Dominic and Cymene talk about AI and other chowhounds to kick off this week’s podcast. Then (12:46) we welcome the wonderful Alice Lovejoy to talk about her new book Tales of Militant Chemistry: The Film Factory in a Century of War (U California Press, 2025). We begin with the materiality of early film and how it became intertwined with the industry of chemical warfare. At stake in the making of this militant chemical complex was chemistry’s fundamental principle of transformation, which brought materials like film into close alignment with a burgeoning plastics industry. We move from there to talking about the forms of expertise involved in militant chemistry, the relationship between chemistry and empire, and the politics of labor in factories operated by firms like Kodak and AGFA. We close with the affinities and disaffinities between militant chemistry and the nuclear industry. Hang in there, everyone, peace and love.
We begin this episode with a shoutout to our friends at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) and try to settle once and for all the Montreal vs New York bagel question. Then (13:58) we welcome to the pod old friends and new co-authors Gustav Peebles and Ben Luzzatto to talk about their new book, The First and Last Bank - Climate Change, Currency, and a New Carbon Commons (MIT Press, 2025). We start with their bold idea that the history of the monetary gold standard could be reconceived as a beta test for a new carbon banking paradigm to draw down atmospheric carbon, convert it into biochar and sequester it in a Fort Knox of sorts. But what about carbon’s earthly abundance and lack of charismatic features such as gold possesses? Ben and Gustav have answers for us and we move from there to talking about how to make carbon sacred, the project of converting waste into wealth, and how digital money and even crypto could help widen public participation in carbon banking. We examine the growing movement around biochar, and what we can learn from the 19th century activists that created the deposit banking system. Finally, we talk about the practicalities of how to get a carbon bank off the ground. Please listen and share! Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day! Hang in there, everyone, peace and love.