Abstract:This paper examines the US military's impact on climate by analysing the geopolitical ecology of its global logistical supply chains. Our geopolitical ecology framework interrogates the material‐ecological metabolic flows (hydrocarbon‐based fuels, water, sand, concrete) that shape geopolitical and geoeconomic power relations. We argue that to account for the US military as a major climate actor, one must understand the logistical supply chain that makes its acquisition and consumption of hydrocarbon‐based fuel… Show more
“…Third, the assumption that solar geoengineering cannot be tactically deployed or weaponized avoids the potentially strategic role that solar geoengineering could play in the interlinkages among geopolitics, energy and climate change. For example, the US military – the most powerful military force in the world – both runs on and plays a fundamental role in securing the fossil fuels that undergird US geopolitical power (Belcher et al , 2019; Foster & Clark, 2018; Jones, 2012; Lehmann, 2019).…”
Section: How and By Whom Is Solar Geoengineering Likely To Be Deployed?mentioning
Advancing solar geoengineering research is associated with multiple hidden injustices that are revealed by addressing three questions: Who is conducting and funding solar geoengineering research? How do those advocating for solar geoengineering research think about social justice and social change? How is this technology likely to be deployed? Navigating these questions reveals that solar geoengineering research is being advocated for by a small group of primarily white men at elite institutions in the Global North, funded largely by billionaires or their philanthropic arms, who are increasingly adopting militarized approaches and logics. Solar geoengineering research advances an extreme, expert–elite technocratic intervention into the global climate system that would serve to further concentrate contemporary forms of political and economic power. For these reasons, we argue that it is unethical and unjust to advance solar geoengineering research.
“…Third, the assumption that solar geoengineering cannot be tactically deployed or weaponized avoids the potentially strategic role that solar geoengineering could play in the interlinkages among geopolitics, energy and climate change. For example, the US military – the most powerful military force in the world – both runs on and plays a fundamental role in securing the fossil fuels that undergird US geopolitical power (Belcher et al , 2019; Foster & Clark, 2018; Jones, 2012; Lehmann, 2019).…”
Section: How and By Whom Is Solar Geoengineering Likely To Be Deployed?mentioning
Advancing solar geoengineering research is associated with multiple hidden injustices that are revealed by addressing three questions: Who is conducting and funding solar geoengineering research? How do those advocating for solar geoengineering research think about social justice and social change? How is this technology likely to be deployed? Navigating these questions reveals that solar geoengineering research is being advocated for by a small group of primarily white men at elite institutions in the Global North, funded largely by billionaires or their philanthropic arms, who are increasingly adopting militarized approaches and logics. Solar geoengineering research advances an extreme, expert–elite technocratic intervention into the global climate system that would serve to further concentrate contemporary forms of political and economic power. For these reasons, we argue that it is unethical and unjust to advance solar geoengineering research.
“…However, until now, logistics and freight distribution systems have been lagging considerably behind carbon policy goals—as does the transport sector generally—and catching up with emission reductions, which other sectors have already achieved seems a real challenge (McKinnon, ). This applies especially to hitherto understudied aspects, such as the huge demand for energy displayed by the military‐logistics complex (Belcher, Bigger, Neimark, & Kennelly, ). If carbon reduction is taken seriously, would not this require to restructure the whole logistics industry and the extensive space–time patterns it has allowed for to practice?…”
The origins of logistics lie in military and imperial methods of expansion and control of geographical space. It is principally associated with the more recent contexts of business management and engineering. Logistics systems are now the conveyor belts of the global system of trade, commerce and production, and its associated techniques and strategies aim at optimizing flows and throughput within discrete units (such as firms), in economic networks and across geographical space. Because flows are important determinants for the development of places, logistics has the power to structure territories. Therefore, it has raised considerable interest in the field of geography, not only with regard to cities and their dense agglomeration of people, buildings, and infrastructure but also in geopolitical terms as it fosters the exploration, control, and surveillance of areas. The paper presents a critical account of logistics operations and their relevance for the making (and unmaking) of territories, related policy dimensions, and future challenges for research.
“…This is particularly problematic in certain authoritarian states and institutions, as well as sites targeted by extractive industries (e.g. Belcher et al 2020;Curley 2018;Koch 2018a;Marston 2019;McCreary and Milligan 2014;Zhou 2015). In other contexts, however, some political leaders and citizens have drawn upon the ideals of social justice to advocate for 'just transitions', i.e.…”
Section: The Future: New Spaces Of Geopoliticsmentioning
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