Paper short abstract:

The crisis of mines and industries in south-west Sardinia pushed political power to suggest "alternatives" to mining and industry. The paper explores how different concepts of environment affect old workers and young post-industrial workers.

Paper long abstract:

Between the 20th and the 21st century, the Sulcis Iglesiente, a mine region located in the South-west of Sardinia, was primarily exploited for coal production and for chemical industries during the past decades. The crisis of mines and industries has pushed political power to suggest "alternatives" to mining and industry such as the new "green" activities, among which the storage of carbon dioxide in old coal land, and the touristic exploitation of the geological, historical and cultural mining heritage. However, in December 2018 the last coal mine closed and was transformed into an argon distillation project while the tourist mirage entered into crisis with the expulsion of the Geo-Mining Park from the network of UNESCO geoparks in 2019.

The different social actors involved in these projects appear to share diverse spaces and times in the same place. On the one hand, the young generations seem oriented to a healthy, safe and clean future. On the other hand, older workers seem to refuse to accept the ultimate result of the energy transition, failing to conceive a future without the industries.

Starting from an ethnographic research, this paper explores how different concepts of environment affect old workers and young post-industrial workers. In a space of transition, different imaginaries and different moral regimes coexist: a "past" of coal extraction and industrial production and a present based on a new industrial futuristic promise oriented to a "healthy", technologically advanced and "clean" work.