Introduction Austerity as an environmentally dangerous idea: A political ecology approach

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book documents austerity as an idea and a practice that is as dangerous for theenvironment, as it is for the economy and for society. It explores how austerity led to environmental degradation, land grabbing, and theprivate appropriation of the commons, affecting the subaltern classes and socialgroups. The book focuses on the bushfires disaster in 2019 in Australia, also known as the ‘Black Summer’, to examine how austerity measures have combined with economic growth based on fossil fuels industry, denial of climate change, and colonialism to exacerbate climate-related disasters and the country’s unpreparedness to face them. It addresses the rise of environmental conflict in the context of austerity and how the environment informs anti-austerity struggles and mobilizations.