The Ecological Crisis, Apocalypticism, and the Internalization of Unfreedom

Abstract

Responses to the definitive evidence that the existing order of things will inevitably lead to an ecological doomsday often take one of two approaches, not counting outright deniers of climate change. The more optimistic of the two assumes that we could regain a reasonable balance of life on Earth through individual lifestyle adjustments. The second dominant approach is pessimistic to the degree of embracing apocalypticism, for it assumes the ecological catastrophe is altogether unavoidable. In either case, the capitalist system is perceived as the only possible order of things and goes unquestioned. Refuting both positions, I argue that the impending ecological catastrophe could only be avoided if collective progressive action puts an end to the capitalist modes of production. In the absence of universal movements grounded in revolutionary ecological politics, capitalism will continue to thrive not despite but because of the escalating ecological crisis. As climate change continues to make life conditions in the global south more difficult, cheap labour will become even more readily exploitable, just as the fundamental elements of life, such as clean water and air, will be increasingly commodified as they become scarcer. Unless sustained revolutionary action is undertaken to topple the capitalist relations of production, the ecological crisis will only bring about more suffering for the poor and greater benefits for the rich. The notion that small-scale changes in behaviour could reverse these trends under such circumstances is absurd, but that is not to say we should nihilistically succumb to our fate.