M'Lisa L Colbert | Queen's University at Kingston (original) (raw)
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Papers by M'Lisa L Colbert
This thesis explores the experiences, motivations and the imaginary of people who seek to democra... more This thesis explores the experiences, motivations and the imaginary of people who seek to democratize access to energy. Through a survey of the energy democracy movement in Europe and North America and a case study of two participatory and democratically oriented electricity providers in Central America, this thesis examines the differences and similarities between democratizing energy in the Global North and Global South in the context of marketization and the global push to transition to renewable energy. The forces of an expanding global energy economy are increasingly influencing the way that we can access and consume energy in our lives. Local interactions cannot be understood by an isolated analysis without considering the larger structural conditions that implicate them. Today, we are witnessing a global push to transition our energy resources from fossil fuels to renewables due to the emergency of climate change. For the most part, this transition preoccupies itself with changing the technological instruments that source us the energy. Yet few changes are targeting transition from growth focused market-based economic models. Energy Democracy is one new imaginary that people are rallying around to help realize alternatives to drive more equitable and sustainable post-carbon futures. This thesis finds that there are unfounded normative assumptions being made about groups organizing around energy democracy that is masking scatter in the movement. There is an aggressive strand of energy democracy that readily accepts for-profit schemes and risks turning energy democracy into just another space for capital accumulation in the energy sector. This thesis presents two important suggestions for reconciling these problems. Firstly, to look beyond moving the term itself and prioritize connecting on the basis of the underlying principles that define the term. This will ultimately create more meaningful solidarity in the future, and a more grounded and unified movement. Secondly, to increase focus on exploring the experiences and motivations of like-minded groups in the Global South who are heavily implicated by this global energy transition and, necessarily, by any movement that seeks an alternative to it.
Nature Sustainability, 2019
The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Futures, 2022
Nature Sustainability
By 2030, an additional 1.2 billion people are forecast in urban areas globally. We review the sci... more By 2030, an additional 1.2 billion people are forecast in urban areas globally. We review the scientific literature (n = 922 studies) to assess direct and indirect impacts of urban growth on habitat and biodiversity. Direct impacts are cumulatively substantial, with 290,000 km2 of natural habitat forecast to be converted to urban land uses between 2000 and 2030. Studies of direct impact are disproportionately from high-income countries. Indirect urban impacts on biodiversity, such as food consumption, affect a greater area than direct impacts, but comparatively few studies (34%) have quantified urban indirect impacts on biodiversity.
Following research done by well known scholars such as Arendt Lijpart, who have published extensi... more Following research done by well known scholars such as Arendt Lijpart, who have published extensively on the importance of democratic institutions; this research paper analyses the democracies of Isreal and Romania. Despite the stark differences in these democracies, they strike some common ground in terms of their institutions. The results will surprise you!
Thesis Chapters by M'Lisa L Colbert
This thesis explores the experiences, motivations and the imaginary of people who seek to democra... more This thesis explores the experiences, motivations and the imaginary of people who seek to democratize access to energy. Through a survey of the energy democracy movement in Europe and North America and a case study of two participatory and democratically oriented electricity providers in Central America, this thesis examines the differences and similarities between democratizing energy in the Global North and Global South in the context of marketization and the global push to transition to renewable energy.
The forces of an expanding global energy economy are increasingly influencing the way that we can access and consume energy in our lives. Local interactions cannot be understood by an isolated analysis without considering the larger structural conditions that implicate them. Today, we are witnessing a global push to transition our energy resources from fossil fuels to renewables due to the emergency of climate change.
For the most part, this transition preoccupies itself with changing the technological instruments that source us the energy. Yet few changes are targeting transition from growth focused market-based economic models. Energy Democracy is one new imaginary that people are rallying around to help realize alternatives to drive more equitable and sustainable post-carbon futures.
This thesis finds that there are unfounded normative assumptions being made about groups organizing around energy democracy that is masking scatter in the movement. There is an aggressive strand of energy democracy that readily accepts for-profit schemes and risks turning energy democracy into just another space for capital accumulation in the energy sector. This thesis presents two important suggestions for reconciling these problems. Firstly, to look beyond moving the term itself and prioritize connecting on the basis of the underlying principles that define the term. This will ultimately create more meaningful solidarity in the future, and a more grounded and unified movement. Secondly, to increase focus on exploring the experiences and motivations of like-minded groups in the Global South who are heavily implicated by this global energy transition and, necessarily, by any movement that seeks an alternative to it.
Books by M'Lisa L Colbert
Three decades after liberalisation, privatisation, and austerity measures uprooted the public and... more Three decades after liberalisation, privatisation, and austerity measures
uprooted the public and drastically reduced popular access to the state,
Latin American governments are renationalising their essential services.
A region-wide survey we conducted of renationalisations occurring from
2000 to 2016 in essential service sectors such as waste, water, telecommunications, finance and energy revealed that the transitions have not been easy, with many cases facing seemingly insurmountable challenges. Most motivations for renationalisation were directly related to discontent with the results of privatisations brought on by the Washington Consensus in the 1990s. This chapter presents a contemporary observation of the motivations
behind present day efforts to renationalise and democratise essential
services in Latin America.
