Ecology for the 99%: Twenty Capitalist Myths Debunked

By Frédéric Legault, Arnaud Theurillat-Cloutier, Alain Savard and Clément de Gaulejac

If everyone—from Emmanuel Macron to Jeff Bezos, and even Coca Cola—is green, why is the environmental crisis growing at an alarmingly rapid rate? The world is already experiencing the impact of climate crisis, but we are not equally responsible for its violent effects. Some of those who claim to be helping the planet are actually making things worse. To avoid being duped by false allies and to create an ecology for the 99%, we must discuss a radical topic: the exit from capitalism. Ecology for the 99% provides inspiration for building grassroots environmental movements through a lively discussion of the most persistent capitalist myths. It presents compelling evidence for why carbon market policies will fail, why a capitalist economy cannot be based on renewable energy sources, and why we should be protesting against overproduction, not overconsumption.

Ecology for the 99% is an antidote to apathy and a bulwark against false leads. Time is running out, we can’t afford to take any wrong turns.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Between the Lines
• Release date: Mar 19, 2024
• ISBN: 9781771136464

Frédéric Legault

Frédéric Legault is a teacher and has a PhD in sociology about post-capitalist economics. He lives in Montreal, also known as Tiohtià:ke and Mooniyaang.

Book preview

Cover image for Ecology for the 99%: Twenty Capitalist Myths Debunked. By Frédéric Legault, Arnaud Theurillat-Cloutier and Alain Savard, Translated by Charles Simard. The cover depicts a cigar-smoking capitalist with a speech bubble that says “Does the smoke bother you?”

"Ecology for the 99% is a wonderful introduction to the burning issues raised by the ecological crisis and climate change. In clear wording and with precise arguments, it dispels myths and illusions propagated by the conformist media and points to the urgent need to get rid of the system responsible for the crisis: capitalism."

Michael Löwy, author of Ecosocialism: A Radical Alternative to Capitalist Catastrophe

Finally, an eminently accessible introduction to the climate crisis that uses Marxist concepts to expose the capitalist system at the root of the emergency. This is the book we all need to navigate the onslaught of business-as-usual green policies being promoted by the economic and political elite. Ecology for the 99% goes well beyond dispelling myths, it also gifts us compelling proposals for how to build power and win the just future we all deserve."

Emily Eaton, professor, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Regina; co-author of The End of This World: Climate Justice in So-Called Canada

This punchy, provocative book is part political-economy primer and part organizers’ manual. The authors show that protecting the planet means confronting and defeating the power of those who are profiting from its destruction. Their clarion call for a movement of the 99 percent to take on both climate change and the system that permits it is both timely and hopeful.

Jim Stanford, economist and director, Centre for Future Work, Vancouver

A lucid and compelling account of how the collective power of grassroots movements can break through the barriers to change—economic, political, cultural, and psychological. This book is required reading for anyone interested in a course correction from our current trajectory toward climate catastrophe. Democratic change from below is not only possible; it is indispensable.

William K. Carroll, professor, Department of Sociology, University of Victoria

There are innumerable books on the market today that profess to offer solutions to today’s planetary ecological crisis, while in fact providing merely an ecology for the one percent, in which profits are put before people and the planet. Such works cynically present as the solution to the unparalleled threat before us the very capitalist system that is its cause. Thoroughly refuting all of this in an analysis that also has the virtue of being accessible to everyone, Legault, Theurillat-Cloutier, and Savard provide what can genuinely be considered a much-needed ecology for the 99 percent.

John Bellamy Foster, author of The Dialectics of Ecology: Society and Nature

Ecology for the 99%

Ecology for the 99%

Twenty Capitalist Myths Debunked

by Frédéric Legault, Arnaud Theurillat-Cloutier, and Alain Savard

Illustrations by Clément de Gaulejac

Translated by Charles Simard

Between the Lines

Toronto

Ecology for the 99%: Twenty Capitalist Myths Debunked

© 2024 Frédéric Legault, Arnaud Theurillat-Cloutier, and Alain Savard, translated by Charles Simard

Originally published in French as: Pour une écologie du 99%. Vingt mythes à déboulonner sur le capitalisme, © Les Éditions Écosociété, 2021

First published in 2024 by Between the Lines

401 Richmond Street West, Studio 281

Toronto, Ontario · M5V 3A8 · Canada

1-800-718-7201 · www.btlbooks.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be photocopied, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of Between the Lines, or (for copying in Canada only) Access Copyright, 69 Yonge Street, Suite 1100, Toronto, ON M5E 1K3.

