Abstract

In many ways, rising global temperatures could be said to be produced by the actions of all members of carbon societies. Yet, given what is known regarding the contribution of major carbon emitters to increases in average temperatures, it could be said that the latter are asymmetrically responsible for its detrimental effects, including more frequent and violent wildfires, melting glaciers, rising sea levels, etc. Asymmetry here refers to the specificity of each polluting agent’s contribution within a wider configuration of relationships of mutual effect. Considering their scale and intensity, the impacts of rising pollution levels cannot be said to be wholly ‘unstructured’ or ‘accidental’. Rather, they are disproportionately the product of the actions of high emitting agents. In this way, the burning landscapes of the Anthropocene are not wholly ‘naturally occurring’ phenomena. To describe the type of devastating wildfires witnessed in more recent years as fires that ‘start by themselves’ is not entirely true in the context of global climate change. Other climate related events, equally, are in part produced by specific political, economic and social arrangements, especially those associated with the historical rise and ongoing expansion of energy capitalism. This chapter notes how lived, embodied experiences of rising temperatures fuel a more heated exchange today on issues of responsibility for what are increasingly transnationally sourced climate harms.