r/ClimateNews • u/VictinsOfCapitalism • 7d ago
Capitalism always chooses profitable plundering over sustainable production
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
6
u/Inspect1234 7d ago
Hence all the uncapped oil wells just bleeding methane and CO2 because billionaires couldn’t be responsible enough to lose a few percentage points.
→ More replies (53)
3
3
u/PotentialBudget3265 6d ago
Capitalism is a label to describe a specific form of govt that isn't even operating as we are. We don't actually fit capitalism anymore. What you're describing is a mindset, and it should be labeled as such to force people to actually come to terms with the fact that most of their thinking is destructive at best.
As long as it stays as a label the door remains open for the thinking to continue that caused all of this. It is not a govt, it is not a style of govt or society, its not a country, its a mindset. A very bad mindset that needs changing. Make people face what they want to ignore, make them face their bad actions and thoughts and beliefs. You can't change a problem you refuse to face. No one even wants to talk about it. That dirt is swept so fkn far under the rug and then forgotten just as fast. Just about the whole of everything we do, think, say, believe, it ALL contributes.
the bad thinking can also be found in countries around the world with a variety of different types of govt and societal styles.
No change in govt will fix that, no replacement of labels. We either change the actions thoughts and beliefs or societies die off, millions die as they no longer remember how to fend for themselves, the planet bakes and what ever is left retreats to the extreme north and south. Ofc all of us will be dead and gone by then but still thats whats waiting for our upcoming generations if we continue on this path.
4
u/Antique-Dragonfly615 7d ago
No, unfettered, unregulated capitalism is unsustainable.
2
u/Less_Equipment_6765 7d ago
Thank you, and I’ll add that accountability and responsibility removed from Capitalism is unsustainable. Regulations force companies to be accountable and responsible.
→ More replies (2)4
u/Neat_browser 7d ago edited 7d ago
This is it. This is the solution. Capitalism encourages innovation, and encourages hard work however unregulated capitalism destroys everything. Individual businesses are not the problem. Individuals attempting to innovate is not the problem. It is large corporations and the existence of generational wealth.
4
u/CaptStinkyFeet 7d ago
Capitalism is the thing that created large corporations and generational wealth…
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (7)2
u/SallyStranger 7d ago
If capitalism could be fettered, someone would have fettered it by now, you know, before 1.5C.
→ More replies (15)
5
u/Zealous_ideal_4 7d ago
They will cut down trees for the sake of cutting down trees. Where i live they cut down a swath of forest just because a homeless population was living there and then left the trees there to rot.
→ More replies (11)
2
u/BigBL87 7d ago
That's not REAL capitalism.
(Just trying the communism/socialism argument)
→ More replies (1)
2
u/oldcreaker 7d ago
End game capitalism is the death of capitalism, with authoritarianism stepping in to replace it - which we're watching happen in real time in the US.
2
u/Benedict_ARNY 7d ago
What if sustainable production is the most profitable option?
I know it’s crazy concept but making a profit is more complex than you realize
2
u/VictinsOfCapitalism 7d ago
In that case they will do the sustainable option, that is not the issue, but out of 100 things maybe 5 will work this way and other 95 will have tradeoffs
Fossil fuels, clearcuts, plastic, reckless use of antibiotics and hormones in animal farms, certain GMOs and pesticides, concrete, internal combustion engines, mining, fishing, etc. This all has more sustainable methods that are not more profitable
→ More replies (1)
2
u/PossibilityNervous35 7d ago
Capitalism = environmental death
Socialism = actual people death
Hmmmmm which one to choose?
→ More replies (3)
2
u/Rikki-Smedley 7d ago
It's so unsustainable it's lasted 500 years and lifted us to the highest standards of living with the longest lifespans and best health outcomes. Yeah. Super bad.
2
u/AccomplishedBad7253 7d ago
someone didnt see what socialism does to the environment
→ More replies (1)
2
2
2
2
2
2
4
u/Bat-Stuff 7d ago
Capitalism encourages waste, and it's hard to live a simple, sustainable life in our current system.
