"Necessitem les humanitats ambientals perquè necessitem noves narratives per entendre el present i per imaginar futurs alternatius"

Marco Armiero, director de l'Environmental Humanities Laboratory del KTH Royal Institute of Technology a Estocolm, va participar en un workshop internacional celebrat al Centre d'Història de la Ciència (CEHIC) de la UAB, titulat "At the intersection of disciplines: History of Science and Environmental History". Qüestions com la història ambiental, la relació entre natura i nació i entre natura i feixisme, la crisi dels residus a la Campània, les migracions o les emergents humanitats ambientals són alguns dels temes de què parla en aquesta entrevista.Marco Armiero, director del Environmental Humanities Laboratory del KTH Royal Institute of Technology en Estocolm, participó en un workshop internacional celebrado en el Centro de Historia de la Ciencia (CEHIC) de la UAB, titulado "At the intersection of disciplines: History of Science and Environmental History". Cuestiones com la historia ambiental, la relación entre naturaleza y nación y entre naturaleza y fascismo, la crisis de los residuos en la Campania, las migraciones o las emergentes humanidades ambientales son algunos de los temas de los que habla en esta entrevista

Anthropocene: victims, narrators, and revolutionaries

The absence of a reflection on revolutionary practices and subjects is the main weakness of the radical critique of the Anthropocene. The risk is to envision the Anthropocene as a space for villains and victims but not for revolutionaries. In this respect we believe that it is crucial to challenge the (in)visibility and (un)knowability of the Anthropocene beyond geological strata and planetary boundaries. We argue that as the Capitalocene, the Anthropocene has left its traces in the bodies of people upon which the new epoch has been created. The traces of the Capitalocene are not only in geological strata but also in the biological and genetic strata of human bodies; exploitation, subordination, and inequalities are inscribed into the human body and experienced, visible and knowable by subalterns without the mediation of – many times actually in opposition to – mainstream scientific knowledge. We inflect the concept of Capitalocene with our own Wasteocene, which serves to stress the contaminating nature of capitalism and its perdurance within the socio-biological fabric, its accumulation of externali-ties inside both the human and the Earth's body. We envision the Wasteocene as one of the features of the Capitalocene, especially adapted to demystify the mainstream narratives of the Anthropocene. In order to enhance our arguments we build upon the findings of the global Environmental Justice atlas (hereafter EJOLT atlas) of environmental conflicts and on our own in-depth research on the struggles against toxic contamination in Campania, Italy

EL HISTORIADOR, EL ACTIVISTA, EL ECOCRÍTICO Y EL ESCRITOR: UN DEBATE INDISCIPLINADO SOBRE LA HISTORIA AMBIENTAL ITALIANA

It is difficult to define what belongs exclusi­vely to Environmental History (EH), and even more what belongs to Italian Environmental History (IEH). This discipline often includes research concerned with different chronologi­cal periods, issues, approaches, and methods. This plurality of perspectives reflects the varied and often contrasting labels attached to those studies. This plurality of paths and experiences should not be considered a problem, but an opportunity to overcome the limitations of the current hyperspecialized structuring of research. For this reason, we have chosen to refer to the multidisciplinary area of the environmental humanities as the common ground. On the other hand, we have chosen a new way to present IEH to an international public: the interview and, especially in the last part, the multidisciplinary and hybrid dialogue.Es difícil definir qué pertenece exclusivamente a la Historia Ambiental (HA) y aun más qué pertenece a la Historia Ambiental Italiana (HAI). Esta disciplina con frecuencia incluye investigaciones relacionadas con diferentes periodos cronológicos, cuestiones, aproximaciones y métodos. Esta pluralidad de perspectivas refleja las variadas y con frecuencia diferentes etiquetas relacionadas con estos estudios. Tal pluralidad de trayectorias y experiencias no debe ser considerada como un problema sino, más bien al contrario, como una oportunidad para superar las limitaciones de la actual hiperespecializada estructura de la investigación. Por esta razón, hemos decidido referirnos a esta área multidisciplinar de las humanidades ambientales como territorio común. Por otra parte, hemos elegido una nueva vía para presentar la HAI a un público internacional: la entrevista y, especialmente en la última parte, un diálogo multidisciplinar e híbrido

Beyond Nonpartisan Discourse : Radical Knowledge for Extreme Times

The majority of scientists agree on climate change and on the most daunting environmental problems humans are facing today. Moved by a commendable desire to contribute to the solution of these problems, several scientists have decided to speak up, telling the scientific truth about climate change to decision-makers and the public. Although appreciating the commitment to intervene in the public arena, I discuss some limits of these interventions. I argue that stating the reality of climate change does not prescribe any specific solution and sometimes it seems faint in distributing responsibilities. I ask whether unveiling/knowing the truth can be enough to foster radical transformations. Can knowledge move people towards transformative actions if power relationships do not change? Various environmental justice controversies prove that even when science is certain-and this is rarely the case in that kind of controversies-knowing might be not enough in the face of power structures preventing free choices and radical changes. In the end of my article, I state that it is fair to recognize that scientists have done their parts, and it is now up to social movements to foster the radical changes in power relationships that are needed for transforming societies

Of (not) being neighbors : Cities, citizens and climate change in an age of migrations

