Tipping Points

Jeff Sparrow

"In the past, activists sometimes suggested that climate politics transcended the old divisions between left and right. Even the greediest tycoon lived on the same planet as the rest of us. On that basis, the argument went, they could be won over in the fight to preserve it.

In reality, the environment’s always been a class issue. Climate change will devastate the poor – and the rich and the powerful will barely notice."

"a tipping point, a specific manifestation of the crisis so grotesque and so extreme as to force our leaders to respond." 

"The politicians and tycoons with their stock options and property portfolios will still find pleasant locales for their holidays, no matter how degraded the oceans become. They have as little personal stake in combating climate change as they do in fighting for housing affordability." 

"If the nationalism of right-wing populism inevitably feeds climate scepticism, protest against fossil fuels pushes in the direction of internationalism, fostering a common interest across national borders against the corporations and politicians despoiling the planet."