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The Northward Course of the Anthropocene

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The Northward Course of the Anthropocene Eric Paglia in a Time of Environmental Crisis and Telecoupling Transformation, Temporality COURSE OF THE ANTHROPOCENE THE NORTHWARD (Continued from front fl ap) the fi elds of environmental history, crisis THE NORTHWARD COURSE management and security studies, political geography, and science and technology studies (STS). The primary areas of empirical OF THE ANTHROPOCENE analysis and theoretical investigation encompass constructivist perspectives and temporal conceptions of environmental and climate crisis; the role of science and expertise in performing politics and shaping Transformation, Temporality social discourse; the geopolitical signifi cance of telecoupling—a concept that refl ects the and Telecoupling in a Time interconnectedness of the Anthropocene and supports stakeholder claims across wide of Environmental Crisis spatial scales; and implications of the recent transformation in humankind’s long duration relationship with the natural world. Several dissertation themes were observed in practice at the international science community of Ny- Ålesund on Svalbard, where global change is made visible through a concentration of scientifi c activity. Ny-Ålesund is furthermore a place of geopolitics, where extra-regional he Arctic—warming at twice the states attempt to enhance their legitimacy as rate of the rest of the planet—is a Arctic stakeholders through the performance of source of striking imagery of amplifi ed scientifi c research undertakings, participation Tenvironmental change in our time, and has in governance institutions, and by establishing come to serve as a spatial setting for climate a physical presence in the Far North. This crisis discourse. The recent alterations in the dissertation concludes that this small and Arctic environment have also been perceived remote community represents an Anthropocene by some observers as an opportunity to expand node of global environmental change, Earth economic exploitation. Heightened geopolitical system science, emergent global governance, interest in the region and its resources, geopolitics, and stakeholder construction in an contradicted by calls for the protection of increasingly telecoupled world. fragile Far North ecosystems, has rendered the Arctic an arena for negotiating human interactions with nature, and for refl ecting upon the planetary risks and possibilities associated with the advent and expansion of the Anthropocene—the proposed new epoch in Earth history in which humankind is said to have gained geological agency and become the dominant force over the Earth system. With the Arctic serving as a nexus of crosscutting analytical themes spanning contemporary history (the late twentieth and the early twenty-fi rst century until ERIC PAGLIA is a historian at the Division 2015) , this dissertation examines defi ning of History of Science, Technology and characteristics of the Anthropocene and how Environment at KTH Royal Institute of the concept, which emerged from the Earth Technology, and a senior analyst at CRISMART system science community, impacts ideas and at the Swedish Defence University. He is also assumptions in historiography, social sciences ISSN 0349-2842 host of the environmental radio program and Eric Paglia and the environmental humanities, including podcast ThinkGloballyRadio.org. This is his ISBN 978-91-7595-809-5 (Continued on back fl ap) doctoral thesis. , , 2016 The Northward Course of the Anthropocene The Northward Course of the Anthropocene Transformation, Temporality and Telecoupling in a Time of Environmental Crisis ERIC PAGLIA TRITAHOT ISSN ISBN KTH www.kth.se The Northward Course of the Anthropocene Transformation, Temporality and Telecoupling in a Time of Environmental Crisis Eric Paglia Doctoral thesis in History of Science, Technology and Environment Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden CRISMART at the Swedish Defence University Stockholm 2016 The Northward Course of the Anthropocene: Transformation, Temporality and Telecoupling in a Time of Environmental Crisis © Eric Paglia 2016 Stockholm Papers in the History and Philosophy of Technology TRITA-HOT 2071 CRISMART Volume 45 ISSN 0349-2842 ISBN 978-91-7595-809-5 Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment Department of Philosophy and History School of Architecture and the Built Environment KTH Royal Institute of Technology SE- 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden CRISMART—Crisis Management Research and Training Swedish Defence University Box 27805, 115 93 Stockholm, Sweden Parallel to its publication as a KTH doctoral thesis, The Northward Course of the Anthropocene: Transformation, Temporality and Telecoupling in a Time of