book: The Geopolitics of Green Colonialism, eds. Miriam Lang, Mary Ann Manahan, & Breno Bringel
When “taking action” on climate change, mainstream bodies (e.g. governments) focus on net-zero, which means drawing down or offsetting the same amount of CO2 that is emitted. A big part of this is electrification, switching from gas to electric, from fossil fuel power stations to renewables.
The problem is, renewables still need non-renewable resources — lithium, cobalt, coltan, copper, so on — and so in the name of “sustainability” the Global North expands its extractive enterprises in the Global South. The Global South demands a “right to development” (if the North was allowed to pollute the world to attain its wealth, the South should get their chance too). The South rushes to exploit its own resources in the name of economic independence, not needing to rely on the North to do the exploiting. at no point does the North consider dramatically reducing the resources they consume (reducing the need for power, instead of just how the power is generated), nor does the North consider itself deeply in debt to the South for the resources, labour, and land that it has plundered.
This is what The Geopolitics of Green Colonialism is about. How does the “green transition” from fossil fuels —> renewables (without addressing the problems of capitalism & consumerism) become an ecologically devastating force? How does the exploitation of the Global South for the resources needed for solar panels (etc) continue the colonial exploiter-exploited relationship? What can be done, or rather, is being done already?
The book is a series of interconnected essays from different authors. The essays focus on different aspects, different contexts, but interweave. As Breno Bringel and Sabrina Fernandes write in the 18th essay, Towards a New Eco-Territorial Internationalism, the problems faced and goals pursued require space for local (territorial) context as well as experiences shared in common as a result of global systems of exploitation and destruction. this book provides contextualised examples, and aids in extrapolating them outwards without losing their local nuance.
a highly recommended read for anyone working on "green stuff", especially in the Global North, to ensure that the work you do doesn't perpetuate long-running inequalities and evils.
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