In this episode, we sit down with Patrick Bresnihan, co-author (with Naomi Millner) of the book All We Want is the Earth. We talk about counter-histories of environmentalism, and Ireland as a frontier of digital capitalism.
We learn about how anti- and de-colonial thought and praxis are discounted from histories of Eurocentric environmentalism, followed by a deep dive into the unbearable heaviness of digital capitalism and its assumed ‘inevitability’.
Patrick investigates how digital life relates to new waves of neocolonial, neoliberal capitalist enclosures. Focusing on Ireland, we explore how our widespread use of digital technologies is shaping our lives, and how it represents an outgrowth of green colonialism. The focus on Ireland also illustrates the convergence of monopoly tech, the energy transition and US imperialism.
We then explore the undercurrents growing out of Ireland to respond to these convergences, demanding alternative futures to neocolonial capitalist and colonial projects. This includes movements connecting climate justice and Palestinian solidarity.
Patrick can be found on BlueSky and is on the editorial board of the Ireland-based online magazine Rundale.
Links
Some of the books, articles and initiatives mentioned in this episode are linked below. If you are viewing this episode on some podcast players, some links may not work: visit the original post on the Future Natures website. For full audio and show notes from this and all past episodes, visit futurenatures.org/podcast
Books
All We Want is the Earth: Land, Labour and movements beyond Environmentalism (Patrick Bresnihan and Naomi Millner, 2023)
Upcoming book 'From the Bog to the Cloud. Dependency and Eco-modernity in Ireland'. By Patrick Bresnihan and Patrick Brodie. Due to be published in September 2025.
Resonance
Zapatista Journey for Life comes to Ireland, October 2021 by V’cenza Cirefice
Decolonising Palestine and Unsettling Environmental Justice by Bana Abu Zuluf, Patrick Bresnihan and Rory Rowan
Indigenous Land and water protectors from the Zapatista and Turtle Island visit Ireland- Making Relatives and the Journey for Life, by V’cenza Cirefice and Lynda Sullivan
Turkish political education group, POLEN (POLEN Ecology promotes international Marxist ecology literature and develops partnerships with movements in other countries)
Data centres and digital capitalism
Data sinks, carbon services: Waste, storage and energy cultures on Ireland’s peat bogs (Patrick Bresnihan and Patrick Brodie, 2023)
Data Grab: The new Colonialism of Big Tech and how to fight back. (Nick Couldry and Ulises Mejias, 2024)
Feeding an insatiable monster: Data centres in Ireland with Patrick Bresnihan and Patrick Brodie
Energy Vacuums: Data Centres, Renewable Energy, and Rural Politics By Patrick Brodie and Patrick Bresnihan
Extractivism resistance in Ireland
Save our Sperrins campaign
Resistance to gold mining in Ireland
Picture credits
1. The photo of the water protectors was taken by Patrick Bresnihan in May, 2023, in the Bee Park community centre in Manorhamilton, Co Leitrim, in the North West of Ireland. The three water protectors are Chas Jewett, Jeshua Estes, and Lewis GrassRope, visiting from the Lakota Nation, Turtle Island. The visit was organised by Making Relatives, a collective of water protectors in Ireland and North America, and supported by Friends of the Earth NI, Communities Against the Injustice of Mining (CAIM), the Derry Playhouse, and the Rundale collective.
2. ‘Hands Off Our Commons’ poster designed by Kate O'Shea with artwork by V'Cenza Cirefice. These posters were sold to raise funds for the Save Our Sperrins campaign (resisting the gold mine).
3. The turf sod photo is by Patrick Bresnihan, taken in Derrigimlagh, Connemara in April 2024.
4. Image from the book cover of All We Want is the Earth by V'Cenza Cirefice.
