#294 | Goodbye, 'Normal': The Existential Questions Of Climate Catastrophe w/ Roy Scranton

Last Born In The Wilderness

[Intro: 8:31] Roy Scranton, bestselling author of ‘We're Doomed. Now What?’ and ‘Learning to Die in the Anthropocene,’ joins me to discuss his recent op-ed in the New York Times, ‘I’ve Said Goodbye to ‘Normal.’ You Should, Too.’ We begin this interview with Roy discussing the connections he draws between two of the major subjects he has written extensively about over the course of his career as an author: war and climate change. Having been deployed to Iraq while serving in the US Army during the US invasion and occupation of that nation in 2003, Roy provides some insights into the reasons why he volunteered to participate in that horrific conflict, and how that experience ultimately led him to write extensively on anthropogenic climate change, both from the hard scientific perspective, and from the deeper philosophical perspective as well. I then ask him to respond to scientist and author Michael Mann's characterization of Scranton and his work ("Scranton is the ultimate doomist" (https://bit.ly/3dwHRG1)), and whether this (mis)characterization actually aligns with what he is trying to accomplish with his work, exploring the existential questions that inevitably come up when one looks at what climate and environmental crises presents for the future. Roy Scranton is the author of ‘I ♥ Oklahoma!’ (Soho Press, 2019), ‘Total Mobilization: World War II and American Literature’ (University of Chicago Press, 2019), ‘We’re Doomed. Now What? ‘(Soho Press, 2018), ‘War Porn’ (Soho Press, 2016), and ‘Learning to Die in the Anthropocene: Reflections on the End of a Civilization’ (City Lights, 2015). He has written for the New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Nation, the New Republic, The Baffler, Yale Review, Emergence, Boston Review, and elsewhere, and he co-edited ‘What Future: The Year’s Best Ideas to Reclaim, Reanimate & Reinvent Our Future’ (Unnamed Press, 2017) and ‘Fire and Forget: Short Stories from the Long War’ (Da Capo, 2013). Episode Notes: - Learn more about Roy and his work: http://royscranton.net - Read his New York Times op-ed ‘I’ve Said Goodbye to ‘Normal.’ You Should, Too.’: https://nyti.ms/39AFgJE - The music featured is by Waxie: https://waxiemusiclibrary.com WEBSITE: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness DONATE: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast / https://venmo.com/LastBornPodcast BOOK: http://bit.ly/ORBITgr ATTACK & DETHRONE: https://anchor.fm/adgodcast DROP ME A LINE: Call [phone] or http://bit.ly/LBWfiledrop EVERYTHING ELSE: https://linktr.ee/patterns.of.behavior