George Monbiot: Climate Change Goes Deeper Than Capitalism

Why Climate Change Goes Deeper than Capitalism
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University Affiliation
Why Climate Change Goes Deeper than Capitalism
Synopsis
George Monbiot is a journalist, an environmental activist and author of books on environmental issues. There exists a school of thought that capitalism is the direct cause of the climate change in the world today. However, in his interview, Monbiot says that the climatic change in the world goes beyond or is way deeper than capitalism. He relates the climatic change to the over-extraction and burning of fossil fuels and says that regardless of the economic system that makes use of fossil fuels; capitalists or communists, the result is the same, catastrophic to say the least. He also talks about how climate change is interconnected with over-concentration of corporate power of the fossil industries. He talks about how the burning of fossil fuels is causing catastrophic effects to the natural world, and how regularly the world fails to regulate this disaster (Well Sharp, 2008).
Analysis
In the interview, George enlightens on how the burning of fossil fuels is affecting the climate, and that measures to stop the climatic change should gear towards preventing the extraction of fossil fuels instead of focusing on ways of reducing the burning of the already extracted fuels. This way, the carbon emission problems are more likely to be solved.
George points that the measures put in place to reduce consumption of fossil fuels are weak and negotiable while the extraction of the fuels is non-negotiable. He states that once the fuel has been extracted, it is bound to be consumed or burned. The society focuses on ways to reduce consumption, hence the emission of fossil fuels, but Monbiot claims that unless there are measures in place to lessen the extraction of oil, carbon emissions will continue to happen, causing climatic change. Monbiot also points out that since automobiles are the leading causes of fossil emissions in the world, governments should set up transport systems that enable people to get around conveniently without emitting numerous amounts of carbon unreasonably.
Monbiot points that the governments should be responsible for reducing the pollution caused by fossil fuels. However, they are failing miserably at it. The UK climate change Act formed in 2008 legally commits the UK to cut the emission of greenhouse gases by 80% (Well Sharp, 2008). In the same country in 2015, the infrastructure act was established legally committing subsequent governments to maximize extraction of oil and gas in the UK (Well Sharp, 2008). These two policies are conflicting, and the latter demonstrates how governments ignore the serious effects of fossil fuel emissions on the world'...