Campaign and Project Updates, and Recent Interviews

A selection of recent media appearances and podcast interviews, campaign updates, and some behind-the-scenes info for paid subscribers

Mining equipment from the California gold rush is preserved in a small eastern Sierra town. This photo was taken by the author while organizing with indigenous people of the area.

Welcome to Biocentric, a newsletter about sustainability, overshoot, greenwashing, and resistance. It’s written by me, Max Wilbert, the co-author of Bright Green Lies: How the Environmental Movement Lost Its Way and What We Can Do About It and co-founder of Protect Thacker Pass.

If you want to follow, you can subscribe for free. In return for supporting my activism, paid subscribers receive access to occasional private posts containing behind-the-scenes reports and unreleased drafts. This post contains some free material at the beginning, but portions at the end are limited to paid subscribers.

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1. The power of art

Several of my recent posts have discussed offshore wind power projects planned for the West Coast of the United States. My friend Julia Barnes, a filmmaker and artist, made this brilliant video illustrating the issue.

I was also recently interviewed on Tiokasin' Ghosthorse’s First Voices Radio about the planned offshore wind turbines. You can listen here.

The threats from offshore wind energy include habitat destruction from mining and manufacturing the materials to make the wind turbine components, and the direct harms to habitat and marine life from cables, bases, blades, substations, ship traffic, noise, altered ocean currents, and more. Please join the fight against all offshore energy development on the West Coast. Our organizing is ramping up and support is needed.

2. Two recent episodes of “The Green Flame” podcast

The Green Flame is a podcast I co-host with Jennifer Murnan. Here are the latest two episodes:

#101: Strategy for the Eco-Revolution with Roger Hallam

Roger Hallam is the co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, Radical Routes, Burning Pink, and Just Stop Oil. On today's show, we discuss strategy for the climate and ecological movements, the role of mass street protests and public assemblies, violnce vs. nonviolence, revolutions throughout history, the collapse of industrial civilization, the dangers of fascism, practical organizing tips, and more. While we don't agree with Roger on everything, we're always thrilled to discuss these topics with passionate and hardworking people. Roger's website is https://rogerhallam.com/

#102: Lake Superior at Risk with Protect the Porkies Founder Tom Grotewohl

A massive copper mine is planned 100 feet from the edge of Lake Superior (and may actually mine underneath the lake), adjacent to "the most beautiful State Park in the country" in the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan. Sound like a bad idea? It gets worse: local resident Tom Grotewohl says this should be called a "toxic waste mine" because 98.55% of what is produced will be toxic waste, not copper. At stake is wolves, fish, forests, endangered species, and a full 10% of the freshwater on the surface of our planet. Tom is organizing with other individuals and allies to oppose this mine. To learn more, donate, and sign their petition, visit their website at: https://protecttheporkies.com/.

These podcasts can also be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Overcast, , Stitcher, PocketCasts, and anywhere else you access your podcasts. Click here to find this episode on your app of choice, or click here to listen on YouTube.

To support The Green Flame, you can share the show with your friends, leave us a positive rating or review, or donate. Our overall goal is to activate people, so if you really want to support, start organizing in your own community. I was very honored to get this shout-out from

The counter-intuitive 🐿️

recently.

3. A new organization rises

Protecting land piece-by-piece is important, but climate change and the overshoot crisis will render these efforts moot unless industrial civilization is stopped. Back in April, I announced that I was leaving Deep Green Resistance, an organization which I was part of for it’s uncompromising and large-scale radical goals.

Since then, myself and a small team of phenomenal grassroots organizers from a half-dozen countries have been working to lay the foundations of a new organization which will launch in coming months, with a similarly large vision. I believe a diversity of resistance approaches is valuable.

If you’re interested in the new confederation, join the preliminary email list here. You’ll be the first to know when we launch.

4. Protect Thacker Pass update

Lithium Nevada Corporation is currently doing early-stage construction at Thacker Pass, destroying the land further every day. Lawsuits have failed to stop the project, and even non-violent direct action was unable to achieve substantial construction delays. Currently, myself and six other land defenders are being sued by the mining company. This press release from last year outlines the gist of the story:

I'm Being Sued For Defending The Land

My friend Will Falk and I are also currently facing a $49,890.13 fine from the Federal Government for an alleged “trespass” which deprived the government of $12.42 of rent which we should have paid them. Yup, you read that correctly. I wrote about the situation, which has now been stalled out for more than 18 months, in this piece:

Due Process... What's That?

5. Reorganization and new URL

With 112 posts on this Substack, finding old valuable content was becoming challenging: time for a reorganization. Now, when you visit the front page of this Substack, you will notice categories for different types of content:

• Training and resources

• Bright Green Lies

• Personal reflections

• Protect Thacker Pass

• The Green Flame podcast

• Ecological collapse

• Private posts for paid subscribers

You can also now access this site via Biocentric.eco. I may migrate to this URL permanently in the future.

Below the paywall are four additional updates which are limited to paid subscribers.