Editors Reads Verdict
The most ambitious political argument about climate change — Klein's thesis that capitalism and the climate are fundamentally incompatible is controversial but rigorously argued and difficult to dismiss.
What We Loved
- The analysis of why carbon markets and other incremental solutions have failed is rigorous and well-documented
- The connections Klein draws between climate change and existing social inequalities are important and underreported
- The writing is urgent and accessible without being alarmist
Minor Drawbacks
- Critics argue Klein's rejection of market mechanisms is ideologically predetermined rather than empirically derived
- The positive vision of what a just transition would look like is less developed than the critique
- At 566 pages, the argument could be made more economically
Key Takeaways
- → The fossil fuel industry's political power has systematically blocked the solutions that the science requires
- → Communities of color and Indigenous communities bear a disproportionate share of climate impacts while having contributed least to the problem
- → Addressing climate change at the necessary scale requires redistribution of wealth and power, not just technological change
| Author | Naomi Klein |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
| Pages | 566 |
| Published | September 16, 2014 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Non-Fiction, Politics, Environment |
This Changes Everything Review
This Changes Everything is Naomi Klein’s argument that climate change is the most powerful catalyst for progressive political change in a generation, if the left is willing to take it seriously as such. Published in 2014, it arrived as the gap between scientific urgency and political action had become impossible to ignore, and its central thesis — that the market-based solutions that have dominated environmental policy are structurally incapable of producing change at the required scale — is stated with unusual bluntness.
Klein’s argument has two main pillars. The first is historical and empirical: the mechanisms that neoliberal environmentalism favored — carbon markets, offsets, public-private partnerships — have, over thirty years of earnest effort, produced negligible reductions in greenhouse gas emissions while generating considerable profit for a small number of actors. The reason, Klein argues, is structural: these mechanisms were designed to accommodate capitalism rather than challenge it, and capitalism’s growth imperative is incompatible with the emissions reductions that climate science requires.
The second pillar is political: the climate crisis, properly understood, is not separable from the other crises of our era — austerity, inequality, the erosion of public goods, the dispossession of Indigenous peoples, the sacrifice of poor communities’ health for industrial convenience. A movement that recognizes these connections is both more honest and more likely to build the political coalition that change at this scale requires.
Klein’s critics argue that her rejection of market mechanisms is ideologically predetermined — that she would oppose cap-and-trade even if it worked — and that her alternative vision is underspecified. These are fair challenges. But as a diagnosis of why thirty years of mainstream environmentalism failed to produce proportionate change, This Changes Everything remains essential.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate" about?
Klein argues that climate change is not just an environmental problem but a civilizational crisis that requires confronting capitalism itself — that incremental market-based solutions cannot produce change at the scale and speed required, and that the climate movement must align with broader struggles for social and economic justice.
What are the key takeaways from "This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate"?
The fossil fuel industry's political power has systematically blocked the solutions that the science requires Communities of color and Indigenous communities bear a disproportionate share of climate impacts while having contributed least to the problem Addressing climate change at the necessary scale requires redistribution of wealth and power, not just technological change
Is "This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate" worth reading?
The most ambitious political argument about climate change — Klein's thesis that capitalism and the climate are fundamentally incompatible is controversial but rigorously argued and difficult to dismiss.
Ready to Read This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate?
Check the current price on Amazon.
Check Price on Amazon (paid link)Prices and availability are subject to change. See Amazon for current price.
Review last updated: