On this episode we share the knowledge and work of Dr. Simon Foale, a marine scientist and anthropology professor at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia. Growing up in the Solomon Islands, he always had a love of the ocean, but it was only when he recognized the importance of traditional ecological knowledge that he started wandering into the anthropology realm. We discuss capitalism, neoliberalism, inequality, and the roots of the environmental, social, and political issues we currently face. We love stirring the pot!

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
[13:40] “Marine science is one of the precarious career paths…you’re definitely not guaranteed a job.” - SF
[29:51] “That is how these people con the rest of society…through tax evasion” - SF
[32:19] “The state is essentially an organization that represents the people and its job is to redistribute collective wealth into service” - SF
[39:53] How do we have better nuanced conversations and sharing more complicated ideas without alienating people? - AS
[47:07] “My criticism has always been about the ways in which conservationists operating across big economic and cultural boundaries, working with very poor people, have been insensitive to poverty and ignorant about culture.” - SF
[50:48] “The problem is that a lot of grassroots conservationists, even if they understand that stuff, they’re still working in a machine, right? They’re still working in a system, the agenda of which is dictated by some rich guy…so the NGO world is intrinsically tricky to work in.” - SF
[55:52] “I’m a product of the 500 years of colonial history just as much as the villagers that i’m working with are a product, they just got the worse end of the deal.” - SF 
[58:39] “The Europeans have extracted a lot of wealth from the Global South, the global economic periphery, and that has enriched them to a ridiculous extent. And now they think that’s normal…” -SF
[1:06:15] Rapid Fire Questions
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RESOURCES MENTIONED:
This Changes Everything: Capitalism versus the Climate - Naomi Klein
Words of the Lagoon - Bob Johannes
Jason Hickel
***Gapminder on UNDP data
***Wealth Shown to Scale
Hickel Nature paper
Limits of Growth (1972)
UNDP Human Development Index
Harry Truman inaugural address
Nicholas Shaxson’s Treasure Island
Gillian Tett   

Find Simon and his work:
https://research.jcu.edu.au/portfolio/simon.foale
https://www.academia.edu/840517/Wheres_our_development
https://scholar.google.fi/citations?user=CMyCKjEAAAAJ&hl=fi

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