BC political economy and the challenge of shale gas: Negotiating a post-staples trajectory (original) (raw)
Related papers
Journal of Political Ecology, 2019
This article focuses in on the ways in which the North American energy boom is reworking environments and livelihoods in the Great Lakes, focusing in particular on the expansion of BP's Chicago-area refinery as it has pivoted towards processing Canadian tar sands oil. In examining this 're-industrialization', the article contributes to an ongoing discussion about the relationship between fossil fuels, limits to capitalism, and the importance of frontiers in resolving capitalist crises. The first empirical section of the article looks at the early history of the Calumet's development as a hub for fossil fuel distribution and refining and, drawing from Moore's 'world-ecology framework', demonstrates the ways in the appropriation of unpaid work/energy - in particular the appropriation of the wetlands that make up the southern tip of Lake Michigan - serves as the underappreciated condition of possibility for the BP Whiting refinery's existence. Today, this combination of productivity and plunder continues in the region, illustrating urban metabolisms that are not confined to the city. In the second empirical section of the article, I argue that despite predictions of crises arising from declining ecological surpluses, in Calumet today, BP is finding new frontiers of surplus value production, both in the form of producing petcoke and in continued geographic expansion in the region. As a way of understanding the persistence and adaptive capacity of capital, even in degraded landscapes like Calumet, I consider Johnson's concept of 'accumulation by degradation' as an excellent tool for understanding dynamics in the region. The production of both petcoke and pollution – undesirable from a social and ecological perspective – sustain BP's industrial colonialism in the region because they ensure weakened competition and below market rents that allow for expansion and place-based longevity. Cet article traite de la façon dont le boom énergétique nord-américain modifie les environnements et les moyens de subsistance dans les Grands Lacs, en particulier l’agrandissement de la raffinerie de pétrole de BP dans la région de Chicago, car elle a permis de transformer le pétrole canadien en sables bitumineux. En examinant un processus de "réindustrialisation", l'article contribue au débat en cours sur la relation entre les combustibles fossiles, les limites du capitalisme et l'importance des frontières dans la résolution des crises capitalistes. La première section empirique de l'article examine les débuts du rôle du Calumet dans la distribution et le raffinage des combustibles fossiles. Il s'inspire du "cadre d'écologie mondiale" de Moore et montre comment le travail non rémunéré et l'énergie est approprié, en particulier les zones humides qui constituent la pointe sud du lac Michigan. L'existence de la raffinerie BP Whiting repose sur des conditions sous-estimées. Aujourd'hui, cette combinaison de productivité et de pillage se poursuit dans la région, illustrant des métabolismes urbains qui ne se limitent pas à la ville. Dans la deuxième section empirique, je soutiens que, malgré les prévisions de crises découlant de la diminution des excédents écologiques, aujourd'hui à Calumet, BP trouve de nouvelles frontières en matière de production de plus-value. Ceux-ci produisent du coke de pétrole et développent leurs activités dans la région. Pour comprendre la persistance et la capacité d'adaptation du capital, même dans des paysages dégradés comme Calumet, je considère le concept de «l'accumulation par dégradation» de Johnson comme un excellent outil pour comprendre la dynamique de la région. La production à la fois de coke de pétrole et de pollution - indésirable d'un point de vue social et écologique - soutient le colonialisme industriel de BP dans la région, car elle garantit une concurrence commerciale affaiblie et des loyers inférieurs à la valeur du marché, permettant l'expansion et la longévité des activités de l'entreprise. Este artículo se enfoca en las formas en que el auge energético está renovando entornos ambientales y medios de subsistencia en los Grandes Lagos, apuntando en particular a la expansión de la refinería de BP en el área de Chicago y su giro hacia el procesamiento de petróleo a partir de arenas bituminosas canadienses. Al examinar esta "reindustrialización", el artículo contribuye a la actual discusión sobre la relación entre los combustibles fósiles, los límites del capitalismo, y la importancia de las fronteras en la resolución de crisis capitalistas. La primera sección empírica del artículo mira a la historia temprana del desarrollo de Calumet como eje para la distribución y refinación de combustibles fósiles y, a partir del "marco de la ecología-mundo" de Moore, se demuestran las maneras en que la apropiación de trabajo/energía sin remuneración - en particular la apropiación de los humedales que conforman el extremo sur del Lago Michigan - sirve como una condición subestimada de posibilidad para la existencia de la refinería BP Whiting. Hoy, esta combinación de productividad y saqueo continúa en la región, ilustrando metabolismos urbanos que no están confinados a la ciudad. En la segunda sección empírica del artículo, argumento que a pesar de las predicciones de las crisis que surgen por el declive de los excedentes ecológicos, hoy en Calumet, BP encuentra nuevas fronteras de producción de plusvalía, tanto en la forma de producir coque de petróleo, como en la continua expansión geográfica en la región. A manera de entender la persistencia y capacidad adaptativa del capital, incluso en paisajes degradados como Calumet, considero que el concepto de Johnson de "acumulación por degradación" es una excelente herramienta para entender las dinámicas de la región. La producción de coque de petróleo y la contaminación - indeseables desde perspectivas social y ecológica - mantiene el colonialismo industrial de BP en la región ya que aseguran una competencia debilitada y rentas por debajo del mercado para permitir la expansión y longevidad en el lugar.
