The Problem
The Problem
Ending the Fossil Fuel Era means beginning a delegitimization, or reconceptualization and revalorization of fossil fuels or, to be precise, humans’ relations with fossil fuels. The authors argue for a shift from fossil fuels as a constructive substance. To do this, a pragmatic, realist politics of the 21st Century toward starting to stop is needed. In this chapter, the authors outline the biophysical, cultural, ethical, and material reasons why only mitigating the impacts of carbon, rather than going to its source in the ground is denying the real issues and opportunities for this and the next centuries. They challenge readers to use a politics of imaginative realism to undertake an urgent transition.
Keywords: Fossil Fuels, Politics of Urgent Transition, Overdevelopment, Deligitimization, Industrial Progressivism, Climate Change, Carbon, Material flow, Boom and Bust Mining, Exit Strategies
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