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Crime without punishment

Capitalism’s environmental carnage
by
May 2022, no. 442

Crimes against Nature: Capitalism and global heating by Jeff Sparrow

Scribe, $29.99 pb, 240 pp

Crime without punishment

Capitalism’s environmental carnage
by
May 2022, no. 442
Jeff Sparrow, author of Crimes against Nature: Capitalism and global heating (photograph courtesy of Scribe)

There is a debate as long-running as climate change itself: can capitalism, with its demand for endless growth, be sustained on a planet with finite bounds and limited resources? Freemarketeers say yes. For them, the issue is not capitalism per se but an economic model that does not factor in the true cost of emissions. As a result, we the people and the planet are subsidising industries that pollute for free. The counterargument is based on simple intuition: How on earth can capitalism, the unstoppable force be contained inside the inelastic object? This has never received a convincing reply.

Kurt Johnson reviews ‘Crimes against Nature: Capitalism and global heating’ by Jeff Sparrow

Crimes against Nature: Capitalism and global heating

by Jeff Sparrow

Scribe, $29.99 pb, 240 pp

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Comments (2)

  • Kurt Johnson's writing reminds me of the late Christopher Hitchens.
    Posted by Christian Torbik
    16 October 2023
  • Alas, the notion of nature as divine is a difficult one to maintain or even substantiate.
    Posted by Patrick Hockey
    22 April 2022

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