Conclusions

The final chapter revisits the intersection of political economy and multiscale protest around biofuels and fracking, offering an integrated look at the campaigns that have emerged around these new energy sources. It considers the implications of the book’s findings about the political economy dimensions of contentious politics for other resource debates, with particular attention to other emerging energy technologies: wind, solar, and hydro. Further, the concluding chapter interrogates the technological optimism and commitment to economic growth that underpins these developments. It pays attention to alternative political economies, including social and Indigenous economies and models of degrowth, with consideration of how these models might advance environmental justice. The chapter considers the ways in which scaling up energy production—often justified as a response to crisis events—increases distance in commodity chains by dislocating control from local communities, externalizing local costs, and separating the accrual of benefits from the bearing of burdens.