If we were to ask what is the root cause of our current and
unprecedented environmental crisis, climate change, many, particularly
on the progressive Left, would refer to the excesses of
capitalism—and they’d be right. In Eco-Nihilism: The Philosophical
Geopolitics of the Climate Change Apocalypse, Wendy Lynne Lee
demonstrates that there are no versions of conquest capital compatible
with the fact of a finite planet and that a logic whose operating
premise is growth is destined to not only exhaust our planetary
resources, but also generate profound social injustice and
geopolitical violence in its pursuit. Nonetheless, it is clear that
the violence and injustice of capital is selective—some benefit
greatly while others are subjugated to its pathological drive to
profit. Hence, Lee argues that any comprehensive analysis of what
Jason Moore has dubbed the Capitalocene must include an equally
probing account of human chauvinism, that is, the axes along which
capital is supplied with resources and labor. Defined in terms of
race, sex, gender, and species, these axes come ready-made to the
advantage of capitalist commodification. Without an understanding of
how and why, humanity will remain doomed to settling for a sustainably
unjust world as opposed to realizing a just and desirable one. Indeed,
on our current trajectory, we may not even achieve the sustainable.
The introduction of climate change into the mix of environmental
deterioration, the ever-widening economic gap between global North and
global South, and the accelerating violence of terrorism, civil war,
and human slavery make of a warming planet a combustible world. The
only way out requires ending the myth of endless resources, a
rejection of climate change denial, and a radical re-valuation of
human-centeredness, not as a locus of power, but as an opportunity to
take moral and epistemic responsibility for a world whose biotic
diversity and ecological integrity make the struggle to realize it
worthwhile. This solution demands not only an end to capitalism, but
the deliberate reclamation of value—aesthetic, moral, and
civic—and a radical transformation of both personal and collective
conscience. Lee appeals to the experiential aesthetics of John Dewey
and the feminist concept of the standpoint of the subjugated. She
argues for a version of the precautionary principle informed by an
environmentally and socially responsible concept of the desirable
future as the clearest path away from the precipice.
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The Philosophical Geopolitics of the Climate Change Apocalypse
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780739176894
Publisert
2017
Utgiver
Bloomsbury USA
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter