The recent global strikes on climate crisis pose a vital question for world leaders from highly capitalist nations: How do you solve environmental issues without compromising your industrial operations?

The answer is no way. There is no way these highly industrialized states whose economy heavily relies on industrial outputs can solve environmental issues to which they are major contributors. Global carbon emissions have been increasing to over 260% since 260 years ago at the height of the Industrial Revolution (Quinn, 2018). The situation worsened as many states turned to capitalism for economic development to the detriment of the environment and the planet.

A resurgence of nonviolent global movements on environmental protection and conservation entails the preponderance of the climate crisis which previously received scant attention on mainstream media. Now, these movements like Extinction Rebellion and Fridays for Future headline major news outlets.

Why the sudden shift of spotlight?

One possibility is due to the very nature and form of the movements. Fridays for Future, as a popular example whose action involves an international school strike, is a youth-led movement that is founded and led by a certain Greta Thunberg, a 16-year old schoolgirl from Sweden that is currently on world tour. Ostensibly through this movement, she could at par, if not surpass, the popularity of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr who was a legend of his time.

Thunberg’s trips to various continents to protest with the youth require massive fundings to begin with. Who could be behind her in this endeavor? Tony Cartalucci uncovers this climate action charade as he lays out Thunberg’s critical connections with big names in US politics and business. Could this be Cartalucci’s illusion or do they seemingly all add up? Bringing these international movements into public scrutiny is itself a crucial work of journalism. How did they penetrate the corporate media? We can go back to Cartalucci’s analysis — perhaps Thunberg indeed has indirect backing from Soros who influences and even controls the mainstream media in the US.

Notwithstanding the large base of support for climate action, our chance of solving the climate problem is nil. Why? We need to see the wider picture and identify the real culprit of environmental issues – that is, the specter of neoliberalism and capitalism. Leaders of the most powerful of nations are driven by and addicted to the profits of neoliberalism so that any measure to shift from it is faced with punitive actions. It is very hard to untangle situations that have deep entrenchment whose support from the untouchable has only further cemented its value.

The efforts of these international movements are only wasteful should we fail to see the wider picture. Unless we exorcise our world leaders, including yours and mine, we can never solve the climate crisis.

Featured image: An Extinction Rebellion event to raise awareness about government inaction on climate change and biodiversity loss. (CC-BY-SA-4.0)