{"podcast":{"title":"Nature in Crisis","slug":"nature-in-crisis-7731357","podcast_index_feed_id":7731357,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/LRB7056230002","website_url":"https://www.lrb.co.uk","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/58b32d62-17c8-11f1-a39d-cffe2f0a32e2/image/c4a60dc02a411fb65929bf44584e0fc5.jpg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"London Review of Books","episode_count":11,"summary":"In a time of climate breakdown and mass extinction there is a new urgency to environmental writing, both as literature and as science. So In their series, Meehan Crist and Peter Godfrey-Smith consider some of the most significant books published in the last few years, along with classic texts by Rachel Carson, James Lovelock and Robin Wall Kimmerer – tracing a loose arc from biology to society via questions of plant intelligence, biodiversity loss, the rights of nature, ecofascism and green capitalism. Meehan Crist is writer in residence in biological sciences at Columbia University. Peter Godfrey-Smith is a professor in the School of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Sydney Non-subscribers will only hear an extracts from the episodes. To listen in full, and to all our other Close Readings series, sign up: Directly in Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://lrb.me/applecrna⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ture In other podcast apps: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://lrb.me/closereadingsna⁠⁠⁠ture Books featured in the series: Rachel Carson, Silent Spring Zoë Schlanger, The Light Eaters Helen Czerski, The Blue Machine Sunil Amrith, The Burning Earth James Lovelock, Gaia Robert Macfarlane, Is a River Alive?…","last_synced_at":"2026-09-24T12:25:11.594534+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/nature-in-crisis-7731357"},"episode":{"title":"‘Impasse’ by Roy Scranton","slug":"impasse-by-roy-scranton","published_at":"2026-07-26T23:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/nature-in-crisis-7731357/impasse-by-roy-scranton","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/nature-in-crisis-7731357","url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB7802966788.mp3","audio_url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB7802966788.mp3","summary":"At Chaco Canyon in the New Mexico desert lie the ruins of a once vibrant and extensive Ancestral Puebloan civilisation. Sometime in the 12th century the society fell into decline, as a fifty-year drought may have helped to push the settlement to collapse. ‘How is it that a complex society like Chaco could survive one drought but not another?’ Roy Scranton asks near the start of ‘Impasse: Climate Change and the Limits of Progress’ (2025). For Scranton, the fate of the civilisation at Chaco Canyon is a microcosm for the crisis now confronting humanity. The challenges we face, from climate change to political instability, are so intractable in part because of their complexity. In this episode, Meehan and Peter discuss Scranton’s analysis of our predicament and his proposal for ‘ethical pessimism’, based on resistance to our bias for optimism, as a way of coping with an uncertain future. Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen in full, and to all our other Close Readings series, sign up: Directly in Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://lrb.me/applecrna⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ture⁠⁠ In other podcast apps: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://lrb.me/closereadingsna⁠⁠⁠ture Further reading: Adam Tooze: Trouble Transitioning: ⁠https://lrb.me/nicep8tooze⁠ Further listening: Meehan Crist's series on 'Climate, Politics and Procreation' on the LRB Podcast: ⁠https://lrb.me/meehanpod⁠","meta_description":"At Chaco Canyon in the New Mexico desert lie the ruins of a once vibrant and extensive Ancestral Puebloan civilisation. Sometime in the 12th century the s…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":892,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/nature-in-crisis-7731357/episodes/impasse-by-roy-scranton/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/nature-in-crisis-7731357/impasse-by-roy-scranton.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}