Stories of environmental justice and imagination in California and beyond, from UCLA's Laboratory for Environmental Narrative Strategies. LENS.cast tells stories about environmental art, activism, policy, and imagination, with a focus on questions of environmental and multispecies justice. How do built and natural environments embody histories of oppression and possibilities for change? How do different communities value and protect the nonhuman beings they live with? How do artists and activists push us to think differently about our more-than-human relations? How can communities ensure that marginalized people and places are at the center of plans for ecological futures? What should you think when you see a coyote? What does it think of you?
Publisher
UCLA Laboratory for Environmental Narrative Strategies (LENS)
Arctic Representation: A Conversation with Joshua Qaumariaq
A conversation with musician and artist Joshua Qaumariaq of The Trade Offs. Find and support their music here: https://tradeoffsmusic.bandcamp.com/album/let-go-give-in-fall-down-2 This is Episode 2 of the mini-series "Arctic Representation: Conversations with Inuit Artists," produced by Clara Wilch, a Postdoctoral Fellow at Vanderbilt University and LENS scholar who earned a PhD in Theater and Performance Studies at UCLA. Episode cover image: photograph by Clara Wilch. Sound credi...
30 Mar 2026
Arctic Representation: A Conversation with Nyla Innuksuk
A conversation with filmmaker, producer, and writer Nyla Innuksuk. Learn more about her work here: https://imaginenative.org/artists/nyla-innuksuk/ Read “On-Screen Protocols + Pathways: A Media Production Guide to Working with First Nations, Métis and Inuit Communities, Cultures, Concepts and Stories” and related publications here: https://imaginenative.org/year-round/publications/ This is Episode 3 of the mini-series "Arctic Representation: Conversations with Inuit Artists," produced by Clar...
30 Mar 2026
Arctic Representation: A Conversation with Peter Igupttaq Autut
A conversation with comedian and writer Peter Igupttaq Autut. Read some of his writing for Up Here Magazine here: https://uphere.ca/articles/winter-chesterfield-inlet This is Episode 1 of the mini-series "Arctic Representation: Conversations with Inuit Artists," produced by Clara Wilch, a Postdoctoral Fellow at Vanderbilt University and LENS scholar who earned a PhD in Theater and Performance Studies at UCLA. Episode cover image: photograph by Clara Wilch. Sound credits: BCO - tra...
9 Aug 2023
White-Golden State: Extracting Futures in Lithium Valley
California’s Imperial Valley is home to one of the world’s largest deposits of lithium—a mineral that may be crucial to engineering a low-carbon economy. Companies and governments interested in extracting Imperial’s lithium promise that the process will bring jobs and investment to the Valley, one of the most socially and economically marginalized places in the state. In this episode, we ask experts, activists, and community members whether lithium mining in Imperial could be part of what exp...
16 Mar 2022
Also, Satan
In this episode, Christopher Kelty explores the rather surprising background to the No Kill Movement in LA. (It's Satan.) This is the sixth episode produced as part of our collaboration with the Labyrinth Project.
16 Mar 2022
Coyotes in the Cloud
You just saw a coyote on the street. Or maybe you read about it on Nextdoor. What should you think? In this episode, Spencer Robins asks whether you really saw that coyote, or whether you’ve followed a ghost—a cloud coyote—into a surprising political storm in Los Angeles. This is the fifth episode produced as part of our collaboration with the Labyrinth Project.
16 Mar 2022
The Responsibility of Feral Cats
The maze has brought you to a cat’s cradle story of responsibility and moral failure. Listen as Niaz Sassounian takes us on a whirlwind tour of the feral cat controversy in Los Angeles. This is the fourth episode produced as part of our collaboration with the Labyrinth Project.
16 Mar 2022
How to See Coyotes
Everybody in Los Angeles has a coyote story, but nobody can quite agree on what seeing a coyote in the city means. What do coyotes mean by the things they do? In this episode Chase Niesner explores how what we see in coyotes might depend on what they see in us. This is the third episode produced as part of our collaboration with the Labyrinth Project.
16 Mar 2022
Unsustainable
Are you doing your part to save the planet today? Surely you’ve thought about it. All around you there are signs urging you to recycle, to save water, to use less energy. In this episode, Emma Horton asks why we feel so bad for not doing our part, and whether it’s healthy to keep trying. This is the second episode produced as part of our collaboration with the Labyrinth Project.
16 Mar 2022
The Lion and the Rat
In this episode, Christopher Kelty asks, "what can you live with" in Los Angeles? It's a simple question without any good answers. It's a deeply cultural question, about why we love some animals and hate others, and how that never works out well. This is the first episode produced as part of our collaboration with the Labyrinth Project.
2 Mar 2022
"Please Take Off Your Shoes"
In episode 2, we hear from activists in LA’s Little Tokyo working to ensure that their community has a voice in building a sustainable future. Investment in green infrastructure is an increasingly significant strategy for achieving sustainability goals, but if communities aren't involved, it can also lead to gentrification, displacement, and cultural erasure. In this episode, Scott Oshima, Grant Sunoo, and traci kato-kiriyama, along with Paul Ong of the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge,...
3 Jun 2021
Heirlooms of Conquest: Trees + Justice in Los Angeles
In the first episode of LENS.cast, we explore the history and future of Los Angeles's remarkable trees. California is more than palm trees: it is, according to University of Pennsylvania historian Jared Farmer, an incredible arboretum—a collection of species from all over the world—and an "heirloom of conquest." Trees record the history of colonial destruction in California, but they could also be an important part of a more just, resilient future as LA faces the realities of climate c...
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
Contact LENS.cast
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of LENS.cast?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
