Huber

The ecological crisis necessitates a mass movement against powerful industries.
Current environmentalism is dominated by the professional-managerial class, focusing on consumption which excludes working-class support.
A working-class ecological movement should be organized around working-class interests to effectively address the ecological crisis.

Emission Statistics
- In just over a generation (since 1988), we have emitted half of all historic emissions.
- Atmospheric carbon levels rose from approximately 350 parts per million to over 410 parts per million—the highest in 800,000 years.
- Pre-industrial average was around 278 parts per million.
- The climate stability needed for human civilization emerged during a rare 12,000-year period, now rapidly ending.
IPCC Report Findings
- Urges immediate, unprecedented societal changes to avoid exceeding the 1.5°C warming target, beyond which extreme weather events will worsen, affecting food production and human mortality.
- By 2070, half a billion people may experience lethal humid heat waves.

The IPCC highlights the need for comprehensive changes across all societal aspects.
The climate crisis requires confronting the wealthiest sectors, particularly a small number of companies responsible for a significant portion of emissions.
Capital as a Barrier
- The fossil fuel industry, among others, resists revolutionary changes threatening their business models.
A strong social movement with a mass working-class base is imperative to challenge capital and enforce necessary changes.

The strongest opposition to capital historically has stemmed from organized working-class movements specializing in disruptive strategies (e.g., strikes).
Current environmental politics struggles to find traction within the working class.
- Environmental politics largely revolves around the professional-managerial class's ideologies, often counter to working-class interests.

Lifestyle Environmentalism
- Individual consumer choices are promoted for ecological outcomes, but these choices often result from anxiety over commodity consumption and middle-class security.
- Blames the working class for ecological degradation, ignoring systemic factors.
Livelihood Environmentalism
- Emphasizes direct experience with nature for environmental politics, often romanticizing anti-modern subsistence livelihoods among marginalized communities.
Challenges of translating localized struggles into a broad mass movement remain.

The ecological footprint measures individual impacts, reinforcing guilt and responsibility for consumer choices without addressing systemic production issues.
The impact of consumption is grounded in availability and necessity rather than free choice, complicating issues of blame.
- Example: The Oxfam Report states 10% of the world’s population is responsible for the majority of emissions, highlighting inequality in resource use and consumption.

The working class is a significant majority and possesses the strategic leverage to disrupt profit generation for capital.
Successful ecological politics must mobilize working-class interests pertaining to basic needs (food, energy, etc.) instead of reinforcing austerity.

Shift focus from blame to responsibility: Highlight the capitalist class's role in fostering environmental degradation and provide alternatives for ecological policies that benefit the working class.
General political goals should include the decommodification of essential needs, illustrating intersectionality between climate action and social justice.
- Example: The Green New Deal, which promotes public ownership and creates jobs while emphasizing equitable access to resources.

The rise of environmentalism coincides with economic restructuring and critiques of affluence post-1960s/1970s, leading to a narrow focus on austerity.
Neoliberal Impacts:
- The political landscape shifted towards prioritizing consumption reduction under the guise of ecology, detrimental to working-class interests.

Emphasize that ecological approaches must meet working-class material needs rather than promote austerity and guilt associated with modern consumption.
Propose ambitious solutions like a Green New Deal that promote not just ecological goals but also social and economic equity.
Sector Focus:
- Concentrate on sectors like healthcare and education, which have low carbon footprints and are foundational to social reproduction.
Advocate for unions and collective labor action to integrate ecological considerations into labor struggles.

An effective ecological politics must leverage the working-class majority against capital and align their struggles (healthcare, housing, climate, etc.) towards broad socio-economic equity.
A greater focus on collective action and decommodification fosters an environmentally viable and socially just future. Fluent dialogue around intersections of labor and environmental activism can build resilience against corporate interests and the ecological crisis.

Matt T. Huber is an associate professor of geography, author of "Lifeblood: Oil, Freedom, and the Forces of Capital," and currently researching class and climate politics.