For decades, a post-Cold War narrative heralded a 'new Arctic', with melting ice and snow and accessible resources that would build sustainable communities. Today, large parts of the Arctic are still trapped in the path dependencies of past resource extraction. At the same time, the impetus for green transitions and a 'new industrialism' spell opportunities to shift the development model and build new futures for Arctic residents and Indigenous peoples. This book examines the growing Arctic resource dilemma. It explores the 'new extractivist paradigm' that posits transitioning the region's long-standing role of delivering minerals, fossil energy, and marine resources to one providing rare earth elements, renewable power, wilderness tourism, and scientific knowledge about climate change. With chapters from a global, interdisciplinary team of researchers, new opportunities and their implications for Arctic communities and landscapes are discussed, alongside the pressures and uncertainties in a region under geopolitical and environmental stress.
Author(s): Sverker Sörlin
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 305
City: Cambridge
Cover
Half-title
Title page
Copyright information
Contents
List of Figures
Notes on Contributors
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 The Extractivist Paradigm: Arctic Resources and the Planetary Mine
Arctic Extractivism
Anthropocene: Overheating, Terraforming, Undermining
Planetary Mining
The Extractivist Paradigm
The Arctic Extractivist Trajectory
Arctic Hyper-Extractivism
A Window of Opportunity?
Can Path Dependencies Be Broken? Aims and Themes
The Book: A Brief Outline
Notes
References
I Extractivism
2 Patterns of Arctic Extractivism: Past and Present
Extractivism: A Framing Western Concept
The Material Impacts of Extractivism
Extractivism and European Arctic Colonialism
Debating Extractivism
Conclusion: Legacies and Trajectories of Extractivism
References
3 Extraction Cultures in Svalbard: From Mining Coal to Mining Knowledge and Memories
Extractive Cultures
The Extractive Boomtown
Extractivism in the Arctic
Extractive Cultures in Svalbard Softening
Conclusion
Notes
References
II Impact
4 Scenarios and Surprises: When Change Is the Only Given
Introduction
Exploratory Scenarios of Arctic Futures
Scenario Archetypes
Insights from Participatory Scenario Exercises
What If?
Discussion and Future Directions
Note
References
5 Cumulative Effects on Environment and People
Introduction: Multiple Pressures cause Cumulative Effects
Laevas: Impacts on Reindeer Herding
Kemijoki: Cumulative Effects and Salmon Fishing
Future Outlook: Will Pressures Continue to Increase?
Note
References
6 How Should Impacts Be Assessed?
Local Initiatives to Improve Impact Management
Cumulative Effects on Reindeer Herding
The Sodankylä Social Impact Management Plan
What Is at Stake?
Note
References
III Affect
7 Affective Approaches: Rethinking Emotions in Resource Extraction
What Counts as Facts?
The Emotional Approach: A Review
Working a Translocal Fieldwork Site
Narsaq, 9 February 2021: Public Consultation Meeting regarding the Kuannersuit Project
Organizing Affective Life at a Citizens' Meeting
Time and Legitimacy
The Disciplining of Voices
The Significance of the Affective in the Analysis of Mining
Notes
References
8 Extraordinary Underground: Fear, Fantasy, and Future Extraction
Introduction
Underground Worlds
Monumental and Extraordinary
Magic and Volatility
Conclusion
Note
References
IV Community
9 Remediating Mining Landscapes
Previous Research on Environmental Remediation
Sveagruva-Lunckefjell, Svalbard
The Environmental Remediation of Sveagruva-Lunckefjell
Nautanen, Norrbotten
Extracted Places with Contested Futures
Conclusions
References
Archival Materials
10 Heritage for the Future: Narrating Abandoned Mining Sites
Introduction: Making Heritage and History
Laver: The Rise and Fall
Laver: The Afterlife
Laver: The Re-birth
Hannukainen: The Rise and Fall of Mining
Hannukainen: The Rise of Nature-Based Tourism
Re-opening Hannukainen: Mobilizing the past
Conclusion: Narrating Extracted Places with Contested Futures
Notes
References
11 Mining Towns in Transition: Arctic Legacies
Steel and Mining Crises Hit the Arctic
Kiruna
Coping with Crisis: Using the Built Past in Kiruna
Post-extraction Future Visions during the Mining Boom
Schefferville
The Establishment of Schefferville The Creation of Schefferville
The Closure of Schefferville
Post-extraction Future Visions during the Mining Boom
Comparing and Concluding Discussion
Conclusions
Notes
References
Archive Materials
V Coda
12 Beyond Mining: Repair and Reconciliation
The Paradox of Distance
Shifting Scales and Future Commons
Colonial Dispossession
Evidentiary Practices in the Face of Loss and Disruption
Notes
References
13 Postscript: Extractivism after the ''New Arctic''
Path Dependency: The Extractivist Curse?
Sustainabilities: A Plural?
Entering the Extractivist Paradigm
Notes
References
Index
