Open University Public Lecture | Andreas Malm

We were thrilled to host a public lecture and discussion from one of the world’s leading climate change and political economy academics, Andreas Malm.

Andreas talked about the key themes from his book White Skin, Black Fuel, exploring the racist and colonial roots of the fossil fuel industry and the legacy of these into present day reactionary and fascist responses to climate change. He also cast a critical eye on progressive campaigns and movements seeking to combat climate change, asking whether their strategies match the self-professed urgency of the situation.

Expect the rich historical analysis one would expect from the author of the magisterial Fossil Capital, combined with an incisive diagnosis of present political-economic conditions.

Speaker:

Andreas Malm 

Associate Professor in the Department of Human Geography at Lund University, Sweden. He is currently engaged with two research projects; the first is the role of the far right in the climate crisis, and the second focuses  on the political economy of negative emissions technologies.  He has recently published, together with the Zetkin Collective, White Skin, Black Fuel: On the Danger of Fossil Fascism (Verso) and an anthology, co-edited with J. P. Sapinski and Holly Jean Buck, called Has It Come to This? The Promises and Perils of Geoengineering on the Brink (Rutgers University Press).  Andreas is also the author of The Progress of this Storm and of Fossil Capital, which won the Isaac and Tamara Deutscher Memorial Prize, plus How to blow up a pipeline and Corona, Climate, Chronic Emergency. 

Chair:

Dr Owain Smolovic-Jones

Former Director of The Open University Business School Research into Employment, Empowerment and Futures (REEF)