Laura Flanders: It's Not the Carbon; It's the Capitalism!

[marmar]

by Laura Flanders


The big climate march in New York City and a big new book have concentrated attention on the climate. Enough denial and delay the marchers chant; This Changes Everything, says Naomi Klein in her latest call to action.

"It's not about carbon, it's about capitalism," says Klein.

I couldn't agree more. It's time we faced not just the symptoms, but the system that is cozying us up to catastrophe.

Our economic system of extract, exploit and profit is colliding with our eco-system, writes Klein and in case anyone is unclear about the consequences of that: when the ideology of infinite growth meets the reality of finite fuel and earth, reality is the odds-on favorite. We can't keep drilling and billing the future forever.

It's a relief to see people in the streets and a relief to see Crisis and Capitalism in the same sentence. We heard plenty about the crisis of capitalism during the last recession. What Klein keeps us thinking about is the crisis that is capitalism. After all, only people in crisis will work long hours for low pay and someone else's profit. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/26372-it-s-not-the-carbon-it-s-the-capitalism

[The2ndWheel]

1. If it was just the capitalism, it would be easy

Capitalism is a branch on the tree. It's not the trunk, and it's definitely not the roots. Extraction, exploitation, and profit have been around longer than any modern day unregulated capitalism.

when the ideology of infinite growth meets the reality of finite fuel and earth, reality is the odds-on favorite.

That's not just capitalism. How many limits have human beings run into over the last few thousand years? It's a much more complicated issue than simply the capitalism that's being talked about.

[Orsino]

2. Capitalism is certainly what's preventing serious discussion in America...

...but fossil-fuel addiction can be seen as the larger issue.

[The2ndWheel]

3. I'd say fossil-fuel addiction is a twig on the branch

What were we doing before fossil-fuels? We weren't any less exploitative. We just couldn't do it on as large a scale as we can with fossil-fuels.