Paper short abstract:

When involved in the shaping of climate futures, anthropologists must attend to who decides what is a desirable climate future, and who gets chosen to populate it. Contextualisation can undo simplistic utopian narratives, and proffer solutions that make sense to a place and those that live there.

Paper long abstract:

The prevalent narrative regarding coal depicts it as inherently unsustainable. However, in the Arctic town of Longyearbyen on the Norwegian archipelago Svalbard where I have conducted research, residents argue differently. The town was originally founded to extract coal, but now Longyearbyen’s economy is in transition from coal mining to tourism and science at the Norwegian government’s insistence. Furthermore, rather than burning locally-found coal for energy, the government has insisted the island imports diesel. This is in an attempt to make Longyearbyen a “showcase of sustainability” for the world. Yet simultaneously, there is a housing shortage in Longyearbyen, and the Norwegian government is pushing for the Norwegianisation of Longyearbyen’s population. Furthermore, residents cannot propagate crops and so food is imported. However, the Norwegian government has built the Global Seed Vault on Svalbard, which houses seeds from around the world in case of catastrophe, and tourists track non-native seeds, with many successfully germinating on Svalbard. Due to the dissonance between the state narrative and actions and local opinions and experiences, I wish to underscore the importance of examining who decides what is a desirable climate future, and who gets chosen to populate it. Through attending to local specifics, and seeking to explore contradictions, we can undo simplistic utopian narratives in regard to the creation of climate futures, and proffer solutions that make sense to a place and those that live there. For Longyearbyen, coal can be argued as part of a desirable climate future, contradicting dominant imaginings that paint a coal-free future.