Naomi Klein's new book, This Changes Everything, a must read

[Robert.Boston]

Moderator's Note

The discussion wandered off to general climate change issues, so I moved those posts to Climate Change / Global Warming Discussion . Let's reserve this thread for discussion of Ms. Klein's book.

 

[bonaire]

Just an anecdote, i got to see her talk about her book last Tuesday night when I got in to see The Colbert Report taping and she was the guest. They did edit the interview a little when the show aired. Had a ticket to the Daily Show but missed out at the last minute when all seats were full so I went over to the Colbert studio and got in last of the standbys.

i don't know if she covers things in her book that are not already in many other books. But it might be worth buying to see what level of research she did.

 

[nwdiver]

What does she blame more for the lack of action on climate change... lack of regulation or capitalism itself?

 

[omarsultan]

I saw her interview on Real Time and she seems to lay the blame at the feet of capitalism. I tend to disagree with that view, but I need to read the book.

 

[Robert.Boston]

I saw her interview on Real Time and she seems to lay the blame at the feet of capitalism. I tend to disagree with that view, but I need to read the book.

Russia and China are not exactly models of sustainable development.

 

[artsci]

Russia and China are not exactly models of sustainable development.

China -- they are the worst capitalists known -- it's just state controlled crony capitalism, which is why their environmental issues are out of control. It's a police state for sure, but a capitalist police state.

 

[Skotty]

Some counter points: http://thebreakthrough.org/index.php/programs/energy-and-climate/the-left-vs.-the-climate

From the article:

"Klein's book is symptomatic of the Left's disturbing turn against progressive, pragmatic action for people and the environment."

"Whenever we use energy it is to free ourselves from some natural condition: to be warm in winter and cool in summer, to stay up after dark, to eat out of season, to escape hard labor, to leave the local patch of terroir where we sprouted and see the world. These are all acts of liberation, and they require abundant power and technical ingenuity. The Left once embraced that vision and fought to ensure that everyone would be liberated by the immense energies and technological wizardry unleashed by the industrial age. No more; now the Left stews in resentful suspicion towards industrial civilization and in an incoherent doctrine of naturalism that romanticizes underdevelopment to an almost reactionary degree."

Those statements might not be true of all those on the left, but it is a trend, and one I do not support. Likewise, however, it is a trend on the right to disregard climate change and pollution concerns entirely regardless of what science has to say. Both of these trends should be rejected by sensible people in favor of balanced pragmatic solutions that attempt to ensure climate protection without abandoning human progress and development.

 

[Raffy.Roma]

Both of these trends should be rejected by sensible people in favor of balanced pragmatic solutions that attempt to ensure climate protection without abandoning human progress and development.

Agree. As I said in other posts let's get rid of ideological prejudices and let's consider the Climate Change/Global Warming issue as a strictly techical and scientifical issue. The solutions to a technical and scientific issues are technical and scientific. IMO any political aspects of the Climate Change/Global Warming issue (that certainly exist) are secondary and have to be considered to better work out the scientific issue.

[To mod: Sorry for wandering off again to the Climate Change/Global Warming discussion but I was only answering to an interesting post]

 

[SwedishAdvocate]

I saw her interview on Real Time and she seems to lay the blame at the feet of capitalism. I tend to disagree with that view, but I need to read the book.

Russia and China are not exactly models of sustainable development.

Ok, so what’s the argument here?

That it’s either:

A: Crony ’capitalism’ à la US of A.

B: Military-dictatorship-police-state-controlled crony capitalism China style.

C: Whatever authoritarian crony capitalism they have in Russia.

And that’s it? There just aren’t any other alternatives?

Really…


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Russia and China are not exactly models of sustainable development.

China -- they are the worst capitalists known -- it's just state controlled crony capitalism, which is why their environmental issues are out of control. It's a police state for sure, but a capitalist police state.

And isn’t the only real difference between China and Russia just the level of authoritarian police state suppression?

 

[SwedishAdvocate]

Capitalism vs. the Climate: Naomi Klein on Need for New Economic Model to Address Ecological Crisis | Democracy Now!

Naomi Klein on the People's Climate March the Global Grassroots Movement Fighting Fossil Fuels | Democracy Now!

Naomi Klein on Motherhood, Geoengineering, Climate Debt the Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement | Democracy Now!

All links contains video, audio and transcript. Links 1 & 2 can also be viewed as video through YouTube. Anyone here can find those through a simple search. The third link is a a so called "web exclusive" and can as far as I know only be accessed through Democracy Now!'s own website.

 

[ggies07]

Capitalism vs. the Climate: Naomi Klein on Need for New Economic Model to Address Ecological Crisis | Democracy Now!

Naomi Klein on the People's Climate March the Global Grassroots Movement Fighting Fossil Fuels | Democracy Now!

Naomi Klein on Motherhood, Geoengineering, Climate Debt the Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement | Democracy Now!

All links contains video, audio and transcript. Links 1 & 2 can also be viewed as video through YouTube. Anyone here can find those through a simple search. The third link is a a so called "web exclusive" and can as far as I know only be accessed through Democracy Now!'s own website.

Thanks for the links. She makes some really good points, I need to read her book.

She's on the board of 350.org, which helped with the largest climate change march in NYC.

 

[SwedishAdvocate]