Green and climate colonialities: Evidence from Arctic extractivisms

Abstract

This article examines 16 environmental conflicts across the Arctic that demonstrate resistance to both climate and green extractive colonialisms. Resistance movements counter green-labelled developments, such as a 350 km road project in Ambler (Alaska) needed for copper extraction; large-scale wind power industries on Sámi territories; palladium and platinum mega-projects on Dolgan, Evenks, and Sámi lands in the Russian North; as well as the biggest natural gas project in the world on the Yamalo-Nenets peninsula, promoted as "the cleanest" of all fossil fuels. The article contributes to the field of political ecology by arguing that past colonial ties mediated by fossil fuels are inextricably linked to the increase of green extractivism and climate colonialism in the Arctic, both of which are embedded in socio-ecological crises that deepen colonial relations. In most places these crises drive new extractivisms, but in others, they function as possible barriers, increasing risks and costs of extraction while not reducing the will to pursue extractivist endeavors. 

Keywords

• Green extractivism
• Arctic
• Environmental conflicts
• climate colonialism