Category: Uncategorized

By Hafsa Najdan

As we discussed in our preceding blog posts, petromodernity continues to be a major topic in International and local discourse relevant to the environmental activism field. Qatar’s attempts at eliminating this prevalent culture of petrodependency under the general framework of petromodernity is admirable however there are scholarly critiques to be made in terms of its success in achieving its objective. We are largely at the very impasse outlined within the secondary source, “After Oil” by Badia et al and it would be helpful if we briefly reinstate the foundations for this impasse that is largely extensive throughout all petrodependent nations globally.

The impasse largely refers to the “sense of disempowerment among individuals and communities that is created through lives that are pressured economically and marginalized” (Badia et al, p.31), alluding to the common feeling of helplessness and general loss of control to larger cooperations and factors that dictate the very progression of our lives. This impasse is brought forth across various stages in our lives as citizens of a society that is inherently geared towards petromodernity and petrodependency. From seemingly insignificant moments of the siphoning of our life forces to fossil fuels to larger epiphanies of the impending consequences of our draining of fossil fuels to sustain lavish lifestyles, we are often overwhelmed and paralyzed by the sudden loss of autonomy. This then creates the perfect foundation for further enabling this culture of petromodernity, however unintended it may be.

As one of the first countries to ratify the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Qatar has actively established pathways to reform by prioritizing increased sustainability, among which green transport is a separate and highly emphasized section within. The Doha Metro is the primary mode of achieving the overarching goal of increased sustainability and elimination of petromodernity within Qatar. However, it is largely debatable as to the extent of its success. Even now, the rates of air and land pollution from the constant influx of cars are relatively high while the usage of the metro is alarmingly low. It is this current rate that the disparity between implementation of action and the idealistic promises of elimination of petromodernity that we will attempt to draw attention to.

The Doha metro is undeniably an extremely appealing mode of transportation with it’s state of the art technology and infrastructure that has received many awards in Qatari society and international forums. However, one must critically consider as to the reason why there is such a low rate of usage of the Doha Metro. It is here that I will once again bring attention to the societal paralysis we are in subjugation of, along with the archaic ignorance and arrogance of the human society that has largely become accustomed to luxury. Though this is not a vapid criticism of the Qatari society, it does have it’s share of criticism from a student of the environmental humanities. That being said, perhaps the most pressing humanitarian issue of this Qatar Rail project is the fact that like all other institutions, this Doha metro has been built on the labor of immigrant workers. It is no common concern that much of construction and infrastructure projects are largely conducted with the labor of migrant workers under horrific, underrepresent conditions- leading to many deaths and injuries that are not given due representation in the media. With this knowledge, it is hard to find credibility in the news that the Doha Metro has recieved outstanding awards for its sustainable construction. It is imperative that in all sustainaiblity efforts made by Qatar, including that of eliminating petromodernity be done with awareness and integrity towards both the human and natural enviornment.

Moving past the conditions of construction, much is to be said about the very project of Doha Metro. With its bedazzling, opulent interiors and sophisticated innovation, it is indeed very unique to the world of public transportation. When placed in comparison to the modes of public transportation present in other parts of the globe, Qatar Rail has truly outdone itself in its project of the Doha Metro. Indeed, it is a luxuriously comfortable mode of transportation that promises lower energy usage, lower rates of public environmental pollution and overall support of environmental sustainability and progress. However, there are several factors that I believe largely, impedes its success rates for achieving the broad objective of eliminating petromodernity. Its distinction and subsequent separation of passengers according to their class status is inherently a testament to the prevalent elitist and class-conscious society in Qatar. There is no reason why certain class groups should singularly have access to obstentatious displays of extravagance for a commute that is approximately 30 minutes, maximum. Though the subdivisions (wherein lone men are not permitted within the family sections of the metro, as only women and families are allowed) are useful in upholding safety regulations, particularly for the female population, this particular segregation of classes within the metro are needleslly extravagant at best, and displays of elitist sentimentalites at worst. The Doha Metro is largely a project under the Doha Rail that states its goal of forming a link between the society and sustainability, however it is severely ironic that implementations of class distinctions within the Metro are largely the cause of prevailing socio-ecomic and cultural perspectives and mindsets that hinder effort to move towards a unified approach to sustainability.