This thesis explores the experiences, motivations and the imaginary of people who seek to democra... more This thesis explores the experiences, motivations and the imaginary of people who seek to democratize access to energy. Through a survey of the energy democracy movement in Europe and North America and a case study of two participatory and democratically oriented electricity providers in Central America, this thesis examines the differences and similarities between democratizing energy in the Global North and Global South in the context of marketization and the global push to transition to renewable energy. The forces of an expanding global energy economy are increasingly influencing the way that we can access and consume energy in our lives. Local interactions cannot be understood by an isolated analysis without considering the larger structural conditions that implicate them. Today, we are witnessing a global push to transition our energy resources from fossil fuels to renewables due to the emergency of climate change. For the most part, this transition preoccupies itself with changing the technological instruments that source us the energy. Yet few changes are targeting transition from growth focused market-based economic models. Energy Democracy is one new imaginary that people are rallying around to help realize alternatives to drive more equitable and sustainable post-carbon futures. This thesis finds that there are unfounded normative assumptions being made about groups organizing around energy democracy that is masking scatter in the movement. There is an aggressive strand of energy democracy that readily accepts for-profit schemes and risks turning energy democracy into just another space for capital accumulation in the energy sector. This thesis presents two important suggestions for reconciling these problems. Firstly, to look beyond moving the term itself and prioritize connecting on the basis of the underlying principles that define the term. This will ultimately create more meaningful solidarity in the future, and a more grounded and unified movement. Secondly, to increase focus on exploring the experiences and motivations of like-minded groups in the Global South who are heavily implicated by this global energy transition and, necessarily, by any movement that seeks an alternative to it.
Nature Sustainability, 2019
The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Futures, 2022
Nature Sustainability
By 2030, an additional 1.2 billion people are forecast in urban areas globally. We review the sci... more By 2030, an additional 1.2 billion people are forecast in urban areas globally. We review the scientific literature (n = 922 studies) to assess direct and indirect impacts of urban growth on habitat and biodiversity. Direct impacts are cumulatively substantial, with 290,000 km2 of natural habitat forecast to be converted to urban land uses between 2000 and 2030. Studies of direct impact are disproportionately from high-income countries. Indirect urban impacts on biodiversity, such as food consumption, affect a greater area than direct impacts, but comparatively few studies (34%) have quantified urban indirect impacts on biodiversity.
Following research done by well known scholars such as Arendt Lijpart, who have published extensi... more Following research done by well known scholars such as Arendt Lijpart, who have published extensively on the importance of democratic institutions; this research paper analyses the democracies of Isreal and Romania. Despite the stark differences in these democracies, they strike some common ground in terms of their institutions. The results will surprise you!
This thesis explores the experiences, motivations and the imaginary of people who seek to democra... more This thesis explores the experiences, motivations and the imaginary of people who seek to democratize access to energy. Through a survey of the energy democracy movement in Europe and North America and a case study of two participatory and democratically oriented electricity providers in Central America, this thesis examines the differences and similarities between democratizing energy in the Global North and Global South in the context of marketization and the global push to transition to renewable energy.
The forces of an expanding global energy economy are increasingly influencing the way that we can access and consume energy in our lives. Local interactions cannot be understood by an isolated analysis without considering the larger structural conditions that implicate them. Today, we are witnessing a global push to transition our energy resources from fossil fuels to renewables due to the emergency of climate change.
For the most part, this transition preoccupies itself with changing the technological instruments that source us the energy. Yet few changes are targeting transition from growth focused market-based economic models. Energy Democracy is one new imaginary that people are rallying around to help realize alternatives to drive more equitable and sustainable post-carbon futures.
This thesis finds that there are unfounded normative assumptions being made about groups organizing around energy democracy that is masking scatter in the movement. There is an aggressive strand of energy democracy that readily accepts for-profit schemes and risks turning energy democracy into just another space for capital accumulation in the energy sector. This thesis presents two important suggestions for reconciling these problems. Firstly, to look beyond moving the term itself and prioritize connecting on the basis of the underlying principles that define the term. This will ultimately create more meaningful solidarity in the future, and a more grounded and unified movement. Secondly, to increase focus on exploring the experiences and motivations of like-minded groups in the Global South who are heavily implicated by this global energy transition and, necessarily, by any movement that seeks an alternative to it.
Three decades after liberalisation, privatisation, and austerity measures uprooted the public and... more Three decades after liberalisation, privatisation, and austerity measures
uprooted the public and drastically reduced popular access to the state,
Latin American governments are renationalising their essential services.
A region-wide survey we conducted of renationalisations occurring from
2000 to 2016 in essential service sectors such as waste, water, telecommunications, finance and energy revealed that the transitions have not been easy, with many cases facing seemingly insurmountable challenges. Most motivations for renationalisation were directly related to discontent with the results of privatisations brought on by the Washington Consensus in the 1990s. This chapter presents a contemporary observation of the motivations
behind present day efforts to renationalise and democratise essential
services in Latin America.