From the Bog to the Cloud
Dependency and Eco-Modernity in Ireland
By Patrick Bresnihan and Patrick Brodie
Published
Nov 1, 2025Page count
192 pagesISBN
978-1529241952Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University PressPublished
Nov 1, 2025Page count
192 pagesISBN
978-1529241945Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University PressPublished
Nov 1, 2025Page count
192 pagesISBN
978-1529241969Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University PressThe green, digital transition is underway. But what does this transition look like when dictated by the energy and resource demands of monopoly tech? How has this situation come to be? And where is it being resisted?
This provocative book uncovers the hidden intersections of land, resource extraction and climate policy in the transition to “greener” and “smarter” economies. Challenging eco-modern and techno-solutionist approaches, the book links narratives of sustainability with colonial histories and uneven development, arguing that tech-driven transitions replicate exploitative patterns of imperial capitalism. Using Ireland as a focal point, the authors show how the history and depth of the country’s postcolonial dependency on multinational investment, especially US technology companies, comes into friction with disparate land-based struggles.
Thinking with these movements, the book offers a critique of dependent models of development and proposes an anti-imperialist approach to environmental politics.
Patrick Bresnihan is Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at Maynooth University.
Patrick Brodie is Assistant Professor and Ad Astra Fellow in the School of Information and Communication Studies at University College Dublin.
Introduction – Why Are There So Many Data Centres in Ireland?
Chapter 1 - Energetic Mediation and Imperial Geographies
Chapter 2 - Bog Modernity and Energy Decolonisation
Chapter 3 - Data Centre Land
Chapter 4 - Atmosphere Meets Cloud
Chapter 5 - The Value of a Bog
Chapter 6 - Land, Extractivism, and Anti-Imperialist Environmentalism
Conclusion