Rethinking Petromodernity: Coastal Communities and the Origins of Environmental Health Discourse

• In Event: Fluid Management: Water Pollution, Flood Control, and Coastal Health

Abstract

Petromodernity, as a socio-ecological paradigm, has shaped the economic and environmental landscape of the United States throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. As the oil and petrochemical industries have concentrated their operations in coastal areas, the environmental degradation and pollution resulting from these activities have disproportionately affected surrounding communities. The paper will explore how this spatial proximity has led to the contamination of water sources, the accumulation of petroleum waste, and the birth of the environmental health discourse in the US.

By examining early 20th-century case studies of oil contamination, from New Jersey to Louisiana to California, where communities saw the rapid 'blackening' of their landscapes, the paper investigates the historical origins of petromodernity in the United States and highlights the historical roots of power imbalances, social inequalities, and environmental injustices that have facilitated the expansion of the oil and petrochemical industries in coastal areas, focusing on their intersections with public health.

These case studies illuminate the historical roots of the complex interplay between industry, progress, and people’s wellbeing. The development of environmental health discourses rested on an understanding of public health and modernity shaped by a focus on economic growth, technological optimism, short-termism, and a lack of global cooperation. These factors have contributed to the growth of an extractivist and exploitative paradigm that created significant challenges in terms of environmental degradation, public health hazards, and social inequalities.

The paper casts an innovative light on early 20th-century case studies as pivotal moments in the shaping of environmental health narratives and communities’ responses to challenges posed by fossil fuels extractivism. It aims to foster a richer understanding of the origins and consequences of petromodernity and offer insights into potential pathways for promoting environmental justice and sustainable development in a decolonized future.

Author

• Gaetano Di Tommaso, Roosevelt Institute for American Studies