Monitoring metal levels in water and multiple biomarkers in the grouper (<i>Epinephelus tauvina</i>) to assess environmental stressors on the Arabian Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia

The introduction sets out the core research questions, argument, contribution, methodology, and structure of the book. First, it introduces the context of the global petrochemical industry as a toxic and contested yet essential and pervasive industry that society depends on, and one which faces threats to its core business from escalating global environmental and societal pressures. Next, it outlines the core argument of the book about the petrochemical planet and multiscalar battles of industrial transformation, including corporate worldviews, environmental justice perspectives, and debates about just and sustainable transformations. The multi-sited and multiscalar methodology of the book is then discussed, including questions of research design, data collection, ethics, and collaboration. Finally, the introduction examines the “wicked problem” of changing complex industrial capitalist systems.

Introduction

2023

The Petrochemical Game of War

2023

This chapter aims to “see like the petrochemical industry” on a strategic level, extending the methodology of James Scott’s Seeing Like a State. Alongside observations at dozens of industry events, the analysis is based on business histories and corporate documents. The chapter examines the operational logic of the petrochemical industry in terms of a game, including its playing field, rules for success, and strategies. The petrochemical industry has its own strategic ways of seeing and acting, which stem from its origins in war and its path-dependent history of collusive practices. The implications of this analysis are that corporate petrochemical warfare has become increasingly complex, adaptive, and sophisticated, requiring new methods of resistance.

Enduring Toxic Injustice and Fenceline Mobilizations

2023

Drawing on data from the Global Petrochemical Map, this chapter examines two key types of community mobilization over the impacts of the petrochemical industry, with overlapping yet distinct histories: first, environmental justice activism; and second, labor protests. It reflects on the significance of labor and environmental justice alliances and divisions in a context of global environmental injustice and systemic issues of social and ecological “expendability.” The analysis examines the problem of enduring toxic injustice, accounting for the barriers facing grassroots struggles for creating systemic change thus far, while recognizing hard-won achievements. The conclusion draws attention to systemic barriers to addressing toxic petrochemical injustice beyond the boundaries of fenceline communities, related to the issue of expendability.