Journal of Political Ecology, 2019
This article focuses in on the ways in which the North American energy boom is reworking environments and livelihoods in the Great Lakes, focusing in particular on the expansion of BP's Chicago-area refinery as it has pivoted towards processing Canadian tar sands oil. In examining this 're-industrialization', the article contributes to an ongoing discussion about the relationship between fossil fuels, limits to capitalism, and the importance of frontiers in resolving capitalist crises. The first empirical section of the article looks at the early history of the Calumet's development as a hub for fossil fuel distribution and refining and, drawing from Moore's 'world-ecology framework', demonstrates the ways in the appropriation of unpaid work/energy - in particular the appropriation of the wetlands that make up the southern tip of Lake Michigan - serves as the underappreciated condition of possibility for the BP Whiting refinery's existence. Today, this combination of productivity and plunder continues in the region, illustrating urban metabolisms that are not confined to the city. In the second empirical section of the article, I argue that despite predictions of crises arising from declining ecological surpluses, in Calumet today, BP is finding new frontiers of surplus value production, both in the form of producing petcoke and in continued geographic expansion in the region. As a way of understanding the persistence and adaptive capacity of capital, even in degraded landscapes like Calumet, I consider Johnson's concept of 'accumulation by degradation' as an excellent tool for understanding dynamics in the region. The production of both petcoke and pollution – undesirable from a social and ecological perspective – sustain BP's industrial colonialism in the region because they ensure weakened competition and below market rents that allow for expansion and place-based longevity.
Industrial Vestiges: Legacies of Ancillary Impacts of Resource Development
Historical Archaeology, 2023
This article offers a different way to understand the heritage of extractive industries by exploring the material afterlives of what has been termed the “ancillary impacts of resource development”—a variety of quarries, forest cuts, transportation corridors, and power lines that surround industrial operations, especially those created in areas distant from established industrial population centers. To study this, the article expands upon the concept of “vestige” to explore the landscapes around two single-industry mining towns in Kola Peninsula, Russia, and in Labrador, Canada, by specifically focusing on two abandoned quarries located in each. The results highlight the need to explore developments that trail behind industrial settlement of colonial hinterlands. By focusing specifically on the afterlives of such developments, the article demonstrates how chronological and geographical boundaries of resource extraction are blurred over time, creating a deep, unruly, self-perpetuating set of legacies.
Journal of World-Systems Research, 2020
No copper, no Industrial Revolution. Although accountants listed it in the very last position in the table of “value added” per sector in 1831, the British copper industry was essential for the Industrial Revolution, the period of British hegemony over the world-economy. In this article, I use the figure-ground method proposed by Terence K. Hopkins to show that the copper industry played key roles in the ecological regime of the 1700-1840 period, due to its material properties and related historical contingencies and cultural valuations. By focusing in on particular production processes, historical contingencies, and cultural phenomena in which copper played an important and unique role, and then zooming out again to the world-economy as a whole, I show that an Industrial Revolution would not have happened without copper. From sugar production in the Caribbean to textile printing, from the slave trade to the Battle of Saintes, from the development of the steam engine to gin and rum production, from the telegraph to buckles and buttons, copper was conspicuous. This demonstrates the ecological regime of the period, in which the removal of a single commodity from the picture—i.e., copper—disrupts the whole constellation of relations. This study also shows that a “copper boom” immediately before and at the start of the Industrial Revolution (~1700-1800), instrumental in the British struggle against France for the hegemony over the world-economy, has been overlooked in the literature. Additionally, the article includes a reflection on method.
2017_Political-Industrial Ecology - An Introduction.pdf
It is a largely normative project that seeks to quantify and dematerialize the resource stocks and flows of industrial ecosystems, product life cycles, and societal metabolisms. To systematically dissect production-consumption processes across cradle-to-grave phases (e.g. extraction, manufacturing, use, reuse), industrial ecology deploys material flow analysis, life cycle assessment, environmental input-output modeling, amongst other methods, and has cultivated more abstract principles and practices such as industrial symbiosis and socio-economic metabolism. As the field has matured, industrial ecology has branched out by becoming more heterogeneous, not only in terms of topical foci and methodology, but also in terms of how it understands the material basis of societal transitions (cf. Vienna School of Social Ecology;. Nevertheless, the overwhelming focus of industrial ecology is on the material rather than social dimensions of resource use.
Natural Capitalism-The Next Industrial Revolution
Natural Capitalism as an idea and thesis for a book emerged in 1994, the year after the publication of The Ecology of Commerce. After meeting with and speaking to different business, government, and academic institutions in the aftermath of the book's publication, it became clear to Hawken that industry and government needed an overall biological and social framework within which the transformation of commerce could be accomplished and practiced. To that end, articles and papers were written that became the basis of a book about natural capitalism. A key element of this theory was the idea that the economy was shifting from an emphasis on human productivity to a radical increase in resource productivity. This shift would provide more meaningful family-wage jobs, a better worldwide standard of living to those in need, and a dramatic reduction of humankind's impact upon the environment. So while the context for Natural Capitalism existed in a theoretical framework, the exposition did not.