“Ungreen Wind power: Sámi and Scientific perspective on fossil-dependent and environmentally destructive designs.” Film of 18 minutes with a discussion by May-Britt Öhman.
How can racism studies and decolonial methodologies contribute to the analysis of ongoing windpower exploitations in Sámi territories? Large windpower industrial areas with up to 1000 windpower plants are under construction in Sábme - Sámi territories. The Swedish state, as well as actors within the energy market, environmental organisations and climate activists, promote windpower as green, fossil-free and environmentally friendly, but is this really true?
The film discusses these issues as experienced by reindeer herders in view of large scale windpower exploitation that is encouraged by the Swedish state on Indigenous Sámi territories. These territories belong to the Sámi but were taken by force by the Swedish state by the end of the 19th century and early 20th century. Henrik Andersson, a reindeer herder in Gällivare forest Sami village, in the north of Sweden, discusses the impacts on their territories.
In the film, Eva Charlotta Helsdotter, PhD in Land and Water Resources Management, Associate Professor in Water Security and a researcher at CEMFOR, also discusses the extent of the environmental destruction as well as the use of fossil fuels that are needed to construct, maintain, and decommission windpower plants.
May-Britt Öhman is an Associate professor in Environmental history, researcher at the Centre for Multidisciplinary Studies on Racism, CEMFOR, Uppsala University, Öhman is Lule and Forest Sámi of the Lule River valley. May-Britt is the project leader of ”Dálkke: Indigenous climate change studies” and ”Living without oil?! Rethinking relations with lands and waters with Indigenous Land Based Expertise for a transition towards a fossil free welfare society" funded by the Swedish National Programme on Climate . The film is made by the two research projects.
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