Every reasonable effort has been made to identify copyright holders. Between the Lines would be pleased to have any errors or omissions brought to its attention.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: Ecology for the 99% : twenty capitalist myths debunked / Frédéric Legault, Arnaud Theurillat-Cloutier, and Alain Savard ; translated by Charles Simard.

Other titles: Pour une écologie du 99%. English | Ecology for the ninety-nine percent

Names: Legault, Frédéric, author. | Theurillat-Cloutier, Arnaud, author. | Savard, Alain, author. | Simard, Charles, 1983- translator.

Description: Translation of: Pour une écologie du 99% : 20 mythes à déboulonner sur le capitalisme. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20230567657 | Canadiana (ebook) 20230567797 | ISBN 9781771136457 (softcover) | ISBN 9781771136464 (EPUB)

Subjects: LCSH: Capitalism—Environmental aspects. | LCSH: Environmental economics. | LCSH: Human ecology. | LCSH: Negative growth (Economics)

Classification: LCC HB501 .L4413 2024 | DDC 330.12/2—dc23

Cover illustration by Clément de Gaulejac

Cover and text design by DEEVE

Printed in Canada

[leave space for FSC logo and union bug]

We acknowledge for their financial support of our publishing activities: the Government of Canada; the Canada Council for the Arts; and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Arts Council, the Ontario Book Publishers Tax Credit program, and Ontario Creates. We acknowledge SODEC for their financial support of the translation of this book. La traduction de cette œuvre a été rendue possible grâce au soutien financier de la Société de développement des entreprises culturelles (SODEC)

Logos for institutional funders: The Governemnt of Canada, Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Creates, and The Ontario Arts Council.

Contents

Introduction

What Is Capitalism?

Part 1

Criticize

Myth 1

The Problem Is Overconsumption!

Myth 2

The Problem Is Overpopulation!

Myth 3

Everything’s Going to Be Okay: New Tech Will Come to Our Rescue!

Myth 4

The Real Problem Is the Religion of Infinite Growth!

Myth 5

We Are Not the Problem—China Is!

Myth 6

It’s Not about Political Vision, It’s about Science

Myth 7

We’re All in This Together

Myth 8

Nothing Is Preventing Capitalism from Becoming Green!

Myth 9

We Just Need to Make an Energy Transition!

Myth 10

Carbon Markets: They Work!

Part 2

Propose

Myth 11

Capitalism Is Inescapable Because Selfishness Is a Part of Human Nature

Myth 12

Economic Planning Means Going Back to the USSR

Myth 13

Market Is Freedom!

Myth 14

There’s No Alternative to Capitalism Anyway

PART 3

Organize

Myth 15

Democracy Is Slow, but the Climate Crisis Can’t Wait!

Myth 16

There’s Nothing Left to Do, It’s the End!

Myth 17

The Problem Is That People Have Become Too Individualistic

Myth 18

The Only Way to Mobilize People Is to Have Charismatic Leaders

Myth 19

All We Need Is to Elect an Eco-Friendly Government!

Myth 20

People Have to Organize through Social Media!

Conclusion

In the Face of Disaster, the Strategy of the 99 Percent

Appendix

Where to Start? Practical Tips for Getting Involved Right Now

Glossary of Technical Terms

Selective and Annotated Bibliography

Acknowledgements

Notes

Index

Illustration of the cast of recurring characters in the following cartoons. The cast includes the capitalist: a man in a suit and tie, capital: a large hulking white blob, and the 99%: a crowd of diverse people in work clothes.

Introduction

Everyone’s turning green! Joe Biden, Justin Trudeau, Jeff Bezos, Coca-Cola … and even the Big Oil supermajors. Ecology is promoted as the new common sense. Shouldn’t we all be pleased about it?

Actually, we think there is ample reason to be worried. If everyone is so green, why is the environmental crisis getting worse? Human populations are already suffering from the violence of climate change: heat waves, droughts, floods, forest fires, violent hurricanes. But not all are equal in the face of the devastation. Ecology is, in effect, a battlefield, complete with trusty allies, dangerous enemies, and even ruthless mercenaries capable of camouflaging themselves in green. Drawing the battle lines in this conflict is this book’s main goal.

