To tackle climate change, nothing short of a revolution will do. Naomi Klein is back with a new essay that identifies capitalism as the primary cause of global warming.
The thesis from which Naomi Klein departs in her latest essay Una rivoluzione ci salverà. Perché il capitalismo non è sostenibile (This Changes Everything, in English) is that without radical changes in the way the world's population lives, produces and manages its economic activities, there is no way to avoid the worst for the planet.
Fifteen years after the publication of No Logo, the book that became the bible of the no-global movement in the 2000s, Klein attempts to address the social problems caused by capitalism from a different perspective: that of global warming seen as a direct consequence of a lifestyle devoid of awareness, one that treats the Earth's resources as inexhaustible and pays no heed to the consequences of our actions on the environment and the climate. In recent days, the Canadian writer came to Italy to present her latest work. The first event was organised by Festivaletteratura and took place on Sunday 1 February in Mantua, followed by a stop in Venice (2 February) and one in Rome (4 February).
From the very opening of her address in Mantua, Klein was keen to make clear that it is now too late to settle for individual actions, for well-meaning gestures unless accompanied by collective measures — by massive public spending aimed at transforming the economic system of industrialised countries, which are among the greatest contributors to CO2 emissions into the atmosphere at a global level. After all, according to scientists, emissions must be cut by between 8 and 10 per cent a year in order to contain the damage.
Rather than climate deniers or sceptics who do not believe that climate change is caused by human activity, Klein says she is more afraid of politicians and leaders who acknowledge the problem but content themselves with occasional, uncoordinated gestures on the part of civil society, and do not actively commit to trying to change things from the top down.
The reference, among others, is to Al Gore who, despite having raised awareness among people, did not do enough when he had the opportunity. As Vice President of the United States (1993–2001) during the Clinton administration, he limited himself to calling for "light" measures to tackle climate change. During the negotiations that led to the Kyoto Protocol, the American delegation pushed for the adoption of an emissions market rather than pressing for concrete binding targets to reduce industrial emissions, as the European delegates had requested. By a twist of fate, the United States — having succeeded in watering down the Kyoto targets — subsequently withdrew from the agreement following the election of George W. Bush, leaving the Europeans with a system, that of carbon credits, that they had never wanted.
Despite a history that leaves little room for optimism, Klein has not set aside hope ahead of the important climate conference in Paris in December. Many positive signs are shifting the mood among environmentalists: the state of New York banning fracking, Scotland deciding on its own moratorium, the Rockefeller family abandoning oil in favour of renewables. These are developments that are changing the way public affairs are managed and the way the future is envisioned — increasingly oriented towards a form of sustainable development.
To tackle climate change, a change of mindset is indeed required, because defending our planet is a moral issue as much as an environmental one. Young people have understood this, because they see their own future being denied to them — but it is not possible to wait for them to be the ones governing. The time to act is now. And to do so, a revolution is what it would take.