16: So You Want to Save the Earth? (w/John Roulac)

Yoga-crazed Hindu nationalists murder Muslims for eating beef, believing that the cow embodies the religious gift of India’s soil. American white supremacists chug gallons of local milk to prove their lactose tolerance and their claim that they alone should occupy the Global North.

Extreme examples aside: it’s clear that key elements of the alt-right and the New Age agree that the Earth is sacred. Bountiful and healing, the Earth preserves everything lost to industrialization, Big Pharma, and globalization. Home is where the soil is. But whose home? Who’s welcome here? Who can afford it? Who’s allowed to own it, and who has to slave-labor on it? For all the supposed concern for ecology, why aren’t we seeing conspiritualists and QAnon devotees marching against carbon emissions, celebrating the carbon drops of lockdown, supporting the migrant workers who pick their arugula, or starting community gardens in their food-desert cities?

This week Matthew reviews the soft-fascist “blood and soil” themes of conspirituality culture. Derek gives some background and context on the romanticization problem with agriculture. And Julian looks at the quasi-scientific premises and promises that podcast fave Dr. Zach Bush offers in response. We also bring you an interview with farming activist John Roulac, who’s incensed at how conspirituality is ripping up progressive foodie movements. In a recent article, he called out his old friends and associates (like Mikki Willis and Christiane Northrup) for what he calls their “body-snatching” beliefs. Matthew closes with a view from Manitoulin Island.

Show Notes

Is the Wellness Movement Being Tainted by QAnon and the New Age Right?

John Roulac tangles with Mikki Willis

John’s projects: Kiss the Ground | Nutiva | Rebotanicals

Matthew’s feature on Pattabhi Jois, yoga guru and serial sexual abuser

When The U.S. Government Tried To Replace Migrant Farmworkers With High Schoolers

A reflection on the lasting legacy of 1970s USDA Secretary Earl Butz

Why factory farms are a “perfect storm” for disease pandemics

Brian Rose on Zach Bush

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