If capitalism is the cause of climate change, then what's the solution?

A review of Naomi Klein's This Changes Everything: Capitalism Versus the Climate

Climate review
(Image credit: (Alex Wong/Getty Images))

What are the causes of climate change? That may sound like a simple question to answer: carbon emissions, duh. But when we think of the ur-culprit of climate change, we would have to point the finger at a global economic system built on resource extraction and consumption. And if capitalism is the problem, then what's the solution?

These were the questions that ran through my mind as I read Naomi Klein's new book, This Changes Everything: Capitalism Versus the Climate. The title alone would seem to suggest that we need some kind of anti-capitalist program, right? But what that might be never quite takes shape, despite Klein's otherwise admirable efforts to expose the numerous ways in which capitalist forces are poised to destroy our environmental well-being.

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.