Description
From the depths of ocean-based carbon removal to the heights of offshore wind parks, techno-legal imaginaries are turning the sea into climate infrastructure—and a villainous one at that. In this paper, I explore how international law portrays the ocean as infinitely resilient, absorptive, and exploitable, allowing technological interventions that appear heroic but frequently conceal extractivist agendas. Through the lens of sacrifice zones, I argue that the law not only regulates but also legitimises these technologies by casting the ocean as both saviour and expendable backdrop.Similar to Captain Ahab's obsessive pursuit of Moby Dick, legal and technological systems project villainy onto the ocean—a vast, unknown force recast as both a monstrous threat and a source of opportunities. The ocean's refusal to conform to orderly extraction regimes is framed as defiance rather than resistance, justifying ever more invasive technological solutions. Deep-sea mining, ocean alkalinity enhancement, and floating wind farms all follow a familiar pattern: a world in crisis, a technological solution, and a legal regime that silences dissent while codifying sacrifice.
Rather than asking whether technology is the villain, I propose that international law frequently serves as a narrative device that externalises human hubris, making nature the antagonist. In this story, the ocean is both scapegoated and saddled with the responsibility of planetary salvation. This is the villain origin story of the ocean in the age of climate technology: not a passive victim, but a spectral character shaped by human projections—pursued, wounded, and forced to bear the consequences of our own destructive myths
| Period | 12 Sept 2025 |
|---|---|
| Event title | Gikii 2025 Amsterdam |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Amsterdam, NetherlandsShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |