[Marxism] Alienation and climate change in the New York Times

["Ruthless Critic of All that Exists" <ok.president+marxml@xxxxxxxxx>]

The "cheap-energy mind," as Wendell Berry called it, is the mind that
asks, "Why bother?" because it is helpless to imagine — much less
attempt — a different sort of life, one less divided, less reliant.
Since the cheap-energy mind translates everything into money, its
proxy, it prefers to put its faith in market-based solutions — carbon
taxes and pollution-trading schemes. If we could just get the
incentives right, it believes, the economy will properly value
everything that matters and nudge our self-interest down the proper
channels. The best we can hope for is a greener version of the old
invisible hand. Visible hands it has no use for.

But while some such grand scheme may well be necessary, it's doubtful
that it will be sufficient or that it will be politically sustainable
before we've demonstrated to ourselves that change is possible [...]

Full: 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/magazine/20wwln-lede-t.html?ref=magazine&pagewanted=all>

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