In 2030, the world is predicted to be 2.7 degrees Celsius warmer, even if the world holds to the agreements made at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) climate accords last year. The outcome will more likely be worse, however, given that most of the countries who contribute 80 percent of the emissions that are causing climate change are not on track to reach those pledges. Climate change is an immediate threat, not one that we can continue to put off. What has happened so far is already irreversible, and as America expands economically, those changes are heightened. During the Trump administration, climate change was allowed to progress uninhibitedly. Even under the Biden administration, little has been done to stop what many consider to be an extinction event. One must conclude that the problem, therefore, cannot be with any single politician, but with a capitalist system that is incapable of changing fast enough.
President Joe Biden has promised to lower emissions to net zero by 2050, but even this relatively moderate plan has been met with enough resistance to seriously derail it, the most memorable example being U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV)’s refusal to support a climate bill, even after it was substantially reduced from the progressive wing’s original proposal. Between now and 2030, Joe Biden will have finished his first term. Even if he is reelected, or another Democrat is elected after him, odds are that in 2028, a Republican will be elected president, and if recent history is any indication, undo any progress made thus far. The Republican Party is, in essence, actively working to hasten climate catastrophe, and the Democratic Party is unreliable at best. The problem of climate change cannot be solved to a sufficient degree by elections. It must be solved by a turn away from capitalism as a whole.
The five biggest oil and gas companies around the globe spend more than $200 million a year lobbying against policies centered on combating climate change. This is while also spending approximately $195 million on initiatives that give them the appearance of being concerned about climate change, publicly recognizing it as an issue without actually doing anything. The coal industry contributes to the problem similarly. Sen. Manchin, one of two Democrats who opposed an already reduced progressive climate infrastructure bill, actually had ownership over a company in his home state of West Virginia that sold scrap coal, from which he earned $500,000 just last year. Coal burning accounts for 88 percent of West Virginia’s power.
As long as America has a market-based economy, the interests of capital will forever be ingrained in the actions of the government. The problem with any attempt to remove the influence of the oil industry will inevitably be that it has enough influence within the government to stop any serious initiative of that nature from taking place. Last year, when the Biden administration moved to pause oil and gas leases, a caucus of 70 lawmakers publicly denounced his initiative. Of those 70, 29 had received money from the oil and gas industry over the course of their careers, with a combined total of $13,393,582 million. And even if this were to be avoided, there are politicians like Manchin who themselves have had careers within industries that stand to lose from any environmental initiatives.
The current economic superstructure is one with mechanisms in place that allow it to defend itself. It is one that has ingrained itself into every aspect of our lives, including our capacity for political imagination. As we look at the challenges heading toward us, it becomes difficult to think outside of the systems which we find familiar, which we have accepted as inherent to society. We must be willing to imagine a system where there is no profit motive. Companies like Shell lobby against climate initiatives because the means by which they profit are dependent on practices that actively worsen the environment. In order for us to address climate change in the way that is necessary, we will need to eliminate the profit motive and cut the problem of climate change at the stem. In order to develop sustainably, we will need to rethink our socioeconomic structure in its entirety.
But capitalism will not solve the coming climate crisis. Even as companies like Tesla manufacture “sustainable” electric cars and oil companies pay lip service to the problem of environmental catastrophe, the most permanent solutions lie outside of capitalism. It is worth noting that Cuba, a country with a socialist economy, outperforms us in terms of sustainability even as we enforce a harsh blockade against them. Cuba is by no means an example of a perfect society, but its sustainability highlights a key benefit of a socialist economy — the profitability of this or that industry becomes a nonissue.
America does not have time to gamble on elections and hope that the next Congress will be willing to vote a certain way. Although Republicans are much worse, Sen. Manchin and U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) have proved that the Democratic Party is ultimately unreliable. As long as capitalism is intact, we will not have the means to solve climate change. A new system must be pursued.
Desmond Keuper is a sophomore majoring in philosophy.