Julie Klinger Publishes Journal Article on Geopolitics and Outer Space

Julie Klinger, Associate Director of the Global Development Policy Center’s Land Use and Livelihoods Initiative (LULI), recently published a journal article on the intersection of environmental geopolitics and outer space in the journal Geopolitics on March 20, 2019.

Klinger’s article, entitled “Environmental Geopolitics and Outer Space,” explores the concept of outer space through classical, critical, environmental, and feminist geopolitical theories and how the “environmental geopolitics of Earth and outer space are inextricably linked by the spatial politics of privilege and the imposition of sacrifice – among people, places, and institutions.”

Here is the complete abstract of the article:

The cultural, legal, budgetary, infrastructural, and logistical processes through which the contemporary space race unfolds have measurable environmental footprints on Earth and in outer space. The question of where these footprints fall is arbitrated by larger questions of geopolitical power and vulnerability, which means that human engagement with outer space is also a question of environmental justice. On Earth, environmental (in)justice unfolds on multiple scales: local and stratospheric emissions from space launches, the placement of outer space related infrastructure in so-called peripheral places, and the role of power in determining whether the use of such infrastructure aids socio-environmentally constructive or destructive practices. Beyond Earth, the environmental geopolitics are likewise multiscalar, manifesting in contemporary pollution issues such as orbital debris and conservation debates such as planetary protection protocols. The environmental geopolitics of Earth and outer space are inextricably linked by the spatial politics of privilege and the imposition of sacrifice – among people, places, and institutions. This paper explores the concept of outer space environments through classical, critical, environmental, and feminist geopolitical theories.

Dr. Julie Michelle Klinger (Ph.D. Geography) is an Assistant Professor in the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, Associate Director of the Global Development Policy Center’s Land Use and Livelihoods Initiative, and Faculty Affiliate at the Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. Her research focuses on the dynamics of global resource frontiers, with a particular focus on social and environmental sustainability.  In particular, she examines how diverse forms of violence and strategies for survival shape land use, environmental conservation, and livelihood security. Some of Dr. Klinger’s research experience includes rural development in the Himalayas; Brazil-China relations; the impacts of rare earth mining around the world; and the role of international outer space cooperation in global development. Her research uses qualitative and quantitative methods combined with extensive fieldwork. She often works in local languages with diverse stakeholders to uncover the root causes of environmental degradation and livelihood insecurity. She is committed to finding collaborative solutions to the most pressing sustainability issues of our time.