Capitalism & Climate Change – Part III: Commodifying Nature & the Market-Based Approach

Click here to access article by Alyssa Rohricht from Black Cat Revolution.

Capitalism dominates the globe. It has become so enmeshed into the cultural narrative that it seems almost axiomatic. Private owners (of capital) control the means of production. The goal: build profits. The best part about it is that if everyone pursues self-interest, the market will grow and society will benefit. The invisible hand helps the market to self-regulate, creating socially desirable results.

Simple? 

No. When it comes to dealing with issues such as poverty, the income gap, unemployment, economic crises, human rights, war, imperialism, and the externalization of costs on society and the environment, the invisible hand that Adam Smith once imagined is not invisible, it is nonexistent.

The author provides the most devastating attack on the method of purchasing carbon credits to permit the externalization of pollution that I have seen.