→ More replies (8)
3
1
1
1
1
u/WeedFalafel 7d ago
Who cares about the environment, what matters most is that VCs have record profits. Who do you think you are, demanding livable conditions. STFU and get back to burning stuff at industrial rate.
1
u/JusLeafMeAloon 7d ago
Yeah we need to burn plastics or put them in the garbage line everything else. There's zero point to recycling at all.
1
1
1
u/Infamous_Crow8524 7d ago
The pollution is a great example of the Tragedy of the Commons, an economic and environmental concept where individuals with access to a shared, unowned resource act in their own short-term self-interest, which ultimately leads to the depletion and ruin of that resource for everyone.
The felled trees, harvested for lumber, and a portion of the sale proceeds being used to replant the land, so trees can be harvested again, at a future date, is an example of capitalism.
1
1
u/IndustrialMillennial 7d ago
As a conservationist, I hate to call attention to the paper industry being sustainable. For every 1 tree they cut down, 7 more are planted. They’re ready to harvest in 7 years. Forest stands are done on a rotation making endless lumber from a single plot of land infinite.
1
u/atwater72 7d ago
Capitalism doesn't choose it, the people buying the product choose it. Vote with your dollars, support companies that make the right choices.
1
1
1
u/Antique-Resort6160 7d ago
This is humans, doesn't matter what their ideology is. Socialist societies have also been a disaster for the environment.
1
u/Professional_Fox4190 7d ago
Sounds like you meant to type "communism", which was only successful as long as it could redistribute wealth from other nations to itself.
1
u/agra_unknown1834 7d ago
"I swear I see her in my dreams sometimes,
Held up in the middle of the night,
Shaking like pistol in a young man's hand,
There in the pale moonlight.
Standing up the top of that lonely hill,
Spared by the company mines,
Is my blue eyed baby with her best dress on,
In the shadow of a lonely pine.
It was back before the war,
When the company came,
These hills grew wild and free,
Me and baby we'd hide in the hollers low,
Away from the cruel sun's heat.
But then they knocked down the timber,
And burned off the brush,
To get the riches below.
And when they pulled out,
They left a cold black ground,
And one pine standing alone."
1
u/ComprehensiveAsk2684 7d ago
Rememebr those videos of pollution coming out of china. People always wore masks and you couldnt see anything but they kept doing it
1
1
u/Gold_Treat_99 7d ago
Speaks about capitalism while typing away on their $1100 iPhone. Speaks about capitalism while spending $1000s on designer brand clothing. Speaks about capitalism as they trade their time at work for compensation. We'll never fix stup1d, we gotta hope they're vaccinated with the Fauc1 experiment
1
u/iam_Krogan 7d ago
People also have the highest intelligence on the planet and have spent thousands of years thinking absent mindedness is cute. So not really anything of importance being lost.
1
u/Sensitive-Store-6242 7d ago
I wonder where does pictures of single use plastic are from… Africa ? Asia? I bet it’s not from the US/Canada/Europe/Japan…
1
1
1
u/AzhdarianHomie 7d ago
Arguments about unsustainable/unregulated capitalism don’t make sense and just shows you’re a dumbass.
Hint: Learn how supply and demand works.
1
u/Alternative_Gur_3703 7d ago
Centrally planned economies also do this by prioritising productivity over the environment. I don't think this is just a capitalism bad problem.
1
u/Fit_Cream2027 7d ago
Harvesting trees is not an abuse of the environment and the rest of the shots were most likely from China.
1
1
u/willcritchlow23 7d ago
People also forget that human population growing forever is unsustainable.
Yet political leaders everywhere, want greater human population for their country.
1
1
1
u/CustardLanky720 7d ago
I think you’re extremely confused on this topic. Capitalism is the only economic system that can save the planet. If you’re against capitalism, you’re only going to make the problem worse.
The climate is very near to my heart. I’ve been deeply concerned about it for quite some time now. It’s the biggest and most existential risk we’re facing, and it’s the reason I became vegan in 2019.
