The climate crisis and the crisis of settler colonialism (with a chapter on the ‘History of Settler Colonialism’): Sarah Haley Knowles, Diminished Prosperity: How a Warming Planet Impedes Healthy Families, Communities, and Economies, Palgrave, 2025 | settler colonial studies blog

The climate crisis and the crisis of settler colonialism (with a chapter on the ‘History of Settler Colonialism’): Sarah Haley Knowles, Diminished Prosperity: How a Warming Planet Impedes Healthy Families, Communities, and Economies, Palgrave, 2025

06Jan26

Description: This book explores the relationship between climate change, reproductive justice, and the prosperity of families, communities, and economies. Bringing together critical analyses of historical white feminism, classical economics, and corporate success models, it argues that the consequences of climate change render traditional approaches to prosperity ineffective and irrelevant in modern times. Climate change does not impact us all equally, and the impacts of extreme weather and climate events are influenced by societal structures. Socioeconomic power, cultural norms, and traditional roles make some people more vulnerable to climate change than others. In exploring the correlations between climate change, increased cost of living, and decreased birth rates, this study paves the way for a new prosperity model based on a four-part test to promote, protect, and advance the health and long-term viability of families, communities, economies, and ecosystems through sustainable and responsible economic principles, means, and indicators of success. Alongside these findings, the book shines a light on the hypocrisy of the modern feminist movement that sacrifices the prosperity of low-income women of color in order to leverage the modern corporate success model for the prosperity of the white elite, which is ultimately what is most responsible for climate change. It will be of interest to researchers in gender studies, feminist theory, environmental sociology, sustainability studies, and social policy.

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