We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, June 6, 2014

Capitalism & Climate Change: The Growth Problem Part 1 of ?

Click here to access article by Alyssa Rohricht from blog Black Cat Revolution.

It is so encouraging to see so many others beginning to see the dramatic contradictions between capitalism and our planet's ability to sustain human and other life forms.
Many argue that market and techo-based approaches are the way to combat climate change. They push for carbon taxing and trading, geo-engineering, and renewable energy without considering the fact that the system itself is incompatible with sustainability. By its very nature, capitalism seeks only to grow and accumulate – an idea that is diametrically opposed to a sustainable existence. 
In this series, I will examine how the capitalist system has brought us to climate disaster, and why it cannot get us out of it.