Nicholas Mercer , Debbie Martin , Bryn Wood , Amy Hudson , Aimee Battcock , Tristan Atkins , Krista Oxford
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Nation states globally have signaled a rapid pursuit of net-zero emissions and transition to a low carbon economy. The country Canada is a part of this discourse and already has a largely decarbonized electricity grid, which is expected to grow substantially in the coming decades. Despite these ‘on-grid’ successes, remote, northern, and off-grid communities in Canada, most of which identify as Indigenous, remain almost wholly dependent on diesel fuel for space-heating and power generation. The agenda to transition remote communities off diesel-power is often driven by non-Indigenous outsiders, and seldom centers Indigenous knowledge, rights, or ways of being, potentially resulting in adverse socio-economic and ecological impacts and novel forms of ‘green’ colonialism. The current study is a participatory research partnership, between several university-based researchers, as well as representatives of the NunatuKavut Community Council – the rights-based governing body who represent Inuit across nine diesel-dependent communities in southern Labrador. The case-study research uses key informant interviews (n = 14) and a community member survey (n = 34) to assess how existing clean energy initiatives (policies, plans, programs, projects, etc.) in NunatuKavut have respected principles of energy justice. We discover and build upon several categories of distributional, procedural, and recognition injustice. Recognizing the potential harm of injustice discourses, we call on energy researchers to more meaningfully integrate strength-based approaches which focus on Indigenous resistance and response to energy domination. Finally, based on our results, we develop two novel schematics to help further understand distributive and procedural justice in the context of Indigenous energy governance.
期刊介绍:
Energy Research & Social Science (ERSS) is a peer-reviewed international journal that publishes original research and review articles examining the relationship between energy systems and society. ERSS covers a range of topics revolving around the intersection of energy technologies, fuels, and resources on one side and social processes and influences - including communities of energy users, people affected by energy production, social institutions, customs, traditions, behaviors, and policies - on the other. Put another way, ERSS investigates the social system surrounding energy technology and hardware. ERSS is relevant for energy practitioners, researchers interested in the social aspects of energy production or use, and policymakers.
Energy Research & Social Science (ERSS) provides an interdisciplinary forum to discuss how social and technical issues related to energy production and consumption interact. Energy production, distribution, and consumption all have both technical and human components, and the latter involves the human causes and consequences of energy-related activities and processes as well as social structures that shape how people interact with energy systems. Energy analysis, therefore, needs to look beyond the dimensions of technology and economics to include these social and human elements.