Best CENHS at Rice Podcasts (2025)

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244 – Energy Transition (feat. Jean-Baptiste Fressoz) 59:27

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19d ago59:27

59:27

In honor of cookie week, your co-hosts tackle an age-old question: are brownies cookies are not? Then we process the fact that next month will be the 10th anniversary of Cultures of Energy (wow!) Thereafter (11:51) we welcome the terrific Jean-Baptiste Fressoz to the podcast to discuss his provocative and fascinating new book More and More and More…

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243 - Oil and Intimacy (feat. Chelsea Schields) 48:32

1M ago48:32

48:32

Cymene and Dominic recount a pleasant business trip to New Orleans including a mild bout of Satanic panic. Then (9:10) we are joined by the delightful Chelsea Schields to talk about her recent book, Offshore Attachments: Oil and Intimacy in the Caribbean (U California Press, 2023). We begin with how research in Aruba and Curacao led her to contempl…

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242 – Living Minerals (feat. Javiera Barandiarán) 58:57

2M ago58:57

58:57

Dominic and Cymene begin with the war on Chicago and Kelly Hayes's amazing essay, "In Chicago, We Run Toward Danger Together" which everyone should read. Then (15:20) we welcome Javiera Barandiarán to the podcast to talk about her new book, Living Minerals: Nature, Trade, and Power in the Race for Lithium (MIT Press, 2025), and what Javiera loves a…

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241 - Militant Chemistry (feat. Alice Lovejoy) 53:29

2M ago53:29

53:29

Dominic and Cymene talk about AI and other chowhounds to kick off this week's podcast. Then (12:46) we welcome the wonderful Alice Lovejoy to talk about her new book Tales of Militant Chemistry: The Film Factory in a Century of War (U California Press, 2025). We begin with the materiality of early film and how it became intertwined with the industr…

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240 - Carbon Banking (feat. Ben Luzzatto & Gustav Peebles) 55:19

2M ago55:19

55:19

We begin this episode with a shoutout to our friends at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) and try to settle once and for all the Montreal vs New York bagel question. Then (13:58) we welcome to the pod old friends and new co-authors Gustav Peebles and Ben Luzzatto to talk about their new book, The First and Last Bank - Climate Change, Curre…

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239 - Carbon Capital (feat. Sean Field) 55:52

3M ago55:52

55:52

There be tales of two Sean Fields on this week's podcast. Happily, we are only welcoming (8:56) the smart and accomplished Dr. Field to the podcast to talk about his pathbreaking new ethnography of oil and finance, Carbon Capital: Climate Change and the Ethics of Oil Investing (NYU Press, 2025). We begin with why it matters to understand the moral …

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238 - Thinking Like a Climate (feat. Hannah Knox) 57:02

3M ago57:02

57:02

Cymene and Dominic talk about screamo music and the band Phish and how you can't fake the feels on this week's intro to the podcast. Then (13:07) expert in all things Mancunian, the great and wondrous Hannah Knox joins the conversation to discuss her recent book Thinking Like a Climate: Governing a City in Times of Environmental Change (Duke UP). H…

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237 - The Canyon (feat. Robert Savino Oventile) 54:17

4M ago54:17

54:17

Cymene returns to the pod at long last (yay!) and we discuss recent events and how climate science probably caused wildfires and bears to happen. Then (13:17) Robert Savino Oventile joins the podcast to share his new collection of poems, The Canyon, the proceeds from which support the rebuilding of the Eaton Canyon Nature Center destroyed by the Ea…

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236 – Ethical Pessimism (feat. Roy Scranton) 1:08:41

4M ago1:08:41

1:08:41

Dominic reports from a delayed birthday trip to Los Angeles and we learn about how Mike Brady (of Brady Brunch fame) nearly perished in a helicopter crash. Then (5:55) Roy Scranton returns to the podcast after nearly eight years away. We're talking about his provocative and important new book, Impasse: Climate Change and the Limits of Progress (Sta…

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235 - Forever Chemicals (feat. Rachel Frazin) 37:23

5M ago37:23

37:23

Dominic gives a quick update from the frontlines of home repair. Then (3:30) we welcome Rachel Frazin an energy and environmental reporter from The Hill to the podcast to talk about her new book, together with Sharon Udasin, Poisoning the Well: How Forever Chemicals Contaminated America (Island Press, 2025). We start with the basics: what forever c…

