Review: This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate
Brandon Sun, November 24, 2014 - David McConkey
This
Changes
Everything by Naomi
Klein is a landmark book. Klein is a
leading Canadian social activist, bestselling author, and public
intellectual. Since her 1999 book No
Logo
, she has
been a prominent
critic of corporate globalization. Now, Klein takes on climate
change:
where we are at, and what needs to be done.
She clearly describes the crisis of global warming. Humanity is
staring
at a bleak future with rising oceans and vicious storms, droughts,
and
floods. And we are making a bad situation worse. We are burning more
fossil fuels, which emit greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide.
Klein also clearly describes a political reality; her subtitle is
"Capitalism vs. the Climate." In her
opinion, “The right is right.” The
right-wing business elite has correctly concluded that the taxation
and
regulation needed to address climate change would end capitalism as
we
know it. So, the right has fought back: denying the science; even
“claiming that thousands upon thousands of scientists are lying and
that climate change is an elaborate hoax.” Seeds of doubt have been
successfully sown among the citizenry.
And despite announcements of future intentions, fierce backroom
pressure guarantees that no real action is ever taken. The U.S. oil
and
gas industry spends a whopping $400,000 every day lobbying
politicians
and government officials.
As well, there has been a failure of leadership from the
environmental
movement. Klein has withering criticism of “Big Green.” Many
environmental organizations have been thoroughly co-opted by the
fossil
fuel industry. The world’s largest green group –The Nature
Conservancy
– even has an oil well on one of its natural preserves.
Klein presents a vivid picture of the current scene. She travelled
the
globe: attending international summits; meeting with climate change
deniers; reporting from the Alberta tarsands and the BP oil spill in
the Gulf of Mexico; and visiting blockades opposing energy projects
like the Keystone XL pipeline.
Klein wants to incorporate “the urgency of the climate crisis” into
a
larger perspective. For Klein, “Climate change represents a historic
opportunity.”
Dealing with global warming, in her analysis, is the way to
implement a
progressive agenda that has stalled in the last few decades. This is
“the chance to advance policies that dramatically improve lives,
close
the gap between rich and poor, create huge numbers of good jobs, and
reinvigorate democracy from the ground up.”
Her aim: a “coherent narrative about how to protect humanity from
the
ravages of both a savagely unjust economic system and a destabilized
climate system.”
But Klein falls short. For one thing, her flood of details drowns
any
“coherent narrative.” The book is a heavy read: over 500 pages,
including 60 pages of notes. In her acknowledgments, she credits
more
than 100 people who helped her assemble the book’s thousands of
facts.
But despite a huge amount of data, there are missing pieces. For
example: is it “global warming”? Or is it “climate change”? Oddly,
Klein doesn’t explain these fundamental terms, but uses both of
them.
And in her rush to get to social justice, she can overlook the
climate
issue itself. A prime example: a carbon tax making fossil fuels more
expensive, thus reducing their use and spurring alternatives.
Surprisingly, Klein does not endorse this basic concept. She also
fails
to note and evaluate where this is already in place, like the
provincial carbon tax in B.C.
Klein writes that the solution to the climate crisis needs to be
great:
on the scale of the effort that won the two world wars. And the
required cultural change also needs to be great: on the scale of the
movement that brought about the vote for women.
But This
Changes
Everything will not
become the key defining book,
rallying cry, or organizing tool. For most people, Klein’s manifesto
is
simply too overwhelming, too harsh, and too radical.
A mass movement needs the masses. Think back a century to the
successful campaign for women’s suffrage. Leaders like Nellie
McClung had a message that was understandable, acceptable, and
inviting. Using
warmth and humour, McClung drew people into the fold.
Naomi Klein is no Nellie McClung. And that is a real shame. Because
–
whatever Klein’s shortcomings – there is the essential truth
to This
Changes
Everything. We are
facing a real danger from climate change.
We are increasing our carbon emissions. And we are running out of
time.
See also:
Naomi Klein on Amazon.com
(on
Amazon.ca
)
A History of Struggling to Grasp Climate Change Reality
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