These all represent what economists call “market failures.” And according to the British government’s Stern report, the greatest market failure of all history is the destruction of the planet by greenhouse gases. While current “cap and trade” programs attempt to create a market solution to this problem by creating a market to buy and sell pollution permits, we cannot wait for the market to fix the market.
Instead, we need to create a rapidly growing “green” sector in which production is for use – specifically, for climate protection – not just for profit. We must reconstruct society on a low carbon basis regardless of whether or not it is profitable to do so.
It is often pointed out that it took mobilization for World War II to end the Depression. Today we need, in William James’ magnificent phrase, a “moral equivalent to war.”
We don’t expect an army to make a profit. It has other responsibilities and other means of support. During World War II, for example, public policy mandated the production that was necessary: tanks and airplanes. At the same time, public policy forbade much production that was unnecessary; as a popular song about wartime mobilization put it, “put those plans for pleasure cars away.” Today’s equivalent would be mandated reductions every year in carbon-emitting production and consumption, combined with employment of all available people and resources for green transformation.
Obama’s stimulus package actually provides a first step in the right direction:
To finally spark the creation of a clean energy economy, we will double the production of alternative energy in the next three years. We will modernize more than 75% of federal buildings and improve the energy efficiency of two million American homes, saving consumers and taxpayers billions on our energy bills. In the process, we will put Americans to work in new jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced – jobs building solar panels and wind turbines; constructing fuel-efficient cars and buildings; and developing the new energy technologies that will lead to even more jobs, more savings, and a cleaner, safer planet in the bargain.
Like previous forms of production for use, this plan is a bete noir for those who think “production for use” is a crime against capitalism. They are already mobilizing against it, tea bag by tea bag.
But there is another lesson from hard times past:
Economic adversity creates an intense social dynamic in which people become less and less willing to wait for “pie in the sky.” That is why they demand jobs, take over and run their enterprises, pursue self-help mutual aid, and transgress the established boundaries of private property.
The unemployed movement of the 1930’s used the slogan: “Don’t starve – fight.”
Who knows what the result will be if we combine that with the slogan, “Don’t let the planet burn – let us get to work.”
This article was previously published on ZNet.org.
Jeremy Brecher is a historian whose books include “Strike!,” “Globalization From Below” and, co-edited with Brendan Smith and Jill Cutler, “In the Name of Democracy: American War Crimes in Iraq and Beyond” (Metropolitan/Holt). He has received five regional Emmy Awards for his documentary film work. He is a co-founder of WarCrimesWatch.org.
Tim Costello is, with Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith, co-author of the new book, “Globalization From Below: The Power of Solidarity” (South End), and co-producer of the documentary video, “Global Village or Global Pillage?“.
Brendan Smith is a legal analyst whose books include “Globalization From Below” and, with Jeremy Brecher and Jill Cutler, “In the Name of Democracy: American War Crimes in Iraq and Beyond” (Metropolitan). He is current co-director of Global Labor Strategies and UCLA Law School’s Globalization and Labor Standards Project, and has worked previously for Congressman Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and a broad range of unions and grassroots groups. His commentary has appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Nation, CBS News.com, YahooNews and The Baltimore Sun. Contact him at smithb28@gmail.com.
