To stop climate change, Greta wants to abolish capitalism

Greta Thunberg became famous for urging us to “panic” about the threat of climate change. She didn’t give much more concrete information on how to solve the problem. Now she has presented a book with 487 pages – ” The climate book by Greta Thunberg (ad)”. It is an anthology with numerous essays by different authors, she herself expresses herself in 18 contributions.

Industrialization and capitalism as fundamental evils

According to Thunberg, the root evils are industrialization and capitalism: “The Industrial Revolution, fueled by slavery and colonization, brought unimaginable wealth to the Global North, especially to a small minority of the people living there. This extreme injustice is the foundation on which our modern society is built” (p.19).

But the number of people has increased eightfold since the beginning of industrialization from one to eight billion people. Without industrialization, billions of people would not have survived. It is also not true that the industrial revolution and capitalism only brought a better life to a small minority. In 1820, 90 percent of the world was extremely poor; today it is 9 percent.

The book is riddled with harsh criticism of capitalism, on 487 pages there are only two sentences in which Thunberg admits that other systems are also destroying the environment: “Leaving the management of the only known civilization in the universe to capitalist consumerism and the market economy will be overwhelming would most likely turn out to be a terrible idea in hindsight. But we should keep in mind that in terms of sustainability, all previous systems have failed as well. Just like all current political ideologies – socialism, liberalism, communism, conservatism, centrism and whatever. You all failed. However, in fairness, some have failed more than others.” (p. 221)

She does not reveal which systems have failed more – only capitalism is always denounced. The environmental destruction in socialist countries was much worse than in capitalism, in the GDR, for example, the CO2 emissions (related to the gross national product) were three times higher than in West Germany.

Thunberg sees a big capitalist conspiracy against the climate. Blame politicians who are “still slaves of the oil multinationals and big finance” (p. 228). The media have failed, even as they concede that “journalism is taking the first tiny steps to reporting on this crisis” (p. 167). She would only be satisfied if nothing else was reported on than the climate: “Actually, this should dominate every hour of our daily news, every political discussion, every business meeting and every minute of our everyday life. But that doesn’t happen.” (p. 331) She notes with resignation that many journalists unfortunately did not go into journalism with the motive of “overthrowing the system” (p. 332). We know from totalitarian states that the population of a country is constantly bombarded with certain news. Some authors criticize that opinions of dissenting scientists are sometimes given a platform in the media (p. 408).

“Cis men” fail, “indigenous women” are supposed to save the climate

What does Thunberg propose to do about climate change? She regrets that “there are no laws or regulations compelling anyone to take the necessary steps to save our future living conditions on Earth.” The world is ruled by “white, privileged, middle-aged heterosexual Cis men” and these are “unsuitable” to do anything about the crisis (p.218). Instead, suggests co-author Sonja Guajajara, “Indigenous women should be at the center of the struggle to secure a future for humanity. For in many indigenous communities it is up to indigenous women to manage and protect our ecosystems as well as to preserve our knowledge through memory and custom” (p. 193).

All measures compatible with capitalism are rejected. A quarter of 487 pages is devoted to the subject of nuclear power (p.250) – it is rejected as a solution. Technologies to get CO2 out of the air are dismissed as “swindles” (p. 224), solar geoengineering is rejected because it encounters “bitter resistance from indigenous peoples” (p. 256). Electric vehicles are not a solution because they “are at best an option for the powerful and the rich” (p.301).

Eco-planned economy as a goal

Co-author Kevin Anderson proposes planned economy rationing. The state should determine for each person the “size (and number) of our houses, how often we fly and in which class, how big our cars are, how many we have and how far we drive them. And also at work: how big our offices are, how many international conferences we attend and how often we go on excursions” (p. 227).

Thunberg himself complains that “there are still no laws that ensure that the oil stays in the ground” (p.310), Kate Raworth says that the state should “private jets, mega yachts, cars with petrol or diesel engines, short-haul flights and prohibit frequent flyer bonuses” (p. 366). Seth Klein demands “a new generation of state-owned companies (to) create” so that the right thing is produced (p.414). He also laments: “Where is the government advertising for increasing the level of public ‘climate knowledge’?” (p. 415). The Canadian capitalism critic Naomi Klein wants to raise taxes on the wealthy and reduce spending on the police and prisons in order to use the money for climate protection (p. 434). The French capitalism critic Thomas Piketty calls for the introduction of “individual carbon rights”. In terms of social justice, it should be considered that the authorities should set “equal individual carbon quotas” (p.448).

In the end, everything boils down to the abolition of the market economy and an eco-planned economy, which should state all areas of life and all activities of the individual.

Rainer Zitelmann is the author of the books “Capitalism is not the problem, but the solution” and “The 10 mistakes of the anti-capitalists”.