Carbon Critique

Carbon Critique is a podcast produced by researchers from the Research Institute for Sustainability. In the podcast they discuss the role of carbon in climate and sustainability politics. They talk to academics, activists and artists whose work has influenced their own research on the transformations of our carbon-dependent society. The podcast is produced by the RIFS research group Democratic Governance for Ecopolitical Transformations (Ecopol) and forms part of the group’s larger mission to develop new cartographies and approaches to thinking about climate politics and ecopolitical transformations. The researchers want to explore the problems associated with the governance of carbon, and whether and how decarbonization practice and rhetoric can go beyond “carbon rationality” – a system of thinking and governing that is based on a political economy of carbon emissions. They will discuss the political meanings and implications of carbon and the ways it has shaped our society and planet.

Their transdisciplinary research, which includes representatives from politics, arts, and civil society and a multiplicity of disciplines, has impelled the researchers to experiment with different aesthetics and modes of communication. Through their podcast project, they aim to build a platform for science communication and knowledge production. The podcast serves as a digital arena, designed to open up conversations between hosts, guests, and listeners.