Climate thought with jokes, grief, and rigor.
The gist
Cultures of Energy treats energy as a cultural, political, and emotional problem, not just a technical one. Episodes move from joking domestic openers into careful conversations about climate, extraction, food systems, radiation, art, and repair.
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About Cultures of Energy
Cultures of Energy is a long-running conversation series about energy, climate, culture, and the Anthropocene. It treats environmental crisis as a humanistic problem as much as a scientific or policy one. Recent episodes move through anthropology, art, food systems, nuclear contamination, infrastructure, weather, extraction, and political imagination. The show’s rhythm is distinctive. Casual openings often wander through household stories, illness, anniversaries, pets, religion, celebrity billionaires, or the strange comedy of trying to keep going. Then the interviews settle into demanding intellectual terrain. A discussion of southern Anthropocenes becomes a way to trouble the global north and global south divide. A conversation turns mourning, public death, iconography, land, and art into a single field of inquiry. An episode on energy democracy asks how individual change and social change relate inside food systems and activist work. Radioactive governance brings contamination into questions of evacuation, return, aging, and time horizons that stretch beyond ordinary politics. Even the AI-shaped year-in-review episode returns to lithium, green mining, extractivism, and the limits of technological optimism. The show is funny, but the humor does not soften the subject matter so much as make room for it. Its best moments come when a large theoretical question is anchored in a concrete image: a public death, a decontaminated landscape, a garden, a maintenance practice, a body under weather. It is built for listeners who enjoy serious thought with interruptions, laughter, and conversational texture. The pacing is loose enough to feel intimate and sharp enough to reward close attention. It does not offer easy answers. It asks how people might think, grieve, repair, listen, and act inside systems already under strain.
Made for: For listeners drawn to climate humanities, anthropology, environmental politics, art, and energy transition debates. It especially suits people who like serious guests, long questions, and conversational digressions.
What sets it apart: The show’s edge is its blend of scholarly precision and informal chemistry. It can move from domestic banter to contamination timescales or mourning without losing either warmth or intellectual force.
In their own words
Cultures of Energy brings writers, artists and scholars together to talk, think and feel their way into the Anthropocene. We cover serious issues like climate change, species extinction and energy transition. But we also try to confront seemingly huge and insurmountable problems with insight, creativity and laughter. We believe in the possibility of personal and cultural change. And we believe that the arts and humanities can help guide us toward a more sustainable future. Cultures of Energy is a Mingomena Media production. Co-hosts are @DominicBoyer and @CymeneHowe
As heard by us
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Cultures of Energy connects environmental change to the histories, institutions and private experiences that determine how people live through it.
Cultures of Energy pairs searching guest interviews with loose, funny conversation between Dominic and Simony. Its central move is to connect environmental questions with the social arrangements beneath them.
Why you'd press play
Dominic and Cymene debate brownies before asking what clean electricity is for; your curiosity needs both gears.
Press play if you want
- to hear why adding solar panels leaves the harder question of dismantling fossil fuel investments
- to think through what permanent evacuation means when contamination persists in Fukushima
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Episodes
- 1
215 - No More Fossils (with Cara Daggett)
·1h 16m - 2
251 - Deep Listening (feat. Zina Saro-Wiwa)
·1h 16m - 3
250 - Energy Democracy (feat. Nikki Luke)
·1h - 4
249 - Weathering (feat. Astrida Neimanis and Jennifer Mae Hamilton)
·1h 3m - 5
248 - Maintenance & Repair (feat. Jérôme Denis & David Pontille)
·1h 7m - 6
247 - Feeding the Future (feat. Nicole Negowetti)