Environmental Crisis is catalogued as Volume 45 in the publication series of CRISMART at the Swedish Defence University, which co-funded the author’s PhD. research at the Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Front cover: Steam locomotive and coal transport train that served the Kings Bay Kull Compani mine in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard (photo: Eric Paglia, 2013) Back cover: Stazione Arctica Dirigibile Italia (right foreground) and AWIPEV Atmospheric Observatory (left with laser), Ny-Ålesund (photo: Vittorio Tulli, 2015. Courtesy of Stazione Arctica Dirigibile Italia) Front flap: Amundsen-Nobile Climate Change Tower, Ny-Ålesund (photo: Eric Paglia) Dust jacket design: Daniel Brockman Abstract The Arctic—warming at twice the rate of the rest of the planet—is a source of striking imagery of amplified environmental change in our time, and has come to serve as a spatial setting for climate crisis discourse. The recent alterations in the Arctic environment have also been perceived by some observers as an opportunity to expand economic exploitation. Heightened geopolitical interest in the region and its resources, contradicted by calls for the protection of fragile Far North ecosystems, has rendered the Arctic an arena for negotiating human interactions with nature, and for reflecting upon the planetary risks and possibilities associated with the advent and expansion of the Anthropocene—the proposed new epoch in Earth history in which humankind is said to have gained geological agency and become the dominant force over the Earth system. With the Arctic serving as a nexus of crosscutting analytical themes spanning contemporary history (the late twentieth and the early twenty-first century until 2015), this dissertation examines defining characteristics of the Anthropocene and how the concept, which emerged from the Earth system science community, impacts ideas and assumptions in historiography, social sciences and the environmental humanities, including the fields of environmental history, crisis management and security studies, political geography, and science and technology studies (STS). The primary areas of empirical analysis and theoretical investigation encompass constructivist perspectives and temporal conceptions of environmental and climate crisis; the role of science and expertise in performing politics and shaping social discourse; the geopolitical significance of telecoupling—a concept that reflects the interconnectedness of the Anthropocene and supports stakeholder claims across wide spatial scales; and implications of the recent transformation in humankind’s long duration relationship with the natural world. Several dissertation themes were observed in practice at the international science community of Ny-Ålesund on Svalbard, where global change is made visible through a concentration of scientific activity. Ny-Ålesund is furthermore a place of geopolitics, where extra-regional states attempt to enhance their legitimacy as Arctic stakeholders through the performance of scientific research undertakings, participation in governance institutions, and by establishing a physical presence in the Far North. This dissertation concludes that this small and remote community represents an Anthropocene node of global environmental change, Earth system science, emergent global governance, geopolitics, and stakeholder construction in an increasingly telecoupled world. Keywords: Anthropocene, Arctic, Fernand Braudel, environmental and climate crisis, environmental history, expertise, polar geopolitics, securitization, Svalbard, telecoupling. Sammanfattning Klimatförändringen går dubbelt så snabbt i Arktis som på resten av planeten vilket i sin tur förstärker miljöförändringarna i regionen. Dessa förändringar gör att Arktis blivit en viktig gravitationspunkt för den globala diskussionen kring klimatkrisen. Den senaste tidens förändringar i den arktiska miljön har också av flera aktörer uppfattats som en möjlighet att öka utnyttjandet av regionens naturresurser. De geopolitiska intressena i regionen och dess resurser bemöts å andra sidan av krav för att skydda de känsliga arktiska ekosystemen. Arktis framstår på detta sätt som en plats där mänsklighetens förhållande till naturen ställs på sin spets, och där det just nu pågår en ovanligt intensiv reflektion kring planetära risker och möjligheter i den epok som kallats antropocen. Antropocen har föreslagits som en ny epok i jordens historia, där mänskligheten sägs ha blivit den dominerande kraften som inverkar på jordsystemet som helhet. Arktis fungerar också som en geografisk samlingspunkt för denna avhandlings övergripande analytiska teman. Avhandlingen undersöker i ett samtidshistoriskt perspektiv (det sena 1900- och det tidiga 2000-talet fram till 2015) hur antropocen-begreppet,
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