This work advances the critical urban studies literature on “planetary urbanization” by emphasizing the everyday struggles experienced by the people who live in and through planetary transformations. Specifically, we empirically investigated people in eastern Montana who experienced the intensive and extensive oil and gas production of the Bakken Boom via interview and survey data. In the process, we interrogated Lefebvre’s notion of the “blind field” and conclude that what we call the Bakken blind field represents a deeply engrained “habit of the mind” that functions for the energy industry as a means of neutralizing the transformative potential that always lurks in response to persistent socioenvironmentally exploitative practices. We suggest that the degree of illumination that results from personal hardships can determine the degree to which local exploitation is rejected (or accepted) as a necessary result of living with oil and gas.

这项工作通过强调生活在行星转变中并通过行星转变的人们所经历的日常斗争，推进了关于“行星城市化”的批判性城市研究文献。具体而言，我们通过访谈和调查数据对蒙大拿州东部经历过巴肯繁荣时期密集和广泛的石油和天然气生产的人们进行了实证调查。在此过程中，我们询问了 Lefebvre 的“盲场”概念，并得出结论，我们所说的 Bakken 盲场代表了一种根深蒂固的“思维习惯”，它对能源行业起到了抵消变革潜力的作用。潜伏在对持续的社会环境剥削做法的反应中。