·1h 27m - 7
246 - Radioactive Governance (feat. Maxime Polleri)
·1h 7m - 8
245 - 2025 Year in Review (feat. AI ;)
·44m - 9
244 – Energy Transition (feat. Jean-Baptiste Fressoz)
·59m - 10
243 - Oil and Intimacy (feat. Chelsea Schields)
·49m - 11
242 – Living Minerals (feat. Javiera Barandiarán)
·59m - 12
241 - Militant Chemistry (feat. Alice Lovejoy)
·53m - 13
240 - Carbon Banking (feat. Ben Luzzatto & Gustav Peebles)
·55m - 14
239 - Carbon Capital (feat. Sean Field)
·56m - 15
238 - Thinking Like a Climate (feat. Hannah Knox)
·57m - 16
237 - The Canyon (feat. Robert Savino Oventile)
·54m - 17
236 – Ethical Pessimism (feat. Roy Scranton)
·1h 9m - 18
235 - Forever Chemicals (feat. Rachel Frazin)
·37m - 19
234 - Failed States (feat. Imre Szeman)
·59m - 20
233 - The Abyss (feat. Stacy Alaimo)
·1h 6m - 21
232 - Lithium (feat. Mark Goodale)
·1h 2m - 22
231 - Drifting (feat. Rafico Ruiz)
·1h 4m - 23
230 - Intermission
·35m - 24
229 - Abundance (feat. Candace Fujikane)
·1h 3m - 25
228 - Noise (feat. Marina Peterson)
·55m - 26
227 – The Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes (feat. Radha D'Souza and Jonas Staal)
·1h 4m - 27
226 - Extraction (feat. Thea Riofrancos)
·1h 16m - 28
225 - Bad Weather (feat. Jerry Zee)
·1h 6m - 29
224 - Peak (Whale) Oil
·1h - 30
223 - Bringing solar back to earth (feat. Myles Lennon)
·1h 6m - 31
221 - Planetarity Now! (with Jonathan Blake and Nils Gilman)
·1h 23m - 32
220 - Design Earth (with Rania Ghosn)
·1h 8m - 33
219 - Climate Storytelling (with CNN's Bill Weir)
·1h 6m - 34
218 - Solar Futures (with Siddharth Sareen)
·1h 9m - 35
217 - A Song of Concrete and Ice (with Cristián Simonetti)
·1h 3m - 36
216 - Carbon Colonialism (with Laurie Parsons)
·1h 11m - 37
252 - Southern Anthropocenes (feat. Casper Bruun Jensen)
·51m - 38
214 - Oil Beach (with Christina Dunbar-Hester)
·1h 8m - 39
213 - The City Electric (with Michael Degani)
·1h - 40
212 – Carbon Technocracy (with Victor Seow)
·1h 8m - 41
211 - Half Earth Socialism (feat. Drew Pendergrass and Troy Vettese)
·1h 12m - 42
210 - Rights of Nature (feat. Daphina Misiedjan)
·1h 4m - 43
209 - Degrowth (feat. Timothée Parrique)
·1h 15m - 44
208 - Sarah Besky
·1h 3m - 45
207 - Dilip da Cunha
·1h 12m - 46
206 - Gail Simmons
·57m - 47
205 - Intersectional Ecologies
·59m - 48
204 - Elizabeth Povinelli Returns
·1h 19m - 49
203 - David Farrier
·1h 3m - 50
202 - Shannon Mattern
·1h 2m - 51
201 - Arturo Escobar
·1h 5m - 52
200 - Laura Nader
·58m - 53
199 - Bathsheba Demuth
·1h 2m - 54
198 - The Mississippi (an Anthropocene River)
·56m - 55
197 - Climate Book Club Special!
·45m - 56
196 - Energy Democracy
·58m - 57
195 - Laura Watts Returns
·1h 8m - 58
194 - Christine Folch
·1h 4m - 59
193 - Sea Level Rise (feat. Orrin Pilkey Jr)
·56m - 60
192 - Elizabeth DeLoughrey
·59m - 61
191 - Amanda Boetzkes
·1h 1m - 62
190 - Democrats on Climate (feat. Leah Stokes)
·52m - 63
189 - Sheena Wilson
·1h 6m - 64
188 - Andrew Revkin
·1h 7m - 65
179 - Nicole Starosielski
·59m - 66
187 - Mark Nuttall
·58m - 67
186 - Joanna Zylinska
·55m - 68
185 - Andrew Blum
·1h 11m - 69
184 - Natalie Loveless
·1h 2m - 70
183 - Solar Power, Solar Justice (feat. Dustin Mulvaney)
·1h 8m - 71
182 - Heather Davis
·1h - 72
181 - Nigel Clark
·1h 4m - 73
180 - Max Liboiron
·1h 4m - 74
178 - Chris Kelty
·1h 6m - 75
177 - Recentering Energy Justice
·1h 14m - 76
176 - Jason Cons
·1h 12m - 77
175 - Kathryn Yusoff
·59m - 78
174 - Stuart Gibbs
·58m - 79
173 - Dina Gilio-Whitaker
·1h 7m - 80
172 - Climate Leviathan (feat. Geoff Mann and Joel Wainwright)
·1h 14m - 81
171 - Jerome Whitington
·59m - 82
170 - Ursula Biemann
·1h 3m - 83
169 - Tim Ingold
·1h 6m - 84
168 - Lauren Berlant & Katie Stewart
·59m - 85
167 - Lucas Bessire
·55m - 86
166 - Kyle Powys Whyte
·1h 6m - 87
165 - Amanda Lynch & Siri Veland
·1h 1m - 88
164 - Eduardo Kohn
·1h 5m - 89
163 - Beyond Debt (feat. Daromir Rudnyckyj)
·1h 4m - 90
162 - Kim Fortun
·1h 4m - 91
161 - Eben Kirksey
·47m - 92
160 - Matthew T. Huber
·1h 5m - 93
159 - Gísli Pálsson
·1h 2m - 94
158 - Goodbye 2018/Rare Exports
·1h 2m - 95
157 - Solarpunk (feat. Rhys Williams)
·1h 4m - 96
156 - Jason De León
·1h 9m - 97
155 - Maria Whiteman
·1h 7m - 98
154 - Evan Berry
·1h 16m - 99
153 - Laura Ogden
·1h - 100
222 - Soul Train to Communism with Timothy Morton
The hosts of the Cultures of NAG podcast reintroduce their show and preview a conversation with philosopher Timothy Morton about fascism and related topics.
