Chakrabarty (2014) suggested that human-induced climate change has created conditions in which the “excess” CO2 we emit now will most likely “clean humanity up” at some point. This essay demonstrates, utilizing historical lenses and critical theory, that instead of speaking of ‘human-led’ climate change, one should speak of ‘capital-led’ climate change. The centuries-long capital expansion and economic prosperity of European empires led to the environmental deterioration that humanity is experiencing now. The impacts of such a crisis, however, are unequal; whereas developed nations in the Global North are the primary contributors to the eco crisis, the effects are mostly felt by impoverished states and rural populations in the Global South, for whom nature is their primary source of survival. This essay recognizes that the environmental struggle entails social and political resistance to the capitalist-led regime, arguing that if capitalist policies of international financial institutions and Western states are considered as the solution to the environmental disaster, we may only exacerbate the crisis. To avoid an environmental disaster, substantial political and social reforms must be adopted; such reforms must include either economic and political reforms to the current capitalist regime or alternative perspectives from the Global South. In this sense, this essay further advocates for the integration of social sciences within environmental studies.

This essay will begin with a comprehensive Marxist critique of the Anthropocene narrative to provide theoretical context for the subsequent analysis. Second, this essay will discuss Nixon’s (2013) concept of slow violence and its relationship to the capital-led environmental crisis, as well as the issues within the current international response to environmental issues and propose ecological modernisation as a potential reform of capitalism and solution to climate issues. Finally, this essay will explain that the climate issue is also a matter of justice, as well as global and class inequality, and will advocate for solutions to the environmental crisis that include socio-economic justice, postcolonial and indigenous struggle.

Climate Change, ‘Anthropocene’ and ‘Capitalocene’

The World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) The Global Climate 2011-2020 report alarms us that this was the warmest decade on record for both land and ocean, characterized by increase in atmospheric concentrations of the three major greenhouse gases, rates of ocean warming and acidification, and sea levels (World Meteorological Organisation, 2023). The data extracted from the WMO report warns us that the future of life on Earth is bleak; with continued increases in greenhouse gas emissions, Earth’s temperature will rise, followed by rising sea levels and glacier melt, causing extreme climate, and making life on Earth extremely difficult, if not impossible. Environmental crisis is not catalyzed by some ‘laws of nature’, rather it is a product of human activity.

Contemporary environmental changes suggest that Earth may have entered a new human-dominated geological epoch, the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene is an age defined by large-scale human modification of the Earth System; through greenhouse gas emissions, species transport and removal, and the development of diverse products (antibiotics and pesticides) (Lewis and Maslin, 2015). In determining the start date of Anthropocene, the academics are generally divided into two camps; the first considers 1610 to be the start date for a new geological epoch, emphasizing the effects of the industrial revolution and extensive fossil fuel use, while others point to the 1964 Great Acceleration, highlighting the major expansion in human population, the development of novel materials, and the modernization and nuclearization of warfare (Lewis and Maslin, 2015).

While the Anthropocene cautions of the need for rapid changes in human behaviour, it is not without criticism. Moore (2016) first observes that the Anthropocene argument fails to explain how the alarming changes in global climate induced by human activities arose. According to Malm and Hornborg (2014), the Anthropocene is a product of natural sciences, and hence ignores the historical, political, and social elements that have largely contributed to environmental degradation. Second, Dryzek (2021) observes that embracing the Anthropocene narrative implies that all humans share equal responsibility for the crisis, although this has not been the case. As of 2008, developed capitalist countries accounted for 18.8% of the global population but were responsible for 72.7% of CO2 emissions since 1850 (Malm and Hornborg, 2014).

From a social science standpoint, this essay highlights an additional fundamental challenge within the Anthropocene – capitalism, as a social and historical structure, is irrelevant in explaining the climate situation. As previously discussed, environmental deterioration began with industrialisation and colonisation. Today, hyper-consumerist lives of the ‘developed’ world are disproportionately accountable for the carbon emissions, whereas most affected by ‘human-led’ climate change are not its main contributors, but rather those who cause little in the way of carbon emissions (Parasram and Tilly, 2018). Recognising the interconnectedness of environmental crisis and........

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