Futures of the Sun

Energy transition is crucial to the struggle against climate change. Imre Szman is concerned with who is trying to lay claim to the narratives guiding our transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, how they are doing it, and why and to what ends. Mark Simpson joins Szeman in conversation about Szeman’s new book, Futures of the Sun: The Struggle over Renewable Life. 

Imre Szeman is director of the Institute for Environment, Conservation, and Sustainability and professor of human geography at the University of Toronto Scarborough. He is cofounder of the Petrocultures Research group.

Mark Simpson is professor of English and film studies at the University of Alberta, one of the founding collaborators on the research collective After Oil, and a core member of the Petrocultures Research Group.

REFERENCES:

-Imre Szeman, essay, System Failure: Oil, Futurity, and the Anticipation of Disaster, South Atlantic Quarterly

-Timothy Mitchell / Carbon Democracy

-Seth Klein / A Good War

-Jennifer Wenzel, essay, Forms of Life: Thinking Fossil Infrastructure and Its Narrative Grammar, Social Text

-Extinction Rebellion / Common Sense for the 21st Century

-After Oil Collective / Solarities

-University of Toronto’s Institute for Inclusive Economies and Sustainable Livelihoods, director, Sergio Montero

-Our Common Future, also known as the Brundtland Report

Futures of the Sun: The Struggle over Renewable Life is available from University of Minnesota Press. This book is part of the Forerunners series, and an open-access edition is available to read free online at manifold.umn.edu.

“The content of this book is extraordinary. Imre Szeman is an exceptional expert, well-versed in analysing the complex intersections between energy, society, and politics. The book is a real opportunity to deepen our understanding of contemporary energy and political issues.”
—International Journal of Environmental Studies