Breaking Green
Global Justice Ecology Project / Host Steve Taylor
Produced by Global Justice Ecology Project, Breaking Green is a podcast that talks with activists and experts to examine the intertwined issues of social, ecological and economic injustice. Breaking Green also explores some of the more outrageous proposals to address climate and environmental crises that are falsely being sold as green.
But we can't do it without you! We accept no corporate sponsors, and rely on people like you to make Breaking Green possible.If you'd like to donate, text GIVE to 716-257-4187 or donate online at: https://globaljusticeecology.org/Donate-to-Breaking-Green (select apply my donation to "Breaking Green Podcast")
All episodes
Best episodes
Seasons
Top 10 Breaking Green Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Breaking Green episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Breaking Green for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Breaking Green episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
02/18/24 • 42 min
The American Chestnut Foundation has long supported a controversial plan to release genetically engineered chestnut trees into the wild.
The Tree was being developed by the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF).
But now poor performance in field trials and the revelation that researchers had even been field testing the wrong tree prompted The American Chestnut Foundation to pull its support for the GE Tree. The American Chestnut Foundation has also called for SUNY-ESF to pull its application before the United States Department of Agriculture for deregulation of the tree.
On this episode of Breaking Green, we spoke with Anne Petermann. Petermann co- founded Global Justice Ecology Project in 2003.
She is the international coordinator of the Campaign to STOP GE Trees, which she also co founded. Petermann is a founding board member of the Will Miller Social Justice Lecture Series.
She has been involved in movements for forest protection and indigenous rights since 1991, and the international and national climate justice movements since 2004.
She participated in the founding of the Durban group for climate justice in 2004, in Durban, South Africa, and Climate Justice Now in 2007 at the Bali Indonesia UN climate conference.
Anne Petermann was adopted as an honorary member of the St. Francis- Sokoki band of the Abenaki in 1992 for her work in support of their struggle for state recognition. In 2000, she received the wild nature award for activist of the year.
We will also talk with Dr. Donald Davis, author of the American Chestnut: an environmental history. His exhaustive book explores how the American Chestnut Tree has shaped history as well as the cultural and environmental significance of the once ubiquitous tree.
He also calls the story of the American Chestnut, a cautionary tale of unintended consequences, and criticizes plans to conduct a massive and irreversible experiment by releasing genetically engineered American chestnuts into the wild.
Davis is an independent scholar, author and former Fulbright fellow. He has authored or edited seven books. His book, Where There are Mountains: an environmental history of the southern Appalachians , won the prestigious Philip D. Reed environmental writing award. Davis was also the founding member of the Georgia Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation, serving as its president from 2005 to 2006. He is currently employed by the Harvard forest as a research scholar and lives in Washington DC.
Don't miss an episode and subscribe to Breaking Green wherever you get your podcasts.
This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions. Donate securely online hereOr simply text GIVE to 716-257-4187
03/27/23 • 25 min
Ahead of a meeting of African Union Heads of States in Addis Ababa Ethiopia, numerous civil society organizations called on the African Union not to Geoengineer the African Continent.
The organizations noted that geoengineering is a false techno-fix that can only provide an excuse for the Global North to continue relying on fossil-fuel based energy generation in light of the ongoing climate emergency.
The organizations stated that advancing geoengineering technologies distracts countries from their commitments to large emission cuts, responsible consumption and delivering over-due climate finance.
On this episode of Breaking Green we will talk with Dr. Mfoniso Antia of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation.
Dr. Antia is an environmental scientist, researcher and climate justice advocate – She holds a Master of Science Degree in Aquatic Pollution and Toxicology, and a PhD in Environmental Toxicology from the World Bank Africa Centre of Excellence in Public Health and Toxicological Research hosted by University of Port Harcourt.
She works with Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) as a Program Manager and the Project Lead, overseeing Health of Mother Earth Foundation’s learning spaces. Dr. Antia is also the Anglophone coordinator of Africa Technology Assessment Platform, a network to which Health of Mother Earth Foundation is a founding member.
She is also co-leading the Hands Off Mother Earth Africa Working Group on Geoengineering.
Don't miss an episode and subscribe to Breaking Green wherever you get your podcasts.
