Climate catastrophies, including recent forest fires and hurricanes, have energized students and others in the fight against climate change. Capitalism causes nature’s disastrous events because its profit-seeking goals preclude meeting , or even acknowledging, social needs. The most important step forward for the growing climate movement, therefore, is for the working class to mobilize a revolutionary communist party, Progressive Labor Party(PLP) that will lead the struggle to conquer capitalist power.
Nevertheless, we must consider the role of the main wing of the ruling class (as represented by Laurance Rockefeller and his foundation, in the environmental movement). Rockefeller has funded the environmental movement since the 1960s, and in the 1980s emphasized global warming.
The dominant section of the capitalist ruling class tries to use our fear of fossil fuels’ destructive power to keep the domestic rival bosses in check and pressure imperialist China.
Emerging climate movement
Greta Thunberg, a Swedish student, launched the #FridaysForFuture youth movement against global warming. Now, an international youth organization is spearheading a worldwide “Climate Strike” from September 20-27 to demand an end to the use of fossil fuels. In Washington, D.C., 250 students and workers protested outside the Brazilian embassy against the Bolsonaro regime’s tacit approval of the devastating Amazon fires. Mass protests are spreading across the world.
At these events, people know that the primary cause of global warming is the capitalists’ drive for maximizing profits, which requires the disregard of the welfare of billions of workers and a catastrophic disregard of the impact of their greed on natural resources. But many have illusions about the role of governments; they believe that mass actions can force governments to promote  climate stability.
Global warming caused by capitalism
Today we are experiencing a dramatic departure from the natural evolution of our planet. Climate scientists understand that the current period of rapid warming is a result of human activity over the past two centuries, the period when capitalism came to dominate the globe. Burning fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) to generate electricity, power transportation, and provide heating and air conditioning generates carbon dioxide (CO2). CO2 and natural gas (methane) are the two greenhouse gases most responsible for trapping heat in the atmosphere.
The global warming effect generates a feedback loop in which the atmospheric heat generates conditions that further accelerate global warming. Heated air holds more water vapor, which exacerbates the heat trap effect and causes more frequent and violent hurricanes and flooding. Thawing permafrost releases methane trapped centuries earlier, again adding to heat trapping. And as Arctic ice melts, the darker sea reflects less of the sun’s rays, absorbing still more heat.
No solution within capitalism
Capitalism hastens global warming because its inherent competitive drive forces all corporations to constantly expand production in order to maximize profits. Moreover, the capital invested in the fossil fuel industries is enormous and not something the capitalist class will surrender for the benefit of workers. Reversing global warming will be impossible until capitalism is abolished. Today’s capitalists control politicians. While the bosses are united in screwing the working class, their profit interests are divided. Politicians’ statements about the Green New Deal are meaningless since such initiatives will cost the capitalists significant profits; the concept of democracy for the working class is a sham.
Revolution
The best action for climate change is a working-class revolution for a worldwide communist system. Abolishing capitalism and replacing the current fascist leadership with a communist-led international working class will enable us to implement technical solutions to global warming. Renewable energy sources including nuclear, wind, solar, geothermal, and hydroelectric power will replace fossil fuels as the working class determines the options most appropriate for their needs.
Further actions that are unprofitable to today’s capitalists—such as forest renewal and preservation, and removing CO2 from the atmosphere—can be seriously implemented by workers in power. The working class will move mountains and resolve the climate crisis when it achieves political power through communist revolution and removes the capitalists and their profit system from the earth. Join us!