Work

Towards a political ecology of Earth System Modelling

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Earth system models (ESMs) have been presented as existentially vital tools for guiding humanity through present and future crises. As part of a special issue, this review paper outlines what a political ecology of Earth System Science (ESS) might look like. We outline some of the political, economic, and ecological structures ESMs depend upon. We trace the disciplinary alternatives that ESS has displaced in its rise to authority, oint towards the new state—corporate—military assemblages this authority rests upon, and exemplify the metabolic demands of its hyperscale computational infrastructures, in terms of energy, water, and minerals. In doing so, we argue that between the decommissioning of the Blue Waters (2013–2021) supercomputer and the commissioning of Solstice (2025–2026), a new political ecology of ESS became legible. ESS began to run on digital platforms operated by and for a set of Big Tech companies. Recognising the political and ecological consequences of this new political ecology, we argue ESS must confront its costs.

Source: The Anthropocene Review

DOI: 10.1177/20530196261472819

Authors: Adam Wickberg, Thomas Turnbull

Institutions: KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science

Language: English

Topic: Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature

Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Climate action

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,900