When we talk about climate change or global warming, one important question comes up: What forces can the government organize to fight against global warming? Or we could ask, who on Earth can actually fight against global warming? Can global warming be stopped by raising taxes or by giving more power to the government? If you think the answer is ‘yes,’ then the next question is: When will we see the results? In 10 years, 20 years, or maybe only after several generations?
I bet that you or your descendants won’t be able to judge the results because we never set a clear goal. Over time, people might forget about it, even though the taxes are still there and the Earth is still getting warmer.
What is capitalism? Capitalism comes from freedom—it’s a reflection of human nature in the economy. In other words, it’s a model of human’s nature. As Adam Smith explained in his book, people act in their own self-interest when they do business, and this actually helps improve the well-being of society as a whole.
At first, global warming and capitalism might not seem connected, but they are. We’ve seen that some activists blame capitalism for causing global warming. The question is: If capitalism really caused global warming, can we solve it by getting rid of capitalism and switching to another kind of *ism?
I’ve personally heard people say, ‘But capitalism does have some problems.’ I was surprised because, when someone thinks like this, they’re expecting something that has no problems at all. The logic is pretty simple: If you don’t want something that has a few problems, then you must be hoping for something that is perfect and has no problems at all.
Let’s get back to the main question: Could another *ism solve global warming better? As the author of this article, I have to admit, we don’t know. But from history and what we’ve seen today, in some societies that follow other *isms, global warming isn’t really the problem—getting enough food to eat is. We’ve also seen activists push governments to put limits on industries like cattle farming and agriculture. But logically, and in practice, this could lead to famine. It might not happen in rich countries, but it could in poorer countries that depend on cheap food from wealthier nations. This means that when rich countries reduce industrial and agricultural production to fight global warming, poor countries may face famine first.
“Global warming could cause disasters! Let’s have famines first to stop it!” Wait, what exactly is a disaster? I thought you said you cared about poor people.
Actually, we’ve seen in other *ism societies that sometimes, people try to solve one problem by creating an even bigger one.
Once again, can we solve global warming by getting rid of capitalism and switching to another *ism? We don’t know for sure, but here’s what we do know: In a capitalist society, people compete to make better and cheaper products to win in the market. This kind of behavior is productive and helps poor people afford food and other essentials. It can delay disasters, and before the real disaster arrives, people have more time to develop science and technology to fight against it. And if people can’t defeat the disaster, well, maybe they’ll have the chance to fly to Mars instead!
