Ecoshock Videos

From the edge of the Earth, broadcast, podcast, by cable and satellite, this is Radio Ecoshock with Alex Smith. Gaia - the great interconnected force of living things on a minor planet called Earth. British scientist James Lovelock wondered how life created it's own space, with the oxygen and nutrients we all need. It's a soothing idea. Some Greens took it further, suggesting Gaia is a super-consciousness that watches over balance and survival. A few worship Gaia. Dr. Peter Ward, a deep time digger and climate investigator says Gaia, if there is one, can also be a mass murderer. The rock record shows at least 5 great mass extinctions before us. Ward offers us a different Greek myth: Medea - the wife of Jason the Argonaut, who swiped the Golden Fleece. In a fit of rage against her husband, Medea killed her own children. In a new book, the Medea Hypothesis, Peter Ward says Gaia is out. Bountiful Nature can become ecocidal, and only intelligent life can stop the death cycle we are now approaching. Peter always stuffs us full of the latest science. He's not well-known to the public, but other climate scientists are listening closely, as this brilliant mind sparks off a new paradigm for life and death, Earth-style. But can we trust a creature with obvious pathological flaws to save the species? Should humans try to replace Nature? Following our interview with Peter Ward, I answer a few questions about Radio Ecoshock, as a local college stations turns the tables, to interview the elusive Alex Smith. We talk the future of food, the economy, and radio itself. You'll also hear the new climate anthem, a re-worked "Beds Are Burning" from a host of celebrities. Plus "Fear Itself" from Loudon Wainwright III. READ MORE

Obviously it's pointless. We are doomed. Or it that just a frightened voice inside, knowing what we know? Social failure rears it's ugly head, as half million more Americans, and countless millions more around the world, head home, if they have one. You are no longer valued. Kiss consumerism, and your future plans, good-bye. That's all good for nature, who needs a break, but still heartless to see it in motion, with real people - people who will work hard, who want a role. All this breakup of the fraudulent financial system takes place against a backdrop of climate pessimism. The bad news keeps piling up, and you'll hear in a series of interviews coming up on Radio Ecoshock this Fall. What to do? After I have my mandatory weekly nervous breakdown - we get a report from Europe, as I chat with UK radio host Phil England. We hear about climate camps in Britain, and around the world. In the U.S., they may be called "convergence camps", and Greenpeace Canada has their own series of actvist training going. These instant meetings, with hundreds of workshops, are popping up all over. Then, despite my admitted apathy, we wonder whether political negotiators at the Copenhagen climate conference this December - will they really have the guts to do the right thing? Will they set a carbon limit that could preserve the Arctic, for example - or will they hand all the hard work off to the next generation (when it's too late)?? There is one way you and I can push these old-school energy hustlers, so they know we are awake and watching. Bill McKibben is the center of a world-wide day of action, coming up October 24th. You can find out what is going on in your area by going to 350.org. Use that as a tool to wake up all your friends. You can join an existing parade, or dream up some creative attention-getting action of your own. I've peppered this week's show with quotes from a speech McKibben gave April 30th, 2009 in Dunedin, New Zealand. The version I used came from this great program (12 MB 53 min Lo-Fi) edited by the legendary Pacifica host C.S. Soong. I admire his "Against the Grain" program, and his contributions to other shows, like Terra Verde. If you live through all that - the reward is one of my favorite interviews ever. I chew over our dim prospects with one of America's really witty authors and social commentators: Joe Bageant. Joe's best seller was "Deer Hunting With Jesus" - a kind of personalized, slightly gonzo investigation into the poor underclass of America. I read every essay Joe posts on his blog. We delve into ecocide, and the ticklish problem of whether a heavily brainwashed American public has the tools to understand the damage around us. Joe Bageant makes people laugh, makes them angry, makes them think. That kind of writer/thinker is very valuable. Enjoy the interview. I did. Music this week: in honor of Phil England - "London Calling" by the Clash. "London calling" used to be the call signal for the BBC World Service, back in the day. But I couldn't find a clip of those words, in the old empire voice for the show! Not on youtube, not on the BBC archive site, not on archive.org. Surely those classic words have not disappeared! If you know where to get an audio clip of the "London calling" opening to the old BBC, like 1950's or before, please drop me a line at: radio [at] ecoshock.org. Also: a small clip from "Get Off Your Ass" by Gene Burnett, found on youtube. A theme of this show, I suppose. It's time to get going, or die off. I'll be asking you - what are you going to do October 24th? We need to make "350" an international sensation, right quick. While there's still time to draft a climate treaty - a treaty with nature, peace with the atmosphere. Alex Smith Radio Ecoshock

David Suzuki talks at Greening the Heartland in Detroit. Also news and info from people trying to kick the Senate in the pants on climate change. There was a Mountain Top Removal protest last week at Marsh Fork Elementary School at Coal Mountain West Virginia, attended by some very well known people including Dr. James [...]

