217 - A Song of Concrete and Ice (with Cristián Simonetti)
Release Date: 02/29/2024
242 – Living Minerals (feat. Javiera Barandiarán)
Cultures of Energy
Dominic and Cymene begin with the war on Chicago and Kelly Hayes’s amazing essay, “” which everyone should read. Then (15:20) we welcome Javiera Barandiarán to the podcast to talk about her new book, (MIT Press, 2025), and what Javiera loves about the element of lithium. We discuss lithium’s futurity and multiplicity, why Javiera thinks it’s wrong to think about lithium as a single thing. From there, we talk about lithium’s role in nuclear fusion, what rights of nature minerals should enjoy, and why so many people believe minerals create wealth. Then we wrap up with Javiera’s...
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241 - Militant Chemistry (feat. Alice Lovejoy)
Cultures of Energy
Dominic and Cymene talk about AI and other chowhounds to kick off this week’s podcast. Then (12:46) we welcome the wonderful to talk about her new book (U California Press, 2025). We begin with the materiality of early film and how it became intertwined with the industry of chemical warfare. At stake in the making of this militant chemical complex was chemistry’s fundamental principle of transformation, which brought materials like film into close alignment with a burgeoning plastics industry. We move from there to talking about the forms of expertise involved in militant chemistry, the...
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240 - Carbon Banking (feat. Ben Luzzatto & Gustav Peebles)
Cultures of Energy
We begin this episode with a shoutout to our friends at the Canadian Centre for Architecture () 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 and to talk about their new book, (MIT Press, 2025). We start with their that the history of the monetary gold standard could be reconceived as a beta test for a new carbon banking paradigm to draw down atmospheric carbon, convert it into biochar and sequester it in a Fort Knox of sorts. But what about carbon’s earthly abundance and lack of charismatic...
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239 - Carbon Capital (feat. Sean Field)
Cultures of Energy
There be tales of two Sean Fields on this week’s podcast. Happily, we are only welcoming (8:56) the smart and accomplished to the podcast to talk about his pathbreaking new ethnography of oil and finance, (NYU Press, 2025). We begin with why it matters to understand the moral landscape and ethical values of oil investment. From there, the conversation evolves to include oil and Christianity, the intersection of value and values, why the oil industry “inhales capital” and how private equity firms helped US oil and gas industry explode in size. We dig into how both finance and oil...
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238 - Thinking Like a Climate (feat. Hannah Knox)
Cultures of Energy
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 : Governing a City in Times of Environmental Change (Duke UP). Hannah explains to us how climate change has challenged both the concepts and methods of urban governance and how governmental and non-governmental experts in Manchester have sought to come to terms with the scope of the problem. We talk carbon footprints, emissions...
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237 - The Canyon (feat. Robert Savino Oventile)
Cultures of Energy
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 proceeds from which support the rebuilding of the destroyed by the Eaton Fire and which for maximum positive synergy can be purchased from the wonderful Pasadena independent bookstore, Vroman’s (link ). In the conversation, Robert talks about his long relationship to Eaton Canyon and his experience during this January’s devastating Eaton Fire which...
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236 – Ethical Pessimism (feat. Roy Scranton)
Cultures of Energy
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 (Stanford UP, 2025). We begin with the philosophical origins of the concepts of optimism and pessimism in debates over Leibniz and Voltaire and from there explore what Roy means by “ethical pessimism.” Roy explains how pessimism might do more for...
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235 - Forever Chemicals (feat. Rachel Frazin)
Cultures of Energy
Dominic gives a quick update from the frontlines of home repair. Then (3:30) we welcome an energy and environmental reporter from The Hill to the podcast to talk about her new book, together with Sharon Udasin, How Forever Chemicals Contaminated America (Island Press, 2025). We start with the basics: what forever chemicals and PFAS are, where they came from and when it first became clear that they could have devastating health impacts. We move from there to why, even though 97% of Americans have PFAS in their blood, Rachel sees this as a global problem and discuss some of the powerful and...
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234 - Failed States (feat. Imre Szeman)
Cultures of Energy
Dominic reports briefly on how your co-hosts returned home to their own personal Hurricane Harvey. Then (4:20) 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, energy futures. Imre explains how the book is as much about failed states as it is about renewable energy and highlights the struggle over who gets to define “common sense” as a central feature of politics today. Imre talks about the tech barons who have...
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233 - The Abyss (feat. Stacy Alaimo)
Cultures of Energy
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 sea as a space of military, capitalist and scientific interest as well as a place of wonder and reflection. Stacy explains that the question of what it would take to provoke concern about life at the bottom of the sea inspired the project and why she...
info_outlineCymene 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 the most abundant contemporary materials, and what it reveals about the course of the Anthropocene trajectory. From there we talk about the debate over the Anthropocene designation and how stratigraphers tend to petrify earth processes by valuing solids over fluids. From there we move to talking about ice and his interest in the viscosity of glaciers and soil. We circle back to concrete and how the Romans conceived of it as a solid fluid and as a conversation between the elements. Finally, we talk about the special role glaciers have played in the Chilean Anthropocene. Glaciers move like ketchup? Concrete is a colloid? For those and further revelations, please listen on!