·1h 24m - 101
252 - Southern Anthropocenes (feat. Casper Bruun Jensen)
Hidden gemDominic Boyer and Simony open with a birthday weekend for 10 seventeen-year-olds, a scavenger-hunt bake-off, and a "Disney princess" theme that produced a marshmallow knee called "Dis Knee." The main interview turns to Casper Bronjensen's edited volume Southern Anthropocenes, which treats the Anthropocene as multiple scenes instead of one universal category.
Apr 5, 2026·51m·3 clips - 102
251 - Deep Listening (feat. Zina Saro-Wiwa)
Cultures of Energy’s episode 251 features artist Zina Sarawiwa discussing her father Ken Sarawiwa’s execution, Ogoni, and the relationship between art, memory, and environmental politics.
Mar 22, 2026·1h 16m·5 clips - 103
250 - Energy Democracy (feat. Nikki Luke)
The hosts celebrate their 250th episode by reflecting on the podcast's history and introducing an interview with Nikki Luke about energy democracy.
Mar 8, 2026·1h - 104
249 - Weathering (feat. Astrida Neimanis and Jennifer Mae Hamilton)
The hosts discuss the unique dynamic of their blended Catholic-Protestant backgrounds and introduce a conversation about weathering with guests Astrida Neimanis and Jennifer Mae Hamilton.
Feb 22, 2026·1h 3m - 105
248 - Maintenance & Repair (feat. Jérôme Denis & David Pontille)
An interview with Jérôme Denis and David Pontille about their work on maintenance and repair in infrastructure and society.
Feb 8, 2026·1h 7m - 106
247 - Feeding the Future (feat. Nicole Negowetti)
Hidden gemCultures of Energy marks its 10th anniversary with reflections from Dominic Boyer, Simony, and listeners including Jeff Baukner, Heather Davis, Imre Szeman, Karen Pincus, and Timothy Morton.
Jan 25, 2026·1h 27m·2 clips - 107
246 - Radioactive Governance (feat. Maxime Polleri)
Hidden gemMaxime Polleri and the hosts center his book, "Radioactive Governance," on Fukushima, post-disaster revitalization, and the politics of return in Japan.
Jan 12, 2026·1h 7m·2 clips - 108
245 - 2025 Year in Review (feat. AI ;)
Hidden gemSimini Howe and Oliver use Cultures of Energy's 2025 year-end episode to compare today's AI enthusiasm with the 1990s dot-com boom and to ask whether the hype is a bubble or a material shift.
Dec 27, 2025·44m·3 clips - 109
244 – Energy Transition (feat. Jean-Baptiste Fressoz)
Hidden gemCultures of Energy interviews Jean-Baptiste Fressoz about More and More and More, the book that argues "energy transition" is a misleading way to describe coal, oil, wood, and renewables.
Dec 8, 2025·59m·4 clips - 110
243 - Oil and Intimacy (feat. Chelsea Schields)
Hidden gemChelsea Shields explains how oil refining in Aruba and Curaçao shaped sexuality, domesticity, labor, and colonial rule in her book Offshore Attachments: Oil and Intimacy in the Caribbean.
