Climate Change and Transatlantic Slavery Uncomfortable parallels, uncertain futures
Main Article Content
Keywords
Climate change, Transatlantic slavery, slave trade, Africa, Caribbean
Abstract
The article examines the causes and effects of climate change and juxtaposes these with the transatlantic slave trade to glean what lessons, if any, can be learnt. It further explores any systemic linkages between transatlantic slavery and climate change, and proffers sustainable recommendations for mitigating the current dilemmas associated with slavery and climate change. To this end, this study finds that the effects of transatlantic slavery and climate change reveal multi-generational impacts related to a lack of representation, the disproportionate distribution of benefits and costs, cultural losses, and a lack of frameworks to facilitate compensation to those adversely affected. The article concludes by underscoring useful measures that can be adopted to combat the proliferation of similar problems in the future.
Article Metrics Graph
References
Adger, W. N., Barnett, J., Brown.,Marshall., & O’Brien., K. (2012). Cultural dimensions of climate change mpacts and adaptation. Nature Climate Change, 3(2), 112-117. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1666 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1666
Allen, R. C. (2012). Backward into the future: The shift to coal and implications for the next energy transition. Energy policy, 50, 17-23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2012.03.020 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2012.03.020
Bales, K., Sovacool, B.K. (2021). From forests to factories: How modern slavery deepens the crisis of climate change. Energy Research & Social Science, 77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102096 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102096
Beckles, H. (2013). Britain’s Black Debt: Reparations for Caribbean Slavery and Native Genocide. University of the West Indies Press.
Best, L. A. (1968). Outlines of a model of pure plantation economy. Social and Economic Studies,17 (3), 283-326. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27856339 .
Brickell, K., Parsons, L., Natarajan.,N., Chann, S (2018). Blood bricks: Untold stories of modern slavery and climate change from Cambodia. http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.20442.18889
Bronen, R. (2009). Forced migration of Alaskan indigenous communities due to climate change: creating a human rights response. In Afifi, T., & Jäger, J. Environment, Forced Migration and Social Vulnerability (pp 87-98). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-12416-7_7 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-12416-7_7
Brown, D., Boyd, D. S., Brickell, K., Ives, C. D., Natarajan, N. Parsons, L. (2021). Modern slavery, environmental degradation, and climate change: Fisheries, field, forests and factories. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 4 (2), 191-207. https://doi.org/10.1177/2514848619887156 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2514848619887156
Caribbean Community. (2022). Caricom Ten Point Plan for Reparatory Justice.
Challe, T. (2021, April 22). The Rights of Nature — Can an Ecosystem Bear Legal Rights?. Columbia Climate School. https://bit.ly/3sNA2He
Charan, D., Kaur, M.,Singh, P. (2017). Customary land and climate change induced relocation—a case study of Vunidogoloa Village, Vanua Levu, Fiji. In Filho, W.L. Climate change adaptation in Pacific countries (pp 19-33). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50094-2_2 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50094-2_2
Coady, D., Parry, I., Nghia-Piotr, Le., & Shang, B. (2019). Global Fossil Fuel Subsidies Remain Large: An Update Based on Country-Level Estimates. International Monetary Fund. (Working Paper No. 15#). https://doi.org/10.5089/9781484393178.001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781484393178.001
Coady, D., Parry, I., Sears, L & Shang, B. (2017). How large are global fossil fuel subsidies? World Development, 91, 11-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.10.004 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.10.004
Coleman, D. C. (1992). Myth, history and the industrial revolution: Donald Cuthbert Coleman.
Crofts, J. G. (2002). The Original “Silken Valley”: How and Why the Derwent Valley Became the Birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition. https://doi.org/10.1115/IMECE2002-33134 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1115/IMECE2002-33134
Curtin, P. D. (1972). The Atlantic slave trade: A census. University of Wisconsin Press.
