Page 205 - Carbon Capitalism and Communication Confronting Climate Crisis

CHAPTER 17

An Interview with Blair Palese: Green

Campaigns—Challenges, Opportunities
and 350.org

Blair Palese and Benedetta Brevini

In Australia Blair Palese and 350.org are working to build a movement to
stop new fossil fuels and rapidly reduce greenhouse emissions by coun-
tering the power of the fossil fuel industry with the power of people taking
collective action.
BB: According to some of the most recent and powerful interventions
including the book by Naomi Klein, free market fundamentalism and
capitalist globalization have generated the current climate crisis. Do
you agree with this view?
BP: There’s no doubt that the notion of endless growth—profiting from the
use of every resource you can get your hands on regardless of consequences—
has led to the current climate change crisis. Run-away capitalism and the
burning offossil fuels for energy is unsustainable and we need to change how
we interact with our planet if we are to survive. The issue of climate change

B. Palese (&)
Sydney, Australia
e-mail: blair@350.org
B. Brevini
University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
e-mail: benedetta.brevini@sydney.edu.au

© The Author(s) 2017 201
B. Brevini and G. Murdock (eds.), Carbon Capitalism and Communication,
Palgrave Studies in Media and Environmental Communication,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-57876-7_17