This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions. Donate securely online here
Or simply text GIVE to 716-257-4187
07/17/21 • 36 min
Breaking Green talks with biologist Dr. Rachel Smolker about false solutions to climate change.
The ravages of Global Climate Change are becoming more apparent every day, and people and nations are becoming more desperate for solutions. But there is increasing concern that agreements within the United Nations annual climate conferences are being driven by corporate interests that seek to monetize nature itself and secure corporate profits instead of addressing the root causes of climate change. Green capitalism with proposals such as payments for environmental services and carbon trading, allow corporations to continue business as usual under a green veneer. Some proposals even suggest global techno fixes that would alter weather patterns on a planetary scale.
Breaking Green is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.
Breaking Green is made possible by donations from people like you.
Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions. Simply click here to send a donation or text GIVE to 1 716 257 4187.
The compendium of false solution to climate change is Hoodwinked in the Hothouse.
07/31/22 • 41 min
With the catastrophic failures at Chernobyl and Fukushima, nuclear power has been the cause of some the worst environmental disasters in history.
But, the realities of global warming have created an opportunity for this flagging industry to attempt a comeback by rebranding as a green alternative to fossil fuels.
This rebranding concerns those who have worked to reign in the troubled nuclear industry for decades as they now face one of the most ambitious examples of disaster capitalism that threatens to resuscitate nuclear power and its unique set of environmental hazards as a false solution to climate change.
In this episode of Breaking Green, we will talk with Susan Shapiro.
Susan Shapiro is a New York State environmental attorney..
As co-counsel she brought ground-breaking litigation against Indian Point’s violation of the Clean Water Act for thermal and radiation pollution of the Hudson River.
She also was the lead attorney on an Article 78 action against the New York’s Public Service Commission for diverting $7.6 billion dollars of ratepayers money to keep aging upstate nuclear reactors open instead of funding renewables.
Shapiro is a member of Leadership Council of the Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition), a board member of Radiation and Public Health Project and GRIP (Gender and Radiation Impact Project.
She is also in the process of writing a book about why nuclear energy is not "zero emissions” and why it is not a solution to climate change.
Shapiro is also an award winning filmmaker and artist. Her paintings can be viewed at susanhillary.com.
Radiation and Public Heath Project can be found at The Radiation Public Health Project.
To learn more about Cold War era nuclear contamination in St. Louis you can listen to this previous episode of Breaking Green, St. Louis Radiation Fire with Dawn Chapman.
This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.
Breaking Green is made possible by donations from people like you.
Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions. Simply click here to send a donation or text GIVE to 1 716 257 4187.
08/17/23 • 44 min
Marginalized communities are frequently targeted for the placement of toxic projects. Protest and community organizing has been an indispensable strategy in seeking environmental justice and fighting for those living in minority, poor and indigenous communities.
But now, so-called critical infrastructure laws are springing up around the United States in what appears to be a coordinated effort by corporate interests to muzzle protest. These laws seek to criminalize dissent and characterize peaceful protest as acts of terrorism.
On this episode of Breaking Green, we will talk with Basav Sen and Gabrielle Colchete who together authored a July article in In These Times titled, "Cop City and the Escalating War on Environmental Defenders." The story was based on a report they coauthored for the Institute for Policy Studies on the increased criminalization of protest activities.
Basav Sen joined the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), as the Climatic Justice Project Director in February 2017. Prior to joining IPS, Basav worked for about 11 years as a strategic corporate campaign researcher fo the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). He also had experience as a campaigner against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Gabrielle Colchete is a Next Leaders Alum from the Institute for Policy Studies 2020 Fellowship Cohort, where she researched frontline community resistance against fossil fuel projects and the role of corporate interests in increasing state criminalization of protest activities.
Don't miss an episode and subscribe to Breaking Green wherever you get your podcasts.
This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions. Donate securely online here
Or simply text GIVE to 716-257-4187
Photo of Tortuguita Memorial by Don Kimball
Cold War Testing on African American Population in St. Louis with Filmmaker Damien D. Smith
Breaking Green
10/05/22 • 35 min
During the cold war, the united states military conducted covert weapons development testing in what the Army identified as a "densely populated slum district". The spraying of zinc cadmium sulfide along with what evidence suggests was a radiative substance centered on a region that included the Pruitt Igoe housing complex. The film Target St. Louis, which has won the Urban World Best Documentary award in New York was directed by actor and film maker Damien D. Smith. On this episode of Breaking Green we will talk to Damien, about the film, the research it is based on and the importance of film in shinning a light on such a difficult subject.
