SPECIAL EPISODE - Interview on 94.1 KPFA: Dr. Lesley Joseph on War, Ecocide, and the Communities Left Behind

About this episode

Dr. Lesley Joseph discusses the environmental consequences of war and its impact on marginalized communities.

What happens to the earth when we wage war? Dr. Lesley Joseph - environmental engineer, scholar of environmental justice, and author of the forthcoming book War Crimes Against the Earth - joins Sabrina Jacobs, host of The Rude Awakening on 94.1 KPFA, to answer that question with chilling clarity. A Rude Awakening is an award-winning climate crisis and environmental justice radio show based in Berkeley, CA, and on this episode, Dr. Joseph breaks down how modern warfare has become a deliberate assault on the environments people depend on to live. From Iran’s oil infrastructure bombed into acid rain, to Gaza’s destroyed water systems poisoning the Mediterranean, to the forever chemicals leaking from military bases worldwide, he traces the arc of destruction that doesn’t stop at borders. Drawing on his New Lines magazine piece, “The Toxic Blowback of Israel’s Bombs,” he shows how perchlorates, asbestos, untreated sewage, and carbon emissions from war travel far beyond conflict zones, affecting everyone on the planet. But this isn’t just a scientific accounting. Dr. Joseph centers the communities on the frontlines of this violence - those already vulnerable, already marginalized - and…

People in this episode

Host: Sabrina Jacobs

Guest: Dr. Lesley Joseph

Topics covered

• environmental justice
• war impact
• military industrial complex
• climate crisis
• community vulnerability

Keywords

• war
• ecocide
• environmental justice
• military
• climate justice
• communities
• pollution
• environment

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: 94.1 KPFA

Books & works: War Crimes Against the Earth, The Toxic Blowback of Israel’s Bombs

Places: Iran, Gaza, Mediterranean, Berkeley, CA

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