A Spectrum of Possibilities: An Eco-Social Analysis of Renewable Energy Transformation in Regional Australia
- Publication Type:
- Thesis
- Issue Date:
- 2022
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The climate crisis necessitates the (now) rapid decarbonisation of global industries and societies. With fossil fuels as the core culprit of carbon emissions, their renewable energy counterparts such as solar, wind and wave energy are vital to
the decarbonisation project. The eco-social relations driving transformation of our energy system from fossil fuels to renewable energy can be understood along a spectrum of possibilities. These possibilities range from green capitalist, ecomodernist techno-utopias to Indigenous, ecofeminist (re)commoning futures, and many other possibilities in between. This thesis situates these possibilities within nascent transitions to renewable energy in the rural regions of New England and the Northern Rivers in New South Wales, Australia. Through a multi-sited ethnographic exploration of centralised, corporate renewable energy projects and decentralised, community projects, this thesis examines the possibilities articulated, futures envisioned and challenges encountered by different models of energy transitions. Drawing predominantly on Marxist theories of alienation and materialist ecofeminist theories of de-alienation, this thesis argues that our eco-social relations must also be transformed alongside our energy system if we are to address humanity’s alienation from nature, and from one another, that has led us to the climate crisis.
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