Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal: The Political Economy of Saving the Planet

Description

The environmental crisis under way is unique in human history. It is a true existential crisis. Those alive today will decide the fate of humanity. Meanwhile, the leaders of the most powerful state in human history are dedicating themselves with passion to destroying the prospects for organized human life. At the same time, there is a solution at hand, which is the Green New Deal. Putting meat on the bones of the Green New Deal starts with a single simple idea: we have to absolutely stop burning fossil fuels to produce energy within the next 30 years at most; and we have to do this in a way that also supports rising living standards and expanding opportunities for working people and the poor throughout the world. This version of a Green New Deal program is, in fact, entirely realistic in terms of its purely economic and technical features. The real question is whether it is politically feasible. Chomsky and Pollin examine how we can build the political force to make a global Green New Deal a reality.

Noam Chomsky is Institute Professor emeritus (MIT) and Laureate Professor (U. of Arizona). He is a long-time political activist and author of many books and articles on linguistics, cognitive science, philosophy, intellectual history, social-political issues and international affairs. Robert Pollin is Distinguished University Professor of Economics and Co-Director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. His books include The Living Wage: Building a Fair Economy; Contours of Descent: U.S. Economic Fractures and the Landscape of Global Austerity; and Greening the Global Economy. He has worked as a consultant for the US Department of Energy, the International Labour Organization, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and numerous non-governmental organizations in several countries and in US states and municipalities on various aspects of building high-employment green economies.

This little book contains a big idea: climate stabilisation that avoids the collapse of organised social life can be achieved, along with more decent jobs, improved living standards and reduced poverty everywhere in the world. Two eminent thinkers present a convincing case for a realistic, feasible Global Green New Deal. * Jayati Ghosh, Professor of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi * The project that is the Green New Deal is enriched by the insights of two great minds: those of Noam Chomsky and Robert Pollin. Both understand that the GND will fail if it does not protect the jobs and livelihoods of the working class. They explain how a transformation needed to restore the ecosystem can, and will transform the organisations and lives of working people worldwide - for the better. * Ann Pettifor, author of The Case for The Green New Deal * This book is a survival manual for civilization. I want everyone--yes, every person on the planet--to learn its message and to face the challenge it poses: "What am I doing to help bring about a global Green New Deal in the early years of this decade?" For Americans, the first steps are clear: consign all climate deniers to permanent political oblivion and force all other policymakers to match fine words with deeds - i.e.commit to the Pollin-Chomsky global program for climate stabilization, a massive expansion of good jobs, and just transition. -- Daniel Ellsberg, author of The Doomsday Machine Brisk and lucid. -- Lit Hub ("Most Anticipated Books of 2020") * John Freeman * In this compelling read, linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky and progressive economist Robert Pollin present a convincing case for a realistic, feasible Global Green New Deal. * Dazed * A thought-provoking and succinct manifesto. -- Russell Whitehouse * International Policy Digest * [Chomsky and Pollin] argue it is possible to tackle climate collapse over the next 30 years ... A capitalist system that fails to respond does not deserve to survive. * Irish Times * Emphasises the crisis our planet faces but also says 'there is a solution at hand'. * Irish Examiner *