Radical change: just how radical? - Andreas Malm
No doubt that ecological economics is about inducing radical change in the world. While that is almost never up for debate in these circles, just how radical is radical remains to be a highly divisive issue. Environmentalist movements had been seen in the past rather peaceful and being rebellious as an ecological economist is more about strongly attacking the current order. In theory. But can profound change really happen without blowing up a pipeline? Today’s guest, Andreas Malm argues that it cannot. Andreas is a climate activist, author, and associate professor of human ecology at Lund University, Sweden. In his work he often argues that those with vested interests in the current world order will not just turn green out of kindness of the heart. Movements that induced radical change in power structures in the past such as feminism or the anti-apartheid rebels only achieved their aims when they turned away from just symbolic moves. In his latest book, How to blow up a pipeline: Learning to fight in a world on fire he argues that ecological movements remain unsuccessful as they only consider peaceful means to achieve radical change.