ASLE Spotlight

This episode was recorded on March 13, 2026

Co-hosts: Nate Otjen, Mildred Kiconco Barya

John Yunker and Midge Raymond, Animal Writes: Prompts and Practices to Guide the Animal Writer’s Journey

Writing for animals is a unique endeavor; writers have to think not only about the animals they’re portraying in their work but about audiences who may not be familiar with certain species or the topics of animal rights. In Animal Writes, you’ll learn tips for how to portray animals empathically and authentically, as well as ...

This episode was recorded on February 6, 2026

Co-hosts: Fernando Varela, Kat Caribeaux

Madison Jones, North Woods Project

The North Woods Project (NWP) blends art and science through an immersive multimedia “classroom in the forest” experience for the North Woods—a ~300-acre parcel of unmanaged forests and wetlands on the north part of URI’s campus. Through an open-access digital resource and ongoing research and teaching project, NWP celebrates the North Woods through social, ecological, and creative perspectives.

Madison Jones is an associate professor of science communication, jointly ...

This episode was recorded on January 23, 2026

Co-hosts: Lisa Fink, Sarah Wald

David J. Vazquez, Decolonial Environmentalisms: Climate Justice and Speculative Futurity in Latinx Cultural Production

Decolonial Environmentalisms argues that the mainstream environmental movement is implicated in racial capitalism, not least through its ignorance of environmental justice as it pertains to Latinx people. Through close readings of eco-minded novels, films, visual art, and short stories by Chicanx, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Cuban American, Peruvian, and Central American culture makers, the book surfaces diverse Latinx visions ...

This episode was recorded Friday, February 21, 2025

Co-hosts: Alexandra Isfahani-Hammond and Kathryn Kirkpatrick

Jennie Case, We Are Animals

We Are Animals examines moments in Case’s life when her experience as a woman in twenty-first-century America came in conflict with her experience as a child-bearing mammal. From the surprising salve of parasocial interactions on baby forums to the not so surprisingly intertwined history of industrial dairy farming and wearable breast pumps, Case explores an array of realities that give historical and cultural context to the experience ...

This episode was recorded Friday, January 17, 2025

Co-hosts: John Brannigan and Kyle Keeler

Jane Robbins Mize and Isabel Lane, Evacuation Plan

Evacuation Plan is a research-based graphic narrative (forthcoming from Vera) that follows two incarcerated men looking for answers about a nearby nuclear power plant. Through darkly comic visual storytelling, Evacuation Plan underscores how incarcerated folks are uniquely vulnerable to environmental crises and illuminates an often overlooked experience of environmental injustice.

The project is a collaboration between incarcerated and nonincarcerated scholars, writers, and artists: Jared ...

This episode was recorded Friday, November 15, 2024

Co-hosts: Laura Barbas-Rhoden and Amanda M. Smith

Catherine Diamond, Kinnari Ecological Theatre Project

The Kinnari Ecological Theatre Project (KETEP) in Southeast Asia creates new plays from local traditional and modern sources to deal with current environmental problems. It works with communities, student groups, and professional performers to produce an entertaining show in the local language that addresses an issue of concern to the audience–overfishing, deforestation, plastic waste, and wildlife poaching.

Catherine Diamond is the playwright/director of KETEP. A professor ...

This episode was recorded Friday, October 18, 2024

Co hosts: Sharae Deckard and Kate Huber

Nathaniel Otjen, Mining for the Climate

Mining for the Climate is a podcast series that examines the impacts of domestic critical mineral extraction. The series considers how new and old forms of mining are fueling the energy transition and what the consequences are of a more mining-dependent society on humans, other beings and the climate.

In addition to offering a platform for environmental storytelling and research, Mining for the Climate is a pedagogical ...