Going beyond the light green consensus implies asking an uncomfortable question: Should we get out of capitalism? This word, capitalism, too often taboo, names a reality experienced by every one of us throughout our lives. It’s the grid that structures our entire social organization. But to build a people’s ecology—an ecology that’s both shaped and enjoyed by the 99 percent and not the ruling minority—we must be able to talk about it earnestly. To quote one of the slogans of the Yellow Vests protesters in France,¹ making ends meet and avoiding the end of the world are parallel struggles. To ensure that individual fights work in conjunction with collective ones, we think eco-anxiety should be transformed into a productive indignation against the powers of the 1 percent—those who hold the most wealth and the most economic power.

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Ecology, as we use it in this book, is less about the science (the relationships that living beings have with their environment) and more about politics. Political ecology can be defined as the set of power relationships that structure the relations humans have with nature. Ecology isn’t a simple matter of moral or political convictions. It’s also, and perhaps above all, the result of economic constraints. For many of us, it means working for a corporation that produces pollution, driving a car to get to work, buying cheaper nonorganic food, suffering the effects of pollution caused by traffic congestion or mining activities, and wasting energy to heat a poorly insulated house. And for businesses, standing out from the competition and turning a profit by the next quarter means cutting costs and polluting more. If we lose sight of these constraints, and how they are unequally experienced, we may end up believing that we’re all in the same boat, people and corporations alike. This illusion is as attractive as it is deceptive.

We’ve written this book so that our perception of ecology ceases to be manipulated by those who immediately profit from it—and to debunk a number of popular fallacies. Fighting for a world that’s livable for everyone requires us to name the obstacles to this goal. Time is running out, and we can’t afford to get lost on the wrong paths.

We call those dead ends myths. They’re out there and plentiful: clichés, commonplaces, truisms, overgeneralizations … We hear them in cafes, all over the internet, at gatherings of activists, and in the media. Often, they are neither entirely false nor completely irrational; but they’re still dangerous because they risk taking our power away. If ecology is to become more compelling and effective, we need to explain and dispel these myths.

As backbone for this book, we ask three major questions:

1) Why is capitalism an obstacle to ecology?

2) What could we replace capitalism with?

3) What strategies should we put in place to remove capitalism and replace it with something else?

This book is a crash course in the economics of capitalism and the political strategies capable of overcoming it. After reading it, you’ll understand why the carbon market won’t solve the crisis and why a capitalist economy based on renewable energy is pretty unlikely. Ecology for the 99% can also be read as a manifesto—a modern-day Art of War, if you like. You’ll learn more about the fossil-fuel industry, about its core interests and strategies, and together, we’ll explore how to build a grassroots environmental movement endowed with the power to meaningfully transform society. We’ll also reflect on the roles of science, democracy, and leadership within this transformation.

These critical reflections on the dead ends of capitalism and the ways to avoid them are fuelled by an ideal: that of a truly democratic society, satisfying the needs of everyone while respecting planetary boundaries. But instead of describing all aspects of this ideal society, we’ll insist on its fundamental traits: the empowerment of people throughout their lives and a democratic planning of the economy. And here we meet with another taboo word. Planning generally evokes in people’s minds the spectre of the USSR and its economic collapse, political purges, and gulags. Yet, we think that fixing the chaos left by unbridled capitalism and its so-called free market requires a rational approach to the question of the organization of our modern economies and an exercising of both prudence towards ecology and concern for citizens’ needs. Reducing our global energy consumption without the help of democratic planning would mean generating inequalities, adverse effects, and major crises. Starting now, a serious reflection on economic planning can’t be avoided. Steering clear of this debate would risk a repetition of the mistakes of the USSR: a top-down, nondemocratic style of planning that reinforces systems of domination and oppression instead of abolishing them.

The environmental crisis is unfolding on several fronts: desertification, species extinction, deforestation, melting glaciers, plastic contamination, water and soil pollution, imbalance in the nitrogen cycle, pandemics … Unfortunately, this book cannot give equal attention to each one of these—although all aspects of the crisis are indeed very worrying. Because of its severity, its brutal effects, and its many negative effects on life for the next centuries, the climate crisis is what we’ll be thinking about here for the most part. Even the World Economic Forum in Davos (where representatives of big business and the richest countries meet annually) considers global warming to be as dire and as unavoidable a threat as weapons of mass destruction.

The last decade was the warmest since the mid-nineteenth century. Global warming has already reached 1.15°C above preindustrial levels and could exceed the critical threshold of 1.5°C by the end of 2023.² The dangerous path we’re on would lead us to a world 3°C to 5°C warmer³—in other words, towards an uninhabitable earth. Every tenth of a degree is crucial; every tonne of greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions that’s avoided is already making a difference. We need to act quickly … and adequately.

In this book, you’ll find many keys to understanding the root causes of the crisis and tackling them effectively. Many excellent books have been published on climate change and its consequences, and it’s possible you’ll want to take your thinking further after reading this one. If that’s the case (and we hope it is!), have a look at the selective and annotated bibliography at the end.

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Ecology for the 99% names and explains twenty major myths about capitalism using the rhetorical style of a dialogue. Although chapters follow a logical order, there’s nothing wrong with reading them in the order of your choice. Our rebuttals to myths generally imply and point to each other, which allows for different readings and different ways to enter the discussion. Texts are also grouped into three main sections:

1) Criticize

2) Propose

3) Organize

A glossary at the end of the book offers definitions of crucial technical terms and includes some reminders about the main tips for starting out in activism.

We don’t think of this book as a definitive end point but rather as an introduction to the burning questions put forward by the climate-justice and environmental movements. It offers a modest contribution to dispelling dangerous illusions.

Illustration of an oil derrick pumping oil up from the ground. The cross section image shows the resevoir of oil below the surface as well as the pump above ground. The oil is drawn like a white blob with a simple face, a representation of capital. A capitlaist in a suit stands beside the oil derrick on the surface.

What Is Capitalism?

Although the origins of capitalism date back to the sixteenth century, attempts have long been made to define exactly what it is. This book will clarify certain aspects of it without, of course, claiming to paint a complete picture. By way of introduction, here’s what you need to know.

For most people, capitalism means everyone needs money for food, shelter, and basic necessities. No money, no hamburgers! as the rotund waitress in the 2003 animated comedy The Triplets of Belleville would say. Most people aren’t able to borrow $10 million to pay their bills or to start a business, and when you own little or nothing—no inheritance, no land, no factory—you’re forced to work for a wage, which means selling your labour power. Most of the labour perceived as having value in a capitalist economy is done by people who don’t own the business they work for and so can’t directly enjoy the fruits of their labour; instead, they receive a salary in exchange for time worked.

Under capitalism, supporting oneself, as well as getting a job, is done in the context of the marketplace. To earn a living, most people enter the marketplace in two ways: first, to get wages in exchange for their work; and second, to spend those wages on goods and services (rent, food, clothing, entertainment, etc.). Workers therefore don’t work to make things or provide services (value) for themselves; rather, they work for the purpose of exchanging the value of their work (wages) on the market.

In theory, the market is a place where most people are equal and are free to exchange their goods and their money. But in reality, the vast majority of people have nothing to sell but their work capacity and their time. While it’s true that nobody is putting a gun to anybody’s head to force them to work—this aspect is the so-called historical innovation of capitalism—it’s also true that, should we need to secure food and shelter, market rules will compel us to work.

In the labour market, some have the power to buy other people’s labour. Of course, the former don’t hire the latter out of the generosity of their hearts but because a profit can be obtained out of the process. These employers and owners form a social group—the richest of whom are often referred to as the 1 percent—and they have a common interest: they are the capitalist class. Their powers aren’t conferred as a result of their ability to buy more stuff for themselves as consumers but by the control they hold on economic production. Because they own the workplace, capitalists can dictate the working conditions of their employees and set wages that will guarantee them a comfortable profit. Capitalists don’t acquire these powers and privileges because of the characteristics of their personality but because of the power their wealth gives them, allowing them to use money to generate more money. This process is called capitalism. Capitalists typically invest in companies that produce goods or services, the sale of which is intended to yield a profit margin. Capitalists don’t produce these goods and services primarily to meet people’s needs (their use value) but rather to generate more money (their exchange value) by selling them on the marketplace. Indeed, economic production under capitalism, for the most part, is carried out by private enterprises whose primary purpose is to turn a profit. This mode of economic organization therefore isn’t directly interested in meeting people’s needs. It does so only indirectly as a consequence of the profits that can be generated in the process.

The social division that exists between those having to work for a living and those who profit from the work of others isn’t a natural one; on the contrary, it’s the product of a long and complex history. The members of the capitalist class gradually usurped economic power by dispossessing the peasantry of their lands and common rights, first in the English countryside, from the sixteenth century onwards. The resulting privatization of the peasantry’s sources