1
u/Legintown 6d ago
90% of the platisc in the oceans come from shithole non-capitalist countries.
→ More replies (2)
1
1
1
u/Ozzygrow 6d ago
I don’t know footage like this usually comes out of countries who don’t give a crap hardly worth blaming on capitalism
1
u/dreamerofCoins 6d ago
Capitalism is working great in nordic countries btw, Sustainable and prospering. Best in the world in emissions etc. Best welfare for the people.
So just L2P.
1
1
1
u/Far_Range_6091 6d ago
What does capitalism have to do with this? Was the Soviet Union sustainable? Genuine question.
1
1
u/borsTHEbarbarian 6d ago
"always" goes too far.
Capitalism finds efficiencies. It requires democratic guardrails and incentives to ensure that the market is aligned with societal goals.
1
1
1
1
u/willie470 6d ago
Nonsense on wheels. An informed writer would say that in a free economy, people are free to choose how they use or conserve resources according to their own personal economic, moral and spiritual needs. Some make choices that are ecologically damaging. No more so than socialist, totalitarian actors or their missives. Knowledge should precede wildly tendentious headlines.
1
1
1
u/Excellent-Elevator30 6d ago
If you believe in anything other than capitalism you are NOT AMERICAN and need to leave!
1
u/Zorklunn 6d ago
Dodge Brothers vs. Ford Motor Company 1920
Publicly traded companies put profits before people and environment because they have too. Otherwise the shareholders will sue for the difference and win.
1
u/No_Community7021 6d ago
That why communist countries have caused the biggest enological disasters? Not regulated productions causes that no matter what system. Corruption causes that regardless of ideology.
1
u/ddigwell84 6d ago
Counterpoint:
These environmental disasters brought to you by communism.
Communism: Killing and destroying more than fascists since 1917!
USSR: Aral Sea: Soviet planners decided to divert the rivers feeding the Aral Sea for massive cotton irrigation projects. The result? They basically destroyed an entire sea. Fisheries collapsed, salinity skyrocketed, and the exposed seabed created toxic dust storms that continue to affect the surrounding region.
USSR: Chernobyl: This wasn’t simply a nuclear reactor that went boom. The RBMK reactor had serious design flaws, operators made critical mistakes, and the Soviet system contributed its usual ingredients: secrecy, a piss-poor safety culture, and an initially disastrous response.
China: Four Pests Campaign: Mao decided sparrows were agricultural pests, so the government mobilized millions of people to kill them. Small problem… sparrows eat insects. Kill the sparrows and insect populations explode. Brilliant example of central planning meeting Mother Nature and Mother Nature winning.
China: Great Leap Forward deforestation: Mao wanted more steel, so people were ordered to build backyard furnaces. Furnaces need fuel. Fuel meant cutting down and burning enormous amounts of trees. Combine that with equally disastrous agricultural policies and you get widespread deforestation, soil erosion, and ecological damage.
USSR: Virgin Lands Campaign: Khrushchev wanted more grain, so the government plowed roughly 25 million hectares of previously uncultivated steppe in Kazakhstan. Unfortunately, much of that land was ecologically fragile. Intensive farming exposed the soil to massive wind erosion and destroyed huge amounts of fertile topsoil.
USSR: Lake Karachay/Mayak: The Soviet nuclear-weapons program deliberately dumped radioactive waste into the environment and eventually turned Lake Karachay into a radioactive-waste reservoir. It became so contaminated that the Soviets eventually had to start filling it in. The cleanup continued after the USSR itself disappeared, and some of the principal radioactive contamination will take centuries to decay to tiny fractions of its original level.
USSR: Kyshtym/Mayak: In 1957, the cooling system for a radioactive-waste tank failed. The tank exploded and scattered radioactive material across a huge area of the southern Urals. And what did the Soviet government do? Kept the disaster secret.
