Episode 1: Professor Michael Maniates - July 2026
For the last four decades we have been urged, as individuals, to 'live green', to be a 'green consumer'. The theory of change we have been sold is this: if enough individuals adopt green lifestyles the planet will be 'saved'. It is a story told to us by brands, politicians, NGOs, and celebrities.
Many of us will have told this story ourselves too, to friends, colleagues, family members and, if environmentalism is our profession, our audiences. But what if it isn't true? What if the focus on individual acts of environmental stewardship is a distraction from what really needs to happen?
In this first episode of the Jukebox podcast, Professor Michael Maniates asks us to think again about why we choose to live green.
Where to listen
You can subscribe (please do) to the JUKEBOX podcast on Spotify, Apple, and Deezer. Listen now to episode 1:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id6796666268
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033YYrG986aKWUWk9ebfww
Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/show/1003446342
About this podcast
JUKEBOX is a podcast by The Miracle Inn, hosted by Dr Morgan Phillips. On the JUKEBOX podcast we ask each guest to choose three songs they'd put on The Miracle Inn jukebox if they were ever to visit. The songs are a starting point for a conversation about their work and their ideas, but we also get to know them a little bit more too.
The Miracle Inn is a community interest company and membership organisation focused on tackling the phenomenon of hyper-individualism.
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Michael's song choices
'Southern Cross' by Crosby, Stills and Nash.
'The Pretender' by Jackson Brown.
'Come Downstairs and Say Hello' by Guster.
We have created a Spotify playlist featuring all three songs and - because we love it - a song from Euros Child's album ‘The Miracle Inn’. If you have another device within earshot, you could put this playlist on in the background while you listen to the conversation.
Michael's 'accidently on purpose' item
The item Michael would 'accidentally on purpose' leave behind at The Miracle Inn in the hope that someone might pick it up and engage with it is a documentary 'The adventures of a radical hillbilly'. You can watch it on YouTube.
Mentioned during the conversation
Book: The Living-Green Myth: The Promise and Limits of Lifestyle Environmentalism by Michael Maniates.
Essay: Individualization: Plant a Tree, Buy a Bike, Save the World? by Michael Maniates
Book: Consumption Corridors - Living a Good Life within Sustainable Limits by Doris Fuchs, Marlyne Sahakian, Tobias Gumbert, Antonietta Di Giulio, Michael Maniates, Sylvia Lorek, Antonia Graf
Organisation: The Story of Stuff Project