Fi with one of its giants, Kim Stanley Robinson.

We discuss Stanley's latest book Ministry for the Future, an excellent vision of a path away from climate breakdown. We discuss his impetus for writing the novel, where Cli-Fi sits in the Sci-Fi genre, the realities of his novel, and the path away from 2°C warming.

Links
Ministry for the future
https://www.orbitbooks.net/orbit-excerpts/the-ministry-for-the-future-chp-3/

Help Angela Brown get elected for a Green New Deal in West Heywood!
https://www.facebook.com/Angela-Brown-for-West-Heywood-101636022463812/

Joseph Vogl: the Ascendancy of Finance
https://www.wiley.com/en-gb/The+Ascendancy+of+Finance-p-9781509509294

lecture by Vogl on the book at Brown University
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuWUoD_ip5s

Governing by Debt by Maurizio Lazzarato
https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/governing-debt

Riot Strike Riot by Joshua Clover
https://www.versobooks.com/books/2999-riot-strike-riot

Shoutouts
Ken Macleod - excellent Sci-Fi writer
@amendlocke

Francis Spufford
Another excellent writer

Arthur Turrell
@arthurturrell

Arthur's article in the Guardian on nuclear fusion:
theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/13/power-stars-energy-needs-fusion-energy-industry

If you like the show tell your comrades!
Find us on:
Twitter: @MCRGND_POD
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FB: MCRGNDPOD

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"Planet and place have to come before politics" – interview with Councillor Eve Holt

Mon, 14 Feb 2022 11:00:00 +0000

It's all kicking off in Greater Manchester! New council leaders, a scrap over clean air, and the Lib Dems pick up a seat in Ancoats & Beswick.

To fill us in on all the action, we are joined today by Chorlton councillor Eve Holt. We discuss Eve's journey into environmentalism, the combined climate consciousness of the council, what changes Bev Craig is bringing to Manchester City Council, and the controversy over the GM Clean Air Zone.

Shout outs
Danielle - Our Green Chorlton
Claire - from Our Streets Chorlton @OurChorlton
and Glynis – Eve's mum!

Jan Rosenow (@janrosenow)
on his heat pump myth busting. Check out his thread below
https://twitter.com/janrosenow/status/1492086853159301121?t=NLbSKSz7kg5OXSg4MrnMBg&s=08

Bury Trades Council
@BuryTUC

If you like the show tell your comrades!
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"The Climate Crisis is a Comedy" Interview with Sam Knights

Mon, 31 Jan 2022 07:00:00 +0000

This week on the show we are joined by actor, writer and environmental activist Sam Knights. We learn about the early heady days of Extinction rebellion, the struggles of democracy in movements, how art and politics feed into each other, and the emotional richness that can be found. We also look ahead at the fight to come in 2022 and the pitfalls of Adam Mckay's latest film, Don't Look Up.

Links

The Time to Act is Now, by Carola Rackete
https://www.rosalux.de/en/publication/id/45396/the-time-to-act-is-now

Archive of Chartist poetry
http://www.our-chartist-heritage.co.uk/category/chartists/poems/

Don't Look Up Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbIxYm3mKzI

Shout outs
Sam's flat mate for the support during his Covid-19 isolation

Carola Rackete
@CaroRackete

If you like the show tell your comrades!
Find us on:
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paypal.me/mcrngndpod

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A Green New Deal for South Yorkshire – interview with Lewis Dagnall

Mon, 17 Jan 2022 11:00:00 +0000

It looks like we’re trapped in another Conservative Party psychodrama for the next three years, but local and regional elected office has become a strategic battleground for the Labour Party. Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham was hailed as 'King in the North' for his stance on Covid-19 restrictions in the autumn and winter of 2020, with some even suggesting he should take over as party leader off the back of his performance. Regional mayoralities may be a place where Labour can show that it is ready to lead the country once again.

Fast forward to 2022 and a new regional mayoralty is on the cards, this time in South Yorkshire. As listeners will know, we think the time to act on climate change at all levels is now. So what can be done with the powers of the South Yorks mayoralty when in the hands of someone with the climate consciousness we think all leaders need?

Today, we are joined by Labour candidate hopeful Lewis Dagnall, who’s here to tell us about his Green New deal vision for South Yorkshire. We discuss taking buses back into public control, how a regional Green New Deal Bond would work and the importance of supporting rural communities.

Shout Outs

Labour for a Green New Deal
@LabGND
Yeb Saño
@YebSano

Joe Glenton and his book Veteranhood
@joejglenton

Read Conrad Bower's investigation for The Meteor on temporary accommodation.

If you like the show tell your comrades!
Find us on:
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You can support the show and get some of that sweet, sweet exclusive content head to
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It's about growing trees not planting trees!

Mon, 10 Jan 2022 11:00:00 +0000

Happy New year and welcome to third season of the Manchester Green New Deal Podcast. We have a stellar line up of environmental and ecological champions to get through this year so lets get started.

Trees have always been touted as a common sense answer to climate change. Plant more trees , the big carbon arrow goes down and we can all carry on driving around in our SUVs to the corner shop to pick up 20 malboro lites. As ever ( and its a reoccurring theme on this show) it's never that simple. So when is tree planting a good idea?

This week on the show we are joined by the aptly named Forrest Fleischman (@ForrestFleisch1) . Forrest is the Associate professor of environmental & natural resource policy at the University of Minnesota. Forrest explains to us the pitfalls of ubiquitous tree planting, where large scale programs have failed, The difficulty with trees just being the answer when it comes to land use and how the Global North whats to use the tropics as it's carbon store.

Links

Forrest's paper that inspired the conversation
Pitfalls of Tree Planting Show Why We Need People-Centered Natural Climate Solutions
https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/70/11/947/5903754?login=true

World agroforestry center
https://www.worldagroforestry.org/

recent blog post from Dr Lalisa Duguma on live stock land cycles
https://apps.worldagroforestry.org/downloads/Publications/PDFS/TB21036.pdf

Daisugi tree growing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wcl4I5EF-do

Shout outs

Dan Brockington
@danbrockington

Rose Pritchard
@_rosepritchard

Johan Oldekop
@madasascientist

@bubblycakehopey
english pastoral by James Rebanks
https://www.waterstones.com/book/english-pastoral/james-rebanks/9780141982571

The African Pot Project
@Tapeventsmcr

you can support the project here
https://tapproject.co.uk/support-us/

If you like the show tell your comrades!
Find us on:
Twitter: @MCRGND_POD
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You can support the show and get some of that sweet, sweet exclusive content head to
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Or if you'd prefer to give a one off donation we also have a PayPal
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Christmas 2021 round up

Mon, 27 Dec 2021 14:00:00 +0000

Merry Christmas you flithy animals!

As 2021 comes to a close the whole team gathers around the virtual fire place (no peat based fuels) to discuss our highs our lows and our hopes for 2022.

Thankyou so much to everyone who's been on the show this year, our supporters on pateron and all the listeners around the world. Shout out to our ten listeners in Chile El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido!

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"Three weeks in nature changed my life" – interview with City Girl in Nature

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 10:00:00 +0000

This week on the show we are joined by Kwesia, aka City Girl in Nature (@citygirlnature).

We discuss rediscovering human connection to nature, how the pandemic has impacted that connection, and what can we do to bring more communities and nature together.

Links

Shout outs:

Mysterex (@OverlordXbeats)
Mark Burton (@MarkHBurton) – Steady State Manchester's The Carbon and Planning Workbook
Paid to Pollute @PaidToPollute

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Race for Tomorrow: Interview with Simon Mundy

Mon, 06 Dec 2021 10:00:00 +0000

This week we welcome Financial Times journalist and editor of Moral Money, Simon Mundy. We discuss Simon's latest book, Race for Tomorrow: Survival, Innovation and Profit on the Front Lines of the Climate Crisis, a series of stories of his journeys through 26 countries affected by climate change.

Simon walks us through several examples, ranging from Siberia's 'Tusk Rush' to islands in the South Pacific, to illuminate how the climate crisis is shattering communities, shaking up global business, and propelling a groundbreaking wave of cutting-edge innovation.

We also touch on the carbon politics of Australia, climate journalism, the life and work of Conrad Stephen, and the legitimacy of carbon offsetting.

Links
Race for Tomorrow:
https://www.simonmundy.com/book

Climeworks - carbon capture
https://act.climeworks.com/fight-climate-change-video/?utm_source=googleBrand&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=GS-AO-World-en-Brand&gclid=Cj0KCQiA47GNBhDrARIsAKfZ2rCiri8iRcngYw3D557I-PTKCgaaLK8ZixDKwP-IzFN5okCCEfXuXLIaAkPyEALw_wcB

Shout outs

Juan Carlos Monterrey Gómez- Panama delegate for COP26
@juanmonterreyg
Stop Cambo campaign
@StopCambo

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"Climate negotiations are not about the climate" Asad Rehman from War on Want.

Mon, 29 Nov 2021 09:00:00 +0000

COP26 was seen as one of the final chances for the world to get it's act together and collectively fight to defend the human race from itself. Are COPs even designed to be emancipatory? This week on the show we get a breakdown of everything that went on in Glasgow with our special guest Asad Rehman (@chilledasad100) from War on Want(@Waronwant).

We discuss how the climate movement has changed over the last 20 years, the history of solidarity in justice movements across the UK and the world How COP26 played out, the fight for justice with the Indian farmers why progressives need Milton Friedman and how we build climate into working class movements.

Links
Asad speech at COP26
https://twitter.com/chilledasad100/status/1459663828728393730?s=20

War on Want
https://waronwant.org/

Global Green New Deal
https://waronwant.org/our-work/global-green-new-deal

Shout outs

War on Want
@WarOnWant
www.waronwant.org

George Monbiot
@GeorgeMonbiot

Freddie Daley
@Fred_Daley
How the Tories profit from the climate crisis
https://tribunemag.co.uk/2021/11/fossil-fuels-decarbonisation-british-parliament-mps-second-jobs

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"I'm committed to art that does something" - interview with Dr Jenna Ashton

Mon, 22 Nov 2021 10:00:00 +0000

This episode was recorded on Oct 8th 2021

This week on the show we are joined by Dr Jenna Ashton (@heritagemcr). Jenna is a Lecturer in heritage studies at the University of Manchester and her current project, Community Climate Resilience, is working with working class communities in Miles Platting and Newton Heath through folk pageantry (@CreativeResMcr). We look at what folk pageantry actually is, how art can help develop working class spaces and galvanise communities, and how we should use art and crafting to help imagine future utopias.

Links

Shoutouts:

Save the Hulme Hippodrome campaign - @savehulmehip
Kate Wilson for her 10 year battle for justice against the Met Police - @fruitbatmania
Forrest Fleisch -thread on the issues with tree planting to defeat climate change - @ForrestFleisch1
Councillor Nathan Boroda - @NathanCBoroda

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Energy crisis, lobbying and the future of UK Energy supply, with Jan Rosenow

Mon, 08 Nov 2021 10:00:00 +0000

If you've seen the news in the UK in the last month, you'll be well aware that our old energy system is having a bad time.

With gas prices spiking, all the noise from COP26, and the public's temperament towards climate activism cooling, it's probably worth figuring out what the hell is going on with our energy supply, and how we make it equitable and sustainable for generations to come.

