Greta Thunberg became famous for calling on us to “panic” in the face of climate change. Unfortunately, she did not offer much specific advice on how to solve the problem.
According to Thunberg, the underlying problems are industrialization and capitalism. “The Industrial Revolution, fueled by slavery and colonization, brought unimaginable wealth to the Global North, and in particular to a small group of people there,” she writes in “The Climate Book.”
“That extreme injustice is the foundation our modern societies are built on,” she adds.
But the number of people has increased eightfold from one to eight billion since the beginning of industrialization. Without industrialization, billions of people would have had no chance of survival. It is also not true that capitalism only improved life for a small minority. In 1820, the proportion of people living in extreme poverty around the world was 90 percent; today it is 9 percent.
The book is laced with harsh criticism of capitalism. Running to almost 500 pages, there are only two sentences in which Thunberg admits that other systems also destroy the environment: “Leaving capitalist consumerism and market economics as the dominant stewards of the only known civilization in the universe will most likely seem, in retrospect, to have been a terrible idea. But let us keep in mind that when it comes to sustainability, all previous systems have failed too. Just like all current political ideologies – socialism, liberalism, communism, conservatism, centrism, you name it. They have all failed. But, in fairness, some have certainly failed more than others.”
She does not reveal which systems have failed more than others – she limits her denunciations to capitalism. And yet, environmental destruction in socialist countries was incomparably worse than in capitalist countries.
Thunberg sees a great capitalist conspiracy against the climate. She blames policymakers who are “still in thrall to Big Oil and Big Finance.” The media have failed, even though she admits that “journalism is starting to take its first baby steps towards covering this crisis.” She would only be satisfied if the media were full of nothing but stories about climate change: “This should of course be dominating every hour of our everyday newsfeed, every political discussion, every business meeting and every inch of our daily lives. But that is not what is happening.”
Wearily, she notes that many journalists unfortunately did not go into journalism to “uproot a system they believe in.” The fact that the population of a country is constantly bombarded with certain news is something more frequently associated with totalitarian states.
Thunberg regrets that there are “no laws or restrictions in place that will force anyone to take the necessary steps towards safeguarding our future living conditions on planet Earth.” The world, she writes, is run by “white, privileged, middle-aged, straight cis-men,” and these are “terribly ill suited” for dealing with the crisis. Instead, co-author Sonja Guajajara suggests, we need “indigenous women at the heart of the struggle to guarantee a future for humankind. For in many original communities, it falls to us, indigenous women, to manage and preserve our ecosystems and to preserve our knowledge through memory and custom.”
Thunberg devotes a quarter of a single page to nuclear power – summarily rejecting it as a solution. Technologies to extract CO2 from the air are dismissed as “a joke,” while solar geoengineering is dismissed because it meets with “fierce resistance from indigenous peoples.” Electric vehicles, the book states, are not a viable solution because they “may well be an option only for the powerful and wealthy.”
The state, according to Kevin Andersen, should determine for everyone “the size (and number) of our houses; how often we fly and in which class; how big and how many cars we have and how far we drive them. Even at work, how large is our offices, how many foreign meetings and international conferences do we attend and how frequent are our field trips.”
Thunberg herself complains that there are “still no laws to keep the oil in the ground.” Kate Raworth thinks the state should phase out “private jets, mega-yachts, fossil-fueled cars, short flights and frequent flyer rewards.” Seth Klein calls for “a new generation of public corporations” to produce the right things at the requisite scale. Moreover, he laments, “Where is the government advertising to boost the level of public ‘climate literacy’?” The Canadian anti-capitalist Naomi Klein wants to increase taxes on the rich and reduce spending on policing and prisons in order to fund the fight against climate change. The French critic of capitalism Thomas Piketty calls for the introduction of “individual carbon rights.” For the sake of social justice, he argues, it should be considered to set “equal individual carbon quotas” by the authorities.
Ultimately, it all boils down to abolishing capitalism and replacing it with an eco-planned economy.
All are cultists. Every single one of them. As with all else of the left, THEY are their own god. And when you are THE god, you can determine what is right not just for you—but for everyone else.
thunberg is a mentally sick person, She has autism (her mother and sister have autism too), she has also ADHD and she should not be taken seriously. Everybody should boycott her
Real Americans find her laughable, however the democrat population worships that nonsense.
