Climate, Carbon, and Territory: Greenhouse Gas Mitigation in Seattle, Washington

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Abstract
Hundreds of local governments in the United States have adopted greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals during the past several years, requiring critical examinations of the role of the state in climate governance and the effects of these programs on urban citizenship. Using a study of Seattle, Washington, a city at the forefront of implementing climate regulations through formal government institutions, this article examines how and why climate is incorporated into local environmental policy. By deliberately connecting the causes and consequences of global climate change to the local community, Seattle has been able to use climate as a conceptual resource for urban environmental policy via the climatization of the urban environment. Furthermore, a key mechanism for making climate governable in Seattle is the carbonization of urban governance, where a relationship between the production of GHG emissions and specific urban activities is established through the use of GHG inventories and emissions monitoring. These practices facilitate the act of territorialization, where material natures and state institutions are coconstituted through the production of carbon territories. A key effect of these practices is that Seattle has begun to enroll its residents as a new type of carbon-relevant citizen in the regulation of global climate, while also reaffirming its ability to regulate infrastructural design, commercial activities, and community development. These findings are discussed with respect to their implications for how we understand state practice in climate governance, as well as the relationship between “the state” and “nature” in environmental politics.

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