Embrace it, accept it, or fight like hell: understanding diverse responses to extractive industrial development
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Embrace it, accept it, or fight like hell: understanding diverse responses to extractive industrial development Anna J. Willow1 Received: 20 November 2018 / Accepted: 18 November 2019 © Springer Nature B.V. 2019
Abstract This article considers why some people welcome externally imposed resource extractive development projects while seemingly similar others vehemently reject them. Informed by an understanding of human cultural and political undertakings as components of complex and conjoined systems that are simultaneously social and ecological, I identify economic, political, environmental, and cultural experiences and values that guide individuals’ decisions to embrace, accept, or oppose extractive industry. Drawing on recent ethnographic research in northeastern British Columbia—where First Nations and Euro-Canadian citizens concurrently confront ongoing logging, extensive oil and gas extraction, construction of a third massive hydroelectric dam, and renewed metallurgical coal mining—I suggest that diverse responses are significantly influenced by whether or not individuals perceive extractive industry as having adverse economic effects, the level of trust they place in governmental decision making, and whether or not they connect extractive industry to injustice and violations of citizens’ rights. In an era of unprecedented human impact, I ultimately argue, local outcomes of global resource extraction debates have an important role to play in shaping the future of our societies and our world. Keywords British Columbia · Environmental sustainability · Extractive industry · Reflexivity · Socioecological systems
1 Introduction I’ve fought tooth and nail to be alive and I’ve made it. I’ve been silent before and that’s not going to happen again. And that’s been that push to move forward and say “no” (Brenda, First Nations woman, 7/28/2016).1 1
Pseudonyms are used throughout to protect research participants’ privacy. Some interviewees’ statements are condensed for clarity. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s1066 8-019-00529-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Anna J. Willow [email protected] 1
Department of Anthropology, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
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A. J. Willow
Why do some people accept—or even embrace—externally imposed extractive industrial development while others vehemently oppose it? What economic, political, environmental, and cultural experiences and values guide individuals’ decisions? And what can diverse local responses teach us about building sustainable systems at regional and global levels? This article presents findings from recent research on citizens’ responses to industrial development conducted in northeastern British Columbia (NEBC), where First Nations and Euro-Canadian citizens concurrently confront ongoing logging, extensive oil and gas extraction, the construction of a third massive hydroelectric dam, and renewed metallurgical coal mining. W
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