Another subsequent reason for the low rates of usage of the Doha Metro is not one that stems from socio-economic or cultural perceptions but rather, it is largely individual and communal notions of the ease and convenience we are accustomed to in our daily lives and are unwilling to separate from. From the individual bemoaning of the hardships of taking the metro on the days that the government has allocated as “No Car Day” that rapidly transform into the collective sentiment of “What a hassle! What good is this initiative going to do anyway?”- it is extremely easy to draw a line between the idealized theorization of environmental sustainability to the concrete implementation and accomodation of environmental sustainability. Though Doha Metro certainly has its own faults, the primary issue constitutes the public perception of the field of environmental sustainability. It is this perception that has impeded its success in the elimination of petromodernity in the current timeperiod- as there is much opportunity for reform to make its presence known until 2030. This reform starts with the active acknowledgement of the importance in achieving the goal of eliminating petromodernity and the subsequent proactive implementation of conscious engagement and action. Equally important is the overcoming of the impasse (i.e the paralysis) that comes with the acute realization of responsibility and loss of human autonomy, in regards to the hegemonic domination of petroculture.

Within the research process of this project, there can be found an immediate gap in the scholarly texts available in regards to the elimination of petromodernity. Perhaps this can be attributed to the hub and bustle surrounding the upcoming global event of the Fifa World Cup being stationed here in Qatar, but it ultimately is no means of justifying the wide gap to be found concerning Qatar’s attempts to eliminate petromodernity. Though the Doha Metro is an admirable initiative, information in connection to the goal of eliminating petromodernity is spare and notably vague. In addition, this academic underrepresentation is not just limitied to the region of Qatar but internationally as there’s not much mention of other countries trying to eliminate petromodernity. Once again, this can be attributed to the constant influx of “more concerning” news however, this may also be a poor attempt of enabling the continuation of the adoption of petromodernity, through inoculation. It is with this sentiment in mind that I further emphasize the utmost importance of raising awareness to the requirement of eliminating petromodernity within global and national society, for the sake of comfortable futures.

 The change can be seen when examining Qatar’s development process throughout recent years. Especially comparing it to before the blockade, when Qatar relied on imports from outside the country for a wide range of products and services. Although after the challenge that left Qatar with difficulties in importing necessities for its citizens, they recovered quickly through the expansion of local production companies. Qatar was self-reliant and independent and had an immediate sense of reaction to how to overcome this issue while ensuring the needs of the citizens. This means that Qatar is now self-reliant through agricultural produces as a contributing factor to the country’s growth. Although this raises many concerns in terms of looking into various factors that affect the social and environmental factors in Qatar, this is through the negative changes in climate causing many risks for different reasons. The secondary articles would look at sharing similar concepts with Qatar’s current situation and could be adapted to help improve it. Qatar can be viewed as a country with a vast development speed. However, it also suffers from high levels of pollution. It prioritizes or pays more attention to expanding and improving capitalism than environmental issues. I argue that Qatar should look into different, more eco-friendly strategies when it comes to labor production. In general, that will limit the harm caused to the environment as they need to balance prioritizing the needs of people and how they overuse the benefit that nature provides us through different ways. Through my research plan, I looked into Qatar’s food strategy plan to budding a robust system and an interview with an employee at a large local produce company which allowed me to engage with scholarly articles I will apply to my case study.

