Event

Faced with increasing competition from cheaper alternatives and growing concern about carbon emissions, coal energy generation is in decline. Across the United States, communities that host coal-fired power plants and coal extraction are wrestling with what this will mean for their communities, fearing job losses, a reduction in tax revenue, and an associated rollback of local services. In Montana, much attention has been paid to the community of Colstrip, home of one of the western United States’ largest coal-fired power plants. But comparatively less attention has been paid to the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, whose reservation lies a mere 20 miles away—the Tribe has estimated that 1 in 5 of its members would lose employment should the plant permanently close (Turner, 2022). As the coal industry continues its decline as part of the broader energy transition, it is critical to assess what this means for coal-dependent tribal nations like the Northern Cheyenne and how tribal members are making sense of these trends. Taking the Northern Cheyenne Tribe as a case study, this paper (1) examines how the Northern Cheyenne interact with coal extraction and its economic and socio-ecological impacts and (2) investigates how the Northern Cheyenne understand the energy transition and their place in it. The first objective aims to understand the multiple, diverse perspectives Northern Cheyenne tribal members have towards coal extraction and their experiences with it. As Curley (2019) has documented on the Navajo Nation, tribal perspectives towards resource extraction are not monolithic—understandings of coal may reflect ideas of dependency, colonization, or a means to a dignified life. Teasing apart these multiple, often conflicting perspectives and experiences provides a more nuanced understanding of energy politics within the Northern Cheyenne Tribe and natural resource-dependent tribal nations more broadly. The second objective focuses on what are likely to be equally diverse ideas about how Northern Cheyenne will adapt in the face of coal's decline. With the recent closure of two of the four generating units at the Colstrip power plant, there has been a growing discussions about how Colstrip, Rosebud County, and the State of Montana will pivot to fill the economic void left by coal (Roemer and Haggerty, 2022). This objective zeroes in on the perspectives of the Northern Cheyenne and how tribal members articulate their visions for a post-coal future and their community's place in it, thereby extending this discussion about energy transition to Montana's Native communities. Taken together, this paper aims to shed light on the ways Indigenous people are navigating the volatile realities of resource extraction and the shifting economics of energy production.

Keywords: coal, energy transition, indigenous geography, resource geography.

The communitarian revolutionary subject is a collective agent guiding the transformation of their indigenous and peasant communities throughout the Global South to create post-capitalist societies. These communities are demonstrating an ability to govern themselves autonomously, promoting solidarity among members, strengthening their productive systems and reinforcing their cultural heritage, including their traditions, and cosmogonies to defend and conserve their territories. In the process they are constructing regional and international alliances with like-minded peoples to create alternative models of social, political, productive and environmental organization that offer realistic approaches to confront the multiple crises occasioned by the dominant world system. These diverse experiences and experiments are grounded in a commitment to full, meaningful participation by each community member in collective decision-making regarding all aspects of social and environmental reproduction. This implies a far deeper transformation than a shift in energy sources, to a complete reorientation to how, why, where, and by whom energy is produced, distributed, exchanged, and consumed. In this sense, the demands for territorial and collective autonomy of the communitarian revolutionary subject elevates the struggle for self-determination to the forefront of the Anthropocene crisis and points towards substantive equality and democracy in all areas as the pivotal issue of social transformation.

Key Words: Communitarian Revolutionary Subject; energy transformation; social justice; democracy

Mitigation and adaptation discourses promote recovery and development pathways in which significant infrastructural changes and transi7onal efforts are suggested to face disasters, reduce vulnerabilities, and build resilience. However, these discourses are oGen shaped by colonial legacies that deepen pre-existing vulnerabilities and create the conditions for major disasters. Consequently, mulple debates have taken place about disaster experiences and the best ways to enable changes toward just and sustainable futures. Drawing on preliminary research findings from one year of fieldwork research, in which document reviews, participant observations, and semi-structured interviews were conducted, this paper reflects on the relationship between colonialism, development, and justice in the case study of Puerto Rico. This colonial territory has experienticed a series of major disasters in recent years following hurricanes Irma (2017), Maria (2017), and Fiona (2022), in which access to energy has been a critical aspect that determines the level of exposure and quality of life for many people in vulnerable conditions. Although the government has produced multiple plans and assigned funds for disaster recovery and transitions toward renewable energy, the shiG has yet to occur, and power outages continue to create a sense of unavoidable vulnerability. By using a decolonial environmental justice approach, this paper examines diverse community autogestión efforts throughout the archipelago that push beyond energy transitions to foster energy transformations towards livable futures. These self-governance efforts represent a pluriverse of initiatives and aspirations within the archipelago that aim to address root causes of disasters, contrast with governmental ideas of development and resilience, and shed light on collective processes of resisting and re-existing at multiple scales. This paper will contribute to the discussion about energy transitions by exploring how place-based territorial perspectives and community-led practices can enrich international discussions, prevent the reproduction of certain risks, and advance understanding and practice from the margins rather than the center. Keywords: Energy transitions; Just transformations; Autogestión

Keywords: assemblage theory; geothermal; energy materiality; environmental conflicts; energy justice