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234 - Failed States (feat. Imre Szeman) 59:15

5M ago59:15

59:15

Dominic reports briefly on how your co-hosts returned home to their own personal Hurricane Harvey. Then (4:20) Imre Szeman returns to the podcast to talk about his new book Futures of the Sun: The Struggle Over Renewable Life (University of Minnesota Press, 2024), a marvelous analysis of the narratives that shape how we conceive of, and experience,…

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233 - The Abyss (feat. Stacy Alaimo) 1:06:08

6M ago1:06:08

1:06:08

Cymene and Dominic report from Berlin, a land of feisty wasps (which are possibly bees) and haunted lakes. Then (16:38) we are so thrilled to welcome Queen of Ecodelia, Stacy Alaimo back to the podcast to discuss her brand new book The Abyss Stares Back: Encounters with Deep-Sea Life (U Minnesota Press, 2025). We talk about the history of the deep …

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232 - Lithium (feat. Mark Goodale) 1:02:17

6M ago1:02:17

1:02:17

Cymene and Dominic report from the most sus tourist apartment in Barcelona. Then (15:48) we are delighted to welcome Mark Goodale to the pod talk about his forthcoming book about the Bolivian lithium boom, Extracting the Future: Lithium in an era of Transition (U California Press, 2025). We start with the long history of extractivism in Bolivia, an…

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231 - Drifting (feat. Rafico Ruiz) 1:04:07

7M ago1:04:07

1:04:07

Dominic and Cymene complete their stint in paradise on this week's podcast. We review some highlights from the final lap including multispecies erotica (snail edition) and Cymene's first karaoke performance. Then (19:04) we are thrilled to welcome Rafico Ruiz (https://raficoruiz.info) to the conversation, the author of Slow Disturbance (Duke UP, 20…

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230 - Intermission 35:06

7M ago35:06

35:06

Cymene and Dominic check in briefly from Italy on this week's podcast, begging your pardon for the lack of a guest and the double-helping of co-host chat time. But there is an Italian train-to-convent adventure to share as well as an update from this week Undercurrents conference in Venice and thoughts on season 2 of The Rehearsal. Back in two week…

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229 - Abundance (feat. Candace Fujikane) 1:03:12

8M ago1:03:12

1:03:12

Cymene and Dominic arrive in Italy just in time for the naming of another Chicagoan as pope and discover the wonders of street to table cuisine. Then (15:41) we welcome the amazing Candace Fujikane to the podcast to talk about her book Mapping Abundance for a Planetary Future: Kanaka Maoli and Critical Settler Cartographies in Hawai'i (Duke Univers…

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228 - Noise (feat. Marina Peterson) 55:20

8M ago55:20

55:20

Cymene tells us about her struggles to get a passing grade in art class in this week's podcast. And then (15:20) we welcome a dear friend, Marina Peterson from UT-Austin, to the podcast. We start with her book Atmospheric Noise: The Indefinite Urbanism of Los Angeles (Duke UP) and its study of the making of atmospheres and noise pollution and how i…

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227 – The Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes (feat. Radha D'Souza and Jonas Staal) 1:03:47

9M ago1:03:47

1:03:47

Cymene communes with Californian nature (slugs and all) on this edition of the podcast. Then (14:33) we welcome Radha D'Souza and Jonas Staal to the podcast to talk about their amazing project, the Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes (CICC). The CICC aims to put the law itself on trial by creating new laws and juridical mechanisms capable of…

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226 - Extraction (feat. Thea Riofrancos) 1:15:55

9M ago1:15:55

1:15:55

Cymene and Dominic advise universities on how to handle blackmailers and wish a certain daughter a happy birthday on this sweet sixteen episode of the podcast. Then (13:40) Dominic chats with the brilliant Thea Riofrancos about her new book Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism (now available for pre-order from WW Norton here). We start wit…

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225 - Bad Weather (feat. Jerry Zee) 1:05:45

10M ago1:05:45

1:05:45

Even though Cymene and Dominic clearly dislike billionaires they sure seemed enchanted by pirate gold in this episode of the podcast. Then (16:44) we talk to Jerry Zee about where he got the idea to pursue a political anthropology of strange weather in China. We discuss his recent book Continent in Dust: Experiments in a Chinese Weather System (U C…

