This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate

by Naomi Klein

Washington insider Eli Lehrer. What made Lehrer different from his Heartland colleagues, however, is that he is willing to state matter-of-factly, “Climate change is obviously real and obviously caused to a significant extent by people. I don’t really think there’s room for serious debate on either of those points.”45 So even as his Heartland colleagues were organizing global conferences designed specifically to manufacture the illusion of a serious scientific debate, Lehrer’s division was working with the insurance lobby to protect their bottom lines in a future of climate chaos. According to Lehrer, “In general there was no enormous conflict, day-to-day” between his work and that of his climate-change-denying colleagues.46 That’s because what many of the insurance companies wanted from Heartland’s advocacy was not action to prevent climate chaos but rather policies that would safeguard or even increase their profits no matter the weather. That means pushing government out of the subsidized insurance business, giving companies greater freedom to raise rates and deductibles and to drop customers in high-risk areas, as well as other “free market” measures.