Dr. Wesley Cox, Dr. Dani Haogue, and Zaria Smith all grew up in Altadena, CA. In the wake of the Eaton Fire which destroyed more than half of the city in January 2025, they share their personal stories and how they connect to the wider picture of Black history in Los Angeles, environmental racism, and the struggle for a brighter future.

DONATE to Dena Rebuild: https://denarebuild.co/

Mentions/Sources:

• Better Watts Initiative (Dani serves as research director): https://wlcac.org/community-service/better-watts-initiative-bwi/
• Mapping LA History (Wesley’s project at UCLA): https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/3defcb2c438343d58b035428e3b95fbb
• Eaton Fire burn map: https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2025/1/7/eaton-fire
• NASA/JPL Pollution in Altadena:
  • https://www.toxicsites.us/site.php?epa_id=CA9800013030
  • https://www.latimes.com/socal/la-canada-valley-sun/news/tn-vsl-me-monkhill-20130620-story.html
• Solid Waste Sites and the Black Houston Community (first environmental justice study): https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1475-682X.1983.tb00037.x
• Association of Black Estate Planners: abepp.org

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

As solarpunks, we have to consider the possibility of collapse. Matthew Azuley–aka EpicTomorrows–introduces us to collapse awareness, a view of the climate crisis which accepts the inevitability of societal collapse on some level. We’ll hear a bit about his forthcoming book, an anthology of global perspectives on collapse, as well as how this view might fit within a solarpunk perspective.

Buy the book on Arkbound

Mentions/Sources:

• EpicTomorrows on YouTube
• A Radical Guide
• Diamond, J M. (2011). Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive. London: Penguin.
  • Note from Matthew: I need to be very clear, some of Diamond’s scholarship has now been discredited, but this does not change his essential definition of collapse which I still think is the most useful one. Diamond defines collapse as, ‘A drastic decrease in human population size and/or political/economic/social complexity, over a considerable area, for an extended time’ (Diamond 2011: 3). He developed a single general formula outlining how many of the world’s great civilizations fell, a process he explains as ‘ecocide’. Ecocide, as the name suggests, describes a society that destroys the very environment upon which they depend, thus ensuring its own demise (Diamond 2011: 6).
• Total Societal Collapse by 2040? (MIT report summarised by ‘Down To Earth’ on YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE50z-C-gGA
• The Green Transition will not work as planned, what might we do instead? – Professor Simon Michaux: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbnXMv19Hck&t=1s

Recommended Reading:

• An open access literature review of societal collapse
• All planetary boundaries mapped out for the first time, six of nine crossed, by Stockholm Resilience Centre
• Breaking Together free e-book, by Jem Bendell (assessment that collapse is already happening, with suggestion of ‘ecolibertarian’ response, with a nod to Murray Bookchin)
• What Is Social Ecology? by Murray Bookchin

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

In 1995, Dr. Jess Ghannam was one of two psychiatrists for the entire population of the Gaza strip (nearly two million people). The typical Western model of mental health care isn’t equipped to address needs at that scale, especially in a population suffering from multiple generations of ongoing trauma.

Jess’s work centers around community mental health, a model that aims to deliver care at scale by integrating and working within the community. This includes developing a historical understanding and political awareness–the doctor’s office isn’t isolated from the rest of the world. When it comes to addressing global mental health needs, the challenges are great, but the insight Jess brings to this conversation points a way forward.

Note: Since October 7th, much of this work in Gaza has been destroyed. And the needs right now are much more immediate–food, water, shelter, and a ceasefire. If you have the resources to provide assistance, Jess recommends a donation to KinderUSA (http://www.kinderusa.org/), currently providing food support to the region.

Learn more about Dr. Jess Ghannam at https://profiles.ucsf.edu/jess.ghannam

Recommended Reading:

• Frantz Fanon – Black Skin, White Masks
• Frantz Fanon – The Wretched of the Earth

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!