Heat, Time and Colonialism
Calor, Tiempo y Colonialismo
first published 23 February 2021
Climate movements and energy transition movements customarily ask how energy might be generated and distributed more justly or democratically. Or how it might be made “green” or “renewable”. But one thing they usually don’t talk about is whether energy itself is unjust and undemocratic. And whether energy itself is anti-ecological.
These questions need to be asked, no matter how difficult it is for intellectuals to do so. Because if energy itself, as commonly understood today, is implicated in the ecological devastation of colonialism, then there’s no point in continuing to talk about it as if it were an uncontroversial, apolitical goodie that everyone wants and has “rights” to. Or as if it were a substance that could someday, somewhere, be painlessly, fairly harvested and equitably distributed.
This short, unpublished reflection is available here in both an English and a (somewhat shorter) Spanish version.
Related:
"Bioenergy, Thermodynamics and Inequalities", http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/resource/bioenergy-thermodynamics-and-inequalities.
"White Climate, White Energy: A Time for Movement Reflection?", http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/resource/white-climate-white-energy.
"Is Energy White? And if so, What does that Mean for Movement Strategy?", http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/resource/energy-white.