Article by Salem Sokpoli

Photo by Matt Palmer on Unsplash

Our planet is on fire. We are in unprecedented times with one another and it seems that every day there is a new problem. From the rise of the far-right/extremism to Israel’s bloody rampage, and hunger crises around the world; the climate crisis gets lost in conversation. But many of our problems are connected to the climate crisis. It is futile to make strides of innovation for a future that does not exist. The way an elite few have organized our societies is catching up to us in devastating ways. Some of us are fortunate enough to ignore the consequence of this capitalism-induced climate crisis. Still, for the rest of us, it is bringing death to our doorstep. It is time to attribute responsibility to capitalism and its destructive ways. This is not a dystopian novel, this is our reality. We can demand another way of living that does not put the rights of some and the planet in jeopardy.

Capitalism is about infinite production on a finite planet. The main objective of capitalism is profit for those who own the means of production. These privately owned corporations rule our world. 57 companies alone have been linked to 80% of greenhouse gas emissions since 2016. It is clear that the planet is not one of their top concerns. They are more focused on harassing Indigenous people trying to defend their land from encroachment.

Encroachment that destroys the earth further. John Urry, the author of Sociology and Climate Change (2009), says “Capitalism is no longer able to control the exceptional powers which it generated especially through new forms of excessive consumption and which are, it seems, changing climates and eliminating some of the conditions of human life”. This rampant capitalism may be good for the select few who get to own the means of production, but our planet is being hollowed out. Not for our benefit but for short-term satisfaction fueled by capitalistic greed. The greed that does not put food on your table, greed that does not ensure the future of your children, greed that allows people to die of preventable diseases.

The effects of this climate crisis are not felt equally around the globe. As aforementioned, many of us can continue our day-to-day lives without worrying about the climate crisis. It makes us think that we can put this problem off. However, many wake up every day and are drastically impacted by the climate. The consequences of the climate crisis are affecting those in the global south more drastically. It should not be lost on you that the same places and people that are facing the brunt of climate change are also the same places and people exploited by capitalism. Take, for example, Afghanistan. Afghanistan is recognized as one of the “top ten countries most affected by impacts of weather-related loss events”. Afghanistan also has huge extractive industries that rely on the extraction and sale of cheap oil and other minerals. These efforts are largely supported by Western nations like the US, despite their horrible effect on the environment and the future of Afghanistan. These extractive efforts are part of the larger problem with capitalism. As profit is the number one goal, how it is acquired is not a top concern. But when the accumulation of wealth for some means the destruction of land for many marginalized groups, the question of whether we should allow capitalism to persist becomes a moral one as well.

Some may argue that we should not get rid of capitalism to solve the climate crisis. They may argue that reform is possible within the system, rather than a total upheaval. This is a dangerous slope and will only prevent us from making the real, drastic change necessary for our planet and people. Reform implies that there is something wrong with how capitalism works. But capitalism is working as it was intended to. The goal of capitalism is profit for its stakeholders, and indeed, those who own are making tons of money. That is why we cannot trust them or capitalist governments to treat the climate crisis with the severity necessary. Especially notwhen the drastic effects of climate are not badgering them yet. We’ve seen it in the failure of the Paris Climate Agreement. If nations cannot be trusted to follow relaxed agreements they made, how can they be trusted to reform themselves for the betterment of the people, not profit?

We do not have the time to wait for capitalist governments or corporations to “reform” themselves. Our world is on the line. Every day inequalities grow deadlier, our planet grows hotter, and the capitalists’ pockets get heavier. If we want to save our planet then we must end capitalism before it ends us.

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