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224 - Peak (Whale) Oil 59:36

10M ago59:36

59:36

Dominic and Cymene bask in their new mics in this week's podcast and talk about a new Glacier Graveyard installation coming soon to the UNESCO HQ in Paris. Then (15:55) we welcome Jamie Jones to the podcast to talk about her new book, Rendered Obsolete (U North Carolina Press, 2023). We talk to Jamie about how whale oil defined the historical conte…

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223 - Bringing solar back to earth (feat. Myles Lennon) 1:06:26

11M ago1:06:26

1:06:26

Cymene gives us part one of a two-part story about her imminent return to the world of being tattooed and defends USAID while Dominic rants for a while about Democrats' spinelessness as BigTechMaga organizes to eliminate both marginalized communities and the educated classes. Then (19:50) we welcome Myles Lennon (Brown University) to the podcast to…

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222 - Soul Train to Communism with Timothy Morton 1:24:03

11M ago1:24:03

1:24:03

Cultures of Energy is back and biweekly for 2025! Half interviews with bright and shiny people, half unlicensed therapy (for us anyway), half everything related to energy and environment issues. Today it's podcasting against fascism with the spiritual guidance of our dear friend Timothy Morton. Dominic and Cymene see if they can think of something …

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221 - Planetarity Now! (with Jonathan Blake and Nils Gilman) 1:22:35

1+ y ago1:22:35

1:22:35

Dominic and Cymene are beaming to you this week from a European Cup-addled Berlin. They share a few reflections on their time in Cape Town and then ruminate on why it is it doesn't seem possible to hate anyone from California. Is it the sunshine? As if to underscore this point about the essential good of Californians, we welcome to the podcast (15:…

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220 - Design Earth (with Rania Ghosn) 1:07:35

1+ y ago1:07:35

1:07:35

Cymene and Dominic recap last week's Petrocultures Los Angeles conference and discuss the new climate lawsuit filed in France seeking to press criminal charges against the CEO and directors of the French oil major TotalEnergies. Then (15:27) we welcome the brilliant and megatalented Rania Ghosn to the podcast. We start with the work of Design Earth…

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219 - Climate Storytelling (with CNN's Bill Weir) 1:05:34

1+ y ago1:05:34

1:05:34

Dominic and Cymene react to the police violence sweeping across US university campuses. Then (15:11) we are thrilled to welcome CNN's Chief Climate Correspondent, Bill Weir, to the podcast. We begin with the big news of the day—the landmark legal ruling by the European court of human rights that Switzerland had violated the human rights of more tha…

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218 - Solar Futures (with Siddharth Sareen) 1:09:02

2y ago1:09:02

1:09:02

Cymene tries to convince Dominic to join the Freemasons on this episode of the Cultures of Energy podcast. Plus, a shallow dive into Buzkashi, the national sport of Tajikistan, the country that helped convince the UN to designate 2025 the International Year of Glaciers' Preservation. Then (13:22) we are thrilled to welcome Siddharth Sareen from U S…

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217 - A Song of Concrete and Ice (with Cristián Simonetti) 1:02:55

2y ago1:02:55

1:02:55

Cymene accounts for her mysterious conversion from a coffee-drinker to a tea-drinker but [spoiler alert] it turns out she's not a doppelganger after all. Then after some EV road trip talk (16:06) we are delighted to have Cristián Simonetti join us from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. We start with Cris's research on concrete, one of t…

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216 - Carbon Colonialism (with Laurie Parsons) 1:10:49

2y ago1:10:49

1:10:49

Cymene arrives at the Covid party on this week's episode and she's got the sultry radio voice to prove it. We share a few words about a magnificent pug named Doug and Cymene discovers Russell Brand's rightward "grift drift" to her horror. Then (18:58) we welcome Laurie Parsons to the podcast to talk about his excellent new book, Carbon Colonialism …

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215 - No More Fossils (with Cara Daggett) 1:15:44

2y ago1:15:44

1:15:44

The Cultures of Energy podcast is back with the first of several new episodes for 2024. First, Cymene and Dominic share what they've learned from their very late arrival to watching the show Survivor and why Shadow, their 75% chihuahua, has never worked a day in her life and proudly so. Then (11:40) the main part of this week's episode is a convers…

