America’s energy gamble: people, economy and planet

Abstract

hurdles to climate action deserve a deeper discussion. Culture and civil society are critical arenas for cementing as well as challenging hegemony in the Gramscian framework. The book discusses climate representations in novels, films and television, but critiques them as ‘climate spectacle’ that reinforces a passive politics of suffering and pity, representing a form of ‘disaster capitalism’ that paradoxically sustains fossil fuel hegemony. The book claims that apocalyptic portrayals provide a ‘fanciful diversion that fails to seriously challenge or even acknowledge the cataclysmic inevitability of our current political and economic order’ (p.143). The authors also perhaps indulge in over-optimism when they mention indigenous artifacts on remote islands as subversive texts. A more subtle discussion of the cultural politics of climate representations might suggest how they also raise awareness and perhaps stimulate action. The final chapters of the book describe the emergence of new forms of activism and potential futures, leaning on Gramsci’s analysis of political crises. Political ecologists have also argued that our experiences of nature could facilitate more fundamental change, leveraging Gramsci’s insight that human consciousness and ‘common sense’ are forged through interactions with the everyday material and natural worlds. As we endure increasing climate stresses, both directly and through the media, this book provides the intellectual guidance to help us make sense of the wider system in which climate risks are manifesting; seeing the crisis clearly, ‘without illusions but without becoming disillusioned’, in Gramsci’s words, could drive the counter-hegemonic organizing needed to put humanity on a more hopeful trajectory.