An Interview with Naomi Klein: Capitalism Versus the Climate

Abstract

Naomi Klein argues that the dominant ideologies of neoliberalism and marketization have proved fundamentally incompatible with the collective action a response to climate change demands. Author of This Changes Everything, Klein discusses this conclusion with reference to several watershed changes: Hurricane Katrina, when American elites capitalised on the disaster both during and after the immediate crisis, the privatisation of the transport and energy sectors which inhibits the ability of governments to control the economies most crucial to climate change, and the evasion of government responsibility for emissions by shifting the blame to India and China. Klein also discusses her book, Capitalism versus Climate Change, which examines the conflict between the need for drastic emissions reductions and capitalism’s imperative of constant growth. It also explores the emergence of ‘Blockadia’: grassroots climate activism spearheaded by indigenous and farming communities motivated by dependence on, and reverence for, the land.