The author Naomi Klein has become one of the icons of the new left. She’s authored two blockbuster books that have melded ground-level reporting with economic analysis. Her first, Shock Doctrine, looked at the ways that catastrophes and disasters are used as an excuse to bypass democracy and free market ideology. Her latest, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate, looks at the game changer that is climate apocalypse and how we might produce the radical changes needed to avoid catastrophe and fix capitalism. Resource
Klein does not fit the image that many people have of a committed environmentalist – she drives a car (it’s a hybrid) and she flies, which in her words makes her “a climate criminal”. But she’s not interested in getting caught up in a gotcha game about personal habits and she’s weepy when she thinks about what we could lose to climate change.
In this episode of Between the Covers, we speak with Klein about her new book, how she sees a real-world solution and what her hopes are for the future of the movement she’s inspired by.
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We also talk about her personal experiences – including her journey through what she calls the “fertility factory” and several miscarriages. We finish up by talking about her son, who turned two this summer and to which the book is dedicated.
As we conclude our conversation, Klein tells us that she believes the climate fix that’s needed will come from scattered groups of climate organisers and grassroots and indigenous peoples who are ready to take on corporate power in a way that Big Green is not. She says that the movements she’s been involved with have always made climate change a central issue, but they still don’t have the reach to bring about the kind of changes that are required.