Nov 25, 2025·49m·3 clips - 111
242 – Living Minerals (feat. Javiera Barandiarán)
Nov 10, 2025·59m - 112
241 - Militant Chemistry (feat. Alice Lovejoy)
Oct 26, 2025·53m - 113
240 - Carbon Banking (feat. Ben Luzzatto & Gustav Peebles)
Oct 13, 2025·55m - 114
239 - Carbon Capital (feat. Sean Field)
Sep 30, 2025·56m - 115
238 - Thinking Like a Climate (feat. Hannah Knox)
Sep 15, 2025·57m - 116
237 - The Canyon (feat. Robert Savino Oventile)
Aug 31, 2025·54m - 117
236 – Ethical Pessimism (feat. Roy Scranton)
Aug 18, 2025·1h 9m - 118
235 - Forever Chemicals (feat. Rachel Frazin)
Aug 3, 2025·37m - 119
234 - Failed States (feat. Imre Szeman)
Jul 21, 2025·59m - 120
233 - The Abyss (feat. Stacy Alaimo)
Jul 5, 2025·1h 6m - 121
232 - Lithium (feat. Mark Goodale)
Jun 21, 2025·1h 2m - 122
231 - Drifting (feat. Rafico Ruiz)
Jun 6, 2025·1h 4m - 123
230 - Intermission
May 24, 2025·35m - 124
229 - Abundance (feat. Candace Fujikane)
May 10, 2025·1h 3m - 125
228 - Noise (feat. Marina Peterson)
Apr 25, 2025·55m - 126
227 – The Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes (feat. Radha D'Souza and Jonas Staal)
Apr 11, 2025·1h 4m - 127
226 - Extraction (feat. Thea Riofrancos)
Mar 28, 2025·1h 16m - 128
225 - Bad Weather (feat. Jerry Zee)
Mar 13, 2025·1h 6m - 129
224 - Peak (Whale) Oil
Feb 28, 2025·1h - 130
223 - Bringing solar back to earth (feat. Myles Lennon)
Feb 12, 2025·1h 6m - 131
222 - Soul Train to Communism with Timothy Morton
Jan 29, 2025·1h 24m - 132
221 - Planetarity Now! (with Jonathan Blake and Nils Gilman)
Jul 9, 2024·1h 23m - 133
220 - Design Earth (with Rania Ghosn)
May 24, 2024·1h 8m - 134
219 - Climate Storytelling (with CNN's Bill Weir)
Apr 27, 2024·1h 6m - 135
218 - Solar Futures (with Siddharth Sareen)
Mar 17, 2024·1h 9m - 136
217 - A Song of Concrete and Ice (with Cristián Simonetti)
Feb 29, 2024·1h 3m - 137
216 - Carbon Colonialism (with Laurie Parsons)
Feb 6, 2024·1h 11m - 138
215 - No More Fossils (with Cara Daggett)
The hosts return after a long hiatus to introduce an interview with Cara Daggett about the political and economic challenges of moving beyond fossil fuels.
Jan 24, 2024·1h 16m - 139
214 - Oil Beach (with Christina Dunbar-Hester)
The hosts discuss an interview with Christina Dunbar-Hester about her book 'Oil Beach' and share their thoughts on the Apple TV Plus series 'Extrapolations'.
Apr 27, 2023·1h 8m - 140
213 - The City Electric (with Michael Degani)
An interview with Michael Degani about his book 'The City Electric' exploring the political economy of electricity infrastructure in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Jan 19, 2023·1h - 141
212 – Carbon Technocracy (with Victor Seow)
An interview with historian Victor Seow about his book 'Carbon Technocracy' exploring the political and environmental history of fossil fuel-based industrialization in East Asia.
Nov 8, 2022·1h 8m - 142
211 - Half Earth Socialism (feat. Drew Pendergrass and Troy Vettese)
Sep 13, 2022·1h 12m - 143
210 - Rights of Nature (feat. Daphina Misiedjan)
Jul 19, 2022·1h 4m - 144
209 - Degrowth (feat. Timothée Parrique)
Jun 26, 2022·1h 15m - 145
208 - Sarah Besky
Apr 20, 2022·1h 3m - 146
207 - Dilip da Cunha
Mar 30, 2022·1h 12m - 147
206 - Gail Simmons
Mar 10, 2022·57m - 148
205 - Intersectional Ecologies
Mar 2, 2022·59m - 149
204 - Elizabeth Povinelli Returns
Feb 23, 2022·1h 19m - 150
203 - David Farrier
Feb 17, 2022·1h 3m