This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate

by Naomi Klein

Yes, there has been a drop in the willingness of individuals to bear the financial burden of responding to climate change, but not simply because economic times are hard. Western governments have responded to these hard times—which have been created by rampant greed and corruption among their wealthiest citizens—by asking those least responsible for the current conditions to bear the burden. After paying for the crisis of the bankers with cuts to education, health care, and social safety nets, is it any wonder that a beleaguered public is in no mood to bail out the fossil fuel companies from the crisis that they not only created but continue to actively worsen? Most of these surveys, notably, don’t ask respondents how they feel about raising taxes on the rich and removing fossil fuel subsidies, yet these are some of the most reliably popular policies around. And it’s worth noting that a U.S. poll conducted in 2010—with the country still reeling from economic crisis—asked voters whether they would support a plan that “would make oil and coal companies pay for the pollution they cause. It would encourage the creation of new jobs and new technologies in cleaner energy like wind, solar, and nuclear power. The proposal also aims to protect working families, so it refunds almost all of the money it collects directly to the American people, like a tax refund, and most families end up better off.” The poll found that three quarters of voters, including the vast majority of Republi...