The Link Between Capitalism and Climate Change (And a Possible Solution)

Jeff & Susan • November 3, 2021
A cartoon illustration of wind turbines and a factory.
A cartoon illustration of wind turbines and a factory.

In 2016, leaders from around the world came together to sign the Paris Climate Accords —a declaration to mitigate climate change by limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Five years later, world leaders are once again coming together for the United Nations climate summit COP26 in Glasgow to tackle the challenge of climate change.

However, many believe that these accords and summits will do little until we deal with the underlying problem—Capitalism.

How Capitalism and Climate Change Are Linked

For a long time, consumers and individuals were held responsible for climate change. We drove too much, wasted too much electricity, and bought products that ended up in landfills and oceans. There was truth in this—our individual actions did have an impact on climate change.

Recently, however, people have been reexamining which actors are most responsible for climate change. According to the Carbon Majors Report in 2017 , 100 companies around the world are responsible for 71% of greenhouse gas emissions since 1988. The link between companies and climate change proves that capitalism is a driving force behind the climate crisis.  

We already have technological means to decarbonize, solar and wind are just two examples. They are easily accepted into our present grid system and will promote expansion of that grid when demand increases. However, doing so would mean rebuilding the entire electrical grid.

What Can Be Done?

If capitalism is the problem, what can be done about it? Capitalism is so deeply entrenched across the world it would be near impossible to get rid of it completely and this is not necessary. There is a way to alter our for-profit economy; with a parallel currency system , Energy Currency (in fact, Lincoln used “emergency currency,” the greenback dollar for the Civil War). Energy Currency economics places value on elements needed for human survival, such as food security, shelter, education, healthcare, and more. This incentivizes countries to improve efficiency of production and distribution of basic needs, which will also take stress off of Nature and initiate climate recovery. Energy Currency can thus provide basic needs worldwide without having to upend our entire economic framework and help Nature help life.

Renew the Earth is 501c3 organization committed to improving our world through the implementation of Energy Currency. To support our cause, donate today or contact us for more information!

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June 23, 2025
The right to not starve, the right to have shelter, the right to be treated for curable illness, the right to not be ignorant. Humanity, over many years of civilization, has created solutions for all these and can provide them, Worldwide. Freedom of speech and freedom of religion (which is essentially freedom of speech) are not enough. To make the “pursuit of happiness” a real possibility a person must have the other four human rights, food, shelter, healthcare and education. It does not take a “rocket scientist” to figure out how to pay for and distribute these rights. We can use our representation for value, money, any way we wish. The way money flows now is the classic pattern that we all are born into and must use. Basically it is capitalism. The market is moved by profit. Only peripherally does preservation of humanity or limited natural resources come into view. Normally there has to be an emergency for this to happen; a war, weather disasters or a pandemic. When the workforce is reduced or resources made scarce. This is not a sustainable situation. It can last for a long time, as it has, but it is always in the slow process of destroying itself. Like the nightmare cliff dropping away behind you as you run. We have the solution in our hands: a Parallel Currency. It will not make everyone honest, kind or generous. But it will keep people from starvation, illness, ignorance and homelessness. Humanity will no longer be enslaved by the more destructive side effects of capitalism. A Parallel Currency is used just for the four basic needs. It is available to everyone from birth until death. When the Parallel Currency arrives at banks it is destroyed so it cannot behave like regular currency and be invested or saved; which can cause inflation. Parallel Currency is only used to provide education, food, shelter and medical care, it is a closed loop. Other currencies will continue to function as usual. Individuals can make as much money as they wish for whatever they wish. The difference is that they will not be depriving other people of their ability to survive. We have the communication, organizing and distribution tool already; the Internet. Locating, assembling, and distributing all the parts necessary for this objective is possible with our information technology. With the development of AI organizIng the Parallel Currency is even more easily done. We will start by paying for these rights but as time passes it will become obvious that this is advantageous to everyone and to our planet's health and like freedom of speech, we won't have to pay for it anymore, with money or blood. Susan Caumont June, 2025
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“It is soulless, exploitive, inequitable, unstable and destructive, yet also all- conquering and overwhelming.” Capitalism and its Critics: A History from the Industrial Revolution to AI By John Cassidy This is one of the best descriptions of Capitalism I have read recently. The only thing it leaves out is that Capitalism regularly destroys itself and has to be rescued with huge infusions of human labor (money). But Capitalism is so appealing to humans that it is allowed to continually transform and conform to new demands and circumstances, even though it is inherently unstable and destructive. Like the charming self destructive uncle who is so entertaining with his stories and wild money making schemes, no one wants him to stop. It is so much fun! For a few people. And all it takes is a few people to keep Capitalism going, approximately ten percent of the World population, the richest ten percent. That Capitalism has lasted and spread is testimony to its ability to keep adapting and improving on its main strengths: soullessness and exploitation. As a species we have become, over approximately 500 years, completely adapted to Capitalism. No matter what it distorts, destroys or lays waste to, it has captured our imaginations like a religion. We won't be saying goodbye to it anytime soon. But there is an antidote. We can make up for some of its most destructive symptoms with a Parallel Currency that is used only for basic human needs, food, shelter, education and healthcare, Worldwide. Some countries are already trying to do this with their tax structures and laws but a Parallel Currency would do this without taxation or inflation. It is a separate currency that can only be used to provide basic needs and is destroyed when it reaches a bank; it will not create inflation. It also will not inhibit the positive capabilities of existing currencies. They will continue to function as they usually do. The Parallel Currency is a closed loop created for the dignified survival of humanity. Freedom of speech, freedom of religion are not enough. A government by the people and for the people must also guarantee freedom from starvation, ignorance and curable illness, all things as a human species, over thousands of years, we have developed remedies.
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