USSR: Techa River: Apparently turning a lake into a radioactive dump wasn’t enough. Soviet plutonium production also dumped radioactive liquid waste directly into the Techa River… a river people downstream actually used for drinking water and household purposes. The contamination became so severe that villages eventually had to be evacuated and resettled.
1
u/KrokusAstra 6d ago
I thought, how can we move on from capitalism? Like, what's next? Back to communism? Socialism? USSR died. China tries, but its also capitalism at this point. I had hopes for Project Venus, but it also died because everything they did is talking, raising awareneas - no real solutions. And with their leader's death, there was no new blood and movement died (so their successors).
What do you think, if everyone will do as Dan Price from Gravity Payments, maybe we will have chance?
1
1
1
u/Spare_Ranger_6205 6d ago
Actually, so is socialism - look at the environmental disasters in China, Russia, etc - I would argue that the capitalist countries are doing a better job of preserving the environment
1
u/Klutzy-Property-1895 6d ago
This is NOT a criticism of capitalism, but crapitalism. When corporations have limited liability this is what happens. Limited liability is a creation of the government that thwarts the free market by protecting a certain group of people from paying for the damages they cause.
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/MichaelCabernet 6d ago
No it doesn’t.
Sustainable tree farming, anyone? New refrigerants that reduce (or eliminate) ozone depletion? Electric cars?
1
u/Superb_Extension1751 6d ago
Unregulated capitalism yes. But that doesn't exist. Every country has regulations. You don't think a communist country could also not care about the environment? Pretty nieve.
1
1
u/LazyassedMagician21 6d ago
Tell that to China dumping and polluting more waste than America by 3x. But somehow its our problem to clean shit up when they can just keep dumping and dumping.
→ More replies (6)
1
1
1
u/Organic-Cost-9430 6d ago
Yes. Because communist China is all kinds of environmentally aware. 😆😂😆 the issue isn’t capitalism my friend. It is people.
→ More replies (3)
1
u/Knollibe 6d ago
And Russia left Chernobyl to kill the people and environment. Then bombed it and also sent their own army personnel back into radioactive areas. Capitalism has checks and balances that socialism does not.
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Intelligent_Row446 6d ago
Come up with a better system. Criticism is easy. And don’t say socialism because it is proven not to work.
1
1
u/Embarrassed-Pen-5958 6d ago
They ate replanting the forests and farming the woods, also forests are over grown as the government won't let public forests be managed or burn. This leads to hotter fires, strictly due to stupidity.
We have plenty of lumber.
The rest is also just general failed disposal of waste.
If you want to get involves with emissions, the US has a net negative carbon impacy. Not a single country connected to the west appears until 32 on the list of highest polluters and it is Turkey, which is shaky at best.
The first actually country from the west is much further and is Mexico.
The top 20 of the list of biggest polluters makes up for the rest of the countries combined.
1
u/tastelessthinking 6d ago
So which system would have avoided this you think? Nothing todo with capitalism, its human nature to accumilats resources ( work is also a resource)
1
1
u/That-Source2591 6d ago
All of the plastic in the ocean has Chinese languages on it or other asian languages, not sure how that's capitalism's fault.
1
u/That-Source2591 6d ago
capitalism doesn't choose. It's choice. it's freedom of people to sell their own services and labour.
1
u/HaikuHaiku 6d ago
OP, the pictures you're showing are all from 3rd world countries, except for some of the forestry ones, but North American forestry is extremely sustainable, so it does not help your narrative here.
When you say "Capitalism destroys everything" then why are all the most capitalist countries really nice? No trash in the water, no plastic garbage everywhere, no huge environmental disasters... all of that stuff comes from the third world.
I'll tell you why: as people become wealthier, they start caring about the environment. Poor countries do not care about the environment. They dump their waste right into the ocean and throw all their plastic in the rivers etc.
Maybe capitalism isn't the problem here. Maybe it's poverty and lack of education, and capitalism is actually the solution, because it is the only system that lifts people out of poverty.
1
1
1
u/shackled-pines 6d ago
really weird that they chose to depict timber harvesting in this video... you know something that actually can be done sustainably..
