Challenging Legitimacy at the Precipice of Energy Calamity
Authors: Davidson, Debra J., Gismondi, Mike
Free Preview- Looks at how society navigates crucial historic moments
- Focuses on the Athabasca tar sands and the high viscosity tar that has been deposited over several millennia
- The potential for reflexive social change can best be evaluated through critical consideration of why current social structures are sustained
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- About this book
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Two intersecting moments of the Twenty-first Century define our politics, economies, and future prospects for civilization: the mounting evidence for global climate change, now unequivocally attributed to socio-economic activities, and its de-stabilizing effects on our biosphere, combined with the end of easy oil and the easy wealth it generates. On the energy question, non-conventional fossil fuels have been promoted by political elites as the next most attractive development option. The development of nonconventional fuels, however, does nothing to alleviate either climate change or the falling rate of energy supply, and generates multiple social and environmental consequences. The largest endeavour marking this historic nexus—indeed the largest industrial project in history, is the extraction and processing of the Athabasca tar sands in Alberta, Canada. The social, environmental, and most importantly political outcomes of this grand experiment will reverberate throughout the global polity, and either encourage or caution against increasing our dependence on such non-conventional fuels and assuming the multiple costs such dependence will entail. Planning for reflexive societal change requires that we first ask how such giga-projects are legitimated, and who is challenging this legitimacy? In this book we trace how language and visual representations are used to reinforce or challenge the legitimacy of development of the Athabasca tar sands, and draw on our insights to contemplate likely energy and climate futures.
- Table of contents (8 chapters)
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Look Who’s Talking
Pages 1-20
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Observing Global Flows
Pages 21-38
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Visualizing the Tar Sands Through Time
Pages 39-68
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Capital, Labor, and the State
Pages 69-110
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Ecological Disruption
Pages 111-141
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Table of contents (8 chapters)
- Download Preface 1 PDF (25.3 KB)
- Download Sample pages 1 PDF (442.6 KB)
- Download Table of contents PDF (27.7 KB)
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Bibliographic Information
- Bibliographic Information
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- Book Title
- Challenging Legitimacy at the Precipice of Energy Calamity
- Authors
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- Debra J. Davidson
- Mike Gismondi
- Copyright
- 2011
- Publisher
- Springer-Verlag New York
- Copyright Holder
- Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
- eBook ISBN
- 978-1-4614-0287-9
- DOI
- 10.1007/978-1-4614-0287-9
- Hardcover ISBN
- 978-1-4614-0286-2
- Softcover ISBN
- 978-1-4939-0104-3
- Edition Number
- 1
- Number of Pages
- XV, 232
- Topics
