A Green Revolution?

not through active disruption but through the internalisation of alternative ideals and ways of living. If organisations like Just Stop Oil would advocate their ideas of systemic change and capitalist critique through interstitial forms of organising grass-root change and internalising alternative attitudes towards consumption, we could slowly overcome capitalist ideals of mass production, consumer fetishism, and class separation hindering the realisation of a much needed ecological revolution.

Hannah Dalgiesh Comment Writer

Eight years on from the adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015, it seems that we are no closer to competently assuaging the devastating effects of climate change. Climate change has undoubtedly become a climate crisis. From extreme bushfire deaths in Australia to the necessity of a Flood Alleviation Scheme in my home town of York, there is no denying the threat we are facing across the globe. The climate technologies that we have are vital in reducing our carbon emissions and the leaps made by scientists internationally cannot be understated. However, when so much progress is yet to be made, how far can technology really be the answer to climate change?

As a child I watched the council build flood barriers around York town centre every year. Friends at school lost their homes to the floods and local businesses would close for months at a time. It was, and remains, a stark reminder that the effects of global warming which sometimes feel so far away, are in fact a reality for many within the UK.

The North-East is home to Teesside Net Zero, the UK’s first carbon capture technological base. This technology uses the emissions from industrial processes, capturing the carbon and purifying it with giant air filters or alternatively storing it in the ground, in this case under the North Sea. Although this is an undeniably important process, it is estimated that carbon capture concept of sustainable development which is a strategy widely adopted by the United Nations which looks to continue economic growth and progress while simultaneously minimising damage to our natural environment specifically in relation to the developing world (Africa and South America). I will argue that neoliberal capitalism and sustainable development/ growth are two concepts which cannot be reconciled, therefore we need a complete overhaul of our economic system to prevent the loss of our natural environment.