This week on the show we are joined by Jan Rosenow (@janrosenow). Jan is the European director of the Regulatory assistance project (RAP) which is dedicated to speeding up the transition to clean and green energy. He also is a special advisor to the UK government's Department of Business, Energy and industrial Strategy (BEIS).

We discuss what is causing the current energy crisis, who has a stake in for the UK's future energy mix (and what measures they'll go to to defend those stakes,) what politics is created by energy production, and the viability of community energy systems.

Shout outs
Louise Sunderland (@sunderlandlouis)

Ellie Radcliffe and Laura Williams for their work on the community wealth building tool kit with CLES (@ellieradcliffe9)

Links
CLES Community wealth building toolkit
https://t.co/i7IhBNtewA?amp=1

Rhiannon Osbourne (@rhiannon_osborn) confronting Kwasi Kwarteng
https://twitter.com/StopCambo/status/1456271753223671810

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"Ecology and economy together" Interview with Mancunian Birder

Mon, 01 Nov 2021 10:00:00 +0000

This week on the show we spread our wings with a deep swan dive (I'll stop) into all things ornithological with our guest James Walsh aka Mancuian Birder (@MancunianBirder). We discuss how Andy Burnham's Green Summit deals with ecology, the possibilities of a People's Summit, and how we build civic pride around our wildlife.

Shout outs
Marj of Friends of Carrington Moss
@FriendsMoss
Manchester festival of Nature
@MancNature

Northern Roots projects
@NorthernRootsOL
mark champion
@MarkHChampion

Jubliee debt campaign
@dropthedebt
Manchester Oxfam
@oxfammcrgroup
XR mancehster
@XR_MCR
Councillor Ekua Bayunu
@Ekua4Hulme

Global day of justice on 6th of November

Links
Stephen Pennell's Meteor report on the Manchester campaigns taking place during COP26:
https://themeteor.org/2021/10/27/manchester-climate-justice-cop26/

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Green Jobs Revolution! Labour conference 2021

Mon, 25 Oct 2021 10:00:00 +0100

This is the last in our series on Labour conference 2021. We sent Andrew (@glassyeti) down to Brighton to follow the Green Jobs Revolution motion through conference. From being cancelled by the CAC to fighting with the unions over fossil fuels in the composite here the full story of that weekend.

We catch up with Clive Lewis MP (@Labourlewis) on what is going on in the party, Olivia Blake MP (@_OliviaBlake) and Richard Burgon MP (@RichardBurgon) about the need for a green new deal and Rhiannon Osborne (@rhiannon_osborn) from students for global health(@WeAreSfGH) on how the climate crisis and the global health are interlocked.

Thank you to our patreons for their wonderful support we couldn't of made this episode without your backing!

Links
Health for a green New deal
https://health4gnd.uk/
Green NHS program
https://www.england.nhs.uk/greenernhs/

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Burnt: Fighting for Climate justice with Chris Saltmarsh

Mon, 11 Oct 2021 10:00:00 +0100

It's been a big news week in Manchester, so to kick off the show the whole gang discuss our new incoming council Leader councillor Bev Craig. Will this be a glorious green future for Manchester, or business as usual with a Sir Richard Leese 2.0 at the helm?

In the second half of the show, Ads is joined by podcast veteran Chris Saltmarsh (@Chris_Saltmarsh), co-founder of Labour for a Green New Deal, to discuss his new book Burnt, Fighting for Climate Justice. Ads is also joined by local legend Sean Benstead. We discuss what went down with the GND motion at Labour conference this year, the strength of the climate movement in the Labour party, the power of the state in affecting capitalism and climate, and why trade unions should be at the heart of the fight to save the planet.

Links

Chris's book: Burnt Fighting for Climate Justice
https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745341828/burnt/

China Mieville: October
https://www.versobooks.com/books/2731-october

Shout Outs
Fire brigades Union
@fbunational

Labour GND delegates
Aden Harris
@aden_harris

Diarmaird Kelliher
@Kelliher_D

Mick Ekers
@mick_ekers

Happy Birthday to Andrews dad who turned 60 last week!

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GND vs Degrowth. Live Panel from Labour Conference 2021

Mon, 04 Oct 2021 10:00:00 +0100

To kick off our coverage of Labour conference 2021 we have a panel chaired by Labour for a Green New Deal' very own Chris Saltmarsh (@Chris_Saltmarsh). The most successful of recent climate solutions have been the global campaign for a Green New Deal and also the Degrowth movement. But are we sending mixed messages, undermining each others’ work, or can these two streams of progressive environmentalism be reconciled?

Chris is joined on the panel by Harpreet Kaur Paul (@HarpreetKPaul) and Gareth Dale (@Gareth_Dale)

This panel was recorded on saturday the 25th of September 2021 in Old Stein Gardens

Thanks to the Ecologist for letting us record their event.

Links
GM Labour for a GND council leader election video
https://twitter.com/mcrLabGND/status/1444258865596534784?s=20

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"We can't rely on climate catastrophe to start the revolution" interview with Kai Heron

Mon, 20 Sep 2021 11:00:00 +0100

This week on the show we are joined by Kai Heron (@KaiHeron). Kai is a lecturer in Politics at Manchester University, writing on political economy with a focus on land struggles and climate change. We discuss why Land use and public ownership of land is a key plank of a meaningful GND, How a GND could be jumping off point for our socialist utopias and if theological frameworks are necessary to build lasting social movements.

Links

GasLand : Documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xvz_m5uPV4s

Corbyn era Land policy document- Land for the Many
https://landforthemany.uk/

Brecht poem: A worker reads history
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o_8aoyWMMA

Anthropology of Marxism by Cedric Robinson
https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745339818/an-anthropology-of-marxism/

Out of the Woods collective: Hope against hope Disaster Communism
https://www.commonnotions.org/hope-against-hope

Shout outs
Land in our names
https://www.instagram.com/landinournames/

Happy Birthday Producer Andrew!
@Glassyeti

Sean Benstead Labour GND legend.
@SigmaAuto420

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"Put your body where your mouth is" 50 years of Greenpeace

Mon, 13 Sep 2021 11:00:00 +0100

You cannot move for environmental activist groups in the world today. From hyperlocal save X park groups, to clean streets organisations, to the giants of Extinction Rebellion and Friends of the Earth. How are these different groups successful? How do you keep a group going to secure the future of the planet pressure groups need longevity?

This week on the show we are joined by Martin Porter (@dassnufkin) who spoke to us about OGs Greenpeace – which this month celebrates 50 years of environmental activism. Martin is a local group co-ordinator for Greenpeace based in Glossop.

We get into the anti nuclear testing origins of Greenpeace, how the organisation is run, what's kept it going for so long and we examine its relationship with the other big environmental groups.

links

Roger Hallam conversation with Greenpeace Executive Director John Sauven
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nXRk9-Y3NM

Greenwire - Greenpeace social media platform.
https://greenwire.greenpeace.org.uk/s/

Shout outs

Charlie Baker at Red Co-op
@RedCooperative

Jonathan Atkinson for using "Arse" in the Guardian and for there work at Carbon Coop
@lowwintersun

Clean team Prestwich
@cleanteamprest

The "Rosa of Rochdale" Angela Brown
@Angel4brown598

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Green Councillors of GM

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 11:00:00 +0100

This week on the show we are joined by two Green councillors from Greater Manchester, newly elected Rob Nunney and Trafford stalwart Geraldine Goggins. We discuss life as a minority party Councillor in the Manchester Labour behemoth, How the Greens campaign and approach democracy as well as what the Green Party needs to do to appeal to people outside of the white middle class.

Shout outs
Shon Faye
@shonfaye-
the Transgender Issue
https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-transgender-issue-an-argument-for-justice/9780241423141

Fossil Free Manchester
@FossilFreeGM
School strikes for Climate
@Youthstrikemcr
Friends of the earth Manchester
@foemcr
Extinction rebellion Manchester
@XR_MCR
3 Acres and a Cow
Wythenshaw Waste Warriors
@WarriorsWaste

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Work Won't Love You Back with Sarah Jaffe

Mon, 23 Aug 2021 11:00:00 +0100

This week we’re diving to the very core of the capitalist economy and well most economics- Work. Your 9-5, that zero hours contract your bread making, back breaking labour. We spend alot of time wondering what work we can do to save the planet but do we need work in the traditional sense at all? And does our emotional response to work make it harder to demand better conditions?

This week on the show we are joined by Labour Journalist and author of the fantastic book “ Work wont love you back” Sarah Jaffe. We discuss what Labour Journalism is, why "work" is defined by some labour and not others and is the Green New Deal just trying to revive the Fordist bargain for white men?

Links
Mariame Kaba
http://mariamekaba.com/

US Representative Cori Bush on the eviction moratorium and the shame and power of poverty
https://theintercept.com/2021/08/06/deconstructed-cori-bush-eviction-poverty/

farewell to the factory by Ruth Milkman
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/617394.Farewell_to_the_Factory

Shout outs
Amelia Horgan- Lost in work
https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745340913/lost-in-work/
@AmeliaHorgan

Phil Jones- work without the worker
https://www.versobooks.com/books/3869-work-without-the-worker
@philjones7771

Rubicund- radical book shop in Falmouth
@larubicund

George Julian - who is a campaigner for open justice and tweets from inquests. She is currently tweeting from @PeterInquest (inquest for Peter Seaby)
@GeorgeJulian

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SUMMER BONUS PATREON EPISODE. Getting back to nature

Mon, 16 Aug 2021 09:00:00 +0100

While we are on our summer break here's a taster of the extra content that goes out on our Patreon. Ads is hearing the stories of how people have personally fought back against the never ending grind of capitalism to reconnect with nature.

For this months bonus content Adam speaks to his old friend Rob Carroll who he first met at their previous job, working for a bank. Rob shares his story about how he went from being a young senior manager, a role that filled him with anxiety and left him feeling disconnected, to the moment when he was given an opportunity to leave and go on a journey that has given him a deep love of nature and kept him in balance ever since.

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MCR GND LIVE! A People's Green New Deal with Max Ajl

Mon, 02 Aug 2021 09:00:00 +0100

With our good friends at Partisan Collective (@PartisanCollect) we hosted our very first live episode of the show! This week on the podcast we weclome Max Ajl (@maxajl) to discuss his new book " A peoples green new deal". We get into the critiques of GND and the movements around them, how the left has to dig back into agriculture and we take questions from the audience on how capitalism has changed the working class.

Shout outs and Links

Keston K Perry
@radical_carib

Cochabamba Peoples agreement
https://therightsofnature.org/wp-content/uploads/Cochambamba-Peoples-Agreement.pdf

Dino Gilio Whitaker- As long as the Grass Grows
http://www.beacon.org/As-Long-as-Grass-Grows-P1568.aspx

Natures Matrix by Ivette Perfecto, John Vandermeer and Angus Wright
https://bit.ly/2TK6A3x

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Save Hough End Fields!

Mon, 26 Jul 2021 11:00:00 +0100

We are merely weeks into the summer and the catastrophic affects of climate breakdown are awash across the news. Wildfires, flash floods, heat waves and biblical storms all demonstrating that we have no time to waste and only time to act to save the planet. In this context it seems local councils are not quite getting the picture yet when it comes to saving our green spaces to save the planet and more local campaigns are being setup to challenge power and save the environment.

