My case study is focused on the curation of urban spaces in Qatar and how they are modeled after Western notions and ideals of modernity and progress. Particularly, I will be taking a look at the incorporation of “nature” within these spaces and the idea that it is the Other – something the audience or visitors can opt in and out of – rather than a part of the daily human experience. Additionally, I will be examining how the excessive exploitation of resources and human labor is affecting both the environment and workers from the Global South, referencing Bergthaller’s Fossil Freedoms to critique the notion of industrial progress as providing freedom for all, especially in a state like Qatar that is built off of exploitation of migrant labor. Through mine and other people’s first-hand experiences in these spaces, I will discuss these multidimensional aspects of interacting with “nature” and the “environment” within Qatar. I also hope to address the distinction made between “artificial” and “organic” encounters with nature and the environment, and why it is that there is a supremacy associated with organic encounters. Another concern of mine in this project will be the disparate burden and responsibility placed on different nation-states based on their geopolitical status within the world. To put it simply, why should Qatar be criticized for striving to achieve the ideal of modernity and progress using the same methods, the same means to the same ends, that Western nations have been doing for centuries? There is also the consideration of the added pressure of being deemed “backward” for not having achieved the same goal while simultaneously being exploited for oil and being disadvantaged by virtue of it. Is Qatar merely imitating the standard set by colonial empires? What does the experience of “deterritorialization” as defined by Heise lend to our conversation on climate action in Qatar? What does it mean to be anti-colonial and anti-capitalist for the sake of mitigating the effects of climate change in a world that still strongly prizes the colonial and capitalist mindset? 

The plethora of concerns and questions raised here will seek to examine what the present situation in Qatar looks like with regard to climate change and human encounters with the environment and answer questions of what, ideally, it ought to look like, looking forward to a world that prizes better relationships between the human and the environment as well as that of humans in relation to other humans.