Abstract
Against the backdrop of escalating climate change, European countries began to use wood pellets in the early 2000s for heating and power production. Europe currently represents 75 percent of global wood pellets consumption. While lauded as sustainable, “carbon-neutral” biomass energy, the story of wood pellets is more complicated and contested when the whole lifecycle is considered. Based on an ecojustice perspective, this paper examines the framing of wood pellets as sustainable energy by using North Carolina as a case study. On the one side of the debate, the wood pellet industry and its supporters, including the state government, the mainstream news media, businesses that benefit from the industry, and academics, represent wood pellets as a renewable energy champion. On the other hand, the communities around the wood pellet facilities and those organizations and individuals who are concerned about the environmental and human impacts of wood pellet production present a sharply contrasting face of wood pellets. I analyze these competing discourses, using ecolinguistic – a paradigm committed to both critiques of discourses that contribute to ecological devastations and to finding forms of language that help to protect the natural world. My analysis is guided by an ecojustice principle where justice is found at the intersection of the wellbeing of both the environment and human communities. I draw my insights primarily from ecofeminism and indigenous epistemologies. Together, they provide insights into the problematic hierarchized relationships among humans and between culture and nature and guide us to focus attention on relationships and wholeness.
Presenters
Etsuko KinefuchiAssociate Professor, Communication Studies, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, North Carolina, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
WOOD PELLETS, BIOMASS, ECOJUSTICE, LIFECYCLE, INDIGENOUS EPISTEMOLOGIES, ECOFEMINISM