The Capitalocene

The first article, “The Capitalocene” by Benjamin Kunkel, focuses on giving a deeper insight into the Capitalocene system that we live in and the connection between humans and nature. He also focuses on the law of cheap nature by Jason. The article highlights how Widespread fossil fuel consumption, being the leading cause of ‘climate change,’ is still profoundly changing the weather by escalating extreme levels of heat while leading to more droughts; progressively, it will end up ruining agricultural output. In relation to Qatar, we can see how it’s the country, and local production companies, based on primary research, are facing struggles with the weather as the summer season is the longest and takes up the majority of the year, making it only harder to deal with the intense waves of heat that are caused by climate change and keep increasing every year. Another concern that this article raises is that Agriculture may perform better than in biodiverse ground conditions. However, there are reasons to be concerned natural soil land area is drying up, and accesses to groundwater is limited which is essential to agriculture, can be completely hard to deal with the current level of harm caused by humans towards the environment. Not only does this cause a climate crisis leading to habitat loss and extinction and other concerns, but this also leads to difficulties to be faced regarding food security and having enough produce for the entire world. With Qatar’s strategic plan to create a robust food security system, they are leading more towards cheap natural labor to provide produce for society without having to rely on a large number of imports compared to the years before the blockade. The text supports my argument as it emphasizes how “Governments and corporations, for their part, have little incentive to slow, much less stop the general destruction. The collective activity of humanity is sapping the ecological basis of civilization – and no collective agency capable of reckoning with the fact can yet be discerned”. In relation to Qatar, we can see how the government and local companies are aware of the effect of climate change and how much damage is caused through labor procedures; although we should switch to “Green arithmetic” thinking as Moore suggest, this simply means that we balance between the society needs and how we act towards nature and what it provides for us.

After oil

Moving the “After oil: Article tackles a similar concept that my case study focused on, which is the process of ensuring Food security and safety in Qatar to produce High-quality products despite the negative approaches used in order to ensure these qualities that allow the buyers to be satisfied with the products. Based on primary research through my Interview with Mr. Ziv, I discovered that as a company, they would like to implement alternatives to technologies that can be more beneficial for both the company and the surrounding environment as a whole. Although due to financial limitations and no government support in this situation, it’s hard to have access to these technologies that are more reliable and sufficient, as this is one of many obstacles that make it harder to look at other energy transmissions. As the article mentions that “This is the epistemological and practical problem of the impasse of fossil fuels—that is, what blocks us from transitioning to other forms of energy—and of the economy locked into its rhythms.”. Although the way Impasse is approached in this article provides us with a positive view of looking into other strategies that are not primarily energy based or that require the use of oil. This article also mentions a variety of reasons that should “Trigger” energy transitions through the global warming trigger that is caused by human action, although acting into the impasse may require us to give up some practices and allow us to fully adapt to the changes despite not knowing the outcome. This can be a risk because it raises many concerns about how certain things will function without the use of oil. One of the intentional transitions that stood out was “sustainability,” as it’s a required factor when transitioning to other energy sources and as a framework that should be applied to stay away from any harm to the environment. Linking it to the food security plan in Qatar, they want to ensure sustainability in terms of wood waste, food transportation, and food quality, and some of them require the usage of energy that creates damage to the environment, meaning that they are apart of energy impasse which holds them back from taking the risk and looking into different alternatives for energy that could be eco friendly while still being productive. As some of these practices require large amounts of fuel, whether it’s storing fertilizers and seeds or improving trade routes, they all have a high reliance on energy fuels, as finding alternatives may not be enough to meet those needs efficiently. At last, the sooner we have the courage to look into other henry forms that are more eco-friendly, the faster we will be able to save our planet and ourselves.

In conclusion, there are many strategies and alternatives that Qatar and local produce companies should look at. In addition, to be courageous to try different forms of energy as the government should focus less on prioritizing expanding capitalism and the economy and pay more attention to the climate crisis that has only been getting worse over time. This could be through funding these companies with technologies that replace the need for fossil fuels, it’s time to take this issue into full consideration, and there is no time to waste since it would also make it easier for these local produce companies to maximize their production thought having to worry about damage towards the environment or high levels of heat.

