Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil

Coal forms from land-based plants in peat bogs and coastal swamps. These plants decay in “a watery, oxygen-deficient environment that interrupted the normal process for returning carbon to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide” (12). The plant matter decomposes slowly in this environment because it is trapped under the weight of mud and vegetation. Because of this slow decay, it retains most of its carbon. After 150-350 million years, the decayed plants turn into coal. Because it takes millions of years to develop, there is a limited amount of coal. For this reason, coal is a non-renewable energy resource.

Mitchell notes that “the term ‘democracy’ has two kinds of meaning” (9). The first refers to ways of making claims for a more equitable and just world. The second refers to a type of government that uses popular consent, or the belief that people should participate directly in their country’s government, to limit claims for more justice and equality by divvying up issues into matters of public concern and alternative methods of concern. Popular decisions influence the former. Alternative methods of concern include “a private sphere governed by rules of property, a natural world governed by laws of nature, or markets governed by principles of economics” (9). Mitchell suggests that most democratic struggles become a “battle” over whether to establish an issue as a public concern or alternative method of concern.

Oil forms similarly to coal. However, oil forms from marine organisms. Once the organisms die, they fall to the ocean floor where they mix with inorganic material in a similar “watery, oxygen-deficient environment.” It takes millions of years for oil to form from these decayed marine organisms. For this reason, oil is also a non-renewable energy source.

Mitchell describes the oil firm as an apparatus “composed of machinery, men and women, knowhow, finance and hydrocarbons” (44). He likens the firm to a parasite since it consumes something larger than itself (i.e., the flows of oil-energy). By being adept at blocking or slowing the flow of oil down, an oil firm gains greater control over oil. Thus, the firm may thrive and become larger, which is what happened to several oil firms, such as BP.

OPEC stands for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, and Iran formed OPEC in 1960 in response to President Eisenhower having to limit the export of US oil due to decreasing supplies. The organization helped oil-producing countries gain back control of their oil supplies from foreign oil companies and governments.

Sabotage refers “to the slow-down, the work-to-rule and other means of interrupting the normal functioning of a critical process” (22). The term comes from a French book published in 1909, called Le Sabotage, which detailed how French workers used this method as a means of fighting for the right to unionize and for better working conditions. It was one method that coal workers used in particular to disrupt the production and distribution of coal in order to gain more collective rights. Oil workers attempted to utilize sabotage, but with far less success than their counterparts in the coal industry. Oil companies also eventually use their own method of sabotage to prevent competition and to maintain control over oil supplies.