Climate Justice and System Change

Grassroots International supporter Richard Smith has just published Green Capitalism: The God That Failed (a downloadable e-book). It’s an important read because it argues convincingly that environmental destruction is an inevitable result of  production for profit, so that advocates of “regulated” or “green” capitalism are raising false hopes. Smith says, “saving the planet requires that profits be subordinated to environmental concerns: Scientists tell us that to stop global warming we need to suppress CO2 emissions by 90% in thirty years, and the only way to do this is to close down and/or radically retrench not just coal and oil companies but also many industries based on them. But no corporate board is going to commit economic suicide just to save the humans.”

Grassroots International believes that to be sustainable the Earth’s resources must be used for people, not for profit: The need for resource rights and for fundamental change is why Grassroots International supports partners like the Via Campesina and the Landless Workers Movement in Brazil who model alternative ways to live and produce. Grassroots International funds social movements, not “development” or “micro-enterprise.” And that’s why Richard Smith supports Grassroots International.

Read the Truthout review of Richard’s book here.
David Holmstrom is on the Board of Directors and also serves as the Treasurer for Grassroots International.