Peter Kalmus: ‘As a species, we’re on autopilot, not making the right decisions’

It’s too late for gradual change. Whatever happens now, humanity will be in a period of global, environmental, economic, political and social upheaval for decades – if not centuries – to come. But while it’s late in the day, every bit of warming matters, as every increment in temperature has more impact than the last. How soon we act matters, since

The overwhelming threat of climate change has amplified the sense that global capitalism is out of control or that the best we can hope for is to avert catastrophe.

And how will we deal with unfolding climate change? There is now a widespread consensus that we need to do something to prevent many highly undesirable consequences, but what kind of action, what sort of behavioral transformation would work best? For those who ignore the energetic and material imperatives of our world, those who prefer mantras of g

We have dozens of ideas for how to fix the problem, but we dare not implement them because doing so might undermine growth. And in a growth-dependent economy, that cannot be allowed to happen. Instead, the very newspapers that carry harrowing stories about ecological breakdown also report excitedly on how GDP is growing every quarter, and the very

Some suggest that the system needs to change, that individual actions like stopping flying are pointless, as one hundred corporates emit 70% of all emissions.32 Others demand ideological purity on climate consciousness, arguing that unless someone lives a carbon-neutral life, they can’t have a say about what needs to change in the system. This dich