The Salt of the Earth: Socio-Ecological Contradictions of the Petrochemical Revolution in Venezuela

In 2007, former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez launched the petrochemical revolution, a modernization strategy geared towards the transformation of fossil fuels into different forms of social development. Central to this strategy was the creation of ‘Petrocasas’ – houses made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) – as a way to address the country’s housing deficit. This initiative required the state’s careful attention to the metabolism of economy and nature, in particular by obligating it to mediate the relationship between the space-time dimensions of petro-capitalism and the space-time dimensions of ecology along the hydrocarbon commodity chain. This presentation examines the metabolism of fossil fuel production in the creation of Petrocasas as an articulation of national and multinational capital investment, technology, and the environment. Focusing on the fishing community of Ancón de Iturre as a case study, it explores the socio-ecological contradictions produced by petrochemical processes arising from the inconsistencies between the different forces governing technology, social relations, and environmental conditions of production. To pursue this objective, this presentation analyzes: (1) the social, political and economic rationales behind the petrochemical revolution; (2) the way in which the transformation of natural gas creates a specific set of tensions that may be obscured by the commodification process itself; and (3) the metabolic processes involved in the petrochemical production of plastics. I argue that not only does the petrochemical sector play an important role in the commodification of fossil fuels, but it is also one of the most important actors in the modernization strategies of most petro-states today. In this context, then, I suggest that petrochemical industries become vehicles of capital conversion and accumulation. Tuesday March 4, 2014, 12:30pm CIBC Hub Room, Rozsa Centre, University of Calgary. This event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. For more info: larc.ucalgary.ca.

Location:

CIBC Hub Room Rozsa Centre University of Calgary

Speaker:

Dr. Elvin Delgado is an Assistant Professor of Geography, and Associate Member of the Graduate Faculty in the Resource Management Program at Central Washington University, where he also directs the Energy Studies Minor. He is currently working on the creation of an Institute for Sustainable Energy Studies that brings together six different disciplines to address contemporary energy issues. Dr. Delgado is a Fulbright scholar and his regional specialization is Latin America with over ten years of research experience in Venezuela. He is the chair of the Energy and Environment Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers (AAG) and was among 28 scholars globally selected to participate in the ‘energy-water’ nexus training funded by the National Science Foundation Pan-American Advanced Studies Institute (NSF-PASI). His teaching and research interests lie in the areas of energy (both traditional and alternative), political ecology, political economy and nature, and critical resources geography. Dr. Delgado’s research critically explores changing patterns of human-environment interactions in the context of fossil fuel production in Venezuela. Dr. Delgado’s new research looks at the socio-ecological impacts associated with hydraulic fracturing in Argentina.

More information at http://www.ucalgary.ca/events/calendar/salt-earth-socio-ecological-contradictions-petrochemical-revolution-venezuela