Energy Ethics Conference - EE2023, Saint Andrews (United Kingdom). 06-08 June 2023
Summary:
Recent energy-related narrative research spans from the analysis of individual narratives of energy users (Gordon 2018, Muller 2018) to the national visions of energy pathways (Durdovic 2022, etc). These results suggest that narratives, especially future-oriented narratives, can supplement and even enhance political willpower and socio-technological imaginaries. However, the impact of fictional utopian and dystopian energy narratives remains unclear. Therefore, in this essay, I analyze the energy systems and social orders represented in Ursula Le Guin’s Dispossessed (1974), Ernest Callenbach’s Ecotopia (1975), and Kim Stanley Robinson’s Ministry for the Future (2021). As climate fiction (or “cli-fi”), these three novels narrate the transformation that occurs when a society threatened by ecological collapse is re-engineered; for researchers, they open questions about the ethics undergirding our commitment to a fair, just, and efficient transition.
Spanish layman's summary:
Este artículo analiza las representaciones de los sistemas energéticos y los órdenes sociales en tres novelas populares que denomino "teoría crítica de utopías energéticas." Estas narrativas pueden ayudar a potenciar la voluntad política y los imaginarios sociotecnológicos necesarios para una transición energética justa, rápida y eficiente.
English layman's summary:
This paper analyzes the representations of energy systems and social orders in three popular novels which I call “critical energy utopias.” Such narratives can help enhance the political willpower and socio-technological imaginaries required for a fair, fast, and efficient energy transition.
Keywords: Energy Transitions, Sociotechnical Imaginaries, Energy Ethics
Publication date: 2023-06-06.
Citation:
D.L. Wuebben, Stranger than fiction? The ethical insights of energy utopias, Energy Ethics Conference - EE2023, Saint Andrews (United Kingdom). 06-08 June 2023.
