LENS.cast
9 episodes - English - Latest episode: 9 months ago -Stories of environmental justice and imagination in California and beyond, from UCLA's Laboratory for Environmental Narrative Strategies. LENS.cast tells stories about environmental art, activism, policy, and imagination, with a focus on questions of environmental and multispecies justice. How do built and natural environments embody histories of oppression and possibilities for change? How do different communities value and protect the nonhuman beings they live with? How do artists and activists push us to think differently about our more-than-human relations? How can communities ensure that marginalized people and places are at the center of plans for ecological futures? What should you think when you see a coyote? What does it think of you?
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Episodes
White-Golden State: Extracting Futures in Lithium Valley
August 09, 2023 19:00 - 38 minutes - 26.2 MBCalifornia’s Imperial Valley is home to one of the world’s largest deposits of lithium—a mineral that may be crucial to engineering a low-carbon economy. Companies and governments interested in extracting Imperial’s lithium promise that the process will bring jobs and investment to the Valley, one of the most socially and economically marginalized places in the state. In this episode, we ask experts, activists, and community members whether lithium mining in Imperial could be part of what ex...
Also, Satan
March 16, 2022 22:00 - 53 minutes - 36.6 MBIn this episode, Christopher Kelty explores the rather surprising background to the No Kill Movement in LA. (It's Satan.) This is the sixth episode produced as part of our collaboration with the Labyrinth Project.
Coyotes in the Cloud
March 16, 2022 21:00 - 37 minutes - 26.1 MBYou just saw a coyote on the street. Or maybe you read about it on Nextdoor. What should you think? In this episode, Spencer Robins asks whether you really saw that coyote, or whether you’ve followed a ghost—a cloud coyote—into a surprising political storm in Los Angeles. This is the fifth episode produced as part of our collaboration with the Labyrinth Project.
The Responsibility of Feral Cats
March 16, 2022 20:00 - 27 minutes - 19.2 MBThe maze has brought you to a cat’s cradle story of responsibility and moral failure. Listen as Niaz Sassounian takes us on a whirlwind tour of the feral cat controversy in Los Angeles. This is the fourth episode produced as part of our collaboration with the Labyrinth Project.
How to See Coyotes
March 16, 2022 19:00 - 25 minutes - 17.3 MBEverybody in Los Angeles has a coyote story, but nobody can quite agree on what seeing a coyote in the city means. What do coyotes mean by the things they do? In this episode Chase Niesner explores how what we see in coyotes might depend on what they see in us. This is the third episode produced as part of our collaboration with the Labyrinth Project.
Unsustainable
March 16, 2022 18:00 - 20 minutes - 14.2 MBAre you doing your part to save the planet today? Surely you’ve thought about it. All around you there are signs urging you to recycle, to save water, to use less energy. In this episode, Emma Horton asks why we feel so bad for not doing our part, and whether it’s healthy to keep trying. This is the second episode produced as part of our collaboration with the Labyrinth Project.
The Lion and the Rat
March 16, 2022 17:00 - 27 minutes - 19.2 MBIn this episode, Christopher Kelty asks, "what can you live with" in Los Angeles? It's a simple question without any good answers. It's a deeply cultural question, about why we love some animals and hate others, and how that never works out well. This is the first episode produced as part of our collaboration with the Labyrinth Project.
"Please Take Off Your Shoes"
March 02, 2022 20:00 - 34 minutes - 24.1 MBIn episode 2, we hear from activists in LA’s Little Tokyo working to ensure that their community has a voice in building a sustainable future. Investment in green infrastructure is an increasingly significant strategy for achieving sustainability goals, but if communities aren't involved, it can also lead to gentrification, displacement, and cultural erasure. In this episode, Scott Oshima, Grant Sunoo, and traci kato-kiriyama, along with Paul Ong of the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge...
Heirlooms of Conquest: Trees + Justice in Los Angeles
June 03, 2021 16:00 - 24 minutes - 16.7 MBIn the first episode of LENS.cast, we explore the history and future of Los Angeles's remarkable trees. California is more than palm trees: it is, according to University of Pennsylvania historian Jared Farmer, an incredible arboretum—a collection of species from all over the world—and an "heirloom of conquest." Trees record the history of colonial destruction in California, but they could also be an important part of a more just, resilient future as LA faces the realities of climate chang...