Challenging Legitimacy at the Precipice of Energy Calamity

Abstract

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The discursive politics of unconventional gas in Scotland: Drifting towards precaution?

“…Environmental and energy politics are deeply affected by "discursive manipulation" whereby political actors seek to play down "measurable indicators", reduce complexity, and set the political agenda by drawing attention to "simplified answers" ( [18]: 26). In the Scottish debate, relevant examples include a 'balanced energy policy' or an 'evidence-based approach'.…”

Managing Dissent: Energy Pipelines and “New Right” Politics in Canada

“…If approved, Gateway would pump bitumen from the Alberta tar sands-an extremely carbon intensive and ecologically destructive source of oil (davidson & Gismondi, 2011;Nikiforuk, 2009)-through british columbia and its Great bear Rainforest to ports in Kitimat for export overseas.…”

Market(ing) Activism: Lush Cosmetics, Ethical Oil, and the Self-Mediation of Protest

“…When people were visible in the frame, these were geologists, surveyors, pioneers and scientists whose technical interventions would harness this vast wilderness for the good of Canadian society (see Figure 2). For the latter half of the twentieth century, the Albertan government and pro-tar sands organizations maintained a monopoly on the representation of the tar sands in the public imagination, fuelled by a steady stream of promotional efforts largely directed at Albertan residents and largely without contest (Davidson and Gismondi 2011). In the last decade, however, there has been a growing wave of national and international opposition to the tar sands and considerably more sophisticated transnational collective mobilization.…”

“…This began to change in the 1920s, when scientific and technical experiments demonstrated ways to extract oil from the sands. Today, production of the tar sands around the Athabasca river averages approximately 1.5 million barrels of crude per day, with a projected increase to 5-10 million barrels per day by 2030 (Davidson and Gismondi 2011;Gosselin et al 2010).…”

“…One reason for the rise in protests is surely growing international awareness prompted by the nationalization and transnationalization of the tar sands resource via the proposed Northern Gateway and Keystone XL pipelines (toward China and the U.S. respectively), as well as revisions to the European Union's Fuel Quality Directive, which mandates oil specifications for fuel suppliers. Davidson and Gismondi's (2011; visual history of the tar sands is a powerful portrait of the evolution of mediated narratives about the social, political-economic and cultural role of this resource. Indeed, as they point out, the remoteness of the Athabascan region means that mediation has long been crucial to its social imaginary.…”