Why Capitalism Won't Save Us (From Climate Change)
Hey hey,
This month I dove into the deep connections between fossil fuels and capitalism in today’s world of imperialism. For a while now, I’ve mentioned “fossil capital” in my videos but never actually defined what I meant when I said it. Today’s video seeks to remedy that. I define what fossil capital actually is, and look at how fossil fuel extraction and emissions are essential to the capitalist projects of profit hunting and accumulation. If you’re interested, the video is below alongside three quotes and three links I found illuminating along the way.
Three Quotes:
“ Fossil capital, in other words, is self-expanding value passing through the metamorphosis of fossil fuels into CO2. It is a relation, a triangular relation between capital, labour and a certain segment of extra-human nature, in which the exploitation of labour by capital is impelled by the combustion of this particular accessory. But fossil capital is also a process, a flow of successive valorisations, at every stage claiming a larger body of fossil energy to burn. It recognises no end.”
— Andreas Malm
“Capitalism doesn’t just flout natural scarcity, caring little for the planet’s limits, Saito argues – it artificially creates a social scarcity, where we are always compelled to want more: the latest phone, car or jacket. But we can reorganise our relationship with nature, Saito insists, to imagine a new kind of abundance: regulating advertising, SUV usage and constant mobile phone model changes while “distributing both wealth and burdens more equally and justly among members of the society”.
— The Guardian
“…fossil capital’s leading 50 firms… [are] integral to a ‘regime of obstruction’ that blocks urgently needed transformations that could usher in a post-imperial energy democracy.”
— William K. Carroll
Three Links:
A greener Marx? Kohei Saito on connecting communism with the climate crisis | Environment (The Guardian)
Fossil Capital, Imperialism and the Global Corporate Elite (William K. Carroll)
2021 Report (Production Gap)
Hope you have a wonderful weekend,
Charlie