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SUMMARY:Geothermal Challenges in Post-Disaster Montserrat
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260615T160000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260615T173000
DTSTAMP:20260608T005119Z
UID:0c983bc7-5a45-f111-bec7-7c1e52046848
CREATED:20260501T123922Z
DESCRIPTION:The island of Montserrat\, a British Overseas Territory in the
  Caribbean\, has been interested in pursuing renewable energy since the 19
 70s\, but the Soufrière Hills volcanic crisis (1995 – 2010) generated n
 umerous setbacks. Despite these challenges\, with the support of the UK’
 s Department for International Development (DFID)\, three geothermal wells
  were drilled between 2013 and 2016\, followed by a decade of inactivity. 
 Based on 4.5 months of ethnographic and archival fieldwork on Montserrat\,
  including 107 semi-structured interviews and two UK focus groups with 34 
 participants from the Montserratian diaspora\, this talk will outline the 
 main social\, economic\, and political\, challenges to its energy transiti
 on. Community support for geothermal energy was widespread\, but approval 
 is conditional upon lower electricity bills\, equitable distribution of su
 bsurface wealth\, opportunities for capacity building\, and well-paid empl
 oyment for Montserratians. Participants called for transparency and trust\
 , noting that earlier geothermal initiatives faltered due to a lack of com
 munity engagement and fears over foreign ownership of subsurface resources
 . Montserratians hope for an economically prosperous island and a growing 
 population. While overcoming systemic barriers to renewable energy can hel
 p achieve this\, the process must engage the local population. Otherwise\,
  Montserrat risks being subjected to a ‘green grab’ or ‘decarbonisat
 ion by dispossession’.\n\nJulio Rodríguez is an anthropologist who is p
 assionate about studying human relationships with the environment. For his
  Master's degree (KU Leuven)\, he studied the ambivalent relationship Cof
 án people of the Ecuadorian Amazon had with oil exploitation\, following 
 decades of toxic spills. Afterwards\, for his DPhil (University of Oxford)
  he focused on the ways Galapagos farmers cope with the compounding risks 
 of COVID-19\, climate change\, and agricultural pests. He developed the co
 existential rift concept to describe how the globalization of 'manufacture
 d risks' heightens people’s anxiety and sense of alienation\, generating
  a vicious cycle of market dependency and debt peonage. For the 'Rethinkin
 g Natural Resources' project\, Julio conducted archival and ethnographic r
 esearch in Montserrat to explore how local communities perceive and adapt 
 to the impacts of the Soufrière Hills volcano.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260501T124011Z
LOCATION:Schwarzman Centre - Room 00.063\, Room 00.063 Schwarzman Centre R
 adcliffe Observatory Quarter\, Woodstock Road Oxford Oxfordshire OX2 6GG U
 nited Kingdom
SPEAKER:Julio Rodriguez Stimson (Oxford)
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