How change is imagined – rethinking more-than-human agency and the risks of our times

What happens when we widen our lens on revolution to include the more-than-human world?

In this episode of Cross Currents, ASRA network members Vishwas Satgar, University of the Witwatersrand, and Rachel Ainsworth, SoDy, are joined by ASRA’s Director of Nature-Centric Approaches Phil Tovey to explore how nature, animals, and ecological systems are entangled in moments of upheaval – and why traditional definitions of revolution may no longer be fit for the polycrisis era.

Drawing from political theory, environmental justice, and real-world examples from Haiti to Syria, they examine how social transformations emerge through the interplay of human choices, extractive systems, and the ecological consequences they produce. In their discussion, the trio interrogate speciesism, coloniality, and the limits of human-centred thinking, while probing what it would mean to build movements, laws, and institutions that account for the interdependence of human and non-human life. They reflect on emerging ideas, from Earth justice to ecocide law, and consider how agency, power, and resistance must be reconceived in a world facing systemic risks from ecological breakdown and the climate crisis. This episode invites listeners to imagine futures grounded in radical equality, ecological ethics, and a deeper understanding of the living systems we inhabit.

Cross Currents is a series where ASRA network members get together in conversation to explore the dynamics, disruptions, and discoveries shaping our world. The views expressed are those of our participants and don't necessarily reflect ASRA's institutional positions.