Where is the LAMB sauce?

When the world sleeps, the empire sells escape. From augmented reality to endless screens, this episode is about what we’ve lost: the art of dreaming for ourselves. It’s a reflection on living beyond pixels, on gratitude, purpose, and waking up to what’s real. The season closes with a promise: next, we remember where we came from.

Oil built our world and now it’s burning it. In this episode, I trace how a single resource shaped empires, rewrote borders, and still fuels the wars and illusions of modern civilization. From the first oil well to the towers of Dubai, from the deserts that turned to gold to the climate that’s collapsing beneath it this is the story of The Empire of Oil. The fire we chose to feed. Sources https://www.britannica.com/topic/Standard-Oil https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-17444592 https://www.energy.gov/articles/history-oil https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp83-01042r000300040005-6 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29146407 https://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/about_us/24.htm https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2016/12/07/petrodollars-and-the-global-economy https://www.insideclimatenews.org https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-outlook-2023 https://www.un.org/en/climatechange https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/energy/publication/global-tracking-framework https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/saudi-aramco-2023-profit-2024-03-10/ https://www.theguardian.com/environment/exxon-climate-change-cover-up https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/20/how-the-middle-east-became-rich-from-oil https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/23/world/middleeast/gulf-workers.html https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics

From the first coal mines of Britain to the burning forests of the Amazon, this episode traces how the Industrial Revolution ignited a global addiction — to comfort, to growth, to fire itself. I unpack how empires of industry became empires of carbon, how the Paris Agreement became a promise on paper, and why climate change isn’t a tragedy of nature but a design of civilization. A story of smoke, survival, and the price of progress. Our World in Data – CO₂ Emissions Since 1750: https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions International Energy Agency (IEA) – Historical Energy Data: Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England (1845): Global Carbon Project (2023): https://www.globalcarbonproject.org/. Oxfam & Stockholm Environment Institute Report (2020) — Confronting Carbon Inequality https://policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/confronting-carbon-inequality-621052/ UN OCHA – Pakistan Floods Situation Report (2022): https://reliefweb.int/report/pakistan/ UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change): https://unfccc.int/climate-finance OECD 2023 Climate Finance Report: Friends of the Earth & The Guardian (2021–2023): Amnesty International – This Is What We Die For (2021 Update): https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/11/drc-cobalt-mining/ The Guardian (2022) – “Lithium extraction in Chile’s Atacama desert drying up water supplies”: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/07/lithium-chile-water-rights Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE) – PRODES Deforestation Data 2023 http://terrabrasilis.dpi.inpe.br Science (Lovejoy & Nobre, 2018): https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aat2340 WWF Amazon Report (2022): UNFCCC – Paris Agreement Text (2015): https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement BBC News (2020) – “Which countries have ratified the Paris climate deal?” https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35073297 Global Carbon Budget (2023): International Energy Agency (IEA, 2023): World Bank – Groundswell Report II (2021): https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/36248 UNHCR – Global Trends: Forced Displacement 2023 https://www.unhcr.org/globaltrends Naomi Klein – The Shock Doctrine (2007) The Guardian (2022) – “Oil and gas companies plan expansion despite climate pledges.” Vanessa Nakate / Fridays for Future Africa: https://fridaysforfuture.org

Modern comfort promised us freedom, but it’s quietly destroying our bodies, our environment, and our independence. In this episode, I explore “civilization sickness” : how inactivity, processed food, chemical agriculture, and corporate control have reshaped human health. It’s not just what we eat. It’s what we’ve become. Sources World Health Organization (WHO) — Obesity and Overweight Fact Sheet (2024): https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight WHO – Noncommunicable Diseases (2023): https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/noncommunicable-diseases WHO – Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and Food Animals: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/antimicrobial-resistance Nestlé Baby Formula Scandal: The Guardian — “Nestlé baby milk scandal has grown up but not gone away.” (2018) Nestlé Water Extraction in Pakistan: Business & Human Rights Resource Centre — “Audit report finds Nestlé Pakistan extracting and wasting water without any costs.” (2018) https://www.business-humanrights.org Coca-Cola in Chiapas, Mexico: Mexico News Daily — “San Cristóbal de las Casas: where Coca-Cola is easier to find than water.” (2022) https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/san-cristobal-de-las-casas-water-crisis Bayer / Monsanto Roundup Litigation: Reuters — “Bayer adds $13.7 billion to Roundup litigation reserves.” (July 2025) https://www.reuters.com U.S. EPA – CAFO Overview: https://www.epa.gov/npdes/animal-feeding-operations-afos Tyson Foods Pollution: The Guardian — “Tyson among top U.S. water polluters.” (2019) https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/12/tyson-foods-water-pollution-us-factories Smithfield Hog Farm Lawsuits: Reuters — “Smithfield reaches settlement in North Carolina hog farm nuisance suits.” (2020) https://www.reuters.com/article/us-smithfield-lawsuit-settlement-idUSKBN22V3AM EU Farm to Fork Strategy (European Commission, 2020): https://food.ec.europa.eu/horizontal-topics/farm-fork-strategy_en Atrazine Ban (EU vs US): European Commission, 2003 – groundwater contamination; still permitted in U.S. Chlorpyrifos Ban (EU 2020; U.S. restrictions 2021): European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and U.S. EPA. Cochabamba Water War: BBC News — “Bolivians protest water privatization.” (2000) https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/714244.stm Mexico Soda Tax Outcomes: BMJ – “Beverage purchases declined after the implementation of Mexico’s sugary-drink tax.” (2016) https://www.bmj.com/content/352/bmj.h6704