Climate Change Solutions: Beyond the Capital-Climate Contradiction

Climate Change Solutions represents an application of critical theory to examine proposed solutions to climate change. Drawing from Marx’s negative conception of ideology, the authors illustrate how ideology continues to conceal the capital-climate contradiction or the fundamental incompatibility between growth-dependent capitalism and effectively and justly mitigating climate change. Dominant solutions to climate change that offer minor changes to the current system fail to address this contradiction. However, alternatives like degrowth involve a shift in priorities and power relations and can offer new systemic arrangements that confront and move beyond the capital-climate contradiction. While there are clear barriers to a systemic transition that prioritizes social and ecological well-being, such a transition is possible and desirable.

Diana Stuart is Associate Professor in the Sustainable Communities Program and School of Earth and Sustainability at Northern Arizona University.

Ryan Gunderson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Gerontology at Miami University.

Brian Petersen is Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography, Planning and Recreation and Program in Sustainable Communities at Northern Arizona University.