Meanwhile, denigration of collective action and veneration of the profit motive
have infiltrated virtually every government on the planet, every major media
organization, every university, our very souls. As that American Geophysical
Union survey indicated, somewhere inside each of us dwells a belief in their central
lie — that we are nothing but selfish, greedy, self-gratification machines. And if we
are that, then what hope do we have of taking on the grand, often difficult,
collective work that will be required to save ourselves in time? This, without a
doubt, is neoliberalism' s single most damaging legacy: the realization of its bleak
vision has isolated us enough from one another that it became possible to convince
us that we are not just incapable of self-preservation but fundamentally not worth
saving.
Yet at the same time, many of us know the mirror that has been held up to us is
profoundly distorted — that we are, in fact, a mess of contradictions, with our desire
for self-gratification coexisting with deep compassion, our greed with empathy and
solidarity. And as Rebecca Solnit vividly documents in her 2009 book, A Paradise
Built in Hell, it is precisely when humanitariancrises hit that these other, neglected
values leap to the fore, whether it's the incredible displays of international
generosity after a massive earthquake or tsunami, or the way New Yorkers
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gathered to spontaneously meet and comfort one another after the 9/1 1 attacks.
Just as the Heartlanders fear, the existential crisis that is climate change has the
power to release these suppressed values on a global and sustained scale, to provide
us with a chance for a mass jailbreak from the house that their ideology built — a
structure already showing significant cracks and fissures.^
But before that can happen, we need to take a much closer look at precisely how
the legacy of market fundamentalism, and the much deeper cultural narratives on
which it rests, still block critical, life-saving climate action on virtually every front.
The green movement's mantra that climate is not about left and right but "right
and wrong" has gotten us nowhere. The traditional political left does not hold all
the answers to this crisis. But there can be no question that the contemporary
political right, and the triumphant ideology it represents, is a formidable barrier to
progress.
As the next four chapters will show, the real reason we are failing to rise to the
climate moment is because the actions required directly challenge our reigning
economic paradigm (deregulated capitalism combined with public austerity), the
stories on which Western cultures are founded (that we stand apart from nature and
can outsmart its limits), as well as many of the activities that form our identities
and define our communities (shopping, living virtually, shopping some more).
They also spell extinction for the richest and most powerful industry the world has
ever known — the oil and gas industry, which cannot survive in anything like its
current form if we humans are to avoid our own extinction. In short, we have not
responded to this challenge because we are locked in — politically, physically, and
culturally. Only when we identify these chains do we have a chance of breaking
free.
~ Much of this confidence is based on fantasy. Though the ultra-rich may be able to buy a measure of
protection for a while, even the wealthiest nation on the planet can fall apart in the face of a major shock
(as Hurricane Katrina showed). And no society, no matter how well financed or managed, can truly adapt
to massive natural disasters when one comes fast and furious on the heels of the last.
~ In early 201 1, Joe Read, a newly elected representative to the Montana state legislature, made history by
introducing the first bill to officially declare climate change a good thing. "Global warming is beneficial to
the welfare and business climate of Montana," the bill stated. Read explained, "Even if it does get warmer,
we're going to have a longer growing season. It could be very beneficial to the state of Montana. Why are
we going to stop this progress?" The bill did not pass.
1 In a telling development, the American Freedom Alliance hosted its own conference challenging the
reality of climate change in Los Angeles in June 201 1. Part of the Alliance's stated mission is "to identify
threats to Western civilization," and it is known for its fearmongering about "the Islamic penetration of
Europe" and similar supposed designs in the U.S. Meanwhile, one of the books on sale at the Heartland
conference wasGoing Green by Chris Skates, a fictional "thriller" in which climate activists plot with
Islamic terrorists to destroy America's electricity grid.
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