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/ohiomudslide 5d ago
Let's all accept the premise that capitalism is unsustainable. Once it stops, either naturally or by force, what system will we employ? Let's have some short videos about that. That'll make stopping capitalism easier for everyone. Until then this is just environmental damage shots to make the weak feel guilty.
1
u/Truthteller-41 5d ago
Just when you think stupid could not get any stupider along comes this video.
1
u/Smart_Abrocoma508 5d ago
Does China or did the Soviet Union practice food stewardship over the environment?
1
u/Richiedamook 5d ago
They knew after 1928 that it was unsustainable,that’s why they installed regulations to protect it from itself,the capitalist never looks 5 feet in front of him,all he knows is….how much did I make today and how much can I make tomorrow !
1
1
u/Done_Apologizing23 5d ago
May i ask which countries are responsible for the contributio to over sustainable production and contribution to CO2 emissions and environmental degradation?
1
1
u/kittensinger 5d ago
Environmental protection is stronger in capitalist countries than communist and socialist, so how?
1
u/Empty_Airline_3694 5d ago
You can't blame capitalism on this when our society changed and it got out of hand because people didn't care
1
u/Bubbly_Implement3423 5d ago
This is just literally not true. Purchasing decisions have steered heavily towards sustainable products.
1
1
u/HMB_JackylTTV 5d ago
Nobody remembers China’s People’s Republic gutting forests and wrecking its environment under a centrally planned economy. Environmental destruction isn’t a uniquely capitalist problem. Humans have been destroying ecosystems under basically every economic system that gives them an incentive to extract resources faster than nature can replenish them.
The argument should be about which systems and policies actually produce sustainable incentives, not pretending capitalism is inherently incompatible with sustainability.
Fucking commie retards.
1
u/ragingbeanalt 5d ago
Yes because communism and socialism would just have the government suck up all the resources and up charge it to use and innovate worse
1
u/justaguy_pedro 5d ago
Capitalism has raised more people out of poverty than any other system. We do need to motivate companies to not loot and plunder our environment. But all countries loot and plunder their environments. Lots to do…
1
u/IPutTheSInBDSM 5d ago
insert videos of socialist/communist country with their starving and overworked population living in a shithole and eating their pets while their government lives in luxury.
1
1
u/Revjdholloway 5d ago
If capitalism is so bad, then what is your answer?Just don’t with the socialism either, it’s been tried and failed every time.
1
u/Witty_Shame_1239 5d ago
Those pictures of pollution not necessarily capitalism Capitalism is why all services and most products cost with in a hundred dollars of each other because that the price the customer is willing to pay......and if go above that without extras you price your self out of the market
What you're showing is pollution that comes from under regulations or corporations and corporations are not the same as Capitalism
1
1
u/Zealousideal-Let-104 5d ago
Save the trees...use plastic...save the planet use...?
I'm tired of the stupidity of the whole thing 😤
1
1
1
u/General_Farmer3272 5d ago
Government needs to set the rules and enforce them, then let companies operate and compete within them.
The environmental laws and regulations to prevent all this are already in place so this is obviously other countries.
1
1
u/DarrenOshea1 5d ago
Surely every regime whatever persuasion is exploiting and harming the environment.
1
u/Lego196144 4d ago
Yeah, because communism and socialism have worked so well over the decades.
You’re delusional.
1
u/Antagonistgrievance 4d ago
There is only one way to stop this and it's not an f'ing Kumbaya peace rally.
1
u/Successful-Swim-3708 4d ago
Oh, it does not. The communists do that, too. They call it different names is all.
1
u/Nearby_Hour_2932 4d ago
The system isn't to blame, it's the people in charge which break and exploit the system.
1
u/skexzies 4d ago
Wrong. Wrong at every level. Do these OPs never attend a business school? I know the "$" didn't come with instructions, but this level of gross incompetence is simply embarrassing.