This week on the show we are Joined by Jon Martin from the Save Hough End Fields campaign to discuss what the councils plans are for this large public green space and what they plan to do to protect it.

This episode was recorded on the 4th of June 2021

Shout outs
Save Hough End Fields Facebook group
@SaveHoughEnd

Rivercide documentary with George Monbiot
@GeorgeMonbiot
@rivercide_live
you can watch the documentary at this link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ID0VAUNANA

Plastic Free Prestwich and village Greens for coming along
@VillageGreensUK

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Interview with Rebecca Long Bailey MP

Mon, 12 Jul 2021 09:00:00 +0100

Labour's 2019 manifesto was one of the most radical platforms put forward by any major political party in modern european history. At the heart of the project was the Green Industrial Revolution. The plan to decarbonise the economy while providing jobs for millions of people across the country and supporting those transitioning from the fossil fuel sector. As we all know Labour didn't win in that election but the radicalism of that platform is what informs this podcast and if it wasn't for the large commitment to decarbonisation this podcast probably wouldn't exist.

This week on the show we are joined by one of the architects of that platform MP Rebecca Long Bailey. We discuss the foundations of Labour's Green Industrial Revolution, Why that name was chosen over Green New Deal, Long Baileys journey to eco socialism and where the Party is now on greening the economy.

Shout outs
Salford Litter Heroes
@SalfordHeroes

Prestwich Environmental Forum
@PrestwichForum

Chris Northwood
@cnorthwood

Clean Air Piccadilly
@CleanAirPicc

Clean Air Oxford Road
@CleanAirOxfRoad

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'Labour Councillors, the climate emergency – and we launch the GND Cllr support network!

Mon, 05 Jul 2021 08:00:00 +0100

This week on the show we are joined by 3 Labour councillors fresh off the back of their local election victories Ekua Bayunu, Emily Rowles and Linda Foley. We discuss their motivations of getting into local politics, what power they think local government can hold and how we can be radical enough to tackle the climate emergency at a local level.

Today GM Labour for a Green New Deal launches the 'GND Cllr Support Network'. After speaking with progressive Cllrs, GM LGND have created a network of experts that are ready and willing to give advice and support on environmental matters as and when it is needed. The fight against Climate Breakdown is one in which we must all support each other and the GND Cllr Support Network is GM LGND's contribution to that fight. Any Cllr in GM that wishes to access the network or would like to know more about what is being offered, email GM.LGND.CllrSupport@protonmail.com

Shout outs

creative climate resilience project
@CreativeResMcr

upping it
@UppingIt

moss side eco squad
@moss_side_eco

84 youth
@84Youth

Climate emergency Manchester
@ClimateEmergMcr

Local government Association
@LGAcomms

Carbon Literacy Trust
@Carbon_Literacy

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"There's no measure for sustainable development" Community Planning Alliance

Mon, 28 Jun 2021 13:00:00 +0100

On the show this week we are bursting at the seems with guests from all across the country who are fighting against dodgy developers and trying to protect our ancient wild life. We are joined by Claire Baker from Owlthrope field action Group, Rosie Pierson from Better Braintree Together and Marge Powner from Friends of Carrington Moss. Together they form the Community Planning Alliance (@CommunityPlann1). A coalition of hundreds of community groups across the country trying to preserve local wild life.

We discuss why the planning system so favourable to developers, How the Tories plan to make it more so, the friction between decarbonizing, planning and the Green Belt and building local groups that can network nationally.

This episode was not sponsored by Mad Max

shout outs
Sheffield and Rotherham wild life trust
@WildSheffield

CPRE Essex
@CpreEssex

Steven at Civic Voice
@civic_voice

Save greater Manchester Green Belt group
@SGMGB2017

Amelia Horgan and her new book "Lost in Work"
@AmeliaHorgan

Sarah Jaffe and also her new book "Work wont love you back"
@sarahljaffe

This show was recorded on the 7th of May 2021

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Climate reparations with Dr Keston Perry

Mon, 14 Jun 2021 10:00:00 +0100

This week on the show we are joined by Dr Keston Perry. Keston is a lecturer in economics and political economy at University of West of England (UWE).

We discuss in practical terms what reparations would mean, the historical racism embedded into Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal and how a Green New Deal must be designed in that context, as well as the reverberations of the Haitian Revolution and how taking a paternalistic approach to defeating climate change won't bring justice to those most effected by it.

Links
Sorting out the Mixed Economy by Amy Offner
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ehr.12988

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney
https://www.versobooks.com/books/2785-how-europe-underdeveloped-africa

William Sandy Darity on reparations
https://reparations4slavery.com/william-sandy-darity-jr/

Shout outs
Professor Maxine Burkett

Asad Rehman
@chilledasad100

Alex O'keefe- Ex Sunrise Movement leader for holding the movement to a higher standard
@_dotgov

Alex's Thread on the situation at Sunrise
https://twitter.com/_dotgov/status/1402249288818769920

Cycling UK- for their campaign Big bike revival
@WeAreCyclingUK

The fantastic organisations supporting refugees across the UK to mark Refugee Week 2021
@RefugeeAction
@GMIAU
@AmnestyUK
@FreefromTorture
@AsylumMatters
@FootballMuseum

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"We've been running scared for 30 Years" interview with Kevin Anderson

Sun, 30 May 2021 14:00:00 +0100

This episode was recorded on March 18th 2021

This show is ostensibly about environmental politics. The grinding friction between our natural world and the citizens who have been chosen to act on behalf of society. It is important to remember though, even with all the fantastic powers and creations of humanity, we are beholden to nature and to the physics that govern it. The planet doesn't care about what colour ribbon you're wearing, it cares about the PPM of CO2 in the air.

This week on the show we are joined By Professor Kevin Anderson, Chair of energy and climate change at the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering (MACE) at the University of Manchester and a researcher for the Tyndall Center. We discuss the hard facts and modelling around climate change, what a 1.5 and 2 degree world looks like, the failures of the Paris agreement, who holds responsibility for decarbonising and the timeline of the last 50 years that brought us to this precipice.

Disclaimer: Andrew made a right meal out of some of the audio for this episode. He's been shot and replaced with a better Andrew with even more luxurious hair, our sincere apologies.

Shout outs

Rosamund Kissi-Debrah : a clean air campaigner who has raised awareness on the dangers of the pollutions in our cities after the tragic death of her daughter Ella, being the first death officially linked to air pollution in the UK.
@rosamund_ElsFdn

GMB for there tireless work for Uber Drivers
@GMB_union

XR Manchester- for putting their bodies on the line in defending Ryebank Fields
@XR_MCR

Sean Benstead for his excellent article on reclaiming the city
@SigmaAuto420
http://www.gmhousingaction.com/collective-right-manchester/

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White Skin, Black Fuel: On the Dangers of Fossil Fascism

Mon, 17 May 2021 10:00:00 +0100

Far right politics invariably comes to the fore in conjunctures of deep crisis. Since the financial crisis of 2007-8, far right parties and fascistic groups have grown in strength in Europe and across the rest of the world. Parties ranging from Alternative for Germany (AfD) and Marine Le Pen's National Rally in France, and dictators like Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil demonize immigrants and minorities, pinning the blame of all the nation's ills on those deemed "outsiders". But what do these far right groups do and say on ecology? How do they interact with a global environmental calamity, and how do we fight back?

Acclaimed author Andreas Malm makes his triumphant return to the podcast this week to discuss his new book, White Skin, Black Fuel: On the dangers of Fossil Fascism, co-authored with the Zetkin Collective. We explore the connections between modern fascism and European interwar fascism, the tactics and strategies of these groups, what factors enable them, how we struggle with them and how we win.

Links
White Skin, Black Fuel: On the Dangers of Fossil Fascism
https://www.versobooks.com/books/3812-white-skin-black-fuel

Koalas heading towards endangered status.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/2 5/sliding-towards-extinction-koala-may-be-given-endangered-listing-as-numbers-plummet

Shout outs

Glasgow residents who resisted the deportation of their neighbours during Eid.

Ads Smith, Nicky B, Ste Smith and Adam Kay thanks for joining the patreon!

Climate Assembly UK
@NetZeroUK

and the documentary about the climate assemblies
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p097sbzc

Palestine Solidarity campaigns
@PSCupdates

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"The name is on the tin... Labour" Interview with Paul Mason

Mon, 10 May 2021 10:00:00 +0100

On the show this week we are joined by Author and Journalist Paul Mason. Paul is a writer specialising in Labour politics and post capitalism. This week we discuss the fall out from the May elections and how the Labour party has to change to succeed nationally, the politics of the Green New Deal in the UK and how China fits in the equation when it comes to climate change and climate politics.

Links
Pauls Essay: The Left, the Party and Class
https://medium.com/@paulmasonnews/the-left-the-party-and-the-class-1ca7b6a959e6

https://www.paulmason.org/

Shout-outs
@TSSAunion- fighting to save Eurostar Britains flagship high speed rail project

@Autonomy_UK - UK think tank of former guest Will Stronge @w_stronge

@DemosHelsinki- Finish think tank running UBI trails in Finland

@paul4citymayor- Paul Dennett the "Sensible Socialist" newly re-elected Mayor of Salford.

@hubbubUK- creative campaigns and everyday inspiration for greener living

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"Farmers and Consumers have been pushed a part " Interview with Kindling Farm Co-op

Mon, 03 May 2021 11:00:00 +0100

On the show this week we are joined by Helen Woodcock and Chris Walsh from the kindling trust (@kindlingtrust) a Farming Co-op based in Greater Manchester. We discuss the project and how they want to improve farming for farmers and consumers, How industrialised farming is hurting farmers and building solidarity with farmers across the world.

Support the Kindling Farm here https://kindling.org.uk/InvestFarm

Links
Milan Urban Food Pact
https://www.milanurbanfoodpolicypact.org/the-milan-pact/

land workers Alliance
https://landworkersalliance.org.uk/

Via campesina- campaign for food sovereignty
https://viacampesina.org/en/food-sovereignty/

Shout outs

Ruth and Graham from the Oxford Real Farming Conference
@ORFC

Land workers alliance
@LandworkersUK
Open Kitchen
@OpenKitchenMCR

Luisa Neubauer along with Fridays for futures Germany for taking the german Government to court and winning!
@Luisamneubaue

@FridayForFuture

Go Northwest (@gnwbus) have been trying to slash worker conditions and push draconian fire and rehire contracts on bus drivers. Unite drivers have been on strike for over 9 weeks to battle this cruel and calculated move by the company. Solidarity to the striking workers! @Unite_NorthWest

@gnwbus

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GND MINI: Support our Show!

Thu, 22 Apr 2021 09:00:00 +0100

We've just launched a Patreon to help develop the show, making it even bigger and better (but not in a infinite growth kinda way)

You can support the show and get some dope premium content by heading over to

www.patreon.com/mcrgndpod

Or if you'd prefer to give a one off donation we also have a PayPal
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Tell your Mum!

