[On April 10th, 2018 author Amitav Ghosh delivered the keynote address entitled "Embattled Earth: Commodities, Conflict and Climate Change in the Indian Ocean," for the university-wide symposium Illinois 150: The 21st Century University and Research for the Public Good. Below is a response to the lecture by Dilara Çalışkan (Anthropology).] Response to Amitav Ghosh's lecture “Embattled Earth: Commodities, Conflict and Climate Change in the Indian Ocean” Written by Dilara Çalışkan (Anthropology) How do we discuss the relationships between continents across time through following the histories of trade wars, colonialism, and liberalism? How can we talk about the centrality of the Indian Ocean in the histories of trade wars, recent shifts in climate change and its relation to the global impacts of neoliberal economies? How can we listen to the violent histories of the past and present that emerge through the commodification of desire for a clove tree? These questions were at the background of Amitav Ghosh’s talk “Embattled Earth: Commodities, Conflict and Climate Change in the Indian Ocean.” His presentation started with a brief history of the commodification of desire exemplified in the trade of clove and continued through the histories of other commodities such as tea and pepper emphasizing their role in trade wars that defined Dutch and British colonialism. While looking at the violent histories of trade wars that emerged from colonial desires to control the circulation of certain commodities like sugar and opium, Ghosh revealed how this history still affects and dominates our everyday life. He encouraged us not to understand climate change as a purely science problem, but to recognize the intimate relationships between power, liberalism and empire in the Anthropocene. [caption id="attachment_1800" align="aligncenter" width="441"] Clove Tree - Andrew Zaga - Sunday Spotlight[/caption] Taking a global perspective on the first and second Opium Wars between China and United Kingdom, Ghosh identified these wars as turning points in world history that created the close correlation between military force, modernity and economic growth. Pointing to the relation between the carbon economy and western forms of production and consumption, Ghosh argued that it launched global processes of the homogenization of desire on a scale that was never seen before in the history of the world. Today, while we desire homogenized commodities (though clove is not really one of them anymore) and look for ways to connect countries to one another in understanding climate change, we do not give much attention to the crucial historical role of militarization. [caption id="attachment_1801" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Andries van Eertvelt, The Return to Amsterdam of the Second Expedition to the East Indies, 1599[/caption] Why, he asked, are we not talking about military forces when we talk about carbon footprints? Why do we not see the relationship between climate change, the global circulation of oil and securitization? In opening a space to ask these questions, Ghosh looked closely at the political reconfigurations taking place around the Indian Ocean now. Examining the recent changes produced by the global trade and logistics revolution, he discussed the links between massive movements of people due to economic changes, the desire for a better life (as he said “whatever that means”) that propels them, and the negative impacts of these movements on climate change. He observed how certain governments like the United States and its military intervene in the name of “humanitarian aid” while being one of the biggest contributors to climate change and political upheavals that cause the massive movements of people in the first place. Ghosh closed his talk by coming back to the question of desire and example of the clove trees with which he had started his lecture. He noted that clove trees, which were once only found in the Moluccas, are now dying because of climate change. Pointing to the tendencies that create complex causal relationships between capitalism, climate change, wars, and acts of migration, he said “climate change is an important factor in this relationship but the uncanny realities of the Anthropocene cannot be explained through simplistic cause and effect relationships.” In a talk that ranged from the medieval period to the 21^st century, Amitav Ghosh revealed how empire and power still continue to be one of the most important factors shaping the flow of people and change in climate.