The BREAK—DOWN

@the-breakdown

📖🎙️📺 New writing and conversations on capitalism, nature and the climate 🌎 Hosted by @cmmonwealth.bsky.social linktr.ee/breakdownradio

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The BREAK—DOWN@the-breakdown· 19d

Darcy Tetreault, Professor, University of Zacatecas in Episode 3: Extractivism in Mexico Listen to CONTINENTAL SHIFT now, wherever you get your podcasts. open.spotify.com/episode/3sAt...

The BREAK—DOWN@the-breakdown· 21d

Want to get ahold of a copy of our latest issue? Subscribe online or visit one of our amazing stockists.

The BREAK—DOWN@the-breakdown· 24d

Thea Riofrancos @triofrancos.bsky.social, Professor, Providence College in Episode 2: A (Not So) New Gold Rush. CONTINENTAL SHIFT is out now. open.spotify.com/episode/3dPh...

The BREAK—DOWN@the-breakdown· 25d

🌫️ ’Delayed Arrival’ by VERA HUWE for our Issue #3: AIRBORNE is available on our website! 🔗 Become a subscribe to read the essay through our link in bio and SUBSCRIBE online to get access to our full archive! www.break-down.org/delayed-arri...

The BREAK—DOWN@the-breakdown· 26d

SUBSCRIBE to read the full response on our website - link in bio 🔗 www.break-down.org/driving-prog...

If the car has long had a powerful symbolic pull, acting as a cypher for all manner of political issues, in recent years it has also become a key site in the battle over net zero. As the cost of living rises, petrol prices have been forged into "wedge issues", turning otherwise apolitical investments in transport and mobility into new forms of reactionary politics. Farage and Reform UK clearly know the value of this: in March this year, the party kitted out a petrol station in Derbyshire in the party's distinctive turquoise colour scheme to announce their plans to slash fuel duties. In this, Reform are following the lead set by other parties of the right across the world: are declining living standards turned to reactionary anti-ecologism.

New writing and conversations on capitalism, nature and the climate

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The BREAK—DOWN@the-breakdown· 26d

Cars have long been synonymous with speed, progress and individual freedom. Perhaps this is why cars are getting ever bigger and heavier, in a process that activists have termed “carspreading”. 🚙 ’Driving Progress’ by John Merrick

Cars have long been synonymous with speed, progress and individual freedom.

To drive a car is to grasp hold of the potentials of individual choice: to close oneself off from the swarming crowds; to take to the open road in a giant, gleaming can of steel; to drive headlong into the sunset, pursuing the future at dizzying speed; to pursue self-fulfillment at the expense of the collective. To drive, in short, is to be the archetypical capitalist self-actualiser: individualist and forward moving, forever in search of the new.

Perhaps this is why cars are getting ever bigger and heavier, in a process that activists have termed “carspreading”.

Since 2000, new cars have grown each year an average of 1.2cm longer, 0.5cm taller and 0.5cm wider.

If this trend continues, it will see cities like London and Berlin lose around 10 per cent of all their parking spaces by 2040, while also resulting in around 400 extra pedestrian deaths per year (as cars expand, the surface area for collisions with non-drivers grows, as does the driver's blindspots).

The BREAK—DOWN@the-breakdown· 27d

Emily Iona Stewart, Head of Policy, Global Witness in Episode 2: A (Not So) New Gold Rush. CONTINENTAL SHIFT is out now. open.spotify.com/episode/3dPh...

The BREAK—DOWN@the-breakdown· 29d

Marshall Berman's radical critique of modernity and car culture offers a roadmap to a better way of living together. 🚗 ’Reading Marshall Berman for the Climate Crisis’ by KATIE MULKOWSKY SUBSCRIBE to read the full essay on our website www.break-down.org/reading-mars...

The BREAK—DOWN@the-breakdown· Jul 8

The next global power struggle is for critical minerals. Resources like cobalt, copper, and lithium are reshaping geopolitics and the struggle to dominate critical minerals is a defining challenge of this political moment.

The BREAK—DOWN@the-breakdown· Jul 2

Catch us this month at the Summit Photo Festival, taking place at the Royal Geographical Society. Team BREAK—DOWN will have a stand where you can learn about what we do and grab a copy of the magazine!

The BREAK—DOWN@the-breakdown· Jun 30

Annual print subscribers get two issues sent to their doorsteps every year. And if you want to get ahold of Issue #3: AIRBORNE as part of your subscription - you've got two weeks left to sign up. www.break-down.org/subscribe-now/

The BREAK—DOWN@the-breakdown· Jun 27

On the invention of the environment and the slow violence of the respiratory economy. 🌫️ ’Economies of Breath’ by MAE LOSASSO for our Issue #3: AIRBORNE is available on our website! 🔗 Become a subscribe to read the essay www.break-down.org/subscribe-now/

The BREAK—DOWN@the-breakdown· Jun 25

It feels like just yesterday we were talking about May's record-breaking heatwave in Europe. Yet, just a few short weeks later, here we are again. 🌆 ’Heatwave 2.0’ by JOHN MERRICK www.break-down.org/heatwave-2-0...