Enjoy your life while you can, because nothing we are doing right now will likely stop climate change in time. That is the terrifying message from Sir James Lovelock, famous UK scientist and inventor. Global heating will proceed. All Congress does is pass a cap and trade bill which won t even cut emissions [...]

Last Thursday, June 18, the U.S. government released a report, the work of 13 government agencies, that gives us a serious picture of climate change.  It is called Global Climate Change Impacts in the U.S, and this episode contains the findings. The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) coordinates and integrates federal research on changes in [...]

With this episode you are beginning Climatology classes here at Futurism Now University.  Along with politics, upcoming episodes will also deal with the cold, hard scientific facts of climate change. It s important that people know why strong climate legislation is important. We have about two weeks to strengthen the Waxman-Markey bill (aka the American clean [...]

Here is the one and only humble Futurism Now promo. Spread it far and wide. I may fine-tune it some day, but for now, this is it. Apparently, this podcast is about everything! Not quite. For instance, it s not about baseball. We need to build an environmental movement that will battle climate change and the [...]

The economy and the environment, the stimulus package and energy. What do Congress and the new President have planned concerning all of these things, and how serious are they about climate change? There are a lot of indicators in the stimulus package. This episode goes over a lot of what is in the [...]

Podcast Liberally is now Futurism Now . . . and this is the introductory episode. Futurism now is about climate change, energy, politics and legislation to get us moving on climate change, and more. Is there a consensus on climate change among climate scientists? Yes, there is. We are past debate. It s time for action! Support [...]

Before this was a climate podcast . . . it was a news broadcast. This episode covers climate change, news about Karl Rove, news about diplomatic efforts, and the 819 billion dollar stimulus package that Obama wants passed. No Republicans voted to pass it in the House on Wednesday night and it passed [...]

As I promised in the last podcast, I am posting the entire Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Climate Change/Global Warming with Al Gore, John Kerry, Russ Feingold, and many others. The star was Al Gore and his expertise on climate change and how to deal with it. This is a must-listen committee [...]

This is part 2 of Al Gore s appearance at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee testifying on Climate Change, on Wednesday, January 28, 2009. Part 2 is also a must-listen episode. But it would help a lot to listen to part 1 first, and see the post on Part 1 for that. Here is Part 2

Before this was a climate podcast, it was a news podcast. That s what this episode was. Wondering what President Obama is busy doing to promote peace in the Middle East? He starts with trying to return the US to the moral high ground by ending torture and signing an executive order to close the [...]

Before this podcast was about climate, it was about news in general. This episode is mostly about the inauguration and what the new Secretary of State (Hillary)  may work on in the next few weeks. Israel s war with Palestine is finally over. Also, hear Obama take the oath of office a SECOND time. This was [...]

This is the full inauguration address of President Barack Obama, January 20, 2009. Imagine this: We not only have hope back but we have a president who respects science and the law again. What a relief! (and yes, I wrote that without cynicism or sarcasm). See CivilianismNews.com for more. Transcript of the inaugural speech here. Download here or [...]

In one day we get a new president, after 8 long years of a presidency that started out bad and got worse until it descended into the depths of net loss for the U.S.   We would have done better with no president at all for the last eight years.   How bad was the Bush administration [...]

Top 10 Censored stories from Project censored, as reported by FSRN. The number one story is the death toll in Iraq, which is now amounting to a media blackout over a million people dead, surpassing the Rwanda massacre death toll. One censored story was about Infragard, which I talked about in my Civilianism podcast [...]

Noam Chomsky on Wars, Bailouts and Elections. This is from an alternative radio program, from November 2008, and is meant to basically be a placeholder here until I start recording episodes. Enjoy some Noam in a pre-climate Futurism Now. Download this episode here.

This is a show from the CBC, an interesting look at what makes a society healthy, in more ways than one. It is also a filler show until I start recording them. Enjoy this recording from the CBC. Download this episode here.

Howard Zinn gives us some advice on dealing with our government. When your government commits crimes, you have to respond in a way that makes them change their behavior. This is where civil disobedience comes in. Civil disobedience has a long respected history in many countries, including the U.S. Henry David Thoreau, Mahatma Gandhi, [...]