As the climate crisis intensifies globally with increasing wildfires, droughts, floods, and extreme weather events, poor and oppressed communities bear the brunt of the crisis. Millions around the world are demanding action and actively seeking solutions to the unfolding climate crisis. The dialogue at the top is confined to solutions that align with the laws of capitalism and unbridled economic growth. But what if we look to solutions beyond how we currently structure our economies?
It is crucial as revolutionary socialists in the heart of the empire to be able to speak in an educated way to our class about the problem and solutions to the crisis as we build the movement for socialism. Our interventions in the climate justice movement are crucial to push the narrative beyond reforms to systemic change, pointing out the barrier that capitalism creates to the change that is needed for our survival.
This class series is led by Tina Landis, author of the PSL book Climate Solutions Beyond Capitalism. She is a founding member of the PSL, works in air quality and climate protection and holds a certificate in Sustainable Management from University of California, Berkeley. She writes on environmental and climate issues for Liberation News and is a frequent commentator on the Sputnik News shows By Any Means Necessary and Political Misfits. You can purchase the book here, and check out Liberation School’s study guide for the book here.
You can watch all four classes below!
Class 1: The Problem we Face:
This class covers the various ways that the climate crisis is unfolding globally, what it means for life on Earth, and how feedback loops will continue to speed up the unraveling if no comprehensive action is taken.
Class 2: Real solutions to the crisis:
Learn about what is needed to cool the climate — from a shift in energy production and consumption to ecological restoration for carbon capture — linking indigenous knowledge of nature with scientific methods.
Class 3: How capitalism is a barrier:
In this class we analyze how capitalism and imperialism act as barriers to a comprehensive shift in our relationship to the planet, why “green” capitalism and individual behavior change are a dead end, and how the capitalist mode of production is the opposite of sustainability.
Class 4: Socialism for our survival:
The final class examines how a socialist planned economy can meet the needs of both people and planet, how socialist countries are addressing the crisis, the need for internationalism and reparations to the Global South and oppressed communities as key for an equitable path forward.
