The Rift

07/05/2026: I speak with energy and industrial policy researcher Winston Yau about the political-ecological dynamics of the data center boom, and how the left should strategize in response.

05/03/2026: I speak with John Dodd, Policy Manager at Energy Alabama, over the recent legislative battle over the Power to the People Act and the fight for affordable, clean energy in Alabama.

04/05/2026: I speak with Dr. Daanish Mustafa, Professor of Critical Geography at King's College London, about imagining new ways of relating to the environment, and what the end of the West as we know it might mean for global ecological justice.

03/15/2026: I speak with Dr. Maziar Samiee, associate researcher at the University of Sussex's Center for Global Political Economy, about the fights that the Iranian environmental movement is waging, and how they are affected by government repression and imperialist wars.

02/15/2026: I speak with Emily Grubert, professor of sustainable energy policy at Notre Dame, and Joshua Lappen, postdoctoral researcher associate at Notre Dame about their new paper on the minimum viable scale of fossil energy systems and the difficult task of a truly managed transition away from fossil fuels.

2/1/2026: I speak with Ada Recinos, Associate Director of Marketing and Communications at the National Democratic Training Committee, about how people running on climate and environmental justice issues are winning local elections around the country and what it means for the climate justice movement.

1/18/2026: I speak with Tyler McDaniel and Kellye Blosser of the Little Cities of Black Diamonds Council about the history of coal mining in southeastern Ohio, the challenges these communities face, and how LCBD is trying to build community and well-being through eco-tourism.

12/21/2025: I speak with author and journalist Nicola Twilley about her book Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves.

12/7/2025: I speak with Dr. Malini Ranganathan, Associate Professor at the American University School of International Service, about the intersection of caste and labor and how it's manifesting in climate politics in India and across the world.

11/16/2025: I speak with Ron Kaminkow and Nick Wurst of Railroad Workers United about cross-union organizing, the fight against mega-mergers in rail, and what a worker-lead rail industry might mean for the fight against climate change.

10/19/2025: I speak with Dr. Bilal Butt, Professor at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability, about his research on conservation and pastoralism in Kenya's Maasai Mara, and his perspectives on a future of conservation without violence.

10/5/2025: I speak with Randa Watts, environmental organizer with Prairie Rivers Network, about her work engaging rural communities in central and southern Illinois about solar energy.

09/21/2025: I speak with writer and former trail worker Jamie Tommins about trail work, the state of our public lands, and what a just land management regime might look like.

9/7/2025: I speak with Steven Gonzalez Monserrate, anthropologist and postdoctoral fellow at Goethe University, about the ecology of the Internet and how data centers are impacting the environment.

8/3/2025: I speak with Batul Hassan, Labor Director at the Climate and Community Project and Steering Committee member with the New York City Democratic Socialists of America, about Zohran Mamdani's campaign for mayor of New York City and what it could mean for working-class climate politics.

7/20/2025: I speak with researcher and artist Maya Weeks about ocean pollution, native land rights, Marxist feminism, and how she makes art from her research.

6/15/2025: I speak with former Environmental Protection Agency scientist Ellie Hagen about the Trump administration's funding cuts and firings at the EPA and their effects on environmental regulation.

6/1/2025: I speak with Dr. Leon Sealey-Huggins, Senior Campaigner on Just Transition with War on Want, about his study of the effects of imperialism and colonialism on climate response among Global South nations, and the struggle for global ecological justice.

5/18/2025: I speak with Patrick Bigger, Research Director at the Climate and Community Institute, about the looming debt crisis among Global South nations, what it means for global climate justice, and how we can move toward a more just financial system.

5/4/2025: I speak with Sharon Wilson of Oilfield Witness about the impacts of fracking in the Permian Basin, and hear from Andres Gomez of the Fossil Fuel Nonproliferation Treaty Initiative about Colombia's involvement in Permian fracking.

4/20/2025: I speak with author and Marxist intellectual Malcolm Harris about his new book, What's Left: Three Paths Through the Planetary Crisis.

4/6/2025: I speak with Deepa Padmanabha, Senior Legal Advisor with Greenpeace USA, about Energy Transfers' lawsuit against Greenpeace for their advocacy around the Dakota Access Pipeline, and what it could mean for left-wing activism moving forward.

3/16/2025: I speak with Brian Kamanzi, Researcher with Trade Unions for Energy Democracy, about South Africa's state-owned energy utility, Eskom, the struggle that unions and civil society are waging against its privatization, and the political landscape around energy and utilities in South Africa.

3/2/2025: I speak with Allie Lindstrom, Senior Strategist with the Sierra Club's Sustainable Finance program, about how climate risk is affecting public pensions in the US and what workers can do about it.

2/16/2025: I speak with Liz Jacob, staff attorney at the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice in Detroit, Michigan, about the fight for affordable, reliable and clean electricity in Detroit.