Planet: Critical

Designing Liveable Futures | Tatjana Schneider & Jeremy Till

At the end of last year, I received a stunning book in the post: Architecture is Climate delivers an uncompromising review of the state of human and more-than-human affairs. Written by MOULD, a research collective of academics and architects, the book targets the architecture industry specifically for its role in engendering the crisis, asking not what architecture can do for climate breakdown, but what does climate breakdown to do architecture?
MOULD architects, Tatjana Schneider and Jeremy Till, join me to discuss exactly that: the exploitation of space. We explore spatial relations as social relations, examining architecture as a nervous system which can tell us how to live.  We discuss what space is, how we understand space, how we move in space, and how we can live through what we live in. In this moving episode, both Tatjana and Jeremy tell wonderful stories about projects reimagining the role of architecture from an industry which perfects objects, to an effort which designs spaces that facilitate living and community and collaboration.
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The Copper Curtain | Art Berman

Trump's expansionist grabs at Venezuela and Greenland are not the moves of a madman. Whether we like it or not, they're coherent strategies to secure the USA economy and power in a world where resources are running low and China's ascent is inevitable.
This is the message of world-renowned energy expert, Art Berman. We are living in a new world of Putin, Xi and Trump, all of whom are engaging in very similar plays to control as much of Earth's resources and international markets as they can. Art thinks the only possible outcome for this new cold war is a replay of the first: a partition between the East and West, one dominated by China and the other by the USA. In the age of critical materials, I'm calling it the copper curtain.
We discuss all this and more, including the rave to the bottom, peak growth, which resources in particular are running low, and the fragility of renewable-based economies. This is Art's second time on the show. I highly recommend his first episode, Energy Wars, too.
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Lithium: The "Miracle" Mineral | Javiera Barandiaran

In the age of the energy transition, Lithium is our miracle mineral, the key to carbon-free energy storage and unlimited, cheap, harmless power. This belief has prompted a massive mining boom all over the world, destabilising ecosystems, communities, and even governance. But this is nothing new. In fact, the history of Lithium tells the same tale over and over again: the solution to our world problems is always more mining. 
Javiera Barandiaran, associate professor at the University of California in Santa Barbara and author of Living Minerals: Nature, Trade and Power in the Race for Lithium, researches the history of critical minerals and how resource rushes to secure them have shaped political discourse and economic policy.
On this episode, she explains the surprising history of lithium, the narrative of Lithium as a cure-all, the reality of Lithium mining in Latin America and its devastating effects and how communities are fighting back. Finally, we discuss the possibility of sustainable mining, with Javiera insisting we have always mined, the problem is that no matter how much mining we do, we're never going to find the dream of unlimited, free power we are desperately clinging onto.
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Who Will Lead the Future? | Roger Hallam

 Roger Hallam is one of the most prominent climate activists in the United Kingdom. Roger helped co-found Extinction Rebellion, Just Stop Oil, Insulate Britain and other radical organisations. He has repeatedly put his body on the line through act of civil disobedience and been arrested countless times. In July, 2024, Roger was sentenced to five years in jail for participating in a Zoom call, which caused shockwaves around the world.
On this episode, we discuss his theory of change, his commitment to non-violence, and how to spark mass mobilisation. We frequently disagree, and I'm grateful for his willingness to have a detailed back and forth about these things that he has dedicated his life to. While I am publicly wary of theories which propound mathematical certainty about social phenomena, and movements which lean to heavily on the cult of the individual–both of which we discuss–I am indebted to Roger just as I am every environmental defender for his commitment to Life.
 
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🟢 Get the transcript: www.planetcritical.com/roger-hallam/

Liberating Social Contributions | Andrew Percy

You may have noticed that billionaires have come out in force over the past year to discredit Universal Basic Income. But here's an idea they hate even more: Universal Basic Services.
I'm joined by Andrew Percy whose research at the Institute for Global Prosperity proves unequivocally that not only can we afford to unconditionally provide healthcare, education, housing, transport, food and other services to our entire societies, but doing so would dramatically improve people's ability to contribute to that society. He explains the myths surrounding UBS which make both politicians and the public wary, the maths which proves it is sound financial policy, and the experiments going on around the UK and Europe which prove UBS changes not only the lives of individuals, but also the very social fabric of a community.
A.I chatbot for UK residents to discover how their lives would change with UBS: https://properchange.uk/policy-analyst/
 
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From Coloniality to Decolonisation | Farhana Sultana

What is climate coloniality? What is climate apartheid? How does our exploitation of the more-than-human world feed into the oppression of people? And what are the real pathways towards decolonising?
Interdisciplinary scholar and editor of Confronting Climate Coloniality: Decolonizing Pathways for Climate Justice, Farhana Sultana, addresses all these questions and more on today's episode, explaining how reality is formed by these ideologies, and why we cannot begin to get to the roots of the eco-crisis without first grasping the soil they were planted in.  
We also have a nuanced discussion on the matrix of power upholding supremacist, extractive regimes around the world, pointing out that such ideologies are no longer contained within certain borders or upheld by certain groups, but rather the dominant logic of capitalism playing out across the world in real time.  
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How Fiction Makes Sense of the Crisis | Heather Milligan