Borders are back with a vengeance. From the Americas to the Mediterranean, borders cut through the increasingly integrated world in a way that exposes the inside-outside logic of contemporary capitalism. All this happens on a backdrop where cities are becoming the key sites of contestation since borders and levees do not suffice to keep them intact. Cities are also increasingly becoming the focus of international efforts to deal with climate change and migration, where nation-states are falling short. By synthesizing the possibilities of urban belonging and right-to-the-world, we argue that new urban imaginaries are at the frontline of the mobilities debate today. Consequently, we argue for a cross-pollination of mobility justice and climate justice as urban citizenship. The main thrust of our argument is that there are viable alternatives to the isolationist fortress nation model, which can bring a new dimension to debates concerning climate change and migration. Fearless cities are but one example of these emerging alternatives. By focusing on the opportunities for a radical response to climate change and migration, we suggest that cities can respond to the burning mobility challenges of our times with a just, grounded and egalitarian urban citizenship framed as mobile commons

Wasted spaces, resisting people : The politics of waste in Naples, Italy

This article explores how the waste crisis in Naples, which has been occurring since the 1990s, has stimulated the political creativeness of local activists who have started to experiment new ways for participation and community building. In particular, we investigate how environmental justice struggles have evolved in commoning processes (that is, in the creation of participatory institutions and in the defense of commons) by studying the social mobilization in Chiaiano, a neighborhood at the northern periphery of Naples (Italy). Using oral history interviews, documents produced by grassroots organizations, mass media reports, and our participants' observation notes, we have analyzed the evolution of the mobilization in Chiaiano, the connections between environmental concerns and commoning, and the results in terms of social experimentation.Esse artigo explora como a crise do desperdício em Nápoles, que tem ocorrido desde os anos 1990, tem estimulado a criatividade política de ativistas locais que começaram a experimentar novas maneiras de participação e construção comunais. Particularmente, investigamos como problemas da justiça ambiental têm evoluído em processos comunais (isto é, na criação de instituições participativas e na defesa de bens comuns) através do estudo da mobilização social em Chiaiano, uma vizinhança na periferia nortista de Nápoles (Itália). Utilizando entrevistas orais, documentos produzidos por organizações comunocêntricas, relatórios advindos de mídias de massa e das observações de nossos participantes, a evolução da mobilização em Chiaiano e as conexões entre preocupações ambientais e comunais, os resultados em termos de experimentação social foram analisados

Multispecies Alliances Against the Wasteocene : Counter-Narratives and Commoning Practices

En este artículo, no nos envolveremos con el Antropoceno científico, pero si estamos interesados en desafiar lo que Jason Moore llamó de Antropoceno popular, es decir, una narrativa sobre la actual crisis socioecológica y sus causas. El Wasteoceno forma parte de una crítica más amplia a la narrativa del Antropoceno que resalta la necesidad de analizar las desigualdades y las relaciones de poder para poder entender la crisis socioecológica. Estos conceptos alternativos están compitiendo con el Antropoceno en un terreno narrativo; ellos hacen parte de una movilización imaginativa para desafiar la producción y la organización convencional de narrativas colectivas. Este artículo es una apología al poder de las narrativas. Estas pueden oprimir, ocultar o libertar. Nos vamos a concentrar en historias de alianzas de varias especies contra el Wasteoceno; las narrativas son herramientas humanas. Aunque una herramienta antropocéntrica, iremos más allá de lo humano, explorando las narrativas que transmiten una idea de opresión y liberación multiespecies.In this article, we will not engage with the scientific Anthropocene, rather, we are interested in challenging what Jason Moore has called the popular Anthropocene, that is, a narrative about the present socio-ecological crisis and its causes. Th e Wasteocene is part of a wider critique of the Anthropocene narrative that stresses the need to look at inequalities and power relationships to understand the socioecological crisis. Th ose alternative concepts are competing with the Anthropocene on a narrative ground; they are part of an imaginative mobilization to challenge the mainstream production and organization of collective narratives. Th is article is an apology for the power of narratives. Narratives can oppress, hide, or liberate. We will focus on stories of multispecies alliances against the Wasteocene; narratives are humans'tools. Th ough employing - actually celebrating - such an anthropocentric tool, we will go beyond the human, exploring the narratives that convey a sense of multispecies oppression and liberation

Beyond Nonpartisan Discourses: Radical Knowledge for Extreme Times

The majority of scientists agree on climate change and on the most daunting environmental problems humans are facing today. Moved by a commendable desire to contribute to the solution of these problems, several scientists have decided to speak up, telling the scientific truth about climate change to decision-makers and the public. Although appreciating the commitment to intervene in the public arena, I discuss some limits of these interventions. I argue that stating the reality of climate change does not prescribe any specific solution and sometimes it seems faint in distributing responsibilities. I ask whether unveiling/knowing the truth can be enough to foster radical transformations. Can knowledge move people towards transformative actions if power relationships do not change? Various environmental justice controversies prove that even when science is certain—and this is rarely the case in that kind of controversies—knowing might be not enough in the face of power structures preventing free choices and radical changes. In the end of my article, I state that it is fair to recognize that scientists have done their parts, and it is now up to social movements to foster the radical changes in power relationships that are needed for transforming societies