The BREAK—DOWN@the-breakdown· Jun 23

Carney now celebrates the past history and future outputs of the oil sands as helping to build “Canada Strong”. Trump’s efforts to impoverish or even annex Canada and the spike in oil prices has encouraged ministers to maintain that Canada and the world face an “energy crisis”, not a climate crisis.

The BREAK—DOWN@the-breakdown· Jun 23

The once-fringe dream of Albertan independence has gained new prominence, forcing Canada to confront the political and economic power of fossil fuels. 🇨🇦 ’Petro-Separatism on the Prairies' by MICHAEL LEDGER-LOMAS SUBSCRIBE to read the full essay - www.break-down.org/subscribe-now/

The BREAK—DOWN@the-breakdown· Jun 21

The US National Weather Service predicts that, for the duration of the World Cup, every region in America will experience above average temperatures. ⚽️ ’The Heat of the Game’ by John Merrick Read the full essay on our website - www.break-down.org/the-heat-of-the-game/

The BREAK—DOWN@the-breakdown· Jun 17

As the Nigerian government pushes to restart oil production in Ogoniland, decades of pollution, dispossession and broken promises cast a long shadow over the future. 🛢️ ’The Price of Oil’ by TAIWO HASSAN SUBSCRIBE to read the full essay on our website www.break-down.org/subscribe-now/

The BREAK—DOWN@the-breakdown· Jun 16

The US is now an empire that is in decline. On the new episode of The BREAK–DOWN podcast we're joined by author and Professor of Gulf Studies at the University of Exeter, @lalehkhalili.bsky.social

The BREAK—DOWN@the-breakdown· Jun 15

“In the US there’s a joke that war is the way that US citizens learn geography, but it’s also the way that US citizens are now learning political economy.” On the new episode of The BREAK–DOWN podcast we're joined by author and Professor of Gulf Studies at, Laleh Khalili

The BREAK—DOWN@the-breakdown· Jun 15

“An empire in decline is always at its most dangerous - and we’re seeing that already.” On the new episode of The BREAK–DOWN podcast we're joined by author and Professor of Gulf Studies at the University of Exeter, Laleh Khalili

The BREAK—DOWN@the-breakdown· Jun 11

“Today, skies are being quietly folded into a very different project: the remaking of rural and island airspace for the global space economy, from small satellites to military surveillance." 🐦️ ’Rock Dove Recon’ by ZSUZSANNA IHAR www.break-down.org/subscribe-now/

The BREAK—DOWN@the-breakdown· Jun 10

“Why, then, spend so much energy trying to appeal to private finance when you don’t have the one thing it needs—profit?” 🧁 ’The Great Biodiversity Bake Off’ by AUDREY IRVINE-BROQUE and JESSICA DEMPSEY SUBSCRIBE to read the full essay on our website - www.break-down.org/subscribe-now/

The BREAK—DOWN@the-breakdown· Jun 5

In this week's essay, Adrienne Buller reflected on the recent heatwave that affected the UK and much of Europe. If you're still thinking about heatwaves, head to our Instagram to find seven heatwave-related articles, films, and tv shows.

The BREAK—DOWN@the-breakdown· Jun 4

This week, those of us in the UK and much of Europe have been sweltering in a record-shattering heatwave. 🌆 ’Reflections on a Heatwave’ by ADRIENNE BULLER SUBSCRIBE to read the full essay on our website - link in bio 🔗

The BREAK—DOWN@the-breakdown· Jun 3

Join us on 26 June at the Science Gallery, King's College London - where we'll be hosting a live podcast episode called: Securing the Future? War and Peace in a Warming World. When: Friday, 26 June, 6:30-8:30pm Where: Science Gallery, SE1 9GU Tickets: Link in bio 🔗

The BREAK—DOWN@the-breakdown· Jun 1

Where will change come from? Last week we were joined by Geoff Mann, Daniela Gabor and Oliver Eagleton for the launch party for AIRBORNE: Issue #3 Live episode now out wherever you listen to your podcasts, link in bio.

The BREAK—DOWN@the-breakdown· May 18

"While we cannot simply 'fix' the climate through a feat of engineering, humans also cannot abstain from producing the climate, just as we produce the rest of nature." Read @natashaheenan.bsky.social on geoengineering, capitalism and the case for climate repair. www.break-down.org/producing-th...

The BREAK—DOWN@the-breakdown· May 7

Next Wednesday, @the-breakdown.bsky.social editor, Adrienne Buller and John Merrick, will be doing the first of a series of collaborative events on radical thinkers for the climate crisis at Kairos, in London. The first will be on Marshall Sahlins www.kairos.london/event/readin...