Past connections and present similarities in slave ownership and fossil fuel usage

Abstract

The first part of the paper demonstrates the connection between the abolition of slavery and the Industrial Revolution: steam power changed the perception of labour; new techniques facilitated diffusion of pro-abolition pamphlets; fewer threats to basic existence resulting from industrial advances fostered sensibilities and moral standards toward abolitionism; and, through industrial development, the North grasped victory in the American Civil War. The second part presents similarities between societies in the past that have used slave labour and those in the present that use fossil fuels. It argues that slaves and fossil-fuelled machines play(ed) similar economic and social roles: both slave societies and developed countries externalise(d) labour and both slaves and modern machines free(d) their owners from daily chores. Consequently, we are as dependent on fossil fuels as slave societies were dependent on bonded labour. It also suggests that, in differing ways, suffering resulting (directly) from slavery and (indirectly) from the excessive burning of fossil fuels are now morally comparable. When we emit carbon dioxide at a rate that exceeds what the ecosystem can absorb, when we deplete non-renewable resources, we indirectly cause suffering to other human beings. Similarly, cheap oil facilitates imports of goods from countries with little social protection and hence help externalise oppression. The conclusion draws on the lessons which may be learned by Climate Change campaigners from the campaigns to abolish slavery: environmental apathy can be opposed effectively if we learn from what worked in the fight against this inhuman institution.

Change and the climate crisis: Aligning urgency and agency

“…The HANDY study (Motesharrei, Rivas & Kalnay, 2014) identified collapses in our history precipitated by factors such as population decline, economic, intellectual and literacy decline, and political dynamics. The two underlying causes were resource depletion and the economic stratification of society (Mouhot, 2011). Those collapses were localised, or regionalised.…”

“…Green (2018) illustrates change dynamics with the movement to abolish slavery in the 18 th and 19 th centuries, providing an encouraging example of how people extended empathy across racial and geographic boundaries, and abandoning the concept or need for slaves as a cheap human energy source (Rifkin, 2016). The emerging industrial revolution provided a new alternate energy source and aided that transition, including powering the printing of pro-abolition pamphlets (Mouhot, 2011).…”

La Innovación para la Sostenibilidad: Un Llamamiento para una Actitud Abolicionista con el fin de Liberar Nuestra imaginación Hacia la Acción

“…Robert Jay Lifton, en su obra The Climate Swerve (El viraje del clima [2017]) señala que la última vez que un recurso de tal magnitud fue abandonado y no explotado, ocurrió en 1865, cuando los recursos eran seres humanos. La esclavitud generaba más de la mitad de la economía sureña en los Estados Unidos y más del 16 por ciento de la economía del país; lo que es equivalente a unos 10 trillones de dólares estadounidenses (véase también Mouhot, 2011;Hayes, 2014). Fue sencillamente extraordinario que el movimiento abolicionista prevaleciera a pesar de los grandes intereses económicos, que al momento parecían insuperables.…”

La Innovación para la Sostenibilidad: Un Llamamiento para una Actitud Abolicionista con el fin de Liberar Nuestra imaginación Hacia la Acción

“…The obvious answer lies with the fossil fuel industry, which would need to surrender about $20 trillion in untapped wealth for the planet to avoid a temperature increase of two degrees. Robert Jay Lifton argues in The Climate Swerve (2017) that the last time assets like this existed and were stranded was in 1865, when the "assets" took the form of human beings-slaves made up to half of the economy of the Southern United States and 16% of the economy of the entire country, equivalent to about $10 trillion (see also Mouhot, 2011;Hayes, 2014). It was fortunate, then, that the abolitionist movement prevailed at that time despite seemingly insurmountable economic interests.…”