Klein confused and unpersuasive in Change

In fact, given the limits of renewable energy (see below) a phasing out of fossil fuels – which is necessary to solve the climate problem – will require a vast contraction and reorganisation of modern societies. What many now call 'degrowth.'

To be clear, those of us calling for de-growth want the process to be organised, planned, and above all egalitarian – nothing like today's neoliberalism. But we should be under no illusions: ending 'extractivism' will also, necessarily, put an end to consumer cultures. Gladly this might not be as depressing as it first sounds – so we should not refer to it as 'austerity'. The voluntary simplicity, slow food, permaculture and Transition Towns etc movements are showing us all that we could live very well – indeed maybe even better – with far less wealth/income than we do now. By overlooking these admittedly difficult issues, Klein missed an opportunity to promote the positive side of industrial descent.

Renewable Illusions

Undergirding the documentary's optimism is the widely held belief that renewables can easily substitute for fossil fuels. If extraction of fossil fuels is symbolic of the 'mastery over nature' story, for Klein, renewables are the first manifestation of the new story, in which we live according to nature's rhythms, rather than seeking to dominate her. For support, we hear from a Canadian Indigenous man who recalls that "solar was always part of the Indigenous way of life."

This is all very misleading. It's true that before the discovery of fossil fuels humanity relied on various simple renewables, such as windmills and wood, for basic economic processors. But these provided far less net-energy than has been afforded by the natural abundance provided by fossil fuels. What needs to be understood is that fossil fuels are a unique, once in an epoch source of cheap energy - highly energy dense and conveniently burned when we need them. The major forms of modern renewables energy, on the other hand – i.e. wind and solar PV technologies - are diffuse and intermittent sources of energy. This means costly procedures are needed to both collect the energy and provide storage and/or back-up power for constant supply. As a result of these bio-physical realities there is a strong case that, renewable energy systems will be prohibitively costly, if the goal is to run an energy intensive capitalist-consumer society. If, however, we move to systems, settlements, culturesthat demand far less energy usage, we could live on renewables very well indeed.

And what about other ecological issues?

Dramatically reducing energy usage is necessary, in any case, to solve the wider ecological crisis, perhaps most seriously in terms of biodiversity loss. As Steb Fisher reminds us, even if we could decarbonise the global economy tomorrow "we would still wreck Earth's ecosystems…and on a timescale similar to the trajectory that we're on already." The fundamental problem, as he points out, is our way of life is energy intensive. "We have too much energy and, as we use it, we damage ecosystems."

Disturbingly, the This Changes Everything ends by citing neoliberal Germany as the paragon example to aspire for, given its relatively large investment in renewables. One is left to wonder, if Germany should be our model, why bother criticising capitalism, globalisation, consumer cultures, and imagining alternatives? But we must do so. Eco-justice requires a multi-dimensional transformation of modern societies. If 'This changes everything' is any indication, it will present as much of a challenge to the present-day ecological-left, as anyone else.