Source: Kyle Sandberg's Carbon Tax To Spur Remodeling
Neoliberalism is an ideology which suggests that an unregulated market can resolve almost all social, economic, and political problems. It espouses that humans are best served when their prosperity is advanced through limited state intervention, and as such, argues that the general social interest can be maximized through the pursuit of self-interest. By this notion, neoliberalism is a means of defining humans as consumers in a global marketplace.
The dehumanization of the individual as a consumer, as well as the politicization of the environment, has stripped the definition of humanity to one characterized in economic terms. According to neoliberalism, human life is defined by competition, and accordingly, the driving praise of capitalism is that it compels individuals to operate under the pretences of the maximization of wealth and power, but ultimately at the expense of everything the market deems expendable. Such an ideology has perpetuated the worsening state of our environment through its indifference towards the existence of climate change, and the subsequent politicization of the environmental initiatives taking place to prevent further damage. Environmental issues predate neoliberalism - however, this ideology has played a driving force in the politicization of the environment, worsening its condition.
The modern era of governance has witnessed a shift in power relations at the hand of neoliberalism ideologies – through delegitimizing democratic powers, minimizing corporate responsibility, exploiting natural resources for profit, and promoting the atomization of society in response to collective action.
The political ideologies and precepts of neoliberalism emerged during the times of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan in the 1980's as an attempt to implement two primary objectives. First, it sought to promote deregulation of the economy. Second, it aimed to unleash entrepreneurial spirit, but by doing so, it gave primacy to the economic over the political by shifting power from governments to corporate bodies. Moreover, governments advanced the neoliberal agenda through policies promoting privatization, deregulation, tax cuts, and free trade deals, all aimed to facilitate the maximization of corporate profit.
Alongside upholding the tenets of neoliberalism, governments play a role in facilitating opportunities for corporate profit to the greatest degree. To that extent, the proponents of neoliberalism took the podium of the world’s leading voice in climate change denial. In 1982, scientists working at Exxon accurately extrapolated that by the year 2060, CO2 levels would reach an approximate 560 parts per million by burning oil, coal, and natural gas to produce energy. This increase in CO2 levels would double the preindustrial level which increased the earth’s average temperature by 2° Celsius. This startlingly accurate research predicted the current day climate disruptions which have been rapidly increasing since the 1980’s. In 1988, Shell Corporation reached the similar conclusions found by Exxon Mobil. The outcome of this research led to these corporations denying climate change, and in effect, these corporations became world leaders in climate change denial, despite the information that they hid in order to continue producing and selling oil for profit.
Irrespective of the research, Exxon Mobil and Shell consciously pursued the interests of their own corporations to maximize their profits and political power. Moreover, Exxon Mobil and Shell continued, from the 1980’s to the current day, to extract the largest possible subsidies they could take from any and all governments. This abuse of democratic powers is demonstrated by the corporations’ lack of government sanctions. To this day, Exxon Mobil and Shell continue to profit off the extraction of oil and the acceptance of generous government subsidies.
Neoliberalism has diminished effective political choice and democratic power. Under these instances, the importance of environmental politics has nearly been erased in an average citizen’s life. Saving the environment was once our moral duty as we understood it to be vital to our health and wellbeing. Now, political powers have asked us to reconsider and ask ourselves “how can we profit from saving the environment?”. This contentious debate on environmental issues has now been reduced to a mere political stance, rather than a call for collective action in resolving climate change.
Furthermore, neoliberalism is responsible for the atomization of society. The atomization of society refers to a society made up of self-interested and self-sufficient individuals, rather than a collective, community-based dependency upon one another. Neoliberalism has redefined many social values, institutions and ideologies to reflect the independent interests and actions of the individual. Such atomization of society is purposely absorbed and emulated by members of society, turning it into a bastion of the neoliberal doctrine and ensuring the prolonged future of neoliberalism. Neoliberalism has effectively stigmatized interdependent and collective action, ultimately in support of individualism and self-interest.
Margaret Thatcher once claimed, “there is no such thing as society”, and in neoliberal lenses, she may be correct. The identity of the individual is that of the consumer rather than the citizen, a dehumanizing definition as perpetuated by corporations and neoliberalism. The identity of the consumer, rather than the citizen, places limited actions on the individual and redefines personal action to strive towards market-based solutions instead of political reform. Personal action should go beyond what we buy; instead, it should be driven by collective action to condemn corporations for deflecting corporate responsibility; from boycotts to sanctions, pushing for environmental irresponsibility.
If humans continue to accept neoliberalism as a viable ideology, individuals will continue to act with self-interest, instead of collective interest, for the greater good. Neoliberalism is unlikely to provide the answer to climate change as many previous attempts have proven to be market-based and ineffective. A climate crisis cannot be resolved through individual action as it is merely a distraction tactic employed by corporations in order to minimize corporate responsibility. Likewise, weakening democratic power further maximizes corporate profit and destabilizes the climate. Individuals must reject neoliberalism’s atomization of society and opt for the identity of the citizen, rather than the consumer, in order to work towards the collective goal of minimizing the exploitation of natural resources. It is crucial that citizens reject the societal atomization that neoliberalism espouses – instead, individuals should take the route of collective action to address and condemn the contentious cycles of corporate power and government negligence in order to alter the trajectory of climate disruption.