-by Bucharest Twin

Recently weak, piece-meal reformism, relying on capitalism, has expressed itself in a few different ways. Green consumerism, carbon offsets and emission cap and trade programs are some examples. Each of these processes, borne of capitalist values, inherit their fatal flaw from the same. Critical evaluation of the global imperialist economy shows clearly that capitalism can never be ecologically sound. Nothing short of the eradication of capitalism paired with drastic reduction in people’s material consumption will bring the current parasitic existence of the human race closer to something that could be defined as a symbiotic relationship between us and our planet.

Today’s first worlders maintain lifestyles that are far beyond the means of their value producing capabilities so they rely third world labor and resources to support them. The average first world citizen consumes material resources and produces waste at a rate that is 32 times higher than that of their third world counterpart. To sustain this inflated rate of consumption the means of production have grown past the traditional barriers afforded by divided territories. Since the 1800’s, the rich countries that form the first world are increasingly reliant upon extraction of resources and labor from the third world in order to support their gluttonous lifestyles. Because capitalism is predicated on constant growth this bloated mode of living is not just a by-product of capitalism, it is necessitated by its’ framework. Because of this, capitalism’s existence is antithetical to the regeneration of Earth’s natural systems.

Green consumerism relies on the individual choice of the consumer as a means to improving the world. Advocates believe that by increasing the demand for organic or environmentally friendly products and brands they will destabilize particularly irresponsible companies and cause proliferation of better companies. This idea is problematic due to the adverse incentives provided by capitalism.

In relation to the consumer, capitalism incentivizes spending less money on individual products as a way to gain more spending power and therefore access to more resources. So the idea that people will buy the more expensive but more responsible product is reliant upon a belief in personal altruism and contradictory to concrete material analysis.

Green consumerism in the sense of the producers relationship to the economy is likewise based off of an analysis that takes no account of the incentives provided by capitalism. In order to compete in the capitalist marketplace businesses are pressed to create products at the lowest cost with the best market value. Businesses will not attempt to find more responsible means of production if it does not allow them to directly profit from it. Furthermore, if they can reap the increased profit from selling products that appear to be ecologically sound to consumers who appear to care while cutting corners during production they will. Not surprisingly they have. This is where practices like green washing and selective advertising stem from.

The precepts of green consumerism also fall short in that they utilize a utopian understanding of the free market. The “free” market is marred by the political powers that are becoming increasingly more influential to the market’s course. This has led to the protection of business interests taking precedence in policy. The fluid relationship between big business and politics are illustrated by things like the results of the citizens united case and the revolving door phenomenon.

Even if the nature of most people inclined them to do good and even if our “democratic” (oligarchic) political system did not constantly create economic and political loopholes in favor of big businesses, the incremental changes that green consumerism could afford are too minute to lend it any credibility.

Carbon offsets are purchased accolades which reflect the social chauvinism that the plush first world lifestyle has generated and do nothing to advocate for a true sense of social responsibility. Carbon offsets are popular among celebrities who, like all capitalists, have commandeered the public’s rising (though poorly informed) concern for the environment. Bands like Coldplay can now produce an album, buy carbon offsets to assuage any guilt stemming from wasteful production and packaging methods and then turn around and advertise the same album as a low impact product thereby furthering their personal interests. This practice occurs among a huge variety of companies. Like green washing, the purchase of carbon offsets firstly serves a personal interest and is constructed within the framework of capitalism so it will never make a substantial environmental impact.

The EU’s Emission Cap and Trade program, one result of the Kyoto Protocol, is another case of shallow reformism reflective of the power relationships which underscore capitalism’s vicious nature. The Emission Cap and Trade Program sets a limit on the amount of metric tons of carbon emissions that the contracted countries are allowed to produce. If a country exceeds the amount of carbon emissions that it is allotted then it is forced to pay reparations or buy more carbon allowances from another country. This policy favors rich countries which are the countries with the highest rates of consumption and therefore the highest incentive to produce. If the economic incentive remains high enough to produce certain materials then countries will factor in the economic punishment of the Emissions Cap and Trade Program as just another production expense. This is analogous to the way that BP Oil has historically reacted to environmental sanctions and like we’ve seen over and over again this cannot curtail the environmental repercussions of the elevated production rates necessary to sustain global capitalism.

Though for most people it is being hidden from view by false advertising and narrow sighted policy measures the ultimatum that we are facing is very clear, in order for the Earth to recover from its current state either capitalism or the human race must perish. The more time that we waste on furthering reform measures that rely on capitalism the less time we will have to eradicate the root of the ecological crises that we are now facing.