Damien was born in St. Louis and now lives as an actor, screen writer and prodcer in Los Angeles. Smith’s stage and television credits include the NAACP Theater Award-winning production of “12×9,” and most recently the television series “Snowfall” on Fx Networks and “The Purge”on USA networks. His directorial debut short narrative film entitled ABOUT THAT..., a powerful look at love through the eyes of a mentally disturbed young man won the Arts with Impact film Award. Smith’s last short film Daddy’s Big Girl won the Gentleman Jack Daniel’s Reel to Real Filmmaker of the Year Award.
This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.
Breaking Green is made possible by donations from people like you.
Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions. Simply click here to send a donation or text GIVE to 1 716 257 4187.
Target St. Louis Vol 1 Trailer
Damien Smith IMDb
IPA press release on St. Louis weapons test
Behind the Fog book by Dr. Lisa Martino-Taylor
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Disclosure: Steve Taylor is married to the author of Behind the Fog.
Shawnee Forest Climate Preserve with John Wallace
Breaking Green
06/16/22 • 36 min
Shawnee Showdown, a film by Cade Bursell, was screened at the Yale Environmental film festival earlier this year. It documents the colorful and successful protests to prevent logging in the Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The protests along with legal efforts were successful in winning a 17 year moratorium on logging. Now, activists are working to make the Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois, the first climate preserve in the United States. The designation would prevent logging and other resource extraction from disturbing the forest in order to allow it to continue to act as a natural and highly effective carbon sink. Supporters argue that allowing natural forest and public lands to stand is an efficient and necessary tool in fighting climate change.
In this episode of Breaking green, we will talk with John Wallace who is working to make the Shawnee National Forest, the nation's first climate Preserve.
Wallace is a former public land and municipal water source manager, John also worked as an environmental educator from Southern Illinois University's Touch of Nature Environmental Center.
As a forest activist on the Shawnee National Forest and public land in and around the southern Illinois region for 33 years, he has taken on public awareness campaigns, tackled pro se litigation and participated in non-violent direct action in defense of the natural world.
John is a founding member of the Shawnee Forest Defense! and the 28 -year-old Shawnee Chapter of the Illinois Audubon Society (IAS).
He is currently the Shawnee Audubon Chapter president and serves on the Land Acquisition and Sanctuary Committee of IAS, the oldest, non-governmental conservation organization in Illinois.
John has served as a volunteer land steward for IAS, has a BS in Plant and Soil Science from SIU and has been known to portray the writer, mountaineer and conservationist, John Muir, in living history performances.
You can learn more about saving the Shawnee National Forest at shawneeforestdefense.org.
See the trailer for Shawnee Showdown at trailer.
See photos from the 1990s blockade in the Shawnee at Langelle Photography.
This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.
Breaking Green is made possible by donations from people like you.
Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions. Simply click here to send a donation or text GIVE to 1 716 257 4187.
Green Deserts of Brazil with Anne Petermann
Breaking Green
07/14/23 • 43 min
Deforestation of Brazil's Amazon rainforest is a well-known threat to the world's environment, but the loss of natural biodiversity to so-called "green deserts" resulting from expanding non-native eucalyptus plantations for pulp and paper production, is a lesser known ecological and social disaster that is likely to worsen if genetically engineered trees are used.
Spearheaded by Global Justice Ecology Project, the Campaign to STOP GE Trees brought together members from the United States, New Zealand, Ireland, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom and Canada in Brazil to document the impacts and meet with communities on the front lines.
The group also met to develop plans for the international campaign to stop the commercial development of genetically engineered trees and to support and highlight opposition to pulp company Suzano's rapid expansion of industrial eucalyptus plantations, and potential use of genetically engineered (GE) eucalyptus trees modified to tolerate toxic herbicides.
GJEP and the Campaign met with Brazilian NGOs, indigenous and Quilombola communities and Landless Worker Movement members in order to document and amplify the voices and concerns of rural communities on the frontlines of resisting the devastating social and ecological impacts of industrial eucalyptus plantations.
