Work

Caring in crises – Unsettling care in soil carbon sequestration

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: This article investigates the European policy context of soils and carbon farming where care for soils is promoted alongside climate neutrality and economic growth goals. Through a close reading of four policy documents, we outline three discourses to explore what is done in the name of care, and what care is acceptable and promoted. We speak back to these discourses through Whyte’s (2021) conceptualization of epistemologies of crisis, where we see a concern or care for nature, where nature is not in fact the subject of concern. Instead, to care for nature is about caring for humans and human futures. A focus on care reveals important information about the challenges of translating response-able care for soils into formal decision-making systems, and we propose that concepts of care ethics that align with feminist and indigenous conceptions can inform different priorities and methods in the project to care for soils. We argue for the necessity to unsettle ways of engaging with the world that work from epistemologies of crisis which hinder diverse and relational care and lead to colonized futures.

Source: Environmental Science & Policy

DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2026.104337

Authors: Susanna Barrineau, Stina Powell

Institutions: Uppsala University, Uppsala University Hospital, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Language: English

Topic: Feminism, Gender, and Intersectionality

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Climate action, Life on land

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $4,250