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"Socialism is environmentalism" - An interview with Jeremy Corbyn MP

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 11:00:00 +0100

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The political landscape of Britain has changed a lot in the last six years. You could be forgiven in early 2015 if you thought all the major parties were similar except for different coloured ties. With the surprise election of Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the Labour Party that year, politics shifted up a gear, the party of the working class digging deep into its socialist roots to make another Britain possible. His election provided the political space for a eco-socialist vision of Britain.

The Labour Party, historically the party of heavy industry, now possesses a grassroots movement striving to make the party climate conscious. How did this come about? And what should the party do to achieve a transition to a post-carbon United Kingdom?

This week on the show we are joined by former Leader of the Labour Party and former Leader of the Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn MP. We discuss enfranchising the Labour movement, supporting workers in carbon intensive industries to transition away from them, and we ask, is Labour still the vehicle for progressive politics in the UK?

links

Isabella Trees' Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm
https://www.waterstones.com/book/wilding/isabella-tree/9781509805105

The Peace and Justice Project
https://thecorbynproject.com/join-us/

Shout Outs
everyone who have been campaigning for the Shrewsbury 24 for so long.
@Shrewsbury24C

Naomi Klein
@NaomiAKlein
Labour for a Green New Deal
@LabGND

Manchester Meteor
@mcrmeteor

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"Affecting one part of the Ecosystem ripples across the rest" - The Willow Tit Project

Mon, 12 Apr 2021 10:00:00 +0100

a few audio glitches in this one, damn you crappy broadband! I want broadband communism now!

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We spend a lot of time on the podcast looking at the big picture; national carbon budgets, climate politics and so on. Even looking at Greater Manchester as a region sometimes can obscure some of the challenges when it comes to protecting our planet. Climate change isn't just about parts per million in the atmosphere, it's also about protecting and expanding biodiversity to support our ecosystem. Even the smallest thing can change the course of the future.

This week we are joined on the show by Jenifer Wood, Laura Nash and Stewart Fraser, organisers from the Willow Tit project based at Carrington Moss in Trafford. We discuss the importance of the scrubland habitats of the willow tit, the delicate balancing act of their ecosystems, the effects of development, and how people can get involved in supporting conservation projects in their own neighbourhoods.

City Nature Challenge - get out there and spot some wildlife
https://citynaturechallenge.org/

Shout outs

Youth strike Manchester
@Youthstrikemcr

Geoff Densham for doing the pioneering work on the willow Tit project
Mark Champion - for his expertise and support of the project

To all the Friends groups in Manchester

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"Direct action is an integral part of our democracy" – an interview with Clive Lewis MP.

Mon, 29 Mar 2021 11:00:00 +0100

This podcast was recorded on the 25th of February 2021, before the introduction of the Police, Crime, sentencing and Courts Bill and the subsequent protests.

This week we are joined by Labour MP for Norwich South Clive Lewis ( @labourlewis). We discuss climate politics and the Labour Party, how to save British democracy and does the left need proportional representation to succeed?

shout outs
James Meadway - @meadwaj
Check out James recent episode on the podcast here-
http://ow.ly/jcWQ50DMoY1
Malcolm - Ads friend getting back on his feet.
GMB - @GMB_union
IWGB @IWGBunion

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GND Mini: Manchester Takes its Buses Back!

Sat, 27 Mar 2021 15:00:00 +0000

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming for a piece of breaking news.

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has announced that the city region will bring its bus network back under public control. Finally Manchester will have the connected fair transport service it deserves!

It’s a huge win for Manchester’s communities and commuters, but most of all, it’s a victory for Better Buses GM who have campaigned tirelessly for years to reform the bus network.

On this bonus episode we welcome back Better Buses Greater Manchester campaigner Pascale Robinson (@PascaleRobinson). We talk through this hard fought victory, what happens next and take a brief moment to celebrate.

Here's our orginal interview with Pascale last summer
https://www.buzzsprout.com/919177/episodes/4818593

Check out the Better Buses event on the 7th on how to win for your community

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-to-win-better-buses-for-our-communities-tickets-148318006149

Read Pascales' piece in Tribune
https://tribunemag.co.uk/2021/03/greater-manchesters-public-buses-are-the-future

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How to Blow Up a Pipeline with Andreas Malm

Mon, 15 Mar 2021 11:00:00 +0000

Peaceful protest could be seen as the hallmark of political movements in the late 20th and early 21st century, causing disruption to everyday life with mass gathering and turning the political headwind through chants, crowds and banners. From the Iraq War protests in 2003 to the Extinction Rebellion direct actions of 2019 turning the other cheek and love thy neighbour have been core tenants around a politics and respectability. The key questions is though, did they change anything? Does Capital listen to Labour without a threat?

Our guest this week is author and associate lecturer at Lund University Andreas Malm. Andreas is a prolific writer on climate change and capitalism with titles including "Fossil Capital" Corona, Climate, Chronic Emergency" and "White Skin Black Fuel". We discuss the sanitising of political and civil movements, the strategic value of property destruction for a cause and combating climate despair and fatalism.

Links
How to blow up a Pipeline
https://www.versobooks.com/books/3665-how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline

kim stanley Robinsons' Ministry for the future
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-ministry-for-the-future/kim-stanley-robinson/9780356508832

Ende Gelaende- the climate activsts Andreas has worked with
https://www.ende-gelaende.org/en/

Shout outs
Ende Gelande- climate activists based on germany taking on lignite mining
@Ende__Gelaende

Low Carbon Homes- for supporting the retrofit Get-in Project
@lowcarbonhomes

Friends of Carrington Moss- defending local green space in Greater Manchester
@FriendsMoss

Trees not cars - Congrats on beating Manchester council on the building of a carpark
@TreesNotCars

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"We can't just outspend the Tories" James Meadway on Labour's economic future.

Mon, 01 Mar 2021 11:00:00 +0000

Keir Starmer had been enjoying a grace period. New characters gave the media new exciting things to talk about and with that came the praising of a forensic leader who could make Labour an electoral contender again. That sheen is beginning to wear off, the popular policies of Labour are not front and center anymore and there is worry on the left of the party that the radical eco socialist agenda has been put to the wayside and a return to neoliberal economics could be on the cards. So what is the policy direction of Starmers Labour? Is our new Shadow Chancellor returning to the center and will it be enough to tackle the twin crises of climate breakdown and economic inequality.

On the pod this week we are joined by James Meadway (@meadwaj). James is an economist whos' previous work includes being the chief economist at the New Economic Foundation and also advising John McDonnell. We discuss if Starmer has abandoned popular Labour economic policy, what Labour has to do to stay relevant against the pro spending Tories and how a Green New Deal has to be about more than just state control.

Shout out

Manchester Bus drivers going on strike against Go north Wests fire and rehire program.
@Unite_NorthWest

Diem25, celebrating their 5th Birthday
@DiEM_25

Prestwich environmental Forum
@PrestwichForum

Big tech workers attempting to unionise like the amazon staff in Bessemer, Alabama.
@BAmazonUnion

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GMB for Green New Deal

Mon, 15 Feb 2021 11:00:00 +0000

Note: We interviewed Declan before the decision was taken by the Haldane society to censure Keir Starmer, we also had a few problems with Alexs mic!

If you believe it's going to take a mass movement to stir humanity away from a climate disaster , you're probably going to want the Trade Union movement involved in that. Trade Unions have a long history of mobilising workers for their rights and that's the expertise we need right now.

This week on the show we are joined by Declan Owens (@owens_declan) for GMB for a Green New Deal. We talk about securing a just transition for fossil fuel dependent workers, organising inside a union and what it takes to be a socialist lawyer.

Shout outs

Farhana Yamin- lawyer and activist arrested at the shell XR action
@farhanaclimate

Lydia Meryll - educator and climate activist for her stirling presentation on the U.Ns treaty on the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
@lydia_meryll-

Clive Lewis MP- for just being a legend.
@labourlewis

Support the show

"If there is no point in a climate committee what is the point of the rest of them?" Climate emergency Manchester

Mon, 01 Feb 2021 11:00:00 +0000

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2021 is hurtling in the same direction as 2020, crisis upon crisis upon crisis. That is not even mentioning the underlying behemoth that is climate breakdown. With the globe shadowed in unimaginable loss how are we to process it? to find the fight to carry on?

This week on the podcast we are joined by Marion Grace (@maz_graz) and Pooja Kishinani (@Poojakishinani) from Climate Emergency Manchester (CEM) to discuss their recently published book "The Student Guide to the Climate Crisis". Marion and Pooja talk us through climate grief and the importance of understanding our emotions in regards the climate, the University of Manchester's slow movement on climate and CEMs campaign for a 7th scrutiny committee on climate for the city council.

The students guide to the climate crisis
https://climateemergencymanchester.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Student-Climate-Handbook-Final-1.pdf

Shout outs.
Dr Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
@ayanaeliza
Dr Kathrine Wilkinson
@DrKWilkinson

kindling trust
@kindlingtrust

Labour MP Olivia Blake
@_OliviaBlake

Lucas Clay
@LTMClay

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"We've been fighting the effects of climate breakdown for 15 years" Matt Wrack of the Fire Brigades Union

Mon, 18 Jan 2021 14:00:00 +0000

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We're back! Welcome to 2021 where the pandemic carries on the points don't matter! As long as Climate breakdown keeps happening we will keep talking and this week we are joined by the people who are down on the front line.

Our guest this week is secretary of the Fire Brigades Union Matt Wrack (@MattWrack). We discuss the long left history of the FBU, what it's like taking on ever increasing natural disasters linked to climate change and what the trade union movement has to do to rebuild itself.

Shout outs

United Fire Fighters Union Australia dealing with bush fires this season
https://www.facebook.com/ufuav.asn.au

GMB gas worker who are striking against Fire and rehire contracts
@GMB_union
Go fund me to support the workers https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/british-gas-strike-fund

David Oliver @mancunianmedic
for his clear and concise info on Covid and slapping down anti-vaxers and covid minimisers

Sarah Wilson @sarahirwilson2
for her piece on rewilding Scotland
https://www.scotsman.com/interactive/rewilding-scotland-natural-ecosystem

Support the show

GND Christmas Special 2020!

Sat, 26 Dec 2020 12:00:00 +0000

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It's our Christmas special! We shoot the merry breeze and look back at the shows of 2020, picking our favourite guest of this year and line up our dream guests for 2021.

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"I Don't Want to Live in a Green Version of 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 World" Global Climate Justice with Leon Sealey Huggins

Mon, 21 Dec 2020 10:00:00 +0000

There is a sane man back in the White House, a Covid-19 vaccination is beginning to be rolled out and Bill Bailey won strictly, 2020 is really turning itself around. All that is left is to enact a Green New Deal that decarbonises the global powers and everything will be fine, right? As much as decarbonisation of the likes of the US and China is important, if getting to that point requires the global south to be metaphorically thrown under the bus is it even really a New Deal at all?

This week we are joined by Dr Leon Sealey Huggins (@Leon_Ayo) Assistant professor at Warwick University. We discuss the racist underpinnings of capitalism, how international politics condemns the global south to a climate catastrophe and how do we design a Green New Deal that doesn't exploit those regions who are on the front lines of climate breakdown.

