This is a list of stuff that I've read (& probably mentioned here!) that I think is noteworthy. It is by no means a complete citation list, each individual post should have its own when relevant ... instead, think of this as the "greatest hits album" of things that I've read.
This list includes: books ; blogs ; academic articles ; miscellaneous (film, artworks, exhibits, etc).
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currently reading: Cyclonopedia , Reza Negarestani.
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fiction
The Hall of the Singing Caryatids , Viktor Pelevin.
Pelevin is a contemporary Russian fiction writer, part of the Russian postmodernist movement. His books are about "Unfreedom" ; broadly, grappling with "technoconsumer dystopia" and the politics of the 1990s-onward within the sphere of SciFi. Singing Caryatids is a piece set in Russia, in which the government seeks to reduce the social damage done by oligarch misbehavior ... they create a secret program where oligarchs can sate their hedonistic impulses in Russia, out of sight of the international community. The protagonist is a sex worker recruited to work in a bunker that is part of this program, where she takes a drug derived from praying mantises to allow her to maintain a perfectly still posture effortlessly, and becomes a "living statue" that sings and acts as a voyeur to the oligarchs (unless they ask her for sex). The drug induces visions of a praying mantis that speaks to her about the nature of the world and of sex.
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nonfiction: Ecology (& related)
Braiding Sweetgrass , Robin Wall Kimmerer
In many ways the seminal work of the "new wave" of ecological approaches. Robin Wall Kimmerer describes herself as "a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation." Braiding Sweetgrass explores her personal experience at the crossroads of academic ecology and indigeniety, pointing directly at the ways in which academic ecology was grounded in colonial worldviews, and furthermore indicating the ways it is failing because of this biased nature.
Decolonize Conservation , eds. Ashley Dawson, Fiore Longo, and Survival International
Read the long post here!
An essential work that collates a series of essays and speeches by indigenous people, academics, and others to show how the model of "fortress conservation" β in which humans and nature are viewed as oppositional, and attempts to separate them from one another β is failing, and causing horrifically violent and ongoing "green colonialism".
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nonfiction: Philosophy, Psychology, Ethology
Planta Sapiens , Paco Calvo.
Read the long post here!
The state of our understanding of plant intelligence, as of 2022.
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nonfiction: Anthropology & Politics (incl. theory)
No Logo , Naomi Klein
Read the long post here!
Brands have attempted to become pseudo-spiritual cultural forces, but in a one-sided relationship with us ... IP and copyright make their logos, which are powerful hieroglyphics, legally inaccessible to most people. Meanwhile, they absorb whatever we do, turning punk into a trend, rave into a trend, kink into a trend.
Brands have worked to shed their asset burdens, becoming little more than concepts, the burden of making-things subcontracted out to nameless and uncredited sweatshop workers, while jobs evaporate from the Global North.
Brands have usurped governments, yet laws around IP and business-knowledge-security shield them from the transparency that we would want such powerful forces to have.
...So what are we doing about it?
Palo Alto: a History of California, Capitalism, and the World , Malcolm Harris
Read the long post here!
An ambitious whirlwind tour of around 150 years of Anglo settler colonialism in "Silicon Valley" , "California". Silicon Valley is a global force, exporting warped hyper-individualist policy worldwide. It is a shiny Corporate Memphis symptom, worsening its own causes, its youth suicide rate 3x higher than "normal". Malcolm Harris weaves the California story into the global one, highlighting those who "nailed themselves" to the historical vengeance-machine for profit, and those who fought, and continue to fight, against it.
How to Blow Up a Pipeline , Andreas Malm
Read the long post here!
Why is the climate activist movement so committed to "pacifism"? Why is this failing? Why is it a lie, anyway?
World Hunger: 10 Myths , Frances Moore LappΓ© and Joseph Collins
Read the long post here!
The causes of persistent world hunger (& even fundamentals about what hunger is, and how we measure it) are tangled up in a bunch of factors & frequently lied about. Moore LappΓ© and Collins start to untangle it, at a basic level ... go elsewhere for deep dives.
The Geopolitics of Green Colonialism , eds. Miriam Lang, Mary Ann Manahan, and Breno Bringel
Read the long post here!
How does the rush for "renewable power", without any work to tackle capitalism and consumerism, lead to colonial pillaging of the Global South? A highly recommended read for anyone working on "green stuff", especially in the Global North, to ensure that the work you do doesn't perpetuate long-running inequalities and evils.
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nonfiction: Biography
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks , Rebecca Skloot
Read the long post here!
Henrietta Lacks was an African-American woman whose cancer cells were taken, and have, for decades since, been a staple of the genetic, biological, and pharmaceutical fields. For too long she has been erased from history, known only by the cells of the cancer that killed her: the HeLa cells. Skloot seeks to amend this and give Henrietta and the other Lackses the respect, and space to speak, they have been deprived of.
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nonfiction: Ecology (& related)
Mongabay news β the news site of Mongabay, a conservation nonprofit. While I am generally wary of organisations in the category "conservation nonprofit", Mongabay stands out as one centering Indigenous and Global South communities, fighting back against the erasure faced at the hands of other conservation orgs.
Survival International news β Survival International is an organisation working directly with Indigenous folks, following their leadership and priorities. They are a prominent force bolstering defiance against colonial conservation orgs such as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), World Conservation Society (WCS, and African Parks, as well as colonial initiatives such as 30 by 30.
fatehbaz β a tumblr blog that consistently finds and shares fascinating excerpts from a range of publications.
A Wandering Botanist β plant stories. About specific plants ; plants in specific locations ; etc.
The Poor Prole's Almanac β ecology, subsistence farming/hunting/foraging, etc. Associated with a podcast, includes transcriptions of interviews.
Nomad Seed Project β wild native perennial plant ecology, agroforestry, & conservation.
Resilience β publishing news, research, etc., related to building community resilience, emphasizing flexible and non-hierarchical possibilities. Environment, food & water, society.
Grassland Restoration Network β blog with posts from grassland restoration workers (of various forms).
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nonfiction: Other
Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow β assorted interesting snippets from SciFi author, journalist, & activist Cory Doctorow. Workers' rights stuff, great reads.
Low Tech Magazine β too often we're presented with the Shiny New Technology to solve all of our problems. Low Tech Magazine highlights the solutions/techniques that aren't shiny or new, which makes making ecologist-leftist goals feel well within reach.
Trial By Error β unpacking bullshit in the corrupt UK medical bureaucracy.
Retraction Watch β news on when research papers get retracted, & also when a bunch get retracted ... when something has clearly gone wrong.
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Ecology (& related)
Franklin, J. F.; Shugart, H. H.; and Harmon, M. E. Tree Death as an Ecological Process. BioScience, 1987 37(8):550-556.
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Ethology, Anthropology, & Psychology
Brooks Pribac, T. Animal grief. Animal Studies Journal, 2013 2(2):67-90.
Malone, K. The bubble-wrap generation: children growing up in walled gardens. Environmental Education Research, 2007 13(4):513-527.
Plumwood, V. Tasteless: towards a food-based approach to death. Environmental Values, 2008 17:323-330.
Roothaan, A. Decolonizing Human-Animal Relations in an African Context: The Story of the Mourning Elephants. African Environmental Ethics, 2019 255-268.
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Zines
Between Storms: anarchist reflections of solidarity with Wet'suwet'en resistance. Available on BC Counter Info.