Total Climate War
When confronted with the gargantuan task of tackling the climate crisis, one can't blame people of despairing at the scale of not just the problem, but the suggested solutions as well. They all sound so hard, a lot of effort and a huge impact on our personal lives. So much so that, in combination with the misguided optimism in technological solutions, and the idea that there are no alternatives, we're paralyzed and left to the devices of the neoliberal market system™.
Essayist Rebecca Solnit even spoke of a 'climate war' in an opinion piece published in The Guardian that has made the rounds this week. She is right, of course, about the state of our climate.
Even though we aren't doing nearly enough to combat (pun intended) the climate crisis, we1 are investing heavily in the military these days. This renewed jingoism that tolerates no opposition is obviously a very powerful narrative that is being actively used to promote a generational leap in investments. It appears that it is possible to make do this - make a collective U-turn with massive investments and wide ranging consequences - just not for any social or ecological goals.
Solnit calls the climate movement a peace movement in this climate war, but following both the idea of climate war and militarisation, I would like to make a case for war, or rather: total climate war mobilisation.
War is wasteful
A war economy is extremely wasteful, both in energy and resources, but more importantly: human lives. A whole chunk of the economy is dedicated to producing goods that will themselves be destroyed when used and at the same time destroy infrastructure, factories, buildings and people.
Even during times of peace it's a bottomless pit: the munition stocks needs to be replenished constantly, the technology updated regularly as to not be caught by surprise. The only people getting better through militarisation, are the capitalist classes that get a guaranteed return-on-investment, funded by states and ultimately the working classes.
What if I told you we could flip the climate war and the militarisation around and make the world a better place for everyone? Enter the idea of a total climate war economy.
A war economy? That sounds bad!
Not if it's a metaphorical war against a self-made crisis. This wouldn't be a fight between alliances, nations or people, but one of humanity and the earth on the one side, against a destructive political and economic structure on the other.
In fact, this war economy will have significant benefits over a 'real war' economy, the most important being that we won't have to send young people to die en masse. Production will also be less wasteful, since we're not talking about producing tanks and bombs, but solar panels and rewilding. Planned production with actual value for ourselves and our life-world.
This 'war' though, has to be total, meaning that all of society will be part of it. This sounds like a lot and we are often actively discouraged to even think about such things. But let's take a historical example where we saw this and is a huge part of our collective identity: World War 2.
War mobilisation gives meaning
World War 2 was one of the largest projects humanity ever undertook. Massive mobilisation took place for everything, from soldiers to workers. The economy was placed under strict control, companies converted from peace-time production of household goods to the production of everything needed for the war effort. Propaganda efforts centered around getting everyone on the same line to fight the enemy, fight the good cause, to limit waste, to think consciously about your place in everything, to do your part. People made sacrifices and were happy, motivated and proud of what they were doing.
Now strip away all the terrible, wasteful things: the killing and atrocities, the production of destructive weapons, the destruction of the industrial capacity, the fact that there were multiple sides actively fighting each other,... So much effort that went into that voracious, infinite maelstrom of war.
What we're left with is the needed mobilisation of war against the climate crisis. People feeling included and useful, contributing to a massive, historical moment and movement, fighting for a better world. Just like the fight against fascism was a civilisational struggle, the climate war will be one that will be remembered by humanity and commemorated. Books, movies, games, statues, museums, could be dedicated to a second 'greatest generation' - if we only choose to act so.
I'm talking as a middle class westerner here; Europe has been in a huge rearmament drive since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russia.↩