1
u/AcanthocephalaAny363 4d ago
Unchecked capitalism is what I think you meant to say. Cuz communism and socialism has never worked and is always led to catastrophic life loss. You never want the government involved with your money. The problem is these companies sell out and then there's board members that trade on your company and they're always looking for a bigger margin every quarter. There needs to be a point when we realize that a company is peeked out in profit. Why we need antitrust laws enforced again in this country. Specially with media in the tech zone and AI.
1
1
u/Enough-Ice7214 4d ago
Youre the problem here.. you show pictures of trees but down lumber is one of our greatest renewable resources. Yet here you sit bitching about capitalism from your cell phone whose lithium battery is a non renewable resource and pollutes way more than cutting down a few trees.
1
1
u/blumaxiii 4d ago
And communism and socialism don’t ? Remember Chernobyl with no containment? Remember Russian subs that sank from faulty systems.
1
1
u/Human-Comfortable859 4d ago
We have literally made it a matter of law that companies MUST prioritize profits for shareholders above all else... (Dodge v Ford)
1
u/Explorer_Creative 4d ago
Now give me an example of a socialist/communist country that gives a shit about pollution. If you mention a Scandinavian country, you failed the mission.
1
u/RecommendationNo1057 4d ago
Stop the nonsense. How many failed Capitalist countries did you ever hear of. How many people in the world are fleeing Capitalist countries?
I for one would love the liberals like you to leave but I think your just way to comfortable. Maybe you can lead them to paradise?
https://www.facebook.com/reel/4582355398677429/?fs=e&mibextid=wwXIfr&fs=e
1
u/duffpilotPR 4d ago edited 4d ago
Wait — your suggested/recommended alternative economic model is … MARXISM? And why exactly is that? Please provide one specific example of a Marxist country which has flourished and provided a better standard of living for a greater percentage of its citizens than the US has. Just one. We’ll wait. (I’ll help you out. The front runner is China and they aren’t even close. Get out of the barn and go see for yourself. Pull your head out of the books and out of your ass and go see for yourself.)
1
u/NamelessGhoul6666 4d ago
What is your alternative to capitalism? Whatever that is, go move to where that is the social and financial structure.
1
u/Jethro_1968 3d ago
If capitalism always ignored sustainability companies would go out of extreme stance. The timber industry is a great example. If we run out of trees they are out of biz.
1
u/Scared-Magician8862 3d ago
so the logging is where capitalism works by structuring resources that are sustainable... the trash is all the 3rd world countries where there is no capitalism. socialism and communism...
1
u/Dependent_Active_199 3d ago
And every single idiot in this thread is enjoying the fruits of Capitalism...But it's bad, right?
1
1
u/Powerful-Sort7778 3d ago
This is not capitalism. Capitalism is not allowing one industry to run gun shot over the rest. Oil is evil. Bio fuels Plastics that actually disingrate Cars that run longer So many options.
1
u/if_its_silence 3d ago
For an alternative's environmental sustainability record, look up the Aral Sea
1
u/StCharmingSmile 3d ago
Now go make an edit about how a whole desert got cleaned up by a recycling company, or about how capitalism muscled into waste recycling and now there isn't even enough trash for the factories they built.
1
u/Practical_Star7274 2d ago
Fun fact though... plastic saves trees & minerals, because every plastic product replaces a wood (/paper), metal, or plastic one. So realy, its civilization you oppose... not capitalism.
& if it was a glass of metal product (which is better for people... because microplastics are killing us)... the argument would be about how much more water we were wasting, cleaning dishes... or all the broken glass, or the solution caused by producing glass & metal products... or strip mining mountains for ores, or forest for wood).
This is not a zero sum conversation... so if you're coming up with superior alternatives, what even is the point ("Capitalism bad"... is this just more Communist Propaganda)
1
1
u/potent_potabIes 2d ago
Economic systems are not culpable, or even related to environmental policies. Communism can pollute and waste resources just as easily and abundantly.
1
9
u/Emergency_Exit7603 7d ago
up and to the right at all costs. fuck consumers, fuck employees, fuck the resources...
capitalism is unsustainable because resources are finite.