HIDDEN
ECONOMIES
SHADOW SPACE
Feminist philosopher Val Plumwood’s concept of ‘shadow places’ (2008) provides a framework to examine Cooling as a marginal space that bears ecological and social costs, yet remains invisible in dominant narratives. Shadow places allow us to expose the hidden geographies of exploitation and vulnerability to imagine alternate futures where thermal justice and ecological care replace the logics of efficiency and control.
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‘Cooling’—from ice production to refrigeration to air-conditioning—occupies an apoliticised space, treated as neutral, technical solutions to solve the logistics of preservation and circulation. Yet, these systems rarely face scrutiny for their role in reinforcing extractive economies, entrenching existing social hierarchies and masking the labour, energy, and ecological costs embedded in their operation.
Questions
How do we repoliticise artificial cooling infrastructures deliberately rendered invisible within global capitalism?
What are the ecological and social costs of Cooling in global supply chains?
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How do carbon and labour relations materialise in the shadow spaces of refrigeration, ice, and air conditioning?
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How are the hidden costs and burdens of cooling infrastructures distributed along lines of caste, class, and gender, reinforcing or transforming existing social hierarchies?
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How can we make these relations visible and politically actionable to break the cycle of fossil-fueled thermal governance