Links

Leon's article on green capitalism
https://novaramedia.com/2020/12/13/green-capitalism-will-never-succeed-in-tackling-climate-breakdown/

Leon's paper "The Climate Crisis is a Racist Crisis
http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/103485/13/WRAP-climate-crisis-racist-crisis-structural-racism-inequality-climate-change-VoR-Sealey-Huggins-2018.pdf

Climate Justice activists Wretched of the Earth. A grassroots collective for Indigenous, black, brown & diaspora groups demanding climate justice + in solidarity with UK & Global South communities @wretchedotearth

Shout Outs

COP26 Coalition . A coalition campaigning for COP26 to be built of a Climate Justice
framework
@COP26_Coalition

UNICEF- for feeding our children where the state fails to do so.
@UNICEF_uk

Everyone working hard to keep Ancoats green.

Alan Good- campaigning for saving city center green field sites
@AlanGoodLD

Save New Islington Green
@saveNIgreen

Trees not Cars
@TreesNotCars

Save Ryebank Fields
@ryebankfields

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"There can be no socialism on a dead planet" Catching up with Councillor Jon Burke.

Mon, 14 Dec 2020 11:00:00 +0000

**Apologies for some of the audio issues, Andrew had a night off**

As the nights draw in and the GND team snuggle up in our cozy, retrofitted, zero carbon house of the future (powered entirely by the hot air supplied by Andrew) it's time for a catch up with the low traffic neighbourhood Santa Claus himself, Councillor Jon Burke of Hackney.

This week we discuss the on going campaign to make Hackneys streets for people not just cars, the climate impacts of catering the world to cars and we debunk myths about low traffic neighbourhoods.

Links

Jons' article in the Huffington Post on electric vehicles
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/electric-cars_uk_5fb64017c5b695be8300137c

The Hackney Citizen article on the journey from against to for LTNS
https://www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2020/12/08/ltns-from-horror-to-acceptance/

Shout outs

Claire Stocks- XR and Walk Ride GM campaigner
@stocksyatlarge

Chris Stark- chief exec at the Climate Change Committee (UK)
@ChiefExecCCC

Scarlett West- Climate activist
@ScarlettOWest

Alice Toomer McAlpine - Manchester Meteor Co-editor

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"We have to clarify getting back to normal is not a good idea" The commodification of everything with Adrienne Buller

Mon, 07 Dec 2020 11:00:00 +0000

If there is one thing to be said about the last 40 years of Neoliberalism it's this. You can put a price on everything. If it can be quantified then it can be priced and sold. Even when it comes to the existential threat of climate breakdown and biodiversity destruction the strategy has been give it a price tag and then someone in the system can pay for the damage. Existence has turned into a game of who will pick up the insurance policy excess. Does the commodification of everything give us the tools to tackle climate change? Or are we green washing are way extinction?

This week we are joined on the show by Adrienne Buller (@adribuller) Senior Research Fellow at Common Wealth. We discuss how green finance is a cover for some of the markets ecological sins, could UBS be a pathway out climate breakdown and how should the labour party define its self, now the tories have supposedly become the big spenders?

Adriennes' article on attaching market value to life
https://novaramedia.com/2020/10/16/whats-the-value-of-a-whale/

Dealing with the commodification of housing.
https://www.common-wealth.co.uk/reports/charting-a-just-and-sustainable-recovery-for-scotland

Governing the Commons by Elinor Ostrum
https://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/political-theory/governing-commons-evolution-institutions-collective-action-1?format=PB

Progressive International
https://progressive.international/wire/2020-12-02-common-wealth-to-makeamazonpay-reimagine-the-platform-economy/en

Shout Outs

The Standsted 15, here's a short film on their story.
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/stansted-15-tell-their-story-through-film

Sophie Yeo - @some_yeo
https://inkcap.substack.com/

the Yard @theyard_mcr a fantastic venue/co working space in North Manchester
https://theyardmcr.com/

Luca Rudlin- Amazing Videographer, editor and all round amazing dude
@People_Staring

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"Degrowth is Punk!" Combining GND and Degrowth with Riccardo Mastini

Mon, 30 Nov 2020 11:00:00 +0000

We find degrowth fascinating. For us as a show it really turns the world upside on what we should see a human progress. However, you'll be hard pressed to find its message front and center of any political parties commitments unlike the Green New Deal. So are these ideas compatible? Can parties stand on a platform of Degrowth? Or is political hope too tied to the idea of growth?

This week we are joined by Riccardo Mastini (@r_mastini) to discuss how the concept of degrowth fits inside a Green New Deal, the ideological frame work of Growth, is Modern Monetary Theory a boon for degrowthers? And are humans intrinsically good people?

Shout outs
The Trouble Webzine on eco-socialism
https://www.the-trouble.com/

@thetroublemag

Positive Money
@PositiveMoneyUK
The tragedy of Growth
https://positivemoney.org/publications/tragedy-of-growth/

Common Wealth- think tank specialising in new ownership models.
@Cmmonwealth

Retrofit Get in project Articles

Mancehster Meteor @nickjwprescott
https://themeteor.org/2020/11/12/theatre-workers-tackle-the-climate-crisis/

The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/nov/22/manchester-theatre-staff-upgrade-homes-covid-layoffs-retrofitting-scheme

Issac Rose from GM Housing Action
@_isaacrose
@gmhousingaction

Craft-D
@Craft_D
A letter to Corbyn
https://ditto.fm/letter-to-corbyn

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"Kill the Corporation before it kills us!" Ecocide with Prof. David Whyte

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 11:00:00 +0000

For decades, we were told that individual action was the best way to tackle the climate crisis. If only we would stop using plastic bags and straws, while taking care to recycle, through behavioural change we could prevent climate change.

Yet the rise of XR and the school climate strikers, and their clarion call “system change not climate change”, suggests climate breakdown is an economic crisis rather than a moral dilemma. To fight against climate change is to fight against capitalism. But if we want to fight the good fight, first we must understand how capitalism works.

Joining us on the podcast this week is Professor of Socio-legal Studies at the University of Liverpool, Professor David Whyte. We discuss David Whyte’s new book, ‘Ecocide: Kill the Corporation Before it Kills Us’, in which David makes the case that we must rid ourselves of the profit-making corporation altogether. We delve into the architecture and history of corporate capitalism, the shortcomings of regulatory approaches to curbing the corporation’s ecocidal tendencies, and the complex role played by organised labour in fighting climate breakdown and international injustice.

Links
David's book Ecocide: Kill the Corporation before it kills us
https://bit.ly/36WZ4F6

Green Peace oil and gas worker survey
https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Oil-Gas-Workers-Report-Final-Web.pdf

Shout outs
Tina Louise Rothery- Anti fracking activist

Anne Roy- David's mentor and colleague

All the people who love or live with people with learning disabilities in particular
@SEND_Action and Liz Crow

Conrad Bower- Editor of the meteor
@ConradBower1

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The Retrofit Get-in Project

Mon, 16 Nov 2020 11:00:00 +0000

www.retrofitgetinproject.com

It's been a pretty rough year to put it mildly. A planet ravaged by a pandemic and incompetent governance being the order of the day, hope has been hard to find. Politics has been listless at best. But being a member of the Labour Party isn't about waiting around for a CLP to tell you to go canvassing, it's not about waiting for a just government it's about taking on injustice and supporting each other. So instead of waiting for orders from on high, we got to work.

The Retrofit Get-in Project is a scheme setup by our own resident producer Andrew Glassford and Red Co-op (@RedCooperative) to support theatre and live events workers. The project takes the multi-skilled talents of theatre workers and puts them to use tackling the climate crisis by retrofitting homes. The Retrofit Get-in Project provides good green jobs to a sector that is on its knees.

This week we welcome back Charlie Baker from Red Co-op and give a warm welcome to Rebecca Slack one of the workers on the project.

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"If your economy isn't supporting human flourishing, what's the point?" Interview with Prof. Julia Steinberger

Mon, 09 Nov 2020 11:00:00 +0000

Note: This episode was recorded before the results of the U.S election were published.

How do we define the success of a city? Or a country? Or human civilisation all together? The last 60 years we've been tied to GDP, growth, trade surpluses, amounts of debt, the strength of currency. Economic strength has been the barometer for the majority of the world to look to when we want to know how we're doing. If stock and shares are high surely there can't be any problems? When an economy bifurcates massively between the haves and the have nots, and to become a haver you need to extract from the environment considerably, measures of economic superiority really start to miss the point. So what's the alternative?

Joining us on the podcast this week is Professor Julia Steinberger ( @JKSteinberger). Julia is a Professor in social ecology and ecological economics at l'Université de Lausanne in Switzerland and is currently working on the next IPCC report on climate change . We discuss the links between consumption and capitalist affluence, how epicurean philosophy has informed economics of the past 50 years and the balancing act of extraction for a greener future.

Shout outs

Councillor Jon Burke
@jonburkeUK

Marcus Rashford
@MarcusRashford

Swiss campaign for corporate accountability

**LINKS**
Scientists warning on affluence (co-authored by Julia)

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16941-y

The Flawed science of deep adaptation

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/faulty-science-doomism-and-flawed-conclusions-deep-adaptation/

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"God isn't destroying the Earth, we're destroying the Earth" Religion and environmentalism with Rev. Grace Thomas.

Mon, 26 Oct 2020 11:00:00 +0000

As a blanket statement, Left politics is about establishing and maintaining mass movements, thousands hopefully millions of people into a cohesive group to fight back against concentration of power in the world. At the same time left wing politics is classically factious with splinter groups and offshoots starting regularly. Looking into a different sphere in 2011, 59 million people saw them selves as Christians in the UK. So what is religion getting so right that maybe we're getting wrong? What do Christians in the U.K think about climate change? And what do they want to do about it?

This week we are joined by Reverend Grace Thomas (@GraceREThomas) from Moss side to discuss, building communities, the christian approach to climate change and was Jesus really a socialist?

Shout outs
Inspired by grace blakeley's new podcast A World to Win, where she recently interviewed Cornell West on Christian Socialism. https://tribunemag.co.uk/a-world-to-win

Cornel West
@CornelWest

Grace Blakeley
@graceblakeley

Greater Manchester Savers network
@GMSavers

Moss Side Eco Squad
@moss_side_eco

Upping it
@UppingIt

Hannah Malcom - researching climate greif
@hannahmmalcolm

Christian Climate Action
@CClimateAction

Prestwich Environmental Forum
@PrestwichForum

Incredible edible
@IEPrestwich

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"It's not enough to win, we've got to save it forever" Interview with Save Ryebank Fields

Mon, 19 Oct 2020 11:00:00 +0100

After a technical hitch (some say Andrew tried to turn his whole house carbon zero with just a mirror and a kettle), we are back delivering high quality low carbon local environmental news!

