An overlooked danger is the growth of ecofascism. As the environmental crisis intensifies, social and political tensions will explode with greater force. All sectors of society will seek solutions, from political and economic elites to the working class. We can already see these trends emerging in the form of authoritarian capitalism, green capitalism and ecosocialism. A huge influx of climate refugees and dwindling resources will fuel an ecofascist response, the ground laid by decades of neoliberal policy and ideology. Green capitalism will offer an alternative, but well short of what is needed to prevent a disastrous rise in global warming. This failure may open the door for an ecosocialist transition, and a common planetary effort to save humanity.
Jerry Harris is a familiar commentator in Global Justice webinars. He is is head of the Global Studies Association. He has authored Global Capitalism and the Crisis of Democracy and The Dialectics of Globalization: Economic and Political Struggle in a Transnational Era.