ABSTRACT
Environmental degradation has been commonly linked to a modern loss of meaning, the sacred or enchantment in nature, spurring a variety of re-enchantment strategies. But what happens when the animated or enchanted matter turns out to be oil? What predominant disenchantment approaches miss are the ways extraction, early oil narratives and energy have consistently been received as animated, enchanted and sacralised, often towards colonising and environmentally destructive ends. This essay explores several historical examples—some ancient, some as recent as 21st-century climate denialisms. Given these examples, a commonly assumed link between re-enchantment and environmental ethics needs to be re-theorised so that enchantment, material animation and vitalism is expected, but remains ethically ambiguous.