Strands of narrative woven through the stories told for generations suggest considerations of value in relating to one’s landscape and understanding place through nonrational processes. O’Neill et al. suggests that one of the ways we value things is “simply in virtue of their displaying some cluster of properties”; and “historical or process-based” in which they are appreciated “not merely as a cluster of properties but as particular individuals individuated by a temporal history and spatial location”. The many values people find in nature are of the latter kind. “History matters … in our evaluations of environments,” (McShane, 2012). In “The Trouble with Wilderness” Cronon examines the way the traditional wilderness concept emerged in America and how it reflects older Western perceptions of the separation between humanity and nature. Cronon argues that, “it (the wilderness) is quite profoundly a human creation – indeed, the creation of very particular human cultures at very particular moments in human history.” (Cronon, 1995). Cronon sees the wilderness concept as mirror-like and reflecting the “unexamined longings and desires” of Americans, and thus adding to the problematic relationship with the non-human world (Cronon, 1995). The human-constructed narratives associated with the wilderness became the essence of American preservationism tendencies. The Qatari sentiments towards al-Zubarah slightly parallels that of the contemporary American relationship to the wilderness. While the wilderness is simultaneously considered ontologically separate from civilization and humanity, and a place to escape from the overbearing of civilization, al-Zubarah is the gate to glimpsing into the pre-modern life of Qatari ancestors. The cultural landscape of the al-Zubarah is storied: they are the embodiment of the narratives of the human and non-human lives that have shaped them. In this blog, I compare the role played by wilderness in the American cultural imaginary and the role played by Al-Zubarah as a historical site in the Qatari cultural imaginary to show that the meanings that humans project onto the landscape are structured into valuable narratives and the protection of the land is the prerequisite to protecting these narratives.

Preserving the landscape protects the imagined cultural identity and the narratives of values we cognitively construct. Most interpretations of the landscapes identities are passed on through memory, which constitutes the basis of a tradition. Tradition is what remains over time, representing a central theme for the narrative identity. It is clear how the national narrative of US history renders wilderness an especially valuable role in American societies, conceptualizing it as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain. This generates the national urge to preserve the wilderness’s ontological separation from the humankind, thus, the minimal human intervention in nature is imperative to maintaining its native ecological state. In a similar manner, the Qatari incentive to protect al-zubarah’s historical stories and outstanding cultural integrity resulted in the national project Qatar Islamic Archaeology and Heritage Project (qiah). In a region where archeologists often deal in millennia, QIAH revealed the story of a place that went from sand to riches and back to sand in just a bit more than a century. A story reconnecting Qataris with their ambitious ancestors did not just indulge in extensive cultural and economic connections locally and inter-regionally (including relations directly or indirectly to inland Arabia, Oman, China, India, Iran, Iraq, East Africa, and Europe) but suffered the retributions of the nearby dominance-driven neighbors. Al-Zubarah illustrates a life prior to modern Doha where the northwest coast, once a prominent centre of population on the peninsula, became a landscape peppered with abandoned villages in addition to the large ruins field of Al-Zubarah. In this context, appreciation of a landscape does not overlook the story forming its basis and constituting its narratives. In other words, viewing and admiring are subjective behaviours which come to life from the narratives elaborated by the inhabitants. The meaningful stories we attribute to the wilderness-mainly fueled by American sentiments- and the al-Zubarah produced similar national narratives of protecting those sceneries from man interventions in the form of resources’ extractions and destructive knowledge-driven discoveries, respectively.  Landscape identity is therefore a cultural identity which is not only recognizable by its appearance but, above all, by its narratives.

