CLIMATE CHANGE, CHRISTIANITY, AND THE CAPITALOCENE
Originally published 16 December 2021.
It is commonly argued that we are living in the geological age of the Anthropocene. This is the age when humanity is considered to be the dominant force that shapes the planet, just as other forces shaped the planet in earlier times, like glacial ice shaping the Pleistocene (between 2.5 million and 11,000 years ago) and warmer conditions shaping the Holocene, during which the human species first emerged.
What the concept of the Anthropocene neglects, however, is that not all human activities have equal impact on the planet. 71 percent of all carbon emissions, for instance, which are the major factor in global warming, are linked to only 100 corporations. Thus, instead of Anthropocene, it has been suggested that we find ourselves in the Capitalocene, the geological age when the interests of big money are shaping the planet.
The Capitalocene, as I am arguing in a forthcoming book (Theology in the Capitalocene: Ecology, Identity, Class, and Solidarity, Fortress Press 2022), shapes and affects everything. While it is the major factor in climate change, it also shapes humanity, the way we relate to each other, the way we think, and even our most deeply held religious beliefs.
Some of this shaping happens by default. The logic of big money sneaks into images of God, when God is envisioned as a heavenly CEO rather than a collaborator with humanity. The logic of big money also infuses personal relationships, so that potential partners for instance are evaluated according to their supposed “market value.” However, some of this shaping is intentional and worth investigating further here.
Climate change is especially telling, as it is one the major challenges of our time. When the general public acknowledges climate change, responses often focus on the carbon footprint of individuals, which is no accident. Emphasis on individual responsibility is supported by “carbon footprint calculators,” which estimate personal CO2 emissions and are widely available on the internet. The terminology of carbon footprint and the respective calculators can be traced back to the fossil fuel industry, which started to promote them in the early 2000s in order to direct attention away from corporate interests.
In the world of Christianity, the Capitalocene also factors in the often-observed shift to the right. Since the 1930s and 1940s, big money has systematically invested in conservative Christianity. In the process, conservative Christianity itself has become more conservative. The values that people perceive to be “traditional” are frequently not preserving the past but the interests of big money, for instance by shifting attention from corporate interests (and climate change) to so-called family values that often tend to be more restrictive than even the family values of the 1950s.
Engaging climate change and Christianity from the perspective of the Capitalocene, therefore, is crucial if we want to make a difference. This brings us to a fundamental problem that is virtually taboo and, like taboos in general, directs us back to the heart of religion.
Even when the fundamental relation of climate change and CO2 emissions is recognized, dominant conversations about emissions tend to neglect the fact that emissions are the outcome of the extraction of fossil fuel and coal, which is related to capitalism’s foundation in relationships of exploitation. In the COP-21 Paris Agreement, for instance, there is frequent reference to emissions but no reference to extraction.
This neglect of extraction also tends to neglect the fact that the methods and conditions of extraction are determined by the interests of capital rather than by the human communities that are most affected by these activities. In addition, the forces that extract raw materials from the planet are inextricably linked to the forces that exploit human labor, another matter that is sometimes neglected when CO2 emissions are the sole focus of debate. This is one of the reasons why at the Wendland-Cook Program we try to keep matters of ecology and the economy together.
In all of this, religion is not just a sideshow. Christianity, it has been argued convincingly, has contributed to the deterioration of the climate in its own ways. Examples include an exclusive focus on humanity and troubled understandings of its “dominion” (Genesis 1:26) of the earth, as well as an otherworldly focus that does not care about material reality. In addition, Christianity has also supported extractive and exploitative relationships to the earth and its people by supporting the logic of the Capitalocene, if only by further rendering conversations about extraction and exploitation taboo.
Any quest for alternatives needs to consider this history so as not to end up promoting solutions that further perpetuate the problems. Common Christian ideas like “creation care,” for instance, need to be combined with questions such as why creation is not being cared for, who benefits from this lack of care, and how the most significant damage is done, while addressing relationships of extraction and exploitation at the heart of many of these problems. The same is true for widespread calls for the “protection of creation,” the “restoration of creation,” or “environmental stewardship.”
If there is indeed a connection between climate change, Christianity, and the Capitalocene, solutions can only be developed if the three are addressed together. For Christians, this means not only deepening our concerns for climate change but also addressing its causes at deeper levels. To do this, we will need to address the logic of capital that drives extraction and exploitation. At the same time, we also need to forge deeper solidarities with those who are most affected by relationships of extraction and exploitation, as this is where the power to change things often rests.
For people of faith, this means aligning ourselves with the power of working people, which constitute the majority of humanity, as 99 percent of us have to work for a living. It also means aligning ourselves with the power of the earth that continues to produce resources sustainably. And, finally, this means aligning ourselves with the power of the divine that Abrahamic traditions often envision in terms of the creativity of working people (Genesis 2:7-8, with parallels in the Qur’an) and the planet (Genesis 1:20, 24).
This piece was originally published in an online forum for the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice. Read more from additional contributors here.