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Disability is a state, or an idea, or a process even that is often associated with human beings—somebody becomes “disabled” or is experiencing “disability.” We don’t typically attach this state of being or this process to things other than human beings, much less to, say, geological formations. When is the last time you heard somebody refer to a contaminated body of water as “being disabled?” But utilizing the language and framing of disability when thinking about the impacts of capitalism and imperialism on our bodies and our biosphere is not just a useful exercise—it’s a profound and crucial analysis. 

The story that we tell in this episode is one of disabled ecologies and has its origins deep beneath the ground in Tucson, Arizona—but it stretches all across the globe, from Gaza to Yemen to Korea—from the cells in our bodies to the water that lives in aquifers many feet below the ground. And really, the story doesn’t actually originate in Arizona—it begins somewhere in Europe sometime between the 12th to 16th centuries, during the dawn of capitalism. But that’s a different story for a different time. 

To tell the story and concept of disabled ecologies—a story of the web of interconnection between humans and the more-than-human world—we’ve brought on Sunaura Taylor. Sunaura is an Assistant Professor at UC Berkeley in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, a critical disability scholar and activist, an artist, and the author of two books: Beasts of Burden: Animal and Disability Liberation, published by The New Press, and, most recently, Disabled Ecologies: Lessons from a Wounded Desert, published by University of California Press.  

In this episode we tell the story of Tucson, Arizona’s aquifer and how it came to be contaminated by the US military. We trace the contours of death and destruction from the water beneath Tucson’s Southside neighborhood to the bodies living above it, from the chemicals that disabled ecosystems in Arizona and to the bombs drenched in those chemicals that were dropped on people across the Global South. We explore disability politics, environmental racism, classism, and the importance of organizing. And we celebrate the wins and the successes—not yet complete—of those in Tucson, Arizona who are taking on the capitalist state machinery to fight for justice and personal, community, and ecological healing.

Further resources:

• Disabled Ecologies: Lessons from a Wounded Desert
• Nature is Disappearing: The Average Size of Wildlife Populations has Fallen by a Staggering 73%

Related episodes:

• Breaking the Chains of Empire w/ Abby Martin (Live Show)
• Health Communism with Beatrice Adler-Bolton
• Terra Viva with Vandana Shiva

Cover art: Sunaura Taylor

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