Daly, E. (20120. The Ecuadorian exemplar: the first ever vindications of constitutional rights of nature. Review of European Community and International Environmental Law, 21(1), 21- 63. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9388.2012.00744.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9388.2012.00744.x
Davidson, M. D. (2008). Parallels in reactionary argumentation in the US congressional debates on the abolition of slavery and the Kyoto Protocol. Climatic Change, 86 (1), 67-82. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-007-9250-7 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-007-9250-7
Decker, S., Boyd, D.S., Jackson, B., Ives, C.D., & Bales, K. (2021). Growing evidence of the interconnections between modern slavery, environmental degradation, and climate change. One Earth, 4 (2). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2021.01.015 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2021.01.015
Desai, B. H. (2020). 14. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Yearbook of International Environmental Law, 31(1), 319-325. https://doi.org/10.1093/yiel/yvab060 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/yiel/yvab060
Draper, N (2010). The price of emancipation: slave-ownership, compensation, and British society at the end of slavery. Cambridge University Press.
Dugan, B. (2007). Loss of identity in disaster: How do you say goodbye to home? Perspectives in psychiatric care, 43 (1), 41-46. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6163.2007.00105.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6163.2007.00105.x
Ellis, J. (2010). The Effects of Fossil-Fuel Subsidy Reform: a review of modelling and empirical studies. In The Global Subsidies Initiative. Untold Billions: Fossil-Fuel Subsidies, their Impacts and The Path to Reform. Switzerland: International Institute for Sustainable Development.
Eltis, D. (1987). Economic growth and the ending of the transatlantic slave trade. Oxford University Press.
Eltis, D. (2001). The volume and structure of the transatlantic slave trade: A reassessment. The William and Mary Quarterly, 58 (1), 17-46. https://doi.org/10.2307/2674417 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2674417
Feeny, D., Berkes F., McCay, B.J., & Acheson., J.M. (1990). The Tragedy of the Commons: Twenty-two years later. Human Ecology, 18 (1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00889070 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00889070
Giles, J. (2006). Methane quashes green credentials of hydropower. Nature, 444, 524-525. https://doi.org/10.1038/444524a . DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/444524b
Girvan, N. (2009). Plantation Economy in the Age of Globalisation. In Best, L., & Levitt, K. Essays on the Theory of Plantation Economy. University of the West Indies Press.
Hardin, G. (1968). The Tragedy of the commons: the population problem has no technical solution; it requires a fundamental extension in morality. American Association for the Advancement of Science, 162 (3859), 1243-1248. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.162.3859.1243 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.162.3859.1243
International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. (2022). Gold, God, and Glory. https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/applied-and-social-sciences-magazines/gold-god-and-glory .
Jackson, B., & Decker Sparks, J.L.D . (2020). Ending slavery by decarbonisation? Exploring the nexus of modern slavery, deforestation, and climate change action via REDD+. Energy Research & Social Science, 69, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2020.101610 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2020.101610
Johnson, S. (2017). With Patents or Without, Black Inventors Reshaped American Industry. The Conversation. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/with-patents-or-without-black-inventors-reshaped-american-industry-180962201/
Lloyd, B. (2007). The Commons revisited: The tragedy continues. Energy Policy, 35 (11), 5806-5818. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2007.07.005 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2007.07.005
Maldonado, J. K., Shearer, C., Bronen, R., Peterson, K., & Lazrus., H. (2013). The impact of climate change on tribal communities in the US: displacement, relocation, and human rights. Climate change, 120 (3), 601-614. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05266-3_8 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-013-0746-z
Manjapra, K. (2019). The Scandal of the British Slavery Abolition Act Loan. Social and Economic Studies, 68 (3),165-259.
Matthews, G. (2017). The Caribbean Reparation Movement and British Slavery Apologies: An Appraisal. Journal of Caribbean History, 51 (1), 80-104. https://doi.org/10.1353/jch.2017.0003 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/jch.2017.0003
Masson-Delmotte, V., Zhai, P., Pirani, A., Connors, S. L., Péan, C., Berger, S., ... & Zhou, B. (2021). Climate change 2021: the physical science basis. Contribution of working group I to the sixth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change, 2.
