Carbon Colonialism

Winner of the 2024 AAP PROSE Award for Economics

Shortlisted for the Penn Libraries Book Prize in Sustainability

CHOICE OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC TITLE 2024

'Carbon colonialism is a timely analysis of the contradictions of climate politics. It not only makes visible the concealed costs of extraction hidden beneath the shiny sustainability commitments of Global North politics, but also provides an eye-opening account of climate breakdown in the Global South.'
Matthias Schmelzer, author of The Future Is Degrowth

'By taking readers on a journey through landscapes poisoned by the effluvia of economic growth, Laurie Parsons exposes the ongoing impact of colonialism and global capitalism on some of the most vulnerable places on earth. Read this book if you want to understand how the impacts of history are still reverberating today.'
Carry Somers, founder of Fashion Revolution

'Thoroughly recommend reading this excellent book. A fascinating and well-written explanation of how global capitalism exports environmental destruction to poor places, while extracting wealth to rich ones.'
Grace Blakeley, author of The Corona Crash

'Carbon colonialism is an uncomfortable book to read from the comforts of the rich world. It is unsettling because Laurie Parsons renders visible through curated cases and close argument the global signatures of environmental risk, exposure and reward, and the structural violence of climate change.'
Jonathan Rigg, Professor of Human Geography, University of Bristol

'An eye-opening, fact-based indictment of the current path we're on, one where rich countries and companies are accumulating the resources to mitigate the impacts of climate change rather than moving to stop environmental destruction.'
Assaad Razzouk, author of Saving the Planet Without the Bull

'Fantastic. Moving. And beautifully written.'
Sven Beckert, author of Empire of Cotton

'Carbon colonialism exposes the uneven geography of the climate crises through thoughtful field work, detailing how destructive global environmental change is teleconnected to impoverishment. Parsons traces the ways in which the most egregious effects of climate change are found at the bottom of global gradients of inequality while tackling head on the myths that surround the political economy of climate change.'
Andrew Brooks, Reader in Uneven Development, King's College London and author of Clothing Poverty

'Carbon colonialism is a welcome salve to the pernicious greenwashing that pollutes contemporary capitalism. Laurie Parsons skillfully weaves ethnographic encounters with detailed research to craft a book that is both timely and urgently necessary. Carbon Colonialism asks critical questions about the status-quo, where life is cheap, destruction is uneven, and profit is extracted from our planetary future.'
Thom Davies, Associate Professor in Geography, University of Nottingham and co-editor of Toxic Truths

'Parsons takes everyday objects - bricks, a pair of socks, teabags - and draws out lessons from their global supply chains. And it was great to hear more from Cambodia, a country we don't hear from very much, and where Parsons has spent a lot of time. Altogether, Carbon colonialism is a stark reminder that for all its apparent environmental progress, consumer capitalism still relies on invisible "elsewheres" to keep the economic wheels turning.'
Jeremy Williams, The Earthbound Report

'This book explains how wealth is ruling and harming the environment. We are all accountable for our unsustainable overuse of natural resources and climate change. Therefore, this book must be read by every individual, not just those with a specific interest.'
Ankita Sharma, Studies of Transition States and Societies, Vol. 15 Issue 1<