Geothermal energy is receiving increasing attention as a renewable source of flexible baseload electrical capacity or heat in countries both in the global south and north. One of the prime examples is the geothermal energy boom in Turkey since the 2010s which has catapulted the country to the fourth largest producer of geothermal electricity in the world. This rapid growth was enabled by an uncanny convergence of locally grounded geological factors, international climate finance, rapid liberalization of the energy market and the appeal of generous feed-in-tariffs, while societal and spatial consequences were largely neglected. This research uses assemblage thinking to explore the plural social, material, and political actors and processes surrounding geothermal energy in Turkey, to provide insights in the promises, pitfalls and spatialization of geothermal energy as part of a just and inclusive decarbonization strategy. Using Q-methodology, we explored the plurality of viewpoints among a variety of stakeholders (n=21) involved in or affected by geothermal energy in the agriculturally fertile Aydin region of Western Turkey. Empirical results demonstrate a highly polarized debate with four major coexisting discourse coalitions that have widely different perceptions of the assemblages of social, material and political actors and processes surrounding geothermal energy in Turkey. However, in this polarized debate there appears to be consensus on a number of issues, such as the need for strict socio-ecological impact assessments independent of the size or phase of projects, improved and continuous community engagement and fair allocation of benefits, as well as the need for area-specific planning in geothermal energy development. A just, democratic and inclusive energy transition needs to take into account the plurality of perspectives including but not limited to control over and access to subterranean renewable energy resources. By going beyond social acceptance debate in geothermal, our study shows how attention to multiple and overlapping subjectivities can help find transformative perspectives in highly polarized energy debates.

Palabras clave: minería, litio, conflictos socio ambientales, transición energética, ecología política.

Resumen: La transición energética hacia fuentes de energía renovable impulsada desde el Norte Global, aumenta fuertemente la demanda de minerales y metales como el litio, el cual es un componente fundamental en la fabricación de baterías para vehículos eléctricos y sistemas de almacenamiento de energía renovable. Sin embargo, esta transición es impulsada por una lógica extractivista y capitalista que reproduce desigualdades y continúa profundizando la dependencia de los países del Sur Global de la exportación de materias primas. Al mismo tiempo, los negativos ambientales se mantienen básicamente en las zonas de extracción.
Argentina es uno de los principales productores mundiales de litio, con vastas reservas del mineral en la región de la Puna, en el noroeste del país. A pesar de los beneficios económicos que la extracción de litio puede generar, también plantea desafíos y preocupaciones relacionados con el impacto ambiental y social de la actividad minera. El proceso de extracción de litio consume grandes cantidades de agua, lo que puede tener efectos negativos en los ecosistemas locales y en las comunidades cercanas a las minas.
Además, la extracción de litio en Argentina se ha llevado a cabo históricamente a expensas de las comunidades locales y de los derechos de los pueblos originarios. La actividad minera ha provocado la degradación de los territorios indígenas y ha afectado los sistemas de vida y las prácticas culturales de las comunidades locales. El uso de recursos, principalmente del agua, compite con actividades tradicionales de la región – ganadería extensiva, minería artesanal – y con el creciente turismo en la región. Al mismo tiempo, surgen conflictos entre comunidades indígenas con posiciones diferentes ante la minería y hacia adentro de las comunidades.
En cuanto a la transición energética, la Argentina se alinea con el discurso dominante global y se ha fijado el objetivo del obtener el 20% de su energía de fuentes renovables para 2025 por medio de la implementación de programas de promoción. Sin embargo, el país todavía sigue siendo altamente dependiente de los combustibles fósiles y favorece la fractura hidráulica – principalmente en el yacimiento Vaca Muerta – y a la producción de carbón para la producción de energía – en Río Turbio. Algunas experiencias puntuales para el aprovechamiento de energía solar y eólica no pasan de tener aún un valor marginal en la matriz energética del país.
El gobierno argentino no tiene una política estratégica frente al litio, sino que más bien está regida por las lógicas del mercado, con competencia entre las empresas y las provincias para asegurarse el acceso y los recursos y la rápida venta, sin generación de valor en la región. La transición energética en la Argentina no va acompañada de un enfoque decolonial que cuestione la lógica extractivista y capitalista que rige la explotación de recursos naturales en los países del Sur Global. En lugar de perpetuar la dependencia de la exportación de materias primas, la transición energética podría ser una oportunidad para la construcción de modelos alternativos al desarrollo, con justicia ambiental, y que prioricen las necesidades y derechos de las comunidades locales y de los pueblos originarios.

El hidrógeno verde (GH) está en todas partes. La urgencia de encontrar una vía clara de descarbonización ha impulsado a este recurso a convertirse en la energía del futuro. Sin embargo, a pesar de todos sus beneficios, la brecha entre inversión y potencial sigue siendo grande. Este artículo adopta un enfoque de geografía crítica de los recursos para explicar esta brecha, examinando el caso de Chile, utilizando las lentes analíticas que ofrece la intersección de la tríada especulación-fricción-transición, para argumentar que la materialidad de la economía del hidrógeno está en el centro de esta brecha, más concretamente, la contradicción en los discursos de transición que apuntan a un futuro de carbono neto cero y la imposibilidad material del impacto cero sigue siendo el obstáculo sin resolver en este camino. Desde la geografía de los recursos críticos, este artículo busca identificar otros futuros alternativos más allá de las falsas soluciones como el hidrógeno que pretenden sostener los imaginarios desarrollistas y la modernidad capitalista.