Climate Change and the Class Divide

Posted by collectivist

"The unfolding climate and environmental catastrophe is an existential threat to human society. In the face of this threat, it’s commonly thought our best hope lies in convincing those in power of the need for change. But it’s wrong to believe that “we’re all in this together” and that those in charge can be pushed into action by the arguments of scientists or the lobbying of environmentalists.

The clearest evidence for this is the failure of such efforts over the past few decades. Every year brings new signs of the urgency of reducing emissions and halting other environmentally destructive practices. Every year, scientists produce new reports that meticulously outline the case for change. But the reports and global summits come and go, and the system just keeps marching steadily along its destructive path.

The struggle to save society from climate catastrophe isn’t primarily a battle of ideas. If it were, the weight of scientific evidence would already have gotten us over the line. The struggle is a class war–one that pits the billions of workers and the poor, who make up most of the world’s population, against the minority capitalist ruling class and its political servants, who watch the world burn in the name of profits and power.

School strike for climate leader Greta Thunberg has been clearer than most when it comes to identifying the class dynamics inherent in the climate crisis. “Some people say the climate crisis is something that we [all] have created”, she said during a speech to the World Economic Forum’s annual gathering of global elites in Davos, Switzerland, in January last year.

But that is not true. Because if everyone is guilty, then no one is to blame. And someone is to blame. Some people, some companies, some decision-makers in particular, have known exactly what priceless values they have been sacrificing to continue making unimaginable amounts of money. And I think many of you here today belong to that group of people. . ."

 https://mronline.org/2020/02/29/climate-change-and-the-class-divide/