Ms Maria,
Study up to inform look up genius’s’ who are on the autism scale, before you malign a whole huge group of people. Judge people responsible by what they do, not what they were born with.
More realistically speaking than knocking a whole part of the world’s population, has anyone followed the money trail that supports. This young woman? That would be very interesting to see who flys this pigeon.
How easy it is to manipulate mass.
Be well you all.
Who would ever pay attention to the ravings of this twit? In any case, having heard her speak, I doubt she even wrote the book.
Besides, she’s skipped school for years now. How smart can she be? What you say, Dad?
Yeah, she wrote a 500 page book. Why does with a brain anyone give this climate urchin the time of day.
Who is funding this poor imbecilic dup , look like she has eye issues and is going bald, And she has a look of mental imbalance becoming more twisted and demented each day. Does this idiot have any positive answers all she seem to be able to do is blame man for the climate (How about the sun and above all the PRC industrial complex ) Let’s see her take a walk in that Park. I wonder when she will get to the crux of the issue that “That she is mother earths child savior” An bused an use clown of the social Elitist agenda driven (Euthanization of Mankind.).. Plot; a totalitarians Power grab and control.
A tool of the Globalists and their plans just remember that the notorious Ted Turner back in the 1990’s was Brainwashing the kids with papa like Captain Planet, Network Earth and One Child One Voice Etc. now comes Greta and the Globalists and their plots against the Free World
Greta Thunberg is a DisGrace!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That girl needs a public bare assed spanking.
If one replaces the words capitalists with fascists, and climate with communism/marxism, it sounds just like Soviet propaganda from the 30s where everything was just between two options: Fascism and Communism, where communism was billed as the only way to worker paradise and equality.
Germany was the hotbed of these two extremes. We know what happened then. Remember that as Germany invaded Poland, so did Russia. Germany and Russia split up Europe, including 50/50 in Poland. They were never allies with western Europe . They were simply two sides of the same coin.
Dang, if the 1.5million communists that Stalin killed in his 1939 purge didn’t put a wrinkle in the true red dream, “How could he do that” Let alone the 10s of millions starved to death as Stalin created his dictatorship. Soviet Russia existed in lies, spying, death, control and stealing. What a noble entity is was, and is. Russia was a keen supporter and ally of communist China…. oh, and still is.
And just like yesteryear, there are nothing but complaints and false accusations pointing to the pipe dream of utopia climate/communism. Just believe, and it will be true…
This AL Gore acolyte is laughing all the way to the bank. This climate hoax made him a rich man thus, her devotion. Who, in their right mind, would even acknowledge this twits existence
“…she admits that “journalism is starting to take its first baby steps towards covering this crisis.”.
Really??? Where has she been? The media has been inundating us with the “climate crisis” nonsense since decades before she was born.
You couldn’t be more ridiculous.
Greta Thunberg false prophet for the false religion of Enviromentalism
I believe the Petroleum Industry carried our credible studies decades ago showing the predictable and harmful impact of Carbon Dioxide from human activities on the environment.Needless to say,the Oil Industry did not act on these findings,which would have impacted negatively on the industry,bottom lines,stock prices,and shareholders,as well as the environment. So,Greta’s charge of a capitalist conspiracy,here,is both warranted,and supported.Just how to address the dilemma of self-interests of the oil industry and the long-term existential threat of Global Warming in uncertain. Just sayin’.
Greta has been cheated of utopia by public sloth and indifference.
Cleary only a sudden reduction in human population is acceptable. Jim Jones Beverage Catering is preparing an appropriate elixir.
Do your part. imbibe. We have one victim and seven billion perps. We need to equalize these numbers.
But before you go, open all the gates and doors at the zoos. Someone should enjoy the place and Greta and the perp can’t be relied upon to provide feedings. As the last humans, they’ll be star attractions. Sort of like the passenger pigeons.
Am I the only one who thinks Greta looks like she has Downs syndrome?
Who gives a good-God-damb what this twit thinks or says.
I only opened this article to comment. Didn’t read it. Don’t care.