Critical Ecologies

This podcast examines the intersections between issues of the built environment, sustainability and environmental justice in Ireland. Discussion around the environmental impact of buildings has become more prevalent in both policy and public discourse as we look towards zero-carbon futures, with Ireland taking on board the policies of the European Green Deal. In the public eye much of this topic h...

In this podcast, Will Stringer discusses his research into climate activist group Extinction Rebellion (XR) and their demand for climate citizens’ assemblies. Drawing upon the idea of participation as an issue of justice through the work of political theorist Nancy Fraser, this episode explores what approaches to inclusion we can see within XR’s structures and demands. Before finally considering w...

It is becoming ever more clear that we face widespread and worsening ecological breakdown. However, while these issues are global, their causes and disastrous effects are not evenly distributed. The poorest often already facing the worst of the disruption, endangering lives and livelihoods. Is there a connection between what has made regions poor and the climate harms they face? In this podcast, P...

In this podcast, Nicola Whelan traces the historical development of Ireland’s agricultural industry since the colonial period. Starting with a discussion of Karl Marx and his account of the Irish ‘metabolic rift’ under British rule, we consider some of the lasting impacts this period of intensive production has had on the farming landscape of Ireland today. Nicola suggests that following independe...

Katlyne Armstrong joins Patrick Bresnihan in this podcast to explore bogs as a living intersection where heritage, planning, and resistance collide. More specifically, Katlyne introduces the borrowed concept of a hurting heritage and how this might be playing out in the Irish context. Colonialism, for example, continues to structure life in Ireland and it is important to consider the ways in which...

In this podcast, John Bohan asks: who are the polluters, the big energy consumers, the tax dodging tech giants, the water devourers in our communities? Why do I see the Intel logo all about North Kildare? What’s the craic with that factory by the river? When the benevolent corporate presence in my community says they’re committed to maintaining “environmental stewardship” and “provide jobs and inv...

This podcast with Rúadhán Clerkin looks at an environmental injustice issue (Green Gentrification) that is becoming an increasingly more prominent urban phenomenon. Countries all over the world are putting forward new and more radical greening policies and objectives to tackle climate change. However, the outcome of these greening polices can sometimes lead to green gentrification. This podcast ta...

In this podcast, Sophie Thiessen discusses feminist political ecology and poetic dwelling in relation to forestry in Ireland, focussing on County Leitrim. Sophie describes the history of forestry in Ireland and how forestry policy has developed in the present day in relation to climate change. Situating our discussion in Leitrim we talk about how forestry in Leitrim has been and continues to be co...

This podcast with Rob Keogh examines the role the state has played in creating enabling environmental and material conditions for inward foreign direct investment (FDI) in Ireland from the 1950s onwards, by focusing on a particular case study. The initial investment, and subsequent expansion, of Pfizer in Cork Harbour in the 1970s is examined, with a focus on water resources and infrastructures. W...

This podcast with Laure Detymowski offers a brief insight on how housing quality and environmental justice have been linked both in the literature and in social and environmental justice campaigns, mostly in the US and Irish contexts. In this discussion, the issue of housing quality is extended to encompass physically and mentally harmful living conditions that may have received less attention tha...

The Irish government plans to produce 70% of its electricity from domestic renewable energy by 2030. Onshore wind production is the cornerstone of these targets, with projects developing across the country that seeks to reassemble the energy system. New pressures and tensions are emerging at different scales between private networks, the state, and the communities enrolled in these new renewable e...