Whose Energy Future? Whose Imagination? Revitalizing Sociological Theory in the Service of Human Survival^*

Abstract

Climate change threatens the future of all life on earth, but not for all of us in the same way or on the same time schedule. Indeed, climate change and the responses to it all too often exacerbate existing inequalities, further jeopardizing potential futures for many communities. From the struggles over energy extraction on Native lands in North Dakota, to the Klamath river in Oregon and California, communities are using climate change as opportunity to re-imagine energy futures, as well as to revitalize sociological theories in the service of our collective human survival.

Keywords:

• Climate change
• climate justice
• colonial violence
• environmental justice
• indigenous revitalization
• settler-colonialism
• sociological imagination