Sacred Bears and Profane Cats: Rethinking Japan’s Wildlife Crisis Through Terror Management Theory

by | Nov 24, 2025 | animals, Biophilia, Biosemiotics, Climate Change, conservation, Decolonization, deep ecology, Environmental Political Theory, Naturverlassenheit, parasitism, philosophy of science, Semiocide

Introduction: The Paradox of Fear and Death in Contemporary Japan In 2023, Japan witnessed an unprecedented 219 bear attacks, resulting in six human fatalities. The media response was immediate and visceral—front-page stories, emergency government meetings, and calls...

Okay, so it’s an oligopoly, not a monopoly or duopoly

by | Mar 29, 2022 | beyond idealism, beyond liberalism, Conflicts of Interest, Decolonization, Discursive Gap, duh, exploitation, Fake Freedoms, Industrial Epidemics, parasitism, philosophy of science

So, I came across this brilliant comedian on Facebook the other day, and Facebook, in all of their infinite wisdom censored it from me, according to their factcheckers (who have done absolutely nothing to curb climate change, by the way). Toni Bologna claims Vanguard...

The tobacco industry’s endlessly “new” tactics: find a loophole in the law, and f%$# it until it’s gone

by | Mar 3, 2022 | Conflicts of Interest, e-waste, Fake Freedoms, Harm Reduction, Industrial Epidemics, parasitism, Public Health, Publications, Side-effects, Syndemics, Tobacco Industry, Verschlimmbessern, Wolves in sheep's clothing

One of my old colleagues, a lawyer at UCSF once said that the tobacco industry finds loopholes in the law and exploits them until someone closes them. And then moves onto the next one. Our new Open Access paper in Tobacco Control discusses some of these problems....

The Failure of COP25

by | Dec 15, 2019 | beyond idealism, beyond liberalism, Biophilia, Climate Change, Communication, Dante Alighieri — 'The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.', death, Decolonization, deep ecology, Discursive Gap, duh, Energy, Environmental Justice, Environmental Political Theory, Fake Freedoms, folly, Greenwashing, Industrial Epidemics, Normal is Over, Oil Barons, parasitism, Perverse Incentives, pollution, Priorities, Syndemics, Systems thinking

I recently read – from afar – the sorry state of the UNFCCC #COP25 in Madrid. According to 350.org, instead of barring fossil fuel companies from engineering the COP, the security guards at the UNFCCC forcibly removed hundred of activists and scientists...