The visual element plays a significant role in recognizing the landscape and its narratives. Without such references little would be understood about the landscape: much would be seen, but little would be fully appreciated. In the specific composition of the characters of the landscape components, the identity of a landscape is defined. Al Zubarah has layers, different levels of construction that highlight dramatically shifting fortunes, like a Gulf version of the 19th-century gold rush towns in the us—a place of rapid change and fast money producing a life of prosperity and economic development. Stumps of long-dead date palms revealing an enriched port with seasonal fresh product. White pearl scattered all over the site depicts how pearling dominated the thoughts and way of life of nearly all the coastal inhabitants of the Gulf for centuries. Analyzing the different construction layers of al-Zubarah eroded walls reveals that some of the buildings in the surrounding areas had been stripped and abandoned in the years before the Omani attack, the final blow that led people to completely abandon an archaeological fortune. All these visual characteristics of al-Zubarah accumulated to produce different stories of the life of Qataris in the past. The national narrative had embraced these stories, leading us to conceive of the landscape as an important part of Qatari heritage. It is also part of a cultural process-reactivating the unique aspects (stories) that have either been obscured or simply never fully enhanced- that gives the current Qatari generation a sense of tradition. Paying attention to the visual elements of the cultural landscape and understanding the narratives behind them turns an a-historical and artificial nature into something valuable.

Our constructed imaginations of the al-Zubarah, aided by its historical visual characteristics displays strong expression of aesthetic preservationism. Aesthetic preservationism holds that through the sensitive perception characteristic of aesthetic attention and the discovery of beauty, majesty, and so on, we may develop care and respect for nature. In this way, a kind of aesthetic awareness potentially feeds into ethical attitudes and forms of environmental action. For example, “aesthetic protectionism” argues that natural beauty can serve as an important motivation for protecting the environment, as long as we can provide sufficient justification—some kind of objectivity—for our aesthetic judgments of nature. Looking firstly at the case of the wilderness, as you stroll the wilderness, your senses are triggered as you are wandering through a forest of giant sequoia trees. As you see the red-brown color, touch the thick texture of the bark, and enormous girth of the trunk, you are having an aesthetic experience. However, emphasizing on the senses alone cannot sufficiently describe why we have the urge to preserve wild nature. The aesthetic experience is also perceptual and can thicken with a range of components or layers. Thoughts, narratives, knowledge, and emotion may all become equally integrated into the experience. While the mesmerizing form of the pearl enclaves buried under the al-Zubarah buildings had captured our attention at first glance, when we pay close attention to history, it is said to be a true testimony of an urban trading and pearl- diving tradition which has sustained a large part of the coastal town from the Islamic period. And while our memories are triggered by the typical old, traditional Middle Eastern towns when we look at the organic layout of the Zubarah, it reminds us of a certain historical fact that there was a central authority responsible for the town’s design and construction. In this sense, our senses are our important in our drive towards preserving the aesthetic of the Zubarah, but it is not the most essential component as other elements such as imaginations, historical and cultural narratives as well as perceptual notions come into play.

Despite of the focus on how our human-constructed narratives shape our preservation efforts towards the wilderness and al-Zubarah, it takes our attention away from the real issues. Environmentalism generated a romanticized narrative that discourages alienation from nature, driving us towards a constant urge of preserving nature.  Whether it is for preserving our constructed narratives of nature or preserving its aesthetic experiences, this dangerously obscure the greater that leads us to produce intensive preservation efforts in the first place. In the al-Zubarah case, the state of conservation of the fort has become more difficult, reflecting the inherent weaknesses of the archaeological remains in a hostile maritime and desert climate that have been intensified by anthropogenic processes. In a pragmatic sense, true problem lies in our lifestyle… in our industry, our pollution, and our sprawling urbanity which affects entire systems of natural and cultural landscapes. Cronon is arguing that we need to figure out how to live with nature ethically, sustainably, and honorably. This is also applicable in the al-Zubarah case. I am not arguing for integrating the fort into our cities or moving humans out of cities to live in al-Zubarah but trace the real problem of why conservation measures in nature became more intensive.

Bibliography:

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