The Atlantic Justified ‘Degrowth Communism’ to Fight Climate Change … Yes, You Read That Right
Joseph Vazquez
June 4th, 2024 11:03 AM
Leftist outlets like The Atlantic seem to have a bad habit of yanking the most insane political ideas out of the ether to make them sound less nutty than they are. Its recent treatment of “degrowth communism” to fight climate change is no exception.
“Is America Ready for ‘Degrowth Communism,’” read the magazine’s head-turning May 28 article. The author, Atlantic writing fellow Christopher Beam, tried to soften the expected blowback from such an off-the-wall idea being popularized by leftist Japanese philosopher Kohei Saito. Saito “knows he sounds like a madman,” Beam wrote. “That’s kind of the point,” he continued. “The crazy idea” of “degrowth communism,” Beam summarized, is based on the proposition “that there will always be a correlation between economic output and carbon” emissions. In essence, wrote Beam, “the best way to fight climate change is for wealthy nations to cut back on consumption and reduce the ‘material throughput’ that creates demand for energy and drives GDP.”
Beam pontificated how “[d]egrowth captures a core truth of the fight against climate change: What we’re doing is not enough and might even be making things worse.” He further claimed, “Degrowth might fail too, but in the eyes of its supporters, at least it’s directionally correct. It’s the protest vote of climate activism.” Beam wasted 3,661 words pushing deranged propaganda credentialing Saito’s “degrowth communism.”
https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/business/joseph-vazquez/2024/06/04/atlantic-justified-degrowth-communism-fight-climate-change
