Climate Imperialism: Ecocriticism, Postcolonialism, and Global Climate Change

Abstract

Global climate change threatens to kill or displace hundreds of thousands of people and will irrevocably change the lifestyles of practically everyone on the planet. However, the effect of imperialism and colonialism on climate change is a topic that has not received adequate scrutiny. Empire has been a significant factor in the rise of fossil fuels. The complicated connections between conservation and empire often make it difficult to reconcile the two disparate fields of ecocriticism and postcolonial studies. This paper will discuss how empire and imperialism have contributed to, and continue to shape, the ever-looming threat of global climate crisis, especially as it manifests in the tropics. Global climate change reinforces disparate economic, social, and racial conditions that were started, fostered, and thrived throughout the long history of colonization, inscribing climate change as a new, slow form of imperialism that is retracing the pathways that colonialism and globalism have already formed. Ultimately, it may only be by considering climate change through a postcolonial lens and utilizing indigenous resistance that the damage of this new form of climate imperialism can be undone.

Dekolonialismin, antirasismin, intersektionaalisuuden ja ekososiaalisuuden poluilla eli 2020-luvun sosiaalipedagogiikkaa

“…Globaalisti tietoinen ekososiaalinen ajattelu ei voi ohittaa kysymystä siitä, miten imperialismi ja kolonialismi ovat vaikuttaneet ekokriisiin ja muovaavat sitä edelleen (esim. Hartnett 2021). Kansainvälinen ilmastopaneeli IPCC on muistuttanut, että alkuperäiskansojen tieto on keskeisessä roolissa kamppailussa ilmastonmuutosta vastaan (IPCC 2023).…”