Coal’s Final Void: Extracted Futures and the Everyday Making of the Climate Crisis

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Kari Dahlgren

Coal’s Final Void

Extracted Futures and the Everyday Making of the Climate Crisis

Kari Dahlgren

$284

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Routledge
25 February 2025

Anthropology; Mining industry; Coal & solid fuel industries; Conservation of the environment; Global warming

This book explores the continuation of coal mining in Australia despite growing awareness of its contribution to the climate crisis. Through an in-depth ethnographic study, Kari Dahlgren reveals the complex and often contradictory ways that miners, lobbyists, and communities navigate the uncertain future of coal. By focusing on the human stories behind this industry, the book sheds light on broader environmental, political, and social issues of global significance.

Dahlgren’s research spans multiple Australian coal communities, primarily in Moranbah, Queensland, and the Hunter Valley of New South Wales. She offers insights into the daily decisions and ethical considerations of coal miners and lobbyists that sustain the industry in the face of climate change. The book addresses diverse topics, such as labor precarity, gender roles, populist politics, and the moral accusations faced by pro-coal advocates, connecting these themes to the broader social and political challenges of Australia’s energy transition.

Central to the book are the “final voids” left by mining—both physical and metonymic holes left in the aftermath of mining. These voids represent the emptied livelihoods of those entangled in the coal industry, as they grapple with the uncertainty of what comes next. The book explores how communities, lobbyists, and miners attempt to imagine and fill these voids with hopeful but often impractical visions, avoiding a reckoning with the industry's destructive legacy. This struggle highlights the deep entanglement of labour and ecological precarity in sustaining the climate crisis, offering fresh insights for scholars in anthropology, human geography, and energy policy. This book is essential reading for scholars, policymakers, and activists engaged in climate and energy debates, as well as anyone interested in the complex human dimensions of the energy transition.

By: Kari Dahlgren
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781032786643
ISBN 10: 1032786647
Pages: 152
Publication Date: 25 February 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Kari Dahlgren is an anthropologist of the social dynamics of the energy transition in Australia. She received her PhD in Anthropology from the London School of Economics. She is a lecturer in the Human Geography, Anthropology and Development Studies program at Monash University.