By Iman Saif and Hafsa Najdan
In our last blog post, we briefly discussed Qatar’s plans for increased sustainability, among which the unique and entirely fundamental aspect of eliminating petromodernity is central to Qatar’s visions for development. This goal of eliminating petromodernity is essentially the prohibition and eventual independence from the reliance on cheap, harmful energy sources, and we have briefly outlined some methods on implementing this vision. In this blog post, to further increase our readers’ understanding of the culture of petromodernity and the subsequent need for eliminating this widespread culture, we will be applying and analyzing the secondary source, “After Oil” (Badia et al.) to our case study of petromodernity in Qatar.
In “After Oil”, there is an emphasis put upon the importance of energy transition through social transition- a core concept that the very possibility of reform and elimination of petromodernity culture throughout the globe is reliant upon. It is through social commitments developed over time that the genesis of petromodernity is introduced- a culture that actively influences and dictates the human quality of life under an economy of fossil fuels. Indeed, it would be for our own benefit that we do not stop at the mere acknowledgement of the overbearing role of fossil fuels in our lives but rather, we move past that initial acknowledgement and actively work towards replacing and eliminating this lifestyle built upon the minefields of fossil fuels in order to actively trigger transition and reform.
That is not to say that we have to outright give up our basic human needs and collective desires, but rather, we come together as a community to build a social framework that takes them into account and simultaneously, takes our surrounding environments into account as well. To achieve this objective, is once again, to have the awareness of how oil and fossil fuels shape our livelihood- our desires, identities, practices, consumption patterns, etc. It is this self-awareness that often leads to the common “impasse”, as stated in the text. A situation that is created from the seemingly lack of options and practices that are blocked by forces beyond our human conception and “invites paralysis and reinforces the status quo” (Badia et al., p.16). This then brings us to the second factor outlined in “After Oil”, incumbent in the objective of eliminating petromodernity- Intentional Transition.
Intentional transition consists of the reframing of the petromodernity issue in a humanistic, environmentalist manner that actively takes into account the general public’s opinions and thoughts. It is built on the foundations of intention, agency and the acknowledgement of our values and human desires. Intentional transition also consists of attestations to change in practices and relations of and with oil, fossil fuels and energy sources, in which encouragement and camaraderie is a central element that sustains the possibility of transition and elimination of petromodernity.
