For decades, we were told that individual action was the best way to tackle the climate crisis. If only we would stop using plastic bags and straws, while taking care to recycle, through behavioural change we could prevent climate change.
Yet the rise of XR and the school climate strikers, and their clarion call “system change not climate change”, suggests climate breakdown is an economic crisis rather than a moral dilemma. To fight against climate change is to fight against capitalism. But if we want to fight the good fight, first we must understand how capitalism works.
Joining us on the podcast this week is Professor of Socio-legal Studies at the University of Liverpool, Professor David Whyte. We discuss David Whyte’s new book, ‘Ecocide: Kill the Corporation Before it Kills Us’, in which David makes the case that we must rid ourselves of the profit-making corporation altogether. We delve into the architecture and history of corporate capitalism, the shortcomings of regulatory approaches to curbing the corporation’s ecocidal tendencies, and the complex role played by organised labour in fighting climate breakdown and international injustice.
Links
David's book Ecocide: Kill the Corporation before it kills us
https://bit.ly/36WZ4F6
Green Peace oil and gas worker survey
https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Oil-Gas-Workers-Report-Final-Web.pdf
Shout outs
Tina Louise Rothery- Anti fracking activist
Anne Roy- David's mentor and colleague
All the people who love or live with people with learning disabilities in particular
@SEND_Action and Liz Crow
Conrad Bower- Editor of the meteor
@ConradBower1
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