“Climate change is real. It is happening right now; it is the most urgent threat facing our entire species and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating.”
– Leonardo Di Caprio
The Problem
In this day and time, everyone is aware about the two terms – climate change and global warming. Even though there was a debate whether climate change is real or not, it is very clear that climate change is real and the consequences can be seen by everyone worldwide. Ever since the industrial revolution, temperatures have risen up by 1C and the world bank has predicted a rise of about 4C by 2100 in US. Globally, the temperature used to rise by 0.08C every decade since 1880s but rate of warming has further doubled in the last 40 years, recording an increase of 0.18C per decade since 1981. But why is climate change a cause of concern? Climate change has led to shift in temperature, rainfall, sea levels and weather volatility. Further, the World Bank believes that climate change can lead to poverty. It has predicted that around 100 million people will fall under the category of extreme poor by 2030 because of climate change. Climate change also has a direct impact on human health. There are many other reasons for climate change which have not been discussed here. There are a lot of reasons for climate change but this article focuses on impact of capitalism on climate change.
Capitalism VS Climate
Capitalism has been a major reason for climate change. Capitalism’s constant need for growth has interrupted the natural cycle and has led to a rift between nature and society. Global warming is a result of human activities and industrial capitalism is the to be blamed for this. The overuse (burning) of fossil fuels like coal, oil, natural gas, etc. has resulted in release of some greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, etc. It is well known that increase in concentration of these greenhouse gases in the environment have led to increase in temperatures globally. However, capitalist economies have high emission rates – USA has a per capita emission rate of carbon dioxide of about 15.52, Russia has a per capita emission rate of carbon dioxide of about 11.44. On the other hand, India (which is a mixed economy) has a per capita emission rate (of CO2) of just 1.91.The above figures show that capitalist economies contribute a much higher proportion of carbon dioxide emissions as compared to a socialist or a mixed economy.
The Future
The problem of global warming has been acknowledged and there have been several meetings with many countries reaching an agreement to control the climate change. Some studies have suggested to have ‘zero emissions’ in order to save the human civilization from crumbling.
However, is ‘zero emissions’ possible in a capitalist economy?
The answer is no, it is not possible to do so in a capitalist economy as the primary motive of a capitalist economy is to generate as much profit as possible with minimum costs and in that process, such economies will continue to emit greenhouse gases and hence will be a major contributor to climate change. Whether climate goals can be achieved in a capitalist economy or not depends on technological advancements and also to the availability of perfect substitutes of the fossil fuels. It further depends on how such economies keep a balance between goals of capitalism and climate goals. However, at this point, climate goals can not be achieved in a capitalist economy.
– Harsh
ECONOX 