Talk: Center for Global Justice
Event Category: All Events, Learning/Education, and Presentations/Discussions
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Monday, August 1, 20221:00pm CDT – 2:00pm EDT
Richard Smith
“We face a paradox: On the one hand, decarbonization has never been technically easier and indeed important initiatives are already in the works: solar and wind power are booming, fast replacing coal in the US, and sales of electric cars are, finally, beginning to take off. What’s more, there’s broad popular consensus around the world that we face a climate emergency and need to quickly transition out of fossil fuels. Yet in other respects, it’s never been tougher as opposition to phasing out fossil fuels has sharpened and intensified, as we’ve just seen with the collapse of Biden’s climate change agenda. In Europe too, coal is back as the war in Ukraine has cut oil and gas imports from Russia that Europe has long depended upon while renewables lag. How are we to understand these contradictory tendencies and what, if anything, can we ecosocialists do to help prevent collapse of the climate and civilization? Richard will analyse the technical and systemic political barriers to decarbonization in western, especially U.S. capitalism, and suggest what he thinks the environmental movement should try to do in response.”
Richard Smith is author of Green Capitalism: the God That Failed (2016) and China’s Engine of Environmental Collapse (2020).
we do The Center engages in local community support and outreach to promote and advance initiatives and movements toward social justice, grassroots empowerment and democracy, and environmental sustainability. It is also devoted to critical analysis of the processes and impacts of globalization, both local and international. The Center works to develop alternative socio-economic systems that conserve and share the world’s cultural, economic, and environmental resources for the benefit of humankind.
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