McCarthy, T. (2004). Coming to terms with our past, part II: On the morality and politics of reparations for slavery. Political Theory, 32 (6):750-772. https://doi.org/10.1177/0090591704268924 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0090591704268924
Newman, A. P. (2017). The History and Future of the Idle/Bycarrsdyke Waterway and Its Catchment: An Artery of the Industrial Revolution and a Birthplace of British Drainage Engineering. World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2017. https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784480595.027 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784480595.027
Wang, N.I., Ma, T., Huang, R., Ciais, P., Li, Z., Yue, Y., Chen, J., Li, B., & Wang, Y. (2022). Three Gorges Dam: friend or foe of riverine greenhouse gases? National Science Review, 9 (6). https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwac013 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwac013
Nuttall, W. J. (2010). Slaves to Oil: Exploring parallels between the abolition of slavery and the challenge of climate change mitigation. In Energy and Innovation: Structural Change and Policy Implications (pp. 121-134). Purdue University Press.
Osei, A., & Dover, D. E. (2004). Gold, God, Glory… Globalization: The Foundations of Contemporary Global Connections.
Ouyang, X., & Lin, B. (2014). Impacts of increasing renewable energy subsidies and phasing out fossil fuel subsidies in China. Renewable and sustainable energy reviews, 37, 933-942. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2014.05.013 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2014.05.013
Posner, E. A., & Vermeule, A. (2003). Reparations for slavery and other historical injustices. Colum. L. Rev., 103, 689. https://doi.org/10.2307/1123721 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1123721
Rauhut, C. (2020). Reassessing the Compensation Payments to British Slave Owners in Current Caribbean Claims to Reparations. Sociologies, 2, 123-141. https://doi.org/10.3790/soc.70.2.123 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3790/soc.70.2.123
Rawley, J. A., & Behrendt, S. D. (2005). The transatlantic slave trade: a history. U of Nebraska Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.43659 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.43659
Roberts, E., & Huq, S. (2015). Coming full circle: the history of loss and damage under the UNFCCC. International Journal of Global Warming, 8(2), 141-157. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJGW.2015.071964 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1504/IJGW.2015.071964
Shepherd, V. A., & Reid, A. (2019). Women, slavery and the reparation movement in the Caribbean. Social and Economic Studies, 31-59.
Smil, Vaclav. (2004). World History and Energy. In Cleveland, J.C. Encyclopaedia of Energy, (pp 549-561). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B0-12-176480-X/00025-5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B0-12-176480-X/00025-5
Smith, A. 1723-1790. (2000). The wealth of nations. New York: Modern Library.
Tabe, T. (2019). Climate change migration and displacement: Learning from past relocations in the Pacific. Social Sciences, 8(7), 218. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci8070218 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci8070218
Thorne, S. (2012). Capitalism and slavery compensation. Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism, 16 (1), 154-167. https://doi.org/10.1215/07990537-1548155 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/07990537-1548155
Trojanowska, A., Kurasiewicz, M., Plesniak, L., & Jedrysek, M. O. (2009). Emission of methane from sediments of selected Polish dam reservoirs. Teka Komisji Ochrony i Kształtowania Środowiska Przyrodniczego, 6, 368-373.
Tschakert, P., Barnett, J., Ellis, N., Lawrence, C., Tuana, N., New, M., ... & Pannell, D. (2017). Climate change and loss, as if people mattered: values, places, and experiences. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 8(5). https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.476 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.476
Stocker, T. F., Qin, D., Plattner, G. K., Tignor, M. M., Allen, S. K., Boschung, J., ... & Midgley, P. M. (2014). Climate Change 2013: The physical science basis. contribution of working group I to the fifth assessment report of IPCC the intergovernmental panel on climate change.
Wiseberg, L. S. (2002). The World Conference Against Racism [Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance]. Canadian Issues, 28.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. (1992). United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Bonn, Germany: Secretariat for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
United Nations Frameworrk Convention on Climate Change.(2015). Paris Agreement Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. edited Edited by Conference Of the Parties. Paris, France.
University of Cambridge. (2015, August 12). Price of Britain’s Slave Trade revealed. ScienceDaily. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/08/150812200555.htm
Williams, E. (1944). Capitalism and Slavery. Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle Publishers. Original edition, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1944. Reprint, 1994.
Williams, E. E. (1942). Negro in the Caribbean. New York: Negro Universities Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/2263172 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2263172
Article Sidebar
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Licensing information
© Author(s)