Glia
10-12-2014, 03:33 PM
Capitalism vs. the Climate:
Naomi Klein on Need for New Economic Model to Address Ecological Crisis
As the United Nations prepares to hold one-day global summit on climate change, we speak to award-winning author Naomi Klein about her new book, "This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate." In the book, Klein details how our neoliberal economic system and our planetary system are now at war. With global emissions at an all-time high, Klein says radical action is needed. "We have not done the things that are necessary to lower emissions because those things fundamentally conflict with deregulated capitalism, the reigning ideology for the entire period we have been struggling to find a way out of this crisis," Klein writes. "We are stuck because the actions that would give us the best chance of averting catastrophe — and would benefit the vast majority — are extremely threatening to an elite minority that has a stranglehold over our economy, our political process, and most of our major media outlets."
https://www.democracynow.org/2014/9/18/capitalism_vs_the_climate_naomi_klein
Naomi Klein Breaks a Taboo
The fact that global warming is man-made and poses a grave threat to our future is widely accepted by progressives. Yet, the most commonly proposed solutions emphasize either personal responsibility for a global emergency (buy energy-efficient light bulbs, purchase a Prius), or rely on market-based schemes like cap-and-trade. These responses are not only inadequate, says best-selling author Naomi Klein, but represent a lost opportunity to confront climate change’s root cause: capitalism.
This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate, Klein’s much-anticipated new book, is both surprisingly hopeful and deeply personal as she deftly weaves in her story of struggling to conceive her first child while researching the potential collapse of the natural world. In the book, Klein challenges everyone who cares about climate change to strive for a seemingly impossible redistribution of political and economic power. This, she argues, is both necessary and offers the prospect of living in a more just and humane society than the one we know today.
John Tarleton: When it comes to the climate crisis, capitalism is often the elephant in the room that goes unacknowledged. Yet you zero in on it, starting with the title of your book. Why?
Naomi Klein: I put the connection between capitalism and climate change up front because the fact that the life support systems of the planet are being destabilized is telling us that there is something fundamentally wrong with our economic system. What our economy needs to function in a capitalist system is continuous growth and continuous depletion of resources, including finite resources. What our planet needs in order to avoid catastrophic warming and other dangerous tipping points is for humans to contract our use of material resources.
The science of climate change has made this fundamental conflict blindingly obvious. By putting that conflict up front, it breaks a taboo. And sometimes when you break a taboo, there’s sort of a relief in just saying it. And that’s what I’ve found so far: This is something that people know. And it’s giving permission to just name it. It’s a good starting point, so now we can have a real discussion.
Continues here: https://indypendent.org/2014/09/12/interview-naomi-klein-breaks-taboo
Towards a Socialist America
"America can do better than capitalism".
Richard Wolff declared these words at Riverside Church on January 22, 2012. His affirmation surfaced the sentiments that many Americans harbor. I suspect that we submerge our discontent for many reasons. Among them, we fancy the illusion that the Federal Reserve Bank and the three branches of our federal government can manage the booms and busts of our business cycle. Perhaps the right mix of Democrats and Republicans will address the market failures of concentrated power among corporations, spillover costs borne by communities, and the information gap between producers and consumers. One of these glad mornings, our candidate of choice will assume power, appoint the right judges, roll out the right policies in 100 days, and administer the good government of our dreams. We envision an America that forever grows the economic pie, splits it fairly for every race in all places, and inaugurates the E Pluribus Unum country of our civic rituals. This is the hope of our nation -- comprehensive political liberties, complemented by justice in our courts, prosperity in our commerce, peace in our communities. I, too, dream America. I do not, however, believe that capitalism delivers on the promises rehearsed every November.
Instead of democratic capitalism, I propose that democratic socialism serve as the regulative ideal of our life together. What this means is that I support scaling up -- and bringing forward -- the already existing aspects of cooperative organization in American history and our contemporary moment. Though largely unknown, some regional authorities possess the title of flourishing utilities, municipalities own convention centers and plan our land use strategies, and within the past decade, we temporarily nationalized our banks. By ignorance or intention, political figures and institutional actors within Washington deny this reality, which is well-documented by Gar Alperwotiz's classic text, What Then Must We Do (https://whatthenmustwedo.org/) [1].
Socialism, or something like it, is the settled conclusion of a society that values democracy. Our bloody past, and historical arguments notwithstanding, I take it as a given that Americans cherish democracy. Despite our violent acquisition of indigenous land and our coercive leveraging of black slaves as financial instruments, the postcolonial story of America, set against the landholding, white-males only, yet egalitarian image of our Constitution is still an idea worthy of perennial refinement into our laws, practices, and governance.
