Wherever you are, I hope you’re finding moments of peace in the heart of winter. I’ve spent the past few days with the most precious parts of my heart, cooking, singing, playing, eating and laughing. The three wise men themselves could not have bestowed a better gift upon me; riches are mined in the heart alone.
Planet: Critical has gained quite a number of new subscribers over these shortened days, and I realised recently that it may be the time to sit on the other side of the microphone and give you, this wonderful community, the chance to become the interviewer. Long-time listeners will have been able to piece together parts of my story, but I notice that with increasing frequency the people I meet are very curious as to how Planet: Critical came about. I try and answer as honestly as possible: quite accidentally, having attempted many other things with great determination. Planet: Critical was born out of my running out of ideas, and I had no idea what it was, truly, for the first year of doing it.
But I happened to have done quite a few other things to prepare: reading, researching, teaching, journalism, sales work, moving abroad, breaking down, rebuilding. I have lived in six different countries, learned a second language, and, importantly, walked away from many careers. I was always looking for my thing. To find it, I had to make it. Luckily, I had no idea what I was making—otherwise I might have screwed it up.
My story has enough twists and turns to make your head spin, and perhaps it is of little interest to some of you. Yet, for the curious among you, I’d like to tell it. I’ll record a special episode of P:C for next week’s show, responding to the questions that you can submit in this Google Form.
You can also submit any interviewee ideas for the coming year.
With that, Happy New Year to you all.
Rachel
Hi Rachel,
I've just discovered Planet Critical (amazing how I've missed it to date as I'm pretty tuned in to the climate community on Twitter and elsewhere!). Anyway, loving the podcasts which I'm getting into most afternoons on my long walks before the teaching term starts. Lots of new ideas I'm thinking of inserting into my climate politics lectures. I especially enjoyed Ketan Joshi's interview re fossil fuels and the concept of 'sufficiency'.
Be great to do an interview sometime if you think it would be of interest. I've been researching and writing on the role of business in climate change for 15 years and am the author of several books on the subject including 'Climate Change, Capitalism and Corporations: Processes of Creative Self-Destruction' (Cambridge Uni Press, 2015) and our most recent book 'Organising Responses to Climate Change: The Politics of Mitigation, Adaptation and Suffering' (Cambridge Uni Press, 2023). I'm particularly interested in how the fossil fuel hegemony is maintained (nods to Gramsci) and also the likely futures as corporate and political elites continue to kick the can down the road!
I would like to comment on your interview with Phoebe Barnard but I can't see how. Please help me. I love your podcasts.