Is it possible to build a society where people have enough to live well and also feel that they have enough? Or are we doomed as a species to stay on the hedonic treadmill that keeps us wanting more consumer goods, even as we destroy the natural world to get those things? Are we doomed … Continue reading Consumerism, Inequality, and the Climate Crisis
Racism, Capitalism, and the Climate Crisis
For the past few years, I have worked with Fossil Free California, a mostly white group, trying to get the gigantic California pension funds to divest from fossil fuels. Two years ago, we embarked on an internal process to look at how race and racism operate within our organization. We started to question how a … Continue reading Racism, Capitalism, and the Climate Crisis
The System Will Not Solve the Climate Crisis Without a Push: That’s Where You Come in
This is an all hands-on-deck moment where civil society, that means you and I, need to throw everything we have into changing the politics of business as usual Bill Gates is the most recent billionaire to write a book on what needs to be done to solve the climate crisis. The point of his book, … Continue reading The System Will Not Solve the Climate Crisis Without a Push: That’s Where You Come in
Thoughts on Anti-Capitalist Organizing: Imagining a Way Beyond Revolution or Reform
Socialist Review V 25 I 3+4 1995 thoughts-on-anti-capitalist-activismDownload
A Just Transition to a Fair and Sustainable Society or Healthy Green Growth?
The main goal of Norwegian economist Per Espen Stoknes’ new book, Tomorrow's Economy: A Guide to Creating Healthy Green Growth, is to offer the concept of healthy green growth as an alternative to simple GDP growth. Stoknes teaches in a business school, and the economic tools he creates around this concept will probably be very … Continue reading A Just Transition to a Fair and Sustainable Society or Healthy Green Growth?
Solidarity Forever: Essential Workers, Public Goods, and How We Are in This Together
One opportunity for positive change opened by the terrible crisis we are in with COVID-19 is that people are beginning to question some fundamental beliefs about how society works. There is a chance we can shatter some of the toxic narratives that justify, and lend support to, the brutal systems of inequality, racism, and environmental … Continue reading Solidarity Forever: Essential Workers, Public Goods, and How We Are in This Together
Alternatives to Killing People for the Economy
As the U.S. begins to reopen after being shut down to protect us from spreading Covid-19, many people are beginning to talk about a choice between what is good for the economy and what will keep us healthy. Much pain and suffering has come as people have lost their livelihoods and their homes, and so … Continue reading Alternatives to Killing People for the Economy
Facing Our Other Crises With Lessons From COVID-19
As I have been thinking about the worldwide response to COVID-19, like many people I have been amazed that this pandemic would spur people to move out of a business-as-usual approach to life and into forms of action that will stop at nothing to achieve an important social goal. While I have complied very willingly … Continue reading Facing Our Other Crises With Lessons From COVID-19
Creating a Home through the Green New Deal A review of Bruno Latour’s Down to Earth
Near where I live, in Pacifica California, there is a big piece of land right at the ocean that was once slated to be the site of a giant freeway interchange. That plan was stopped by local people who saw no need for increased freeway capacity. When I moved to town 14 years ago it … Continue reading Creating a Home through the Green New Deal A review of Bruno Latour’s Down to Earth
Building Democracy to Fight the Nativist Attack: A Review of ‘The People vs. Democracy’
As someone who came to politics opposing US government policies, I’ve been surprising myself lately by how much I end up talking about the importance of “rule of law." I'm used to being the one to criticize how bad our laws are, how unfairly they are enforced, and how oppressive government actions are. But there … Continue reading Building Democracy to Fight the Nativist Attack: A Review of ‘The People vs. Democracy’
Cynthia Kaufman 