Klein: Delay in Climate Action Means Ever More Radical Response

authordefault
on

The failure of the political establishment to deal with climate change has meant โ€œthere are no non-radical options left on the table,โ€ Naomi Klein told an audience of 2,000 people in London lastย night.

The author ofย This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs The Climate said Keynesianism was not enough to deliver climate policy during a sell-out Guardian Live event at the Methodist Central Hall near the Palace of Westminster,ย London.

She said: โ€œWe have procrastinated for so long and allowed carbon emissions to rise year after year so there are no non-radical options left on the table.ย We cannot do this without radical changes to our political and economic system. This was not alwaysย so.โ€

She said that neoliberal think tanks like the Heartland Institute in Chicago immediately understood that climate change was evidence that free market ideology was dangerous – and therefore attacked theย science.

Ideologicallyย Heretical

โ€œIf it is true that industrial capitalism is destabilising the environmental system we are dependent on, they have lost theย argument.ย 

โ€œAnd they understand that. That is why they deny the science. That would cause their whole world view to collapse. We have toย regulate.โ€

She told the audience that climate scientist Professor Michael Mann had described โ€œa procrastinationย penaltyโ€.ย 

This means the longer the wait, the more dramatic the needed response. โ€œThe solutions become ideologically heretical in ourย times.โ€ย 

She pointed out that climate change was first seen as a political issue in 1988 – the year before the fall of the Berlin Wall. โ€œThis was the triumphant moment forย neoliberalism.โ€

She went on to argue that climate change presented the perfect argument to create a world of progressive, fair taxation andย regulations.ย 

โ€œClimate change offers the best argument we have ever had against the brutal logic of austerity,โ€ she said. โ€œWhen elites declare a crisis then money is no object. It is true that they cleaned us out at that lastย bailout.โ€ย 

We needed to go back to โ€œpolluter paysโ€ฆWe have to go after those profits. Even nationalising the energy companies that are doing such a bad job of serving the public where a quarter of the public say they have not turned the heating on at points during the winter because of energyย costs.

Rapidย Transition

She gave the example of Germany where renewable energy had increased to 25 percent during an โ€œincredibly rapidย transitionโ€.

This was achieved after hundreds of cities and towns voted to take back their grid from the private companies. Hamburg, she said, had recently voted to take its grid back. They were inspired by low carbon energy but also keepingย profits.ย 

However, she warned that Keynesian economics – where the state does attempt to plan and manage the economy through taxation and public spending – could not provide theย solution.

โ€œIf we are not going to blow our carbon budget we need to cut emissions by eight percent to 10 percent a year. Keynesianism does not get usย out.โ€

She said instead we needed a โ€œpeople shock – a blow from belowโ€ฆWe can liberate ourselves from the brutal logic ofย austerity.โ€ย 

But she warned that a progressive revival was not the only way to deal with climate change – the alternative was an increasingly militarised and dangerousย world.ย 

She also argued that for every one job invested in oil and gas you get seven or eight from renewable energy and transport – but it has to be publicย investment.ย 

โ€œIt is also a huge issue of political corruption in my country and this country, where there is merger of oil and state.โ€ย ย 

Owen Jones, author of Chavs and The Establishment, was hosting the event and described climate change as โ€œthe existential threat to humanityย itself.โ€

He said Klein had managed to show โ€œthe way society’s organising principle is profit for an elite is on a collision course with the future of humanity itself. It will be one of the most influential books of ourย time.โ€

Related Posts

on

Victoria Hewson called the 2050 ambition a โ€œhuge own goalโ€ while working for a Tufton Street think tank.

Victoria Hewson called the 2050 ambition a โ€œhuge own goalโ€ while working for a Tufton Street think tank.
on

Ahead of a city council vote, Resource Works launched an influence campaign with stock submissions for restaurant owners, hospitality workers, and residents.

Ahead of a city council vote, Resource Works launched an influence campaign with stock submissions for restaurant owners, hospitality workers, and residents.
on

Ahead of the November 29 election, dairy producers tell Irish government to step off the โ€œtreadmillโ€ of unsustainable milk production โ€“ and share a more holistic vision.

Ahead of the November 29 election, dairy producers tell Irish government to step off the โ€œtreadmillโ€ of unsustainable milk production โ€“ and share a more holistic vision.
on

The head of the CO2 Coalition tells DeSmog that Wright agrees carbon dioxide is โ€œnot the demon molecule, itโ€™s the miracle molecule.โ€

The head of the CO2 Coalition tells DeSmog that Wright agrees carbon dioxide is โ€œnot the demon molecule, itโ€™s the miracle molecule.โ€