183. Alessandro Pelizzon
On the EU adopting ecocide laws, & media to believe in
Earlier this year, Associate Professor in Law, Alessandro Pelizzon, was on the podcast talking about some of the latest global paradigm shifting developments in our legal systems. A couple of weeks ago, there was another such development. The EU is going to criminalise severe environmental harms ‘comparable to ecocide’. And related to that, it’s also broaching post-growth economies. All part of broader shifts in deciding what we value most, and how our systems can best change to reflect that.
From media release about the EU agreement (source).
“But for it to be picked up at the European Union level is massive, because obviously the European Union has the capacity to influence the ongoing legislative regimes of all the countries that form part of it, and then of all the countries that engage economically with it. So the introduction of Ecocide at the European level is massive. ”
With this in mind, we also go on to talk about what Alessandro is observing in our media systems - the emergence of a new phase of ‘climate-denialism’, and from some people who have great appeal to many of us, and in a variety of ways, from Elon Musk to Jordan Peterson. How to make sense of that? And to what extent might this be related to the paradigm shifts above?
That leads us to the broader question, what do we do about media? We compare notes on what’s been brewing on and around the podcast lately. And to close, we get a brief update on the Resonant Earth project that Alessandro has co-founded and talked about last time.
Head here for automatic cues to chapter markers (also available on the embedded player above), and a transcript of this conversation (please note the transcript is AI generated and imperfect, but hopefully serves to provide greater access to these conversations for those who need or like to read).
This was recorded on 24 November 2023.
Find more:
Hear more from Alessandro, most recently on episode 159 in the northern rivers in April of this year (with further links): on the collapse & renewal of universities, the education we need, & latest on Rights of Nature.
Music:
Regeneration, composed by Amelia Barden, from the soundtrack to the film Regenerating Australia.