By KOHEI SAITO*
Author's Introduction and Conclusion of the newly published book
Introduction: Sustainable development goals are the “opium of the people”!
What are you doing to combat global warming? Have you bought an eco-bag to reduce your use of shopping bags? Are you carrying a water bottle to reduce packaging consumption? Have you switched from a gas-powered car to an electric one?
Seriously speaking, this goodwill alone is meaningless. What's more, this goodwill can be harmful.
Why? Because by thinking you are doing something to combat global warming, you are failing to take bolder actions that are truly necessary. It is a consumer behavior that functions as an excuse and allows us to escape remorse and divert our eyes from the real danger, easily being swallowed up by the greenwashing (greenwashing) of capitalism under the guise of environmental concern.
Will the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), set by the United Nations and promoted by governments and large corporations, be able to change the global environment? No, that won’t work either. Even if governments follow the guidelines of the Sustainable Development Goals, climate change will not stop. The Sustainable Development Goals are like alibis, and their only effect is to divert attention from the imminent danger.
Marx once criticized religion as the “opium of the people” because of the relief it provides from the suffering caused by the harsh realities of capitalism. The Sustainable Development Goals are truly the modern version of the “opium of the people.”
Instead of running away to opium, we have to face the reality that we humans have altered the existence of the planet in ways that cannot be reversed.
The impact of human economic activity on the planet is so great that Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry Paul Josef Crutzen said that, from a geological point of view, the Earth has entered a new era that he named the Anthropocene, in reference to the era in which traces of human activity covered the Earth's surface.
In fact, the Earth is covered in buildings, factories, roads, agricultural fields, dams, among others; and in the oceans there are a large amount of microplastics floating. Objects made by humanity are drastically changing the planet. Among the factors that add up, carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, which increases drastically due to human action.
As is known, CO2 is one of the greenhouse gases. These gases absorb heat radiated from the Earth's surface and warm the atmosphere. Thanks to this effect, the Earth remains at a temperature suitable for humans and other living beings to survive.
However, since the Industrial Revolution, humans have been using large amounts of coal and fossil fuels, such as oil, and emitting enormous amounts of CO2. The concentration of this gas in the atmosphere before the Industrial Revolution was 280 ppm, and in 2016 it exceeded 400 ppm in Antarctica for the first time in 4 million years. This number continues to rise.
During the Pliocene epoch, 4 million years ago, temperatures were 2°C to 3°C warmer than today, the ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland were melting, and sea levels were 6 meters higher. Some studies suggest they may have been 10 to 20 meters higher.
Will climate change in the Anthropocene bring us closer to the same situation as in the past? In any case, there is no doubt that the civilization that humanity has built poses a risk to its own continuity.
Economic growth through modernization had promised a prosperous life. However, what is about to be revealed by the environmental crisis in the Anthropocene is, ironically, the fact that economic growth has been undermining the foundations of human prosperity.
Even if climate change were to advance rapidly from now on, the ultra-rich in developed countries could continue to lead their selfish lives as before. However, the majority of us, ordinary people who have no room for maneuver in our daily lives, will lose our way of life and will have to desperately seek an alternative to survive. This fact should have become clear with the coronavirus pandemic.
In this context, there are growing calls for a fundamental rethink of the way things have been done, which increases inequality and destroys the global environment. The Davos meeting’s call for a “great reset” is probably symbolic.
However, to save the future of this planet, we must not leave the action to the elite, politicians and experts. “Leaving it to others” will only end up giving privileges to the ultra-rich. Therefore, to choose a better future, every citizen must stand up, speak out and act as a stakeholder. However, speaking up and acting blindly will not make things go well and will be a huge waste of precious time. It is crucial to move in the right direction and with an appropriate strategy.
To find the right direction, we need to return to the causes of the climate crisis. The key to the cause is none other than capitalism. This is because CO2 only began to increase significantly after the Industrial Revolution, that is, since capitalism gained strength. Soon after that, there was a philosopher who thought beyond capitalism: the German Karl Marx.
This book analyzes the intertwining of capital, society and nature in the Anthropocene, based on The capital of Marx. Of course, I have no intention whatsoever of recalling past Marxism. I intend to excavate and develop new Marxist thoughts that have been dormant for about 150 years.
This book will free our imagination to create a better society in an era of climate crisis.
Conclusion: to prevent the story from ending
Marx and degrowth? Are you crazy? I started writing this book knowing that these criticisms would come from all sides.
According to the conventional wisdom of the left, Marx did not advocate degrowth. And the right scoffs, wondering whether we will repeat the mistakes of the Soviet Union. Moreover, antipathy to the term “degrowth” is deeply rooted among liberals.
Still, I couldn’t help but write about it. When I analyzed the relationship between the climate crisis and capitalism based on Marx’s latest research findings, I discovered that his goal in his later years was degrowth communism, and I became certain that it is the only way to overcome the Anthropocene crisis.
I hope I have managed to convince you that “degrowth communism” is the only option for humanity to overcome the environmental crisis and achieve a “sustainable and just society”.
As previously discussed in detail in the first half, neither the sustainable development goals nor the Green New Deal, nor geoengineering can stop climate change.
