Interview, School of Ecology, Centre for Alternative Research and Studies (CARES), Mauritius
I discuss the Anthropocene notion: its genesis, development, causes, and socioecological implications amidst the present-day socioecological crisis. Watch it here.
Talk, Pacific Sociological Association's 92nd Annual Conference, Virtual
I discuss how the yield of maize and beans has increased in Cuba after 1991, following the adoption of agroecology, despite utilizing less than 70% synthetic fertilizer, on average, than in the period 1961-1990. In addition, this has been achieved in the same agricultural area, all of which points to agroecology’s potential for soil restoration and the mitigation of the metabolic rift in agriculture.
Colloquium Talk, University of Oregon, Sociology Department, Eugene, OR
I discuss the entwined geophysical and ecological processes that allow for the formation of guano off western South America, and how this substance became commodified in the nineteenth-century by British and French merchants, launching a socioecologically catastrophic guano rush.
Talk, Global Justice Center, Virtual
Along with Prof. Victor Wallis and Prof. Fred Magdoff, I discuss how climate change has brought about a multi-pronged environmental crisis that is getting worse every day. We also talk about how we can transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy and restore biodiversity, as well as what will it take for environmental movements to force changes in governmental and corporate policies.
Talk, Ecological Society of America, Virtual
This reserach makes a longitudinal, cross-national comparison of agricultural practices in Latin America and the Caribbean (1961-2015), examining the relationship between synthetic fertilizer use and yield, and finding that agroecology seems to have improved soil quality in Cuba, the country where this approach to food production is more widespread.