On this episode of Breaking Green, we spoke with Anne Petermann. Petermann co- founded Global Justice Ecology Project in 2003. She is the international coordinator of the Campaign to STOP GE Trees, which she also co founded. Petermann is a founding board member of the Will Miller Social Justice Lecture Series. She has been involved in movements for forest protection and indigenous rights since 1991, and the international and national climate justice movements since 2004. She participated in the founding of the Durban group for climate justice in 2004, in Durban, South Africa, and Climate Justice Now in 2007 at the Bali Indonesia UN climate conference. She was adopted as an honorary member of the St. Francis- Sokoki band of the Abenaki in 1992 for her work in support of their struggle for state recognition. In 2000, she received the wild nature award for activist of the year.
Photo by Orin Langelle.
For more information visit: https://globaljusticeecology.org/brazil-2023/
This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions. Donate securely online here
Or simply text GIVE to 716-257-4187
03/13/24 • 32 min
Terrible forest fires that are the result of eucalyptus plantations are becoming an increasing threat. Known as green deserts, these monoculture eucalyptus tree plantations are becoming more numerous as they are built to feed ever larger pulp and paper mills. They sapwater from the environment and destroy biodiversity. But there are those who are fighting the spread of this invasive species.
On this episode of Breaking Green, we will talk with Joam Evans Pim. Pim is a commoner at the Froxan Community, located in Galicia, Spain, where he lives with his family. He is an activist in political, environmental, cultural and human rights issues, particularly focused on reinvigorating rural direct assembly democracy, defending and restoring common lands and confronting destructive mining and other environmentally degrading projects.
He serves as director of the Montescola Foundation and is adjunct professor of peace and conflict research at Abo Akademi University, Finland, where he seasonally lectures on civil disobedience and non-violent action at the master's program on peace, mediation and conflict research.
This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions. Donate securely online hereOr simply text GIVE to 716-257-4187
The Renewable Diesel Scam with Gary Hughes
Breaking Green
06/23/24 • 44 min
Can converting petroleum refineries into renewable diesel production truly serve as a green alternative, or is it merely greenwashing? Join us this week on Breaking Green as we tackle this controversial issue with Gary Hughes from Biofuelwatch. Gary reveals the significant risks and threats posed by industrial bioenergy projects, including their impacts on land, forests, ecosystems, food sovereignty, and human rights. We also explore Biofuelwatch's mission and their recent victories, like opposing a geoengineering project and advocating for indigenous communities in Chile.
Is greenwashing misleading the public about what’s truly sustainable? Gary Hughes of Biofuelwatch and I uncover how fossil fuel giants exploit biofuels and renewable diesel to maintain their environmentally damaging practices. These companies gain carbon credits while the global south suffers deforestation and heavy pesticide use in soy cultivation. We discuss the insidious nature of climate colonialism and the influence of neoliberal economic expansion on climate policy, especially in California.
In the final segment, we question the ethics and practicality of solar geoengineering as a climate solution. With Gary's insights into the billionaire class's fascination with technological fixes over real emission reductions, we critique the normalization of geoengineering and its potential catastrophic impacts. We also highlight the environmental crises in Chile, from wildfires to severe flooding, and the ongoing efforts of Global Justice Ecology Project to advocate for environmental justice. Tune in for a engaging conversation on the socio-environmental challenges we face and the urgent need for genuine solutions.
This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions. Donate securely online hereOr simply text GIVE to 716-257-4187
Show more best episodes
Show more best episodes
FAQ
How many episodes does Breaking Green have?
Breaking Green currently has 37 episodes available.
What topics does Breaking Green cover?
The podcast is about News, Nature, Podcasts, Science and Politics.
What is the most popular episode on Breaking Green?
The episode title 'Offloading Climate Responsibility on the Victims of Climate Change with Nnimmo Bassey' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Breaking Green?
The average episode length on Breaking Green is 40 minutes.
How often are episodes of Breaking Green released?
Episodes of Breaking Green are typically released every 33 days, 7 hours.
When was the first episode of Breaking Green?
The first episode of Breaking Green was released on May 27, 2021.
Show more FAQ
Show more FAQ