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214 - Oil Beach (with Christina Dunbar-Hester) 1:08:00

2+ y ago1:08:00

1:08:00

Dominic and Cymene start off with a review of the new Apple TV Cli-Fi series Extrapolations especially its killer walruses and then recap a chat with German climate activist Luisa Neubauer and former US National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy about how civilizational change is coming, either by design or by disaster. Then [23:51] we are thrilled to …

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213 - The City Electric (with Michael Degani) 1:00:27

3y ago1:00:27

1:00:27

Cymene and Dominic natter a bit about holiday misadventures and then (13:49) happily welcome Mike Degani (Cambridge U) to the podcast to talk about his new book, The City Electric (Duke UP 2022). We begin with how Mike became interested in electricity as an ethnographic object through experiencing power failures in Dar es Salaam. Then we talk about…

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212 – Carbon Technocracy (with Victor Seow) 1:08:12

3y ago1:08:12

1:08:12

Cymene and Dominic relate tales from their harrowing weekend of having to deal with the absence of Henry Rollins in Black Flag and the presence of an active shooter down the block. Then (15:35) we welcome Harvard's own Victor Seow to the podcast to discuss his remarkable book, Carbon Technocracy: Energy Regimes in Modern East Asia (U Chicago Press,…

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211 - Half Earth Socialism (feat. Drew Pendergrass and Troy Vettese) 1:12:04

3+ y ago1:12:04

1:12:04

Cymene and Dominic talk about hauling ice, champagne socialism and the mystery of Viennetta cakes on this week's intro. Then (16:07) we are joined by Troy Vettese, an environmental historian, and Drew Pendergrass, an environmental engineer, to talk about their bold and imaginative new book, Half-Earth Socialism: A Plan to Save the Future from Extin…

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210 - Rights of Nature (feat. Daphina Misiedjan) 1:04:21

3+ y ago1:04:21

1:04:21

Dominic and Cymene begin this week's episode with a medley of Hawaiian experiences, everything from 25-foot waves to energy utopias to whether watching Sharknado can actually help someone overcome fear of sharks. Then, we welcome to the podcast the brilliant Dr. Daphina Misiedjan from Erasmus University Rotterdam (https://www.eur.nl/en/people/daphi…

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209 - Degrowth (feat. Timothée Parrique) 1:14:31

3+ y ago1:14:31

1:14:31

Dominic and Cymene share first impressions of Honolulu and query why there are chickens everywhere. Then (16:50) we are thrilled to welcome economist Timothée Parrique (https://timotheeparrique.com @timparrique) to the podcast to bring us up to speed with the latest news from ecological economics and its signature degrowth paradigm. We start with t…

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208 - Sarah Besky 1:02:58

3+ y ago1:02:58

1:02:58

Cymene and Dominic talk about flying chihuahuas and playground chamomile in this week's intro. Then (12:26), we welcome Cornell's Sarah Besky (http://www.sarahbesky.com/index.html) to the podcast to talk about her latest book Tasting Qualities: The Past and Future of Tea (U California Press, 2020). We start with how and why Sarah first became inter…

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207 - Dilip da Cunha 1:11:37

3+ y ago1:11:37

1:11:37

Cymene and Dominic begin with a speculative analysis of malfunctional laptops. Then (11:32) we welcome the brilliant landscape architect Dilip da Cunha to the podcast to talk about his longstanding collaborative work with Anuradha Mathur on wetness, rivers, monsoons, estuaries and so much more (https://www.mathurdacunha.com). Dilip explains how it …

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206 - Gail Simmons 57:21

4y ago57:21

57:21

Dominic and Cymene share a close encounter with a phantom raccoon and offer two ideas for sure-to-succeed new TV shows. Then (12:17) we are thrilled to welcome Gail Simmons—star judge of Bravo's Emmy and James Beard-award winning show Top Chef as well as a food writer and culinary expert—to the show. We get started with how Gail's background in ant…

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205 - Intersectional Ecologies 58:35

