Climate Change

How Capitalism Pillages the Planet and Creates Chaos – Patrick Bond Pt. 1/2
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How Capitalism Pillages the Planet and Creates Chaos – Patrick Bond Pt. 1/2

ByTalia Baroncelli

Following decades of ongoing mineral extraction, environmental plunder, and the subsidization of the fossil fuel industry, the second Trump administration’s aggressive pro-drilling agenda unapologetically seeks to seize as many foreign and domestic minerals and dirty energy sources as possible. Patrick Bond, political economist and Director of the Centre for Social Change in Johannesburg, discusses the mix of neoliberalism and paleo-conservatism undergirding Elon Musk’s corporate takeover of the US government. Bond also discusses the motivation behind US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s decision to skip the solidarity-equality-sustainability G20 in South Africa, and the implications of the US’ withdrawal from international climate agreements, slashing of emissions-reduction goals, and support for destructive carbon-intensive industries.

Price Gouging, Greedflation, and Monopolization – Bob Pollin part 2/2
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Price Gouging, Greedflation, and Monopolization – Bob Pollin part 2/2

ByTalia Baroncelli

Given voters’ concerns over rising food and housing costs, Kamala Harris has pledged to combat price gouging if elected president, though she has yet to clearly lay out the hallmarks of the rest of her economic policy. In part 2, Bob Pollin, economist and advisor to U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Pramila Jayapal on Medicare For All, explains the meaning of price gouging and delves into the causes of inflation during the COVID pandemic. 

The Political Economy of Saving the Planet – Bob Pollin part 1/2
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The Political Economy of Saving the Planet – Bob Pollin part 1/2

ByTalia Baroncelli

The issue of banning (or not banning) fracking has been at the forefront of the 2024 presidential debates between former President Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. Fracking, a technique that involves horizontal drilling to extract gas and oil from shale rock, risks methane leaks and other environmental hazards. Professor Bob Pollin, economist and Co-Director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), lays out the elements of a Global Green New Deal to avert climate catastrophe and achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Can we frack and still reach this goal? 

Exporting Extinction: The Global Political Economy of Biodiversity Loss
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Exporting Extinction: The Global Political Economy of Biodiversity Loss

ByLynn Fries

Why governments further policy agendas that entrench and expand extractive industries that drive biodiversity loss is revealed in Exporting Extinction, a report exposing structural drivers incentivizing this extractive agenda and constraining what states can do to address economic development and ecological crises.

Capitalocene: How Capitalism Created the Climate Crisis – Jason W. Moore pt 1/2
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Capitalocene: How Capitalism Created the Climate Crisis – Jason W. Moore pt 1/2

ByTalia Baroncelli

The current climate crisis emerged out of a specific set of historical and economic factors which have maintained capitalist accumulation and class inequalities to this day. Jason W. Moore, geographer and Professor of Sociology at Binghamton University, explains how the development of capitalism fueled European colonialism and Western imperialism, resulting in a novel form of climate destruction.

The Assertion of Popular Power: A Climate Movement Imperative – Jason W. Moore pt 2/2
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The Assertion of Popular Power: A Climate Movement Imperative – Jason W. Moore pt 2/2

ByTalia Baroncelli

In part 2, historian and geographer Jason W. Moore explains why climate and revolutionary struggles must understand capitalist dynamics and deploy a language of universal class solidarity to overthrow transnational power structures perpetuating the climate crisis.

COP28: Talk Green, Play Dirty – Patrick Bond

COP28: Talk Green, Play Dirty – Patrick Bond

ByTalia Baroncelli

Patrick Bond, political economist, Professor of Sociology at the University of Johannesburg, and Director of the Centre for Social Change, expands on the first Global Stocktake produced at COP28. He criticizes the document’s weak language of “transitioning away” from fossil fuels, which he says is a distraction from the need to phase out fossil fuels outright. Sanctions such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) to prevent carbon leakage were removed from the GST in the name of promoting global trade, another aspect Bond problematizes. He also addresses the BRICS+ divided approach toward Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

COP28: Hypocrisy and Climate Appeasement – Bruce Robertson

COP28: Hypocrisy and Climate Appeasement – Bruce Robertson

ByTalia Baroncelli

Bruce Robertson, independent energy analyst, exposes the hypocrisies and lobbying taking place at COP28 and how talk of investing in a green transition is belied by increasing fossil fuel subsidies worldwide. He explains how the industry employs terms such as net zero and carbon capture and storage (CCS) to appease social opinion and pretend that emissions are being cut, while CCS technology has largely been a failure. Lastly, he tears into deceptive emissions accounting frameworks, which purport to reduce domestic emissions by exporting gas to other countries but, in fact, contribute to higher emissions globally.

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