“Climate Keynesianism” in pursuit of “green economic growth” only leads to the further penetration of “lifestyle imperialism” and “ecological imperialism.” The result is a worsening of the global environmental crisis while further increasing inequality.
It is impossible to solve the problems caused by capitalism while preserving the root cause, which is capitalism itself. To pave the way for a solution, it is necessary to deeply criticize capitalism, because it is the cause of climate change.
Furthermore, capitalism, which generates scarcity while making profits, is what brings scarcity into our lives. Degrowth communism, which rebuilds the “commons” that were dismantled by capitalism, should make it possible to live a more humane and abundant life.
If we try to prolong the life of capitalism, society will be doomed to return to barbarism amid the chaos caused by the climate crisis. Immediately after the end of the Cold War, Francis Fukuyama declared that it was the “end of history”, and postmodernity has declared the end of the “grand narrative”. However, as has become clear in the thirty years that have followed, what the cynicism that ignores capitalism is preparing is the completely unexpected “end of history” in the form of the “end of civilization”. That is why we must unite to pull the emergency brake on capital and establish degrowth communism.
Even so, we have become so immersed in capitalist life that we have become accustomed to it. Many people will feel lost, not knowing what to do when faced with the enormous challenge of transforming the system, even if they agree with the philosophy and content presented in this book.
Of course, this isn’t as easy as buying eco-friendly bags or reusable water bottles; we’re fighting against the ultra-rich 1% who control us. There’s no doubt that it’s going to be an uphill battle. You might be discouraged, thinking that it’s impossible to mobilize 99% of people to a plan that you don’t know will work.
However, we have a number here, 3,5%. Do you know what that number means? According to research by Harvard political scientist Erica Chenoweth et al., if 3,5% of people seriously stood up in a nonviolent way, society would change significantly.[I].
The People Power Revolution that overthrew the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines (1986) and the Rose Revolution (2003) in Georgia, which forced President Eduardo Shevardnadze to resign, had a turnout of 3,5% and are some of the examples of nonviolent civil disobedience that caused social change.
Both the movement Occupy Wall Street in New York like the protest in Barcelona started with a small number of people. Greta Thunberg's student strike is "just one person". The number of really active participants in the movement's protests Occupy Wall Street, which gave rise to the slogan "1% vs. 99%”, was just a few thousand.
Yet these bold protests have had a huge impact on society. Demonstrations can reach tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of people. That would be equivalent to millions of votes in an election. This is the path to change.
Doesn’t it start to seem like it’s possible to gather 3,5% of people who are seriously interested in the problems caused by capitalism and climate change and who will be strongly committed to the fight? In fact, it’s more likely that there will be more people who are outraged by the disparities and environmental destruction of capitalism and have the imagination to fight for future generations and the global South. These people, with bold determination, will start to take action for those who for whatever reason cannot.
It could be in a worker cooperative, in a school strike, or in organic farming. You could try to become a member of your local government. You could also work with environmental NGOs. You could start a citizen electricity company with your colleagues. And of course, asking your current company to take stricter environmental measures is also a big step. Worker cooperatives are the only way to reduce working hours and democratize production.
Furthermore, we should start collecting signatures for a climate emergency declaration and launch campaigns to demand that the richest pay the costs. In this way, we will develop a network of mutual aid and strengthen it.
There is no shortage of things that can and should be done immediately. Therefore, we should not use the fact that reforming the system is a huge challenge as an excuse for doing nothing. The participation of each person is fundamentally decisive for the 3,5%.
Because we have been indifferent until now, the richest 1% and the elite have changed the rules as they saw fit, creating social structures and interests that suit their own values.
However, it is time to say a clear No. Let’s put aside our cynicism and show the power of the 99%. To achieve this, the key is for the 3,5% to start acting now. If this movement gains momentum, the power of capital will be limited, democracy will be renewed and a decarbonized society will undoubtedly be realized.
At the beginning of this book, I explained that the Anthropocene is an epoch in which the Earth has been covered with the human objects created by capitalism, that is, with its burdens and contradictions. However, capitalism is destroying the planet; in this sense, it might be more correct to call the current era the Capitalocene rather than the Anthropocene.
However, if people can join forces and act in solidarity to protect the planet, their only homeland, from the tyranny of capital, then we can positively call this new era the Anthropocene. This book is intended to be a The capital for our time, in a detailed analysis of capital to find a ray of light for the future.
Of course, this future depends on you, who have read this book, deciding to join the 3,5%.
*Kohei Saito is a professor of philosophy at the University of California-Santa Barbara campus. Author of, among other books, Karl Marx in the Anthropocene (Cambridge University Press).
Reference
Kohei Saito. Capital in the Anthropocene. Translation: Caroline M. Gomes. New York, New York, 2024, 226 pages. [https://amzn.to/3Cajluh]
Translator's note
[I] Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan, Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (New York, Columbia University Press, 2012). As a conclusion: David Robson, “The '3.5% Rule': How a Small Minority Can Change the World”, with the BBC, May 13, 2019. Available on this link. Chenoweth et al.'s research has a direct impact on Extinction rebellion.
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