Dialectic narratives, hostile actors, and Earth’s resources in Saskatchewan, Canada

This paper uses networks of action situations (NAS) together with actor network theory (ANT) to identify the decisions that were made in Saskatchewan regarding power production and explore what future choices are available in the context of climate change. A theoretical and methodological contribution to NAS literature is made with focus on interconnected human and non-human objects (carbon, hydro, and uranium) or ‘actants’ and the development of discourses supporting or opposing their development. Actants provide the nodes of focus, while discourses explain the development of actants and their links. Identification and explanation of the emergence and recession of actants on the Saskatchewan landscape are analyzed with diagnostics of telecoupled systems, polycentric governance, and flows of faction situations. Focus group and survey data are used to identify future pathways and imaginaries of power production and the actants of carbon, hydro and uranium. Actants of carbon (coal) and hydro are possibly kept alive with carbon capture and storage and import of hydro-electricity from the distant action situation in a neighboring province (if the necessary infrastructure is built). While actants of renewables are strongly emerging, uranium currently mined on the Saskatchewan landscape is receiving strong support by government due to the possibility of small modular reactors (SMRs). This expanded theoretical conception of NAS illustrates distant action situations impact on local narratives and decision-making and dynamics of polycentric governance that are neither top down nor collaborative. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11625-022-01214-y.