BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:On the birth – and possible death of – fossil capital. - Andre
 as Malm\, Lund University
DTSTART:20160301T170000Z
DTEND:20160301T184500Z
UID:TALK63156@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Pierre Bocquillon
DESCRIPTION:Fossil capital is the creation of profit by means of fossil en
 ergy. Or\, as the CEO of ExxonMobil recently put it: “My philosophy is t
 o make money. If I can drill and make money\, then that’s what I want to
  do.” For two centuries\, this credo has informed the actions of capital
 ists of all hues: if I can dig up fossil fuels or burn them and make money
 \, than that’s what I want to do – and après moi\, le deluge. As we a
 re now experiencing the early phases of that deluge\, we have reason to lo
 ok back and ask: how did fossil capital seize hold of this planet? This ta
 lk will focus on the birth of the phenomenon in the country of Britain in 
 the early nineteenth century. It will deal\, more precisely\, with the tra
 nsition from water to steam in British industry: the key moment when a fos
 sil fuel was first connected\, via a prime mover for impelling machines\, 
 to the production of commodities. Why did manufacturers abandon water and 
 pick up steam? While offering some answers to that question\, this talk wi
 ll pose some new questions on what could possibly be done today to achieve
  a complete shift to renewable energy and rid the earth of fossil capital.
 \n\nAndreas Malm teaches human ecology at Lund University\, Sweden. His wo
 rk has appeared in journals such as Environmental History\, Historical Mat
 erialism\, Antipode and Organization & Environment. He is the author\, of 
 Fossil Capital: The Rise of Steam Power and the Roots of Global Warming\, 
 and with Shora Esmailian\, of Iran on the Brink: Rising Workers and Threat
 s of War\, and of half a dozen books in Swedish on political economy\, the
  Middle East and climate change.\n\nhttp://www.versobooks.com/books/2002-f
 ossil-capital
LOCATION:Mill Lane Lecture Room 1
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR