Final Exam Prep (Class 23-31) Flashcards
(41 cards)
avg annual energy
late-Palaeolithic foragers = 5 GJ/person, 2019: 80 GJ/cap
Pre paris baseline, STEPS, APS, NZE
Pre-paris baseline = where we’re headed b4 the paris agreement, STEPS = predictions w/ gov policies that already exist, APS = aspirational targets announced by gov, NZE = necessary to achieve 1.5 degree stabilization + access to sustainable energy universally TLDR: decarbonization (decline in fossil fuel usage) is necessary
% of energy production in fossil fuels
80% of all energy production is still from fossil fuels 2/3 of increased energy demand is met by fossil fuels
BC Energy production
electricity in BC: 80% Peace + Columbia, 4% Van island, 10% coast region
BC Hydro
BC Hydro: crown corp mix between gov org and business (owned by gov) built after private corps failed to build large dams in 1960s
environmental justice + example
social movement/concept concerned w/ distribution of environmental benefits and burdens + access to resources, decision making processes and policy outcomes for diff social groups
> enviro justice example: e.g. wealthy areas – more green spaces + better nutrition options, poorer areas = pollution + hazardous waste + worse nutrition options
sacrifice zones
places/people whose wellbeing are permanently impaired as a result of extractive/polluting activities + profit accrues elsewhere for others part of larger pattern of extractivism
energy sacrifice zones
areas that bear disproportionate burdens of energy development in terms of health + enviro impacts to serve larger demands for energy (sacrifice few for more)
green energy sacrifice zones
same as energy sacrifice zones but for more environmentally friendly energy
view on dams + why they came back
process points, cornerstones for development after WWII
thought to be a sunset sector but was brought back due to climate change
Tsay Keh Dene territory and negotiations on Bennett Dam
: unceded, ongoing negotiations Bennett dam was viewed as centerpiece and necessary for industrial development of the province as well as green energy Premier at the time had a vision for the kind of people he saw that would be supported by the dam, modernist visions flattened/simplified the place and people that lived there into megawatt hours and flows of energy, capital and power
What does NorthEastern BC tell us
LNG req. renewable energy for its operations, so old and new energy are layering on one another, not replacing
idea of “resources”
idea of resources is a colonial construction that creates colonialscapes that displace indigenous ways of life
> > history of Canada is that Indigenous have always stood in the between resources and profit
> > idea of resources made it so indigenous were essentially living on the best lands, waters and sources of mineral wealth
What does the idea of resources tell us about Indigenous energy transition vs global north and privileged energy transition
> > energy transitions are restrained (for indigenous) or made possible (for global North) through past relations forged through colonialism, which is still ongoing (environmental racism, uneven benefits/costs, etc.)
Navajo nation example
Navajo nation: excavation + blasting + smoke have ruined/killed vegetation in the area everyone was able to gain jobs but they develop health problems were forced to buy the mine after the company who owned it wanted to shut it down b/c their livelihoods were tied to it Black mesa = opened for mining but required so much water for the coal slurry that the river dried up
environmental racism
practices/policies/laws through which the environmental burdens and benefits are unequally distributed disproportionate effects on racialized and indigenous peoples
green colonialism
if renewable projects remain in the same structural ways of thinking as fossil fuels, it stands to continue the imperial and racialized problems that come with fossil fuels similar inequalities created by fossil fuels will be recreated with green energies
Salar de Uyuni salt flats
worlds largest deposit of lithium, mayor believes it will everyone will benefit – local economy gets share of profits + say in development of projects = very little local opposition, the opposition came from other areas of Bolivia where people thought it was a bad idea widespread demonstrations against it
»local doubts: germans don’t have the tech or finances for 70 yr contract, involving foreign companies is political, requires lots of water
Atacama Desert (Chile)
found in brine just below Andes region, surface water scarce but the brine is pumped and dried to slag
»local residents oppose this operation b/c depleting local reservoirs + rivers running low, some completely dry due to climate change but mostly mining = locals can’t grow crops, threatens ecosystems (flamingos), land belongs to indigenous, SQM (company) not taking locals concerns seriously
Lithium mining in argentina
lithium mining contaminates the water, the mining poses threat to the tourism in the area Clemente Flores: water supply concerns, building of new facilities already, locals ignored, ruination of local ecosystem
extraction
removal of matter from nature and transformation into things useful to humans (not inherently damaging, but often is)
> > w/o extractivism: locally controlled, conditions are balanced, smaller scale development, benefits flow more equally
not inherently against extraction, but want to change the terms upon which extraction takes place
deeply tied up in geopolitics gove shapes markets of supply and demand
extractivism
mode of accumulation based on hyper-extraction with lopsided benefits/costs benefits accumulate far from sites of production where the costs are burdened on few
green extractivism
similar patterns of lopsided cost/benefit but for “green” or transition project (dams, solar, etc.)
racialized
> racialized: reflects that races are socially constructed hierarchies, not essential to skin colour
> > hierarchies are distinctions that are not made but socially constructed as part of power relations
