Capitalism

The cause of global warming can’t be separated from capitalism. The various agreements to prevent earth from destruction have been released, but in reality, precisely, capitalism freely exploits the earth. Climate change can’t be simply solved by reducing pollution but requiring the fundamental change of the economic system and our mindset. The key is to curb the power of corporation, build local economy, and uphold democracy so that the common interest is a priority.

Now, the earth is fighting against the capital understanding. In the case in Greece, the capitalism defeats the effort of environmental conversation. Greece – hit by the economic crisis – must give up the wonderful sea is becoming object of oil and gas exploitation which is high risk of contamination. The victory of capitalism had also happened in Istanbul (Turkey) which lost beautiful gardens by the interests of investor who builds shopping centers.

The issues of global warming are clearly raised by Naomi Klein, who is journalist and environmental activist. His third book about the environment after The Shock Doctrine and No Logo gives an optimistic view to save the earth. While the need of human is increasing, the earth’s resources are limited and continue to be exploited. Therefore, the consumption behavior must be changed or our earth will change.

Like an alternative solution, Klein discusses some technical effort that can be done to reduce global warming by using Geoengineering Scheme, the concept of manipulating the earth’s climate to counteract the effort of global warming. One of the ideals raised dims sunlight using helium balloons spraying sulfate. Sulfate droplets and aerosol particles would reflect solar energy to back into space and can prevent global warming. This method has been tested during a volcanic eruption.