CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE FOLLY THAT FREE MARKETS WILL PROVIDE THE SOLUTION

Adrian Parr, The Wrath of Capital: Neoliberalism and Climate Change Politics (New York: Columbia U. Press, 2013) ("The narrative of modernity and the optimistic feeling of newness it generates are merely a distraction. Distractions such as decarbonizing the free-market economy, buying carbon offsets, handing out contraceptives to poor women in developing countries, drinking tap water in place of bottle water, changing personal eating habits, installing green roofs on city hall, and expressing moral outrage at British Petroleum (BP) for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, although well meaning, are merely symptomatic of the uselessness of free-market 'solutions' to environmental change. Indeed, such widespread distraction leads to denial." Id. at 2. "In the absence of an internationally binding agreement on emissions reductions, all individual actions taken to reduce emissions--a flat global carbon tax, recycling, hybrid cars, carbon offsets, a few solar panels here and there, and so on--are mere theatrics." Id. at 3. "Climate change poses several environmental problems, many of which now have a clear focus. The scientific problem: How can the high amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere causing the earth's climate change be lowered to 350 ppm? The economic problem: How can the economy be decarbonized while addressing global economic disparities? The social problem: How can human societies change their climate-altering behaviors and adapt to changes in climate? The cultural problem: How can commodity culture be reigned in? The problem policymakers face: What regulations can be introduced to inhibit environmental degradation, promote GHG reductions, and assist the people, species, and ecosystems most vulnerable to environmental change. The political problem is less clear, however, perhaps because of it philosophical implications." "Political philosophy examines how these questions are dealt with and the assumptions upon which they are premised. It studies the myriad ways in which individuals, corporations, the world's leaders, on governmental organization (NGOs), and communities respond to climate change and the larger issue of environmental change characteristic of the Anthropocene age. More important, political philosophy considers how these responses  reinforce social and economic structures of power. In light of this consideration, how do we make the dramatic and necessary changes needed to adapt equitably to environmental change without the economically powerful claiming ownership over the collective impetus and goals that this historical juncture presents?" Id. at 4. From the bookjacket: "Although climate change has become the dominant concern of the twenty-first century [NOTE: climate change was not a topic/issue in the 2012 U.S. presidential elections], global powers refuse to implement the changes necessary to reverse these trends. Instead, they have neoliberalized nature and climate change politics and discourse, and there are indications of a more virulent strain of capital accumulation on the horizon. Adrian Parr calls attention to the problematic socioeconomic conditions of neoliberal capitalism underpinning the world's environmental challenges, and she argue that, until we grasp the implications of neoliberalism's interference in climate change talks and policy, humanity is on track to an irreversible crisis." "Parr not only exposes the global failure to produce equitable political options for environmental regulation, but she also breaks down the dominant political paradigms hindering the discovery of viable alternatives. She highlights the neoliberalization of nature in the development of green technologies, land use, dietary habits, reproductive practices, consumption patterns, design strategies, and media. She dismisses the notion that the free market can solve debilitating environmental degradation and climate change as nothing more than a political ghost emptied of its collective aspirations.").