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This week, we dive into the transformative potential of a world less reliant on automobiles and ask the question: "why aren't we more honest about the harms caused by our car dependency?" We're joined by the amazing Sarah Goodyear and Doug Gordon, co-hosts of "The War on Cars" podcast and co-authors of the new book, "Life After Cars," to explores the deep-seated cultural and economic ties to car dependency and the urgent need to change it. We look at how car culture became intertwined with the American dream and the historical and societal factors that have perpetuated this problem.

Sarah and Doug discuss the environmental and social costs of our car-centric infrastructure, including pollution, social disconnection, and the harms on children's development. We delve into the challenges and opportunities of transitioning to electric vehicles, acknowledging their benefits while cautioning against simply replacing one form of car dependency with another.

Finally, we look at very real examples of change like the bike bus movement in the United States and the transformative policies implemented by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo to reduce car use. We talk about how these stories illustrate the power of grassroots activism and political courage to create more livable, car-free spaces.

Sarah Goodyear is a journalist and author who has covered cities and transportation for publications such as Grist, CityLab, and Streetsblog. Doug Gordon is a TV producer and writer who is also a neighborhood safe streets advocate, better known online as Brooklyn Spoke.

Read Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile
By Sarah Goodyear, Doug Gordon and Aaron Naparstek

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There is no denying that capitalism has played a leading role in warming the planet. As the Industrial Revolution ushered in previously unseen levels of prosperity for some people, human beings' negative impact on the natural world exploded at a ferocious rate. While it's helpful for modern-day economists to look back at the faults and failures of capitalism as a way to explain the multitude of problems facing humanity in the 21st century, it's even more interesting to understand the critiques that economists of the 19th and 20th century had about capitalism and what they were experiencing in real time that led them to these incredibly-prescient conclusions.

John Cassidy joins the show this week to discuss his new book "Capitalism and Its Critics: A History: From the Industrial Revolution to AI". John has written about economics and politics for The New Yorker for over 30 years. He's also the author of "How Markets Fail" and "Dot.Con: How America Lost Its Mind and Its Money in the Internet Era." John's new book covers 250 years of economic critiques of capitalism from well known economists like Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes, and Joan Robinson, as well as some lesser-know, yet incredibly important critics like Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, Rosa Luxemburg, JC Kumarappa, and many more.

The Climate Pod is going to be live in Chicago! Join us for our Chicago Climate Bash, the hottest comedy show on the planet! On Sunday, October 26th at 5 pm CT at The Lincoln Lodge, we're featuring an amazing lineup of great comedians and expert guests. There will be standup, panels, music, and more. This show is a live recording of The Climate Pod. Featuring Chad The Bird, Lucia Whalen, and Kat Abughazaleh! Get your tickets now: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/chicago-climate-bash-tickets-1758346845749?aff=oddtdtcreator

Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to our newsletter/podcast, The Climate Weekly, to help support this show. Your contributions will make the continuation of this show possible.

Our music is "Gotta Get Up" by The Passion Hifi, check out his music at thepassionhifi.com. Rate, review and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, and more! Subscribe to our YouTube channel.

The Climate Pod is going to be live in Chicago! Join us for our Chicago Climate Bash, the hottest comedy show on the planet! On Sunday, October 26th at 5 pm CT at The Lincoln Lodge, we're featuring an amazing lineup of great comedians and expert guests. There will be standup, panels, music, and more. This show is a live recording of The Climate Pod. Featuring Chad The Bird, Lucia Whalen, a very special guest, and more! Get your tickets now: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/chicago-climate-bash-tickets-1758346845749?aff=oddtdtcreator

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This week, we explore the complexities, concerns, and major issues surrounding the extraction of critical minerals for the green economy. Professor Thea Riofrancos, author of the book Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism, delves into the various problems with lithium mining and its implications for the global energy transition. She shares how lithium serves as a lens to explore broader issues of green capitalism, supply chains, and community-level organizing. We also talk about how to balance this with the urgent need to decarbonize transportation and energy sectors, emphasizing lithium's pivotal role in electric vehicles and grid balancing.

Riofrancos also explains how the history of extraction in Latin America helps shape the power dynamics in the region and what leaders learned from past efforts to protect natural resources. We explore the environmental and social impacts of mining in Chile, a major provider of copper and lithium, and the political shifts in recent years that are influencing resource governance.

We also discuss the role of private governance in the mining sector and talk abou the importance, and often absence, of public regulation and democratic processes in achieving sustainable and equitable resource management.

Thea Riofrancos is a political science professor at Providence College, and Strategic Co-Director of the Climate and Community Institute. Her research has been featured in essays in The New York Times, The Washington Post, N+1, and The Guardian.

Related Episodes: The Complex Problems With Critical Minerals

Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to our newsletter/podcast, The Climate Weekly, to help support this show. Your contributions will make the continuation of this show possible.

Our music is "Gotta Get Up" by The Passion Hifi, check out his music at thepassionhifi.com. Rate, review and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, and more! Subscribe to our YouTube channel.