This week we are joined by members from the campaign to save Ryebank Fields, an area of re-wilded land in south Manchester. Julie and Tara talk us through the work that themselves and there comrades have been doing to stop Manchester Metropolitan University from developing the land and destroying the green field site. We discuss the rare biodiversity in the area, the history of the land and if the arguments for housing stack up against saving city ecology.

https://www.saveryebankfields.org/

"Shout outs"

Dave Bishop- chair of Friends of Chorlton Meadows
Youth Strike for Climate Manchester
@Youthstrikemcr

research on rewilding to sequester CO2 by Rio de Janeiro University
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2784-9

Cambridge zero carbon campaign
@ZeroCarbonSoc

Marion Smith and Pooja Kishinani of Climate Emergency Manchester have developed a students guide to the climate crisis

https://climateemergencymanchester.net/student-climate-handbook/

@poojakishinani

@GoGoSuperMarion

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" Greater Manchester has had 2 Billion in cuts from the tories" interview with Councillor Sam Wheeler

Mon, 05 Oct 2020 11:00:00 +0100

City councils don't often get the same attention as the national political movers. Important decisions are still being made though when it comes to our environment and the impact we have on it. In hopefully the first of 96 interviews with Greater Manchester City Councillors we will delve into the heart of local politics and see what those who sit in power think about the climate emergency, the repercussions of our actions on the climate and what our elected representatives at a local level think the city can do to save us from environmental collapse. This is an exercise in good faith and activists listening to the problems our representatives face.

Joining us this week is Sam Wheeler, Labour Councillor for Piccadilly ward. Focusing on his patch, the city centre, we discuss the history of Manchester council, how to allocate carbon produced across the region and does Manchester need a 7th climate scrutiny committee?

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"Sometimes I think about it like video game design" Organising in the USA with the Sunrise Movement

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 11:00:00 +0100

Get involved with the Retrofit Get-in Project
https://vimeo.com/459003183

The Green New Deal has been around for just over a decade, with it's origins beginning in the U.K. It made it's first big splash in the US with the likes of AOC and Bernie Sanders calling for the fundamental decarbonising of the US economy and economic justice for all citizens. The support for the GND and these candidates doesn't come from wall street but a ever growing grass roots campaign that wants life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to be for all Americans.

This week we are joined by Guido Girgenti from the Sunrise Movement & the Justice Democrats (@guidogir) to discuss how the GND plays in in US politics, How do you organise in such a large nation, how to appeal to young voters and people Bernies age and what work progressives have to do if Joe Biden wins the presidential election.

links
Sunrise Movement
https://www.sunrisemovement.org/

We shine Bright- New book by the Sunrise Movement
https://bookshop.org/books/winning-the-green-new-deal-why-we-must-how-we-can/9781982142438

Gabriel Wienant Chronopolitics
https://nplusonemag.com/issue-37/politics/coronavirus-and-chronopolitics-2/

Swarm wise by Rick Falkvinge
https://falkvinge.net/files/2013/04/Swarmwise-2013-by-Rick-Falkvinge-v1.1-2013Sep01.pdf

Shout out
Jamall Bowman running for New York 16th district
@JamaalBowmanNY

Louie Beckett running the Moston miners community center

Progressive International and Pawel Wargan
@ProgIntl

Manchester Green Summit
@GMGreenCity

Our retrofit project
https://vimeo.com/459003183

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"Clarkson compared us to ISIS" Reflections on direct action with XR Manchester

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 11:00:00 +0100

Apologies for some of a the audio quality, will be back on form next week.

Over August bank holiday and early September Extinction Rebellion lead protests and direct actions in major cities in the U.K with the most news grabbing being the obstruction of printing presses outside Liverpool and London. How has this round of protests influenced the fight against climate breakdown and where is the movement going?

This week we are joined again by XR Manchester member Lizzy and Joel to debrief on the actions. We discuss how are police tactics changing towards XR? How has COVID disrupted their acts of disruption, the realities and impacts of direct action on ourselves and what the movement needs to do in the future.

Links

Reset Paper https://reset-uk.org/

Shout outs
Dianne Abbot
@HackneyAbbott

Greater Manchester Savers
@GMSavers

Palestine action
@Pal_action

US firefighters tackling the climate wildfires of the west coast
@CAL_FIRE

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"Trees aren't good long term carbon stores" plants, peat-lands and biodiversity with Joshua Styles

Mon, 14 Sep 2020 11:00:00 +0100

As wildfires ravage the U.S west coast it has never been more pertinent to think about what rising global temperatures are doing to our natural environments. The wild fires in Australia at the beginning of this year killed nearly 3 billion animals, our choices and the choices of our leaders and governments affect the world around us all. If we are to tackle the climate crisis how do we defend and reinvigorate the natural world? Are we putting too much emphasis on counting carbon instead of the costs on the natural world itself?

This week we are joined by Joshua Styles (@joshual951), from the North West Rare Plants Initiative (NWRPI). We discuss the current state of flora & fauna protections in the UK, how the slashing of planning regulation is endangering some of our rarest wild life and is planting trees the best solution to our carbon problem?

**Links**
North West Rare Planet Initiative
http://nwrpi.weebly.com/

plants before Pandas- the guardian documentary on Josh
https://youtu.be/qW_XnT-MjtU

Nick Moles episode on pesticides
https://www.buzzsprout.com/919177/4360112

**Shout Outs**
Chester Zoo
@chesterzoo

Lancashire Wildlife trust
@Lancswildlife

City of Trees
@CityofTreesMcr

Cladiators
@McrCladiators

Labour for a green new deal Legend Jill Axford
@JillAxford

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"I think we genuinely scare people in power" Youth Activism with Fridays for Futures

Mon, 07 Sep 2020 11:00:00 +0100

We are back, after a holiday break and with a new theme tune!

climate breakdown unlike other political and socio-economic crises has a tight deadline. If we don't tackle it within the next 10-25 years we're going to be heading to the Mad Max hellscape without the steam punk aesthetic. With a problem that is going to effect every generation and the ones yet to come it's no surprise people of all ages are stepping up to demand leadership on the climate.

This week on the show we are joined by Fridays for Futures' Emma Greenwood to discuss why the young are picking up this gauntlet, how education in the UK needs to be updated to deal with our climate realities and what's in store for the political future of youth movements.

Links
Fridays for Futures
https://fridaysforfuture.org/
Servern Cullis Suzuki's speech at the U.N in 1992
https://youtu.be/JGdS8ts63Ck

shout outs
Youth strike MCR
@Youthstrikemcr
Red Co-op retrofitters
@RedCooperative
If you want to get involved in retrofit jobs, fill out this form
https://forms.gle/xqykPojVCLwA4mqV7

Extinction Rebellion Manchester
@XR_MCR
Global Law Action Network who have taken the youth activists case the EU
@GLAN_LAW

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"Where does the power currently lie to shut down industries? "Interview with Extinction Rebellion Mcr

Wed, 19 Aug 2020 11:00:00 +0100

Last summer Extinction Rebellion made headlines around the world for their civil disobedience actions. Occupying areas of major world cities and demanding that we change course now from this ecologically destructive and economically extractive system to a regenerative and egalitarian model all based on a democratic citizens assembly. From that we've seen climate emergencies declared all around the global but the substantial work is still to be done.

This week we are joined by Lizzy Haughton and Joel Stone from Extinction Rebellion Mcr to discuss XR's development from last summer, where the movement has fallen down and how it can evolve to really attain its goals.

Links to the local and UK rebellions this bank holiday weekend
https://xrmcr.org/

Find your local XR group here
https://xrnorth.org/our-region/

Shout outs
Campaign against HS2
@stophs2

Acorn Tenants Union- for there resisting eviction traininng
@AcornManchester

Ground work GM
@GroundworkGM

Kirkstall Valley Farm
@KV_Farm

Climate Emergency Manchester
@ClimateEmergMcr

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"I don't want to live in a Green World that exploits Women" Feminist GND with Maeve Cohen

Mon, 10 Aug 2020 11:00:00 +0100

When people think of a Green New Deal their head immediately runs towards industrial policy; building solar powered cities, dumping fossil fuels, having sustainable public transport and good Green manual jobs. That's what we need to save the world from itself and we all need to get involved to do so. If that's the case then why are the majority of those industries dominated by Men? When the traditional "breadwinner" heads out to build the Solar farm who's looking after his family? His children, his elderly parents? Are these roles not vital too? Women make up the majority of the work force in care, education, health, unpaid domestic work, where is their GND? Why are men not seen as being the child rearers and carers of the frail? Why are we only fixating on one part of the economy if we are attempting to save the planet?

Joining us this week to discuss The Feminist Green New Deal is Maeve Cohen. Maeve is the co-author of "Towards a Feminist GND for the UK". Maeve is currently a researcher at The Sustainable Consumption Institute and former director of Rethink Economics. We unpick what a real social justice orientated GND would look like, what is intersectionality and why we should shape the post Covid economy around care.

Links
Feminist GND Paper
https://wbg.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Feminist-Green-New-Deal.pdf

Women's environmental Network
https://www.wen.org.uk/

Womens budget group
https://wbg.org.uk/

Maeve's piece in Open Democracy about a feminist GND
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/its-time-to-talk-about-a-feminist-green-new-deal/

Siliva Federici- Caliban and the Witch
https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9781570270598?gC=5a105e8b&gclid=Cj0KCQjwvb75BRD1ARIsAP6LcqtoXf9WTXeqWMtIkLDW2AcZv1VmkV9l33Hoy9HE2TqBuG389YrAkvcaArzAEALw_wcB

Adrienne Roberts
@DrAdrienneRob
Towards a Feminist Global Trade Politics
https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/towards-a-feminist-global-trade-politics(1ef21053-eb60-4df5-9d5f-9359447907b8).html

Shout outs
Judith Emanuel of Steady State Manchester

Harrie Larrington -Spencer
@harrielspencer

Rest in Power
Sheila Abdullah

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"It's a must to achieve environmental goals" Publicly controlled transport with Better Busses GM

Mon, 03 Aug 2020 11:00:00 +0100

Public transport is a complex beast in the UK. local transport can be run by a myriad of private firms, public private partnerships, municipally owned businesses, charities, publicly controlled private firms and other quangos. No doubt that public transport is a key pillar when it comes to tackling the climate crisis but which organisation is the most effective at tackling it and how should British democracy interact with it? With smaller vital, yet seemingly unprofitable routes being cut across Manchester we ask; is there a better way?

This week we are joined by Pascale Robinson (@PascaleRobinson) from Better Buses Greater Manchester (@BetterBusesGM) to discuss what publicly controlled transport is, how it differs from publicly owned transport and how our local democracies should interact with transport providers.

get in contact with the better buses campaign at
pascale@betterbusesgm.org.uk

Shout Outs

Friends of the earth Manchester
@foemcr

Acorn tenants union
@ACORN_tweets

Guy Standing and his book "plunder of the commons"
https://www.guystanding.com/books

Save Ryebank Fields
@ryebankfields

Leo murrays "away with all the cars'
https://www.common-wealth.co.uk/reports/away-with-all-cars-redux

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"There is an action rhetoric gap" Local government on climate change with Manchester Climate Monthly

Tue, 28 Jul 2020 10:00:00 +0100

Ironically, there has been a lot of hot air when it comes to institutions and leaders taking on climate change. Promises of carbon neutrality in far off distant dates just kick the can down the road. How can we hold people and places of power to greater account? Are local governments able to take on the climate emergency they themselves declared? Or has the Covid pandemic turning governments back to "business as usual"?

This week on the podcast we are joined By Marion Smith and Calum Mcfarlane from Manchester Climate Monthly (@ClimateEmergMcr) to discuss their recent reports on progress from GMCA since the Climate Emergency declaration, what is getting in the way of substantive change in the city and there vision for a greener Greater Manchester.