4y ago58:35

58:35

Cymene and Dominic talk war, sunglasses and unexpected colors and then (10:27) we pivot to the main event, a discussion of intersectional ecologies featuring three brilliant minds: Bridget Guarasci (https://www.fandm.edu/bridget-guarasci), Amelia Moore (https://web.uri.edu/maf/meet/amelia-moore-2/) and Sarah Vaughn (https://anthropology.berkeley.ed…

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204 - Elizabeth Povinelli Returns 1:18:34

4y ago1:18:34

1:18:34

A potpourri of hot topix leads off this week's episode: ASMR, Super Twosday, Ukraine, Bitcoin, and the correct pronunciation of Lindsey Lohan's name. Then (17:36) we are so very thrilled to welcome Beth Povinelli back to the pod to discuss her latest book, The Inheritance (Duke UP 2021), a graphic memoir that plumbs the messy relationships among na…

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203 - David Farrier 1:02:52

4y ago1:02:52

1:02:52

Cymene and Dominic discuss extraterrestrial lavatology, evil corporate accounting software, skyfarms and chinchillas on this week's intro. Then (14:15) we are so delighted to welcome David Farrier (U Edinburgh) to the podcast to discuss his justly acclaimed latest book, Footprints: In Search of Future Fossils (FSG, 2020). David talks about how the …

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202 - Shannon Mattern 1:02:20

4y ago1:02:20

1:02:20

Cymene and Dominic talk about the vine that's taking over their house and then (12:30) we welcome the New School's magnificent Shannon Mattern to the podcast We discuss her new book A City is Not a Computer: Other Urban Intelligences (Princeton UP, 2021) which explores the limits of computational models for understanding knowledge in urban contexts…

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201 - Arturo Escobar 1:04:33

4y ago1:04:33

1:04:33

Aaaaand we're back! Cymene and Dominic start off with their usual nonsense, which culminates in a lively discussion of the missile silo now listed on the real estate site Zillow (we were wrong on some of the specs btw, it's in Abilene, Kansas and only $380,000, survivalist bargain hunters can find all the deets here: https://www.zillow.com/homedeta…

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200 - Laura Nader 57:52

6y ago57:52

57:52

Wow, we made it to 200 episodes and 250k downloads this week. Thank you everyone for listening for the past nearly four years. It also seems like a good milestone for a change of pace. Your tireless cohosts need to take an extended break from weekly podcasting in order to commit ourselves more fully to a couple of other creative opportunities that …

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199 - Bathsheba Demuth 1:01:42

6y ago1:01:42

1:01:42

Your co-hosts talk clonal trees and dispense important advice about relationships, breakups, and having "the conversation" with your children on this week's podcast. Then (17:16) we talk to Brown University's Bathsheba Demuth (http://www.brdemuth.com) about her new book Floating Coast (https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393635164) a beautifully conceiv…

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198 - The Mississippi (an Anthropocene River) 56:06

6y ago56:06

56:06

Dominic and Cymene discuss Swiss silence and whether soup can be a meal on this week's podcast. Then (13:53) we sit down with Christoph Rosol and Tom Turnbull, two of the organizers of the baroque and fascinating project of the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (https://www.hkw.de/de/index.php) and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (http…

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197 - Climate Book Club Special! 45:28

6y ago45:28

45:28

In this week's special guest episode, Leah Stokes (UC Santa Barbara) and Bina Venkataraman take over the Cultures of Energy podcast to discuss Bina's new book, The Optimist's Telescope: Thinking Ahead in a Reckless Age (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780735219472?aff=penguinrandom). This interview is part of the Twitter discussion, #climatebookcl…

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196 - Energy Democracy 58:05

6+ y ago58:05

58:05

Cymene and Dominic wonder whether Brexit or Impeachment will make for better political theater in the months ahead. Then (14:22) we talk to three wonderful folks who are in the process of assembling the Routledge Handbook of Energy Democracy, an interdisciplinary gathering of contributions spanning scholarly and activist engagements. Our three gues…

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195 - Laura Watts Returns 1:07:33

6+ y ago1:07:33

1:07:33

Cymene and Dominic tease a family revelation and describe a museum full of caricatures of East Germany (a regime that tbh itself kinda caricatured socialism). Then (17:03) we welcome back to the podcast the one and only Laura Watts (https://sand14.com), now at Edinburgh, who has a marvelous new book out with MIT Press, Energy at the End of the Worl…

CENHS At Rice Podcasts