Category: Environment and Food

What Lies Beyond Christian Nationalism? Interview w/ Brian Zahnd on Seemingly Simple Matters (Dustbowl Diatribes 2.12 cross post)

April 29, 2023

Spencer and Laurie interview Brian Zahnd, pastor of Word of Life Church, St. Joseph, MO. We discuss why some people decide to break from destructive ideas of faith, like Christian nationalism, and why many don’t. We also have a conversation about the church’s mission and what its role should be on grave issues like environmental destruction and war. … More What Lies Beyond Christian Nationalism? Interview w/ Brian Zahnd on Seemingly Simple Matters (Dustbowl Diatribes 2.12 cross post)

This evening: Laudato Si: On the Care of Our Common Home (Pope Francis’ encyclical)

March 23, 2023

This evening (March 23) at 7 p.m US Central Time I’ll be live for 90 minutes discussing the first half of Pope Francis’s encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si, for the Maurin Academy. I’ll discuss the text and we’ll have time for Q & A. The second session will occur next Thursday, March 30, same time. You can sign up for this event on Eventbrite or Patreon (choose the Worker-Scholar level if you wanted all our content in recorded format, and Salt of the Earth level if you want that and access to all our live sessions). Hope to see some of you there! Here are the links: … More This evening: Laudato Si: On the Care of Our Common Home (Pope Francis’ encyclical)

Class on Laudato Si starts next week! (It’s Pope Francis’ letter on the environment)

March 19, 2023

A quick word to let you know that I’m teaching a short series on Laudato Si, Pope Francis’s encyclical on the environment. It begins this Thursday, March 23, from 7 – 8:30 p.m. US Central Time. Learn what you’d hardly ever hear in a church! … More Class on Laudato Si starts next week! (It’s Pope Francis’ letter on the environment)

Retool for What? The Dark Side of Automation (Maurin Academy)

September 30, 2022

In this clip from Laurie Johnson’s presentation in the last session of the Maurin Academy’s Agricultural Biotechnology series, the problem of automation for people who need jobs the world over is discussed. The impact on ideological movements, especially right-wing nationalism, is featured in the last half of the clip. … More Retool for What? The Dark Side of Automation (Maurin Academy)

Should Seeds Be Mere Commodities?

September 4, 2022

This is a segment from Laurie Johnson’s presentation in the first session of The Maurin Academy’s Fall 2022 short series on Agricultural Biotechnology and the Information Economy. She is guided by information from the first part of Jack Kloppenberg’s First the Seed. The short series with Laurie Johnson and Jakob Hanschu brings Kloppenberg’s scholarship to bear on McKenzie Wark’s The Hacker Manifesto, and vice versa. … More Should Seeds Be Mere Commodities?

Hackers v. Vectoralists or Percy v. Goliath (Maurin Academy Short Series Pt 1: Jakob Hanshu)

September 3, 2022

In this segment from the Maurin Academy’s short series on Agricultural Biotechnology and the Information Economy, Jakob Hanschu introduces some of McKenzie Wark’s ideas from The Hacker Manifesto that apply to the critique of modern corporate agricultural development supplied by Jack Kloppenberg’s First the Seed. … More Hackers v. Vectoralists or Percy v. Goliath (Maurin Academy Short Series Pt 1: Jakob Hanshu)

The Unreality of War and the Nuclear Threat

March 27, 2022

How do we respond to the Russia-Ukraine war? Do we use it as yet another opportunity to signal our feelings and positions, but without any real commitment other than to our own narcissism? If we aren’t in the conflict, we have a certain luxury (or we think we have) to do so. But the existence of nuclear weapons should be a sobering factor that guides us as we try to find a resolution. In the shadow of the consecration of the world , and particularly Russia and Ukraine, to our Holy Mother Mary, Theotokos, Spencer and I dare to contemplate some enduring obstacles to peace-making. Consecration of Russia, Ukraine and the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. … More The Unreality of War and the Nuclear Threat

Stop the Culture Wars: A Plea to the US Left (ft. Chris Cutrone, Matt Christman & Catherine Liu)

March 6, 2022

Radical liberal brunches on the left march, tweet and wear edgy tee-shirts. Radical liberal boaters on the right march, tweet and put flags on their pickup trucks. Their main accomplishment is to blame the other side for their favorite problems, expiate their responsibility and guilt, and eliminate the possibility of positive change on any of their issues. … More Stop the Culture Wars: A Plea to the US Left (ft. Chris Cutrone, Matt Christman & Catherine Liu)

Stop the Culture Wars: A Plea to the US Left (ft. Chris Cutrone, Matt Christman & Catherine Liu)

March 6, 2022

right march, tweet and put flags on their pickup trucks. Their main accomplishment is to blame the other side for their favorite problems, expiate their responsibility and guilt, and eliminate the possibility of positive change on any of their issues. Spencer and Laurie focus in on the US left, because their disappointment in that group is more profound. … More Stop the Culture Wars: A Plea to the US Left (ft. Chris Cutrone, Matt Christman & Catherine Liu)