Abstract
Responses to the definitive evidence that the existing order of things will inevitably lead to an ecological doomsday often take one of two approaches, not counting outright deniers of climate change. The more optimistic of the two assumes that we could regain a reasonable balance of life on Earth through individual lifestyle adjustments. The second dominant approach is pessimistic to the degree of embracing apocalypticism, for it assumes the ecological catastrophe is altogether unavoidable. In either case, the capitalist system is perceived as the only possible order of things and goes unquestioned. Refuting both positions, I argue that the impending ecological catastrophe could only be avoided if collective progressive action puts an end to the capitalist modes of production. In the absence of universal movements grounded in revolutionary ecological politics, capitalism will continue to thrive not despite but because of the escalating ecological crisis. As climate change continues to make life conditions in the global south more difficult, cheap labour will become even more readily exploitable, just as the fundamental elements of life, such as clean water and air, will be increasingly commodified as they become scarcer. Unless sustained revolutionary action is undertaken to topple the capitalist relations of production, the ecological crisis will only bring about more suffering for the poor and greater benefits for the rich. The notion that small-scale changes in behaviour could reverse these trends under such circumstances is absurd, but that is not to say we should nihilistically succumb to our fate.
Highlights
“Climate change,” “global warming,” and “climate crisis” are depoliticized and neutralized references to capitalism’s systematic destruction of the conditions of life on Earth
As a New York Times report on Hansen’s testimony cautiously concluded, “If Dr Hansen and other scientists are correct, humans, by burning of fossil fuels and other activities, have altered the global climate in a manner that will affect life on earth for centuries to come” (Shabecoff 1988). The problem with this framing, and it persists to this day, is that it divorces the crisis from its backdrop, which is the capitalist modes of production
There is even a term, Anthropocene, for this geological epoch in which human activities have had a decisive role in the future of the Earth System (Anthropocene Working Group 2019; SRC 2019)
Summary
“Climate change,” “global warming,” and “climate crisis” are depoliticized and neutralized references to capitalism’s systematic destruction of the conditions of life on Earth. As a New York Times report on Hansen’s testimony cautiously concluded, “If Dr Hansen and other scientists are correct, humans, by burning of fossil fuels and other activities, have altered the global climate in a manner that will affect life on earth for centuries to come” (Shabecoff 1988) The problem with this framing, and it persists to this day, is that it divorces the crisis from its backdrop, which is the capitalist modes of production. We have at our disposal enough scientific research, including studies conducted by UN affiliated scientists (see, for instance, IPCC 2018), to conclude beyond any doubt that the existing global order is driving us towards an ecological abyss When it comes to the conditions and future of life on the planet, capitalism’s diametrical opposition to solving the crisis is more pronounced than ever. Such a break is a necessary, if not sufficient, condition for the creation of a new ecological civilization. (Magdoff and Foster 2011, 8)
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