CEM J10 report
https://climateemergencymanchester.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/J10-Report.pdf

CEMs' petition for a climate scrutiny committee
https://democracy.manchester.gov.uk/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?ID=36&RPID=1929741&HPID=1929741

Core cities report
https://climateemergencymanchester.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Core-Cities-JULY-2020-v1.0.pdf

Shout outs
Mary Heglar Climate justice activist
@MaryHeglar

Jason Hickel
@jasonhickel

Greater manchester housing action.
@gmhousingaction

Circular city Manchester
@circularcitymcr

U.K student climate network
@UKSCN1

Peter Kalmus
@climatehuman

Professor Julia Steinberger
@JKSteinberger

is deep adaption flawed science?
https://theecologist.org/2020/jul/15/deep-adaptation-flawed-science

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"Wealth is just scooshed out of the local economy" Community Wealth Building, with Jonty Leibowitz of CLES

Mon, 20 Jul 2020 13:00:00 +0100

Much has been said about the centralisation of wealth and power in major cities. London, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Cardiff. these behemoths sucking up the economic activity of their regions as the cities expand and draw in more people and more business in from the now dubbed "Satalite Towns". Is having all the business and production of Greater Manchester concentrated in the city centre the right economic plan for a region? Are we leaving communities to crumble as we build shiny new tower blocks in Spinningfields and Deansgate? Is there another way?

This week we are joined by Jonty Leibowitz (@JontyLeibowitz) from the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (@CLESthinkdo). Jonty talks us through Community Wealth Building, how local governments can use the powers they already have to keep wealth in there localities and how democracy in the workplace interlinks with climate change.

Links
Jontys' new report with CLES
https://cles.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Green-Recovery-FINAL2.pdf

Shout outs
UCU campaign to save University workers
https://twitter.com/manmetucu/status/1284049513653719045?s=20

Trees not Cars
@TreesNotCars

Diversifying and Decolonising Economics
@DivDecEcon

Common Wealth
@Cmmonwealth

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"The council has 1.8 Billion invested in fossil fuels" Divesting from destruction with Fossil Free GM

Mon, 13 Jul 2020 11:00:00 +0100

A year ago last week the Manchester Council and the surround councils declared a climate emergency. This was seen by many as the first step forward in Manchester becoming the green city it needs to be to tackle climate breakdown. Little did many of us know how deeply intrenched the city is with industries that are hurtling the planet towards a Mad Max future (sans the cool bikes). The Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF) is the largest fund in the local government pension scheme and the 11th biggest benefit pension fund in the U.K. at a staggering 23.8 Billion pounds. Is all of that capital supporting the climate emergency?

On this weeks show we are joined by Maggie Walker & Ali Abbas from Fossil Free Greater Manchester (@FossilFreeGM) to discuss the ongoing campaign to make the GMPF divest from fossil fuels.

Links
Fossil Free Greater Manchester
http://fossilfreegm.org.uk/

Green Investments providing 178% returns- Forbes
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidrvetter/2020/05/28/just-how-good-an-investment-is-renewable-energy-new-study-reveals-all/#3aeff104d278

Latest Greater Manchester Pension Fund report
https://www.gmpf.org.uk/getmedia/b3f609a9-b078-4808-a3e5-5cc61d74e669/Annual_report_and_accounts_2019.pdf

Shout Outs
University of Manchester Fossil Fuel Divestment campaign
@PeopleUom

Better Buses GM
@BetterBusesGM

Top fan Lucas Clay!
@LTMClay

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"The Green New Deal should be about power" GND for Europe with Diem25

Mon, 06 Jul 2020 11:00:00 +0100

Climate Breakdown transcends borders. The carbon output of Galicia while have an affect on the environment of Gateshead, Nairobi and Singapore. It's a global crisis that requires a global cooperative solution. Plans to protect the earth must link between the local, national, continental and international.

This week we are joined by Pawel Wargan (@pawelwargan) from Diem25 to explore "The Green New Deal for Europe". We discuss why democracy must be at the heart of any plan to save the planet, how the European Union institutions hold back a truly cooperative union and how the E.U can be saved from itself for the sake of the planet.

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"Links"
The Green New Deal for Europe
https://www.gndforeurope.com/

The EU "Green Deal"
https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en

Diem25
https://diem25.org/#

Diem25MCR
@Diem25MCR

"Shout Outs"
Mathare Social Justice Centre
https://www.matharesocialjustice.org/

Whalley ranger environmental group
@WhalleyRanger1

Prague DSC1
https://www.facebook.com/Diem25Praha

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"When are we going to put nature above profit?" Pesticides, agriculture and biodiversity with Nick Mole

Mon, 29 Jun 2020 13:00:00 +0100

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There are many schisms embedded into the modern world. A foggy distance between our actions and the fallout from those actions. The carbon output of your job, the manufacture of the clothes you wear and the final destination of the waste we create. The separation between what we eat and how it is grown is one of the largest chasms we face. To feed 9 billion people do we have to turn a blind eye to poisoning the land and destroying biodiversity? Is there a better way?

To discuss the lay of the land when it comes to pesticides, agriculture and industrial farming we joined this week by Nick Mole policy officer for Pesticide Action Network UK (PAN UK). Nick sheds light on what current farming practice constitutes, how Brexit will affect British farmers and where we are changing for the better.

Links
https://www.pan-uk.org/

Toxic trade
https://www.pan-uk.org/toxic-trade/

Shout outs
Levenshulme Bee network
@LevyBeelines

Nick presscott Meteor
@nickjwprescott

His piece on the Manchester council planing committee
https://www.themeteor.org/2020/06/26/proposed-changes-to-controversial-shudehill-shard-pushed-through-under-emergency-powers/

Pesticide free Stirling
@PFreeStirling

Daniel Jerrome- green Councillor Trafford
@DJerrome

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"We've got to rebuild trust" Finance, Class and the environment with Grace Blakeley

Mon, 22 Jun 2020 11:00:00 +0100

Safe to say that he Economy as we formally know it has taken a nose dive. Britain has lost 20% of GDP over the course of lockdown as businesses closed up and demand slumped to save the population from Covid-19. But what is the British economy actually made of? Is GDP representative of the actual production of everyday people in the UK? Has chasing these golden numbers skewed the british economy into a place where traditional working class jobs are less important that they used to be? If there is to be a recovery and a green recovery at that, what does it look like under a Conservative government?

To discuss the effects of finance on the environment and the working class we are joined by economist and writer Grace Blakeley (@graceblakeley). Grace is the author of Stolen: how to save the world from Finacialisation.

**links**
Stolen: How to save the world from Financialisation
https://repeaterbooks.com/product/stolen-how-to-save-the-world-from-financialisation/

Still The Enemy Within
https://the-enemy-within.org.uk/

The New politics of Class: The Politics Exclusion of the Working Class
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-new-politics-of-class/geoffrey-evans/james-tilley/9780198755753
Graces article on state monopolism
https://tribunemag.co.uk/2020/06/the-era-of-state-monopoly-capitalism

**Shout outs**
Harriet L-S
@harrielspencer

Dianne Abbot MP
@HackneyAbbott

Simukai Chigudu
@SimuChigudu
And his article on the Rhodes must fall campaign from a few weeks ago.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/12/oxford-black-professors-cecil-rhodes-british-empire

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"We are sent to the town hall to find solutions to these problems" How councils can take on the climate crisis with Councillor Jon Burke

Mon, 15 Jun 2020 11:00:00 +0100

If you want to support the show, please leave us a review on Itunes.

Local councils. Not your usual starting point when it comes to dealing with world wide crises like climate breakdown. Normally you'd associate them with the mundanity of bin collections and road works, tax bands and planning permission. Local councils however are our first interaction with democracy and thus our first opportunity to change the direction that our carbon cramming country is heading in. Joining us this week to discuss how local councils can be at the for-front of decarbonisation and greening the economy is Councillor Jon Burke from Hackney (@jonburkeUK). Speaking truth to power about how labour councils are locked together with the aviation industry and how environmentalism intersects with all parts of local government.

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*Links*
Gresham College lecture on Aneurin Bevan
https://youtu.be/3vgye4SvAzQ

The making of the the working class- E.P Thompson
https://uncomradelybehaviour.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/thompson-ep-the-making-of-the-english-working-class.pdf

*Shout outs*
Practical ways to support the Black Lives Matter movement
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1x65xLdIUDWMUl4_nkuD-EeP98UuJ2nuknUDsqUm7R9s/htmlview

Clyde Loakes @Labourstone Waltham Forest
Claire Holland @Clairekholland Lambeth
Sophoe McGeevor @SophieMcGeevor Lewisham
Adam Harrison @AdamDKharrison Camden

Upping it Mosside environmental community group
@UppingIt

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"You get the cycling culture you deserve" Active transport with Nick Hubble

Mon, 08 Jun 2020 18:00:00 +0100

Here is a list of resources to support the BLM movement https://bit.ly/2MCdcKa

Covid-19 has resulted in a 17% drop in global emissions over the length of the crisis. How do we hold on to this silver lining after the economy starts back up and we return to "The new normal"? With transport being a whopping 3rd of emissions we have to look to other means of getting about that are better for the environment and better for us. This week on the pod we talk to Nick Hubble, otherwise known as the Prestwich Pootler (@pootlers), about cycling in Greater Manchester. We discuss how you don't have to reinvent the wheel (sorry not sorry) to make cycling accessible to all and what we can learn from our comrades on the continent.

If you like the show tell your comrades!

Find us on all the socials

Twitter:@MCRGND_POD

Insta: Manchestergndpod

FB:MCRGNDPOD

Shout Outs
Brian Deegan - Advisor to Manchester cycling and walking commissioner
@bricycle

Nandini Mitra
@_nmtr

Wheels for all- making cycling accessible for all.
https://cycling.org.uk/wheels-for-all

Manchester Bike Hire
https://manchesterbikehire.co.uk/

**Links**
Manchester Critical Mass Cycling group
https://www.manchesterfoe.org.uk/events/event/critical-mass/

Walk Ride GM
https://walkridegm.org.uk/

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"Where is our podcast invite Milliband?" Labour for a Green New Deal with co-founder Chris Saltmarsh

Mon, 01 Jun 2020 14:00:00 +0100

From humble seeds do oak trees grow, from twitter frustration can a movement emerge. Labour for a Green New Deal had only been around for 6 months when it engaged in the longest composite meeting of the Labour Party conferences history. With now over 50 local groups across the country, demanding the Labour Party do better we sat down with co-founder of Lab4GND Chris Saltmarsh (@Chris_Saltmarsh). To discuss the movements beginnings, it's strategy and where we go next.

