The speed of life and death: migrant fatalities, territorial boundaries, and energy consumption

Abstract

This article considers how migrant deaths – particularly in the borderlands of Europe and the United States – relate to the speed at which migrants travel. It argues that the most dangerous boundaries for migrants, and the most difficult ones to traverse, are those which embody the sharpest divides in energy consumption, divides reflected in the vulnerability of migrants who typically move at relatively slow speeds and have insufficient access to safe modes of travel. Thus, migrant deaths and the boundaries that produce them embody the injustices associated with grossly unequal levels of access to, control over, and consumption of environmental resources.

Keywords:

• Borders
• energy
• inequality
• migrant deaths
• mobility
• speed
• territory

Acknowledgments

I thank the anonymous reviewers, the journal editors, David Jansson and José Perillan for their constructive feedback on earlier versions of the manuscript. I also extend my gratitude to Stuart Belli, Benjamin Forest, David Hernández, Mark Hoffman, Serin Houston, and Patricia (‘Pam’) Martin for their suggestions for readings and insightful comments on public presentations related to this article – at Mount Holyoke College, Université de Montréal, and Vassar College – and to Richard Bryenton for assistance with editorial matters.

Notes

1. SENTRI, a US Customs and Border Protection program, stands for Secure Electronic Network for Travelers Rapid Inspection. See https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-programs/sentri.

2. Illich (1974, 16) does use the word ‘socialist’ once, however.

3. There is no firm estimate of the percentage of the world’s population that has flown. However, there does seem to be agreement that most human beings have never traveled by airplane. In (ca.) 2006, the Worldwatch Institute asserted that only 5% of the world’s population had ever flown. Negroni (2016) finds that about 6% of the earth’s denizens travel by plane every year.

4. Consider, for example, the efforts required to acquire resources needed to build roads, and to produce and fuel motorized vehicles.

5. See https://www.passportindex.org/index.php.