Climate Chaos and Its Origins in Slavery and Capitalism - (Anthem Sociological Perspectives on Human Rights and Development) (Hardcover)

About the Book

Climate Chaos argues powerfully that unless global citizens come together to change the infrastructure and value system of capitalist greed and consumption, human society will not survive past this century.

Book Synopsis

Climate Chaos argues powerfully that unless global citizens come together to change the infrastructure and value system of capitalist greed and consumption, human society will not survive past this century.

Review Quotes

Climate Chaos and Its Origins in Slavery and Capitalism situates the human contribution to our current climate crisis in a centuries long process of capitalist commodification and institutional development that has on balance degraded and exploited humans and the planet. Just when the U.S Department of State is withdrawing its commitment to international cooperation and transnational problem-solving - abandoning the Paris Climate Treaty, the Human Rights Commission, and the World Health Organization -- narrowing what counts as human rights, and re-narrating American history to reinforce a culture of individualism and American exceptionalism, Judith and Reva Blau offer us a powerful and timely alternative diagnosis and vision for addressing the decline of human civilization and the planet that it depends on for survival. This mother and daughter team marshal and eloquently present ample evidence to clarify the urgency of the challenge we now face, and persuasively explain not only why market solutions are futile, but also why the strengths of liberalism (diversity, democracy, and expertise) are not enough. Any viable path for navigating this climate chaos, they contend, also will have to transcend the culture of individualism and human-centered understandings of our relationship to Earth and the non-human life and systems with whom we share it. - John G. Dale, Associate Professor, George Mason University

About the Author

Reva Blau is a writer and middle-school ELL teacher. She leads professional development that teaches empowerment along lines of race, gender, and class that is grounded in restorative practice.

Judith Blau is professor emerita of sociology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where she chaired the social and economic justice undergraduate minor for many years. She was founder and director of the Human Rights Center of Chapel Hill-Carrboro.