We're kicking off the year with a very special interview about how present-day literature is reflecting the crisis we're collectively experiencing—and why some of the novels published today fail to grasp both the intensity and complexity of our world.
Heather Milligan is a literature scholar specialising in the relatively recent genre of eco-gothic. She joins me to explain what defines climate literature, from cli-fi and apocalyptic narratives to eco-gothic tales, revealing the key differences between these two genres, and which tends to subtly reflect the same hubris by which humanity continues to believe itself the solution to Earth's emergency.
This is a beautiful episode, filled with references to wonderful novels and key insights into why we turn to literature in times of crisis. 

For the Future We May Never See | Rachel Donald

Welcome to 2026, and this special episode of Planet: Critical where I discuss hope, collapse, effective action and what may yet be in store for us all. 
 
Here are the questions I chose this year:
What would be your trigger for a more drastic exit from society in preparation for collapse? 
How are you planning to (or have already thus far) prepared for the coming collapse of western industrialised globalised economy?
After the collapse when healthier, egalitarian groups are forming, there will be remnants in the form of warlord bands. How can we defeat this phenomenon?
How do you avoid not pivoting most conversations to some form "the system will fail sooner rather than later" when talking to people that are not collapse aware?
How do stay hopeful when collapse is moving so fast and it feels like progress (or the shifting of human consciousness) is moving so slow?
Given the intensity and inherent heaviness of your work, the painful realities you interrogate, how do you answer the call to joy? What nourishes you?
What form of protest could be the most effective/efficient in halting capitalism and ushering in a new economy all at once?
Assuming government or big business does not provide us with solutions, what are you doing personally in as far as your own adaptation to a changing world, governance, and climate? 
What do you believe have been some of the most effective things (images, ideas, experiences, stories) that have gotten people to wake up to AND take action that moves us toward community sufficiency? 
Is it time to pull back from the echo chamber of much of the internet and social media, and focus as much as possible at our localities and effect as much change as we can here? 
How can humanity quickly get out of the financial, economic, and military competition to properly deal with the climate and environmental crisis that's threatening all life on this planet?
I think we're all wary of people peddling solutions, but do you think there are levers that could push us towards a better future?
Is there a single most strategic leverage point (cognitively, institutionally or socially) that would accelerate meaningful and widespread transformation rather than incremental reform?
What positive stories of resistance from around the world can we take inspiration from going into 2026?
How will AI impact us during a time of climate breakdown?
How does one acknowledge the past but at the same time not become an apologist for its continuation in the same way going forward? And conversely how do you simultaneously acknowledge the past, acknowledge its cruelties and not sound like you wished it had never happened?
We had and have the answers in the cultures that were conquered by colonisation and extraction. Why doesn’t the alternative which has always existed in human history of preserving and respecting our Earth have to be reinvented by Western narratives? 
While "prediction is difficult, especially if it's about the future" (to cite Niels Bohr), what future seems most likely to you for the world of 2050 and 2100?

Exergy Economics | Tânia Sousa

You've heard of energy—but do you have any idea what exergy is?
On today's astounding episode of Planet: Critical, scholar Tânia Sousa explains the concept of exergy—the quality of energy—and why it is critical to understanding our energy systems, our economies, and energy transitions. She explains energy degradation, energy efficiency, and the how differences in available energy actually create the necessary gradients for life to happen. What this means, however, is that the pockets of high quality energy deposits around the world are a gift—and when we go through them, by burning all the oil or mining all the mines, then we will find ourselves in a world where we are capable of doing much less useful work.
Planet: Critical is approaching its five year anniversary, and yet this conversation felt like the very beginning of this journey, when every episode was a revelation. And so it feels important to end the year with this mind-blowing hour. Happy festivities to one and all. See you in 2026.
 
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The Myth of Progress | Samuel Miller McDonald

Obviously, the world is not on an inevitable upward trajectory. But witnessing the degradation of our environment, democracies and information has come as a shock to many of us who were raised on the belief that human history is a long arc towards perfection (with just a few blips along the way). This is the myth of progress we were all sold. Astonishingly, it predates even our oldest religions. 
Samuel Miller McDonald is a geographer and the author of PROGRESS: A History of Humanity's Worst Idea. He joins me today to discuss his startling research which shows how this very inextricably this myth is tied to expansionism, extractivism and centralisation. Taking us over 5,000 years, Samuel explains how that same myth has been recycled through the Holy Books, colonial legislation, international development, and even technological innovation. Exploring some counter-arguments, Samuel criticises political pundits who claim we can view the world through rosy lenses by merely examining "unbiased" data, and offers pointers on how to navigate the information cesspool of today's discourse to interpret what is really going on in the world. 
P.S. The argument we reference that I had with Hannah Ritchie can be listened to here on Mongabay's podcast.
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