Continues here: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-wilkes/towards-a-socialist-ameri_b_5898248.html
Naomi Klein on Need for New Economic Model to Address Ecological Crisis
As the United Nations prepares to hold one-day global summit on climate change, we speak to award-winning author Naomi Klein about her new book, "This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate." In the book, Klein details how our neoliberal economic system and our planetary system are now at war. With global emissions at an all-time high, Klein says radical action is needed. "We have not done the things that are necessary to lower emissions because those things fundamentally conflict with deregulated capitalism, the reigning ideology for the entire period we have been struggling to find a way out of this crisis," Klein writes. "We are stuck because the actions that would give us the best chance of averting catastrophe — and would benefit the vast majority — are extremely threatening to an elite minority that has a stranglehold over our economy, our political process, and most of our major media outlets."
https://www.democracynow.org/2014/9/18/capitalism_vs_the_climate_naomi_klein
Naomi Klein Breaks a Taboo
The fact that global warming is man-made and poses a grave threat to our future is widely accepted by progressives. Yet, the most commonly proposed solutions emphasize either personal responsibility for a global emergency (buy energy-efficient light bulbs, purchase a Prius), or rely on market-based schemes like cap-and-trade. These responses are not only inadequate, says best-selling author Naomi Klein, but represent a lost opportunity to confront climate change’s root cause: capitalism.
This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate, Klein’s much-anticipated new book, is both surprisingly hopeful and deeply personal as she deftly weaves in her story of struggling to conceive her first child while researching the potential collapse of the natural world. In the book, Klein challenges everyone who cares about climate change to strive for a seemingly impossible redistribution of political and economic power. This, she argues, is both necessary and offers the prospect of living in a more just and humane society than the one we know today.
John Tarleton: When it comes to the climate crisis, capitalism is often the elephant in the room that goes unacknowledged. Yet you zero in on it, starting with the title of your book. Why?
Naomi Klein: I put the connection between capitalism and climate change up front because the fact that the life support systems of the planet are being destabilized is telling us that there is something fundamentally wrong with our economic system. What our economy needs to function in a capitalist system is continuous growth and continuous depletion of resources, including finite resources. What our planet needs in order to avoid catastrophic warming and other dangerous tipping points is for humans to contract our use of material resources.
The science of climate change has made this fundamental conflict blindingly obvious. By putting that conflict up front, it breaks a taboo. And sometimes when you break a taboo, there’s sort of a relief in just saying it. And that’s what I’ve found so far: This is something that people know. And it’s giving permission to just name it. It’s a good starting point, so now we can have a real discussion.
Continues here: https://indypendent.org/2014/09/12/interview-naomi-klein-breaks-taboo
Towards a Socialist America
"America can do better than capitalism".
Richard Wolff declared these words at Riverside Church on January 22, 2012. His affirmation surfaced the sentiments that many Americans harbor. I suspect that we submerge our discontent for many reasons. Among them, we fancy the illusion that the Federal Reserve Bank and the three branches of our federal government can manage the booms and busts of our business cycle. Perhaps the right mix of Democrats and Republicans will address the market failures of concentrated power among corporations, spillover costs borne by communities, and the information gap between producers and consumers. One of these glad mornings, our candidate of choice will assume power, appoint the right judges, roll out the right policies in 100 days, and administer the good government of our dreams. We envision an America that forever grows the economic pie, splits it fairly for every race in all places, and inaugurates the E Pluribus Unum country of our civic rituals. This is the hope of our nation -- comprehensive political liberties, complemented by justice in our courts, prosperity in our commerce, peace in our communities. I, too, dream America. I do not, however, believe that capitalism delivers on the promises rehearsed every November.
Instead of democratic capitalism, I propose that democratic socialism serve as the regulative ideal of our life together. What this means is that I support scaling up -- and bringing forward -- the already existing aspects of cooperative organization in American history and our contemporary moment. Though largely unknown, some regional authorities possess the title of flourishing utilities, municipalities own convention centers and plan our land use strategies, and within the past decade, we temporarily nationalized our banks. By ignorance or intention, political figures and institutional actors within Washington deny this reality, which is well-documented by Gar Alperwotiz's classic text, What Then Must We Do (https://whatthenmustwedo.org/) [1].
Socialism, or something like it, is the settled conclusion of a society that values democracy. Our bloody past, and historical arguments notwithstanding, I take it as a given that Americans cherish democracy. Despite our violent acquisition of indigenous land and our coercive leveraging of black slaves as financial instruments, the postcolonial story of America, set against the landholding, white-males only, yet egalitarian image of our Constitution is still an idea worthy of perennial refinement into our laws, practices, and governance.
Continues here: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-wilkes/towards-a-socialist-ameri_b_5898248.html