Our previous episode with Angela Brown on the 2019 Labour conference.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/919177/2944135

Chris' article on Extinction Rebellion
https://novaramedia.com/2018/11/18/5-reasons-im-not-joining-the-extinction-rebellion/

**Shout Outs**
Angela Brown @Angel4Brown598
If you would like to get involved in Angelas' work in North Manchester follow the link below
https://www.facebook.com/groups/211148843589816

Acorn Housing union
https://acorntheunion.org.uk/

Mersey Labour GND
@MerseyLGND

Rutger Bregman new book HumanKind
@rcbregman
https://www.waterstones.com/book/humankind/rutger-bregman/9781408898932

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"34,000 Trees cut down in GM" Making Manchester greener with Trees Not Cars

Mon, 25 May 2020 11:00:00 +0100

Last year Manchester council declared a climate emergency to the adulation of the city and the environmental movement. Two days later they decided to build a brand new car park in the heart of the city, a stark slap in the face to that same declaration. This week we talk to Trees Not Cars on their efforts to make more green space in the city center, the affects on the already disastrous levels of pollution on our health and what we can do to fight back against a contradicting council.

https://www.treesnotcars.com/

Trees not cars fundraisers
https://www.gofundme.com/f/trees-not-cars-mcr

Defra pollution monitor and forecast

https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/

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"corporate media is kinda shitty" exploring local environmental journalism

Mon, 18 May 2020 12:00:00 +0100

It's very easy to concentrate on the national news cycle. Big flashy stories and scandals that drip from the teleprompters of Sky and the BBC. But underneath cocaine habits and duck islands, local government ticks over with a slither of the amount of coverage. With the perception it's just about bin collection and bus time tables, councils and local government have substantial power still on how we support our ecosystem and where money is invested.

This week we are joined on the Pod by investigative journalist Andrea Sandor (@wordstoseeby). Andreas coverage includes the stripping of cycling provision across the city, the gentrification of the Northern Quarter and Manchesters pollution crisis. We discuss why local journalism is more important than ever, how philosphy is keeping people from cycling and how the Manchester Meteor is building a truly independent media.

Shout outs
Nick hubble cycling activist.
https://nickhubble.bike/

Build back better campaign
@BuildBckBetter
https://www.buildbackbetteruk.org/

IPPR study on the furlough scheme
https://www.ippr.org/files/2020-05/1589291707_who-wins-and-who-pays-may20.pdf

Deansgate pedestrianisation
https://aboutmanchester.co.uk/deansgate-set-for-partial-pedestrianisation-from-this-weekend/

If you like the show tell your comrades!
Find us on all the socials
Twitter:@MCRGND_POD
Insta: Manchestergndpod
FB:MCRGNDPOD

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"Fiscal friction is what the rest of us call tax" Tax havens and Kleptocracy with Oliver Bullough

Mon, 11 May 2020 11:00:00 +0100

The Green New Deal is a plan to vastly transform our society. Through bold economic and social change it's a plan to save the Earth from the destructive forces of capitalism. that is going to cost a lot of money to do, and as the age old attack on the Left goes "how are you gonna pay for it?". 7.8 Trillion Dollars is estimated to be in tax havens and offshore accounts worldwide. Sounds like a good start to me. Joining us this week is journalist and author Oliver Bullough (@OliverBullough) to discuss his most recent book “ Moneyland: the inside story of the Crooks and kleptocrats who rule the world and how to take it back

**Shout outs**
Catherine Belton Author of Putin's People @CatherineBelton

Kevin Anderson Professor of Energy and Climate Change for his work at the Tyndell Center advising Manchester council
@KevinClimate

Mentioned Links
South Dakotas Tax Haven
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/14/the-great-american-tax-haven-why-the-super-rich-love-south-dakota-trust-laws

Treasure Islands by Nicholas Shaxson
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/108/1085201/treasure-islands/9780099541721.html

Dark Money by Jane Mayer
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/215462/dark-money-by-jane-mayer/

Democracy in Chains by Nancy Maclean
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/533763/democracy-in-chains-by-nancy-maclean/

If you like the show tell your comrades!
Find us on all the socials
Twitter:@MCRGND_POD
Insta: Manchestergndpod
FB:MCRGNDPOD

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"Replace the Natural Monopolies" UBI & UBS with Will Stronge of Autonomy

Sun, 03 May 2020 18:00:00 +0100

It's time for a moment of respite. With the planet in turmoil we must take a moment to envisage how it could be better. To have the imagination to design a more equitable world. How can we resolve the conflict between ourselves and the planet.

This week we are joined by Will Stronge the director of Autonomy, a progressive think thank researching how we can change the world of work. We take on two big ideas that can reshape the world ; Universal Basic Income and Universal Basic Services.

https://autonomy.work/

Mentioned links
Watch the documentary about the Mincome Trail
https://www.bigexperience.org/film

UCL Report on UBS
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/igp/sites/bartlett/files/universal_basic_services_-_the_institute_for_global_prosperity_.pdf

campaign for public ownership
https://weownit.org.uk/

shout outs
Rob Palmer at Tax Justice UK
https://www.taxjustice.uk/
@robertnpalmer

everyone involved in pushing back on the GM councils planning committee suspension
Andrea Sandor
@wordstoseeby

Greater Manchester housing action
@gmhousingaction

Manchester Bee sanctuary with Highfiel Country Mark
https://twitter.com/HighfieldCP_Lev

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"It's a really complicated Chicken" Retrofitting housing to battle climate change with Charlie Baker

Mon, 27 Apr 2020 12:00:00 +0100

Even with a pandemic, the climate crisis rages on. In a time when it feels like so much is out of our control what can we do to fight against the ticking down of the U.K's Carbon Budget?

This week we talk to Charlie baker the founder of Red Co-op. A organisation putting the agency back into peoples hands in the fight against climate change. We discover the immense potential of retrofitting the 25 million homes in the UK in tackling climate breakdown and what are the challenges with doing so.

What to get involved with the show? Fill out the Manchester Labour GND survey below to join us
https://bit.ly/2SaTI2i

If you wanna get in touch with Charlie to learn more on retrofitting contact him at charlie@red.coop

discussed links
2050 Carbon pathway calculator
https://bit.ly/2W3farb

Homes as energy systems
https://retrofitworks.co.uk/haes/
https://bit.ly/3aDUsn7

Retrofitworks
https://retrofitworks.co.uk/

**Shout outs**
Tyndall center for Climate Change
https://tyndall.ac.uk/

B4box contractors
https://b4box.co.uk/

Manchester friends of the earth
https://www.manchesterfoe.org.uk/
Annette wright Labour Hulme councilor
@AnnetteWright

Jon Burke Labour Hackney councilor
@jonburkeUK

If you like the show tell your comrades!
Find us on
Twitter:@MCRGND_POD
Insta: Manchestergndpod
FB:MCRGNDPOD

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"Climate education is not a tick box" Teaching Climate Breakdown.

Mon, 20 Apr 2020 11:00:00 +0100

Education, Education, Education! It's as true now as it was then the only way to take on the biggest challenges in the world is through empowering our future generations to tackle the problems ahead of us. This week we are joined by Lydia Meryll from Manchester Environmental Education Network (MEEN) and Fi a primary school teacher from South Manchester to discuss how schools are coping with COVID-19, How the children are educated on climate change and we speculate at what Rebecca long Bailey will now do in her shadow education role.

If you like the show tell your comrades!
Find us on all the socials
Twitter:@MCRGND_POD
Insta: Manchestergndpod
FB:MCRGNDPOD

https://www.meen.org.uk/

**Shout out Links**

my mini maths
https://myminimaths.co.uk/

The Writing Squad
http://www.writingsquad.com/

Greater Manchester Community Renewables
https://www.gmcr.org.uk/

The Kindling Trust
https://kindling.org.uk/

Pesticide Action Network UK
https://www.pan-uk.org/

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"Socialism and Degrowth aren't the same thing" The Degrowth movement with Mark Burton

Mon, 13 Apr 2020 15:00:00 +0100

The pandemic gripping the world has put Capitalism back into one of it's classic cardiac arrests. With economies slowing to a sclerotic trundle across the globe and great recessions on the horizon is there a better way to organize ourselves? We are joined by Mark Burton from Steady State Manchester to discuss the limits of Growth, how Climate Breakdown and Growth interlock and how Degrowth can save us from disaster capitalism.

If you like the show tell your comrades!
Find us on all the socials
Twitter:@MCRGND_POD
Insta: Manchestergndpod
FB:MCRGNDPOD

**Links**
Degrowth UK
https://degrowthuk.org/

Steady State Manchester
https://steadystatemanchester.net/

Degrowth VS the Green New Deal
https://steadystatemanchester.net/2019/09/12/six-problems-for-green-deals/

Degrowth Conference 2020
http://www.confercare.manchester.ac.uk/events/degrowth2020/

*Extra reading**
Viable economy
https://steadystatemanchester.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/the-viable-economy-revision-for-2nd-edn-v2.4-final.pdf
Labour and Degrowth
http://renewal.org.uk/articles/degrowth-the-realistic-alternative-for-labour

Steady State Critique of The Greater Manchester Spatial Framework
https://steadystatemanchester.net/2020/03/12/imagining-an-alternative-future-for-greater-manchester/

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GND mini: Bernt Out.

Fri, 10 Apr 2020 08:00:00 +0100

We are once more asking for your.... well nothing. Our brother from another continent Bernie Sanders has suspended his presidential campaign. We decided to feel the Bern one last time.

You can watch Bernie's speech here:
https://youtu.be/TnRivUNrobA?t=1332

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"You've got to be social to be Socialist" Interview with Dr Lucy Burke

Mon, 06 Apr 2020 12:00:00 +0100

We are all still in lock-down but the pod goes on! The results of the Labour leadership election are in, how will this affect the the Green New Deal? We are also joined by Dr Lucy Burke to discuss how critical care in the UK has been impacted by Covid-19, how people with disabilities have been affected by this crisis and the subsequent Government response.

We also discuss the short comings of the environmental movement and how it can be more inclusive of the disabled.

If you like the show tell your comrades!
Find us on all the socials
Twitter:@MCRGND_POD
Insta: Manchestergndpod
FB:MCRGNDPOD

***LINKS***
Guidance from NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence)

Critical care in Adults
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng159

Managing symptoms (Including at the end of life) in the community https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng163/chapter/1-Communicating-with-patients-and-minimising-risk

Corona Virus Act legislation
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2020/7/contents/enacted/data.htm

*Shout Outs*
Preswitch Village Green Co-op
https://www.village-greens-coop.co.uk/

Trees Not Cars
https://www.treesnotcars.com/

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"Fair judgement on potential a***holes" Covid-19 Crisis

Thu, 26 Mar 2020 11:00:00 +0000

Covid-19 has taken the world by storm, with 20,000 deaths worldwide due to the virus. We sat down (at least 2 meters apart) to talk through this crisis. Discussing the governments response, the citizens response and how this is all going to play out down the line.

The UK is a wash with amazing acts of solidarity in this incredibly stressful time, here are some links for how you can help out others during the pandemic.

Acorn tenants Union- defending renters
https://acorntheunion.org.uk/corona/

Community support around Rochdale, Oldham and Tamside
https://www.actiontogether.org.uk/mutual-aid

Find some local help with this national table of volunteer groups
https://bit.ly/39lynJr

Here's how you can volunteer for the NHS
https://www.goodsamapp.org/

If you want to support the show leave us a review on Itunes or share the the podcast with your friends.

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"#Proper Trees" Getting the Green New Deal through labour conference.

Sat, 07 Mar 2020 21:00:00 +0000

Our inaugural episode!

The dust has settled after the 2019 General Election and we face five more years of a climate denialist Conservative government. Yet, while locked out of power nationally, there are ways to take direction action locally and regionally to prevent climate catastrophe. But first, where did this all start?

We sat down with Angie Brown to discuss how the Green New Deal made it through Labour Party conference.

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