“It’s too late”: David Suzuki and the death agony of liberal environmentalism
https://www.marxist.ca/article/its-too-late-david-suzuki-and-the-death-agony-of-liberal-environmentalism
by rarer_
“It’s too late”: David Suzuki and the death agony of liberal environmentalism
https://www.marxist.ca/article/its-too-late-david-suzuki-and-the-death-agony-of-liberal-environmentalism
by rarer_
10 comments
I have kids. This breaks me.
Unfortunately, he’s probably right.
This was posted 5 days ago, so is this still relevant?
Folks, read the full article. This is not a doomer post.
> In a [recent interview](https://www.ipolitics.ca/2025/07/02/its-too-late-david-suzuki-says-the-fight-against-climate-change-is-lost/), David Suzuki made comments that summed up everything wrong with liberal environmentalism.
> Suzuki states that “Mark Carney is the most well-informed prime minister on climate change that we’ve had.” He continues: “I talked to Carney when he was head of the Bank of England and it’s very clear he understands the threat we face with climate change and the need to act immediately.”
> When asked about Carney scrapping the carbon tax, Suzuki said: “Well, he had to do that.”
> Similarly, Suzuki states that:
> “We all celebrated when Justin Trudeau came in after Stephen Harper. Trudeau went to Paris and signed the agreement to limit the rise of global temperatures, but then he bought a pipeline two and a half years later.”
> So Suzuki supports Liberals even though he is very well aware that they betray the cause of the environment. How does he justify this contradictory position?
> Because Suzuki cannot see beyond capitalism, he is inevitably forced to accept that capitalism forces certain realities onto politics. Therefore he ends up rejecting politics altogether stating that: “The problem is it’s all about politics, and politics is so disconnected from the real world.”
> While Suzuki recognizes that “We need revolution,” this is only a passing thought that he brushes aside with a comment about not being sure whether or not we can have a “peaceful revolution.”
> So left up with no other alternatives, Suzuki has given up on trying to fight climate change and instead argues to “hunker down.” He argues for local communities to come together and prepare themselves for climate catastrophe.
> But there is no reason for us to adopt the depressed perspective of Suzuki. The fact that Liberal politicians are betraying the cause of the environment is not because of some innate failure of humanity but because of the failure of the capitalist system.
> Along with the crisis of capitalism there is another force rising – one much more numerous and combative than a small layer of depressed liberals. The working class is being ground down under the gears of capitalist exploitation and is radicalizing at levels not seen since the 1960s or 1930s. This force is rising and is looking for a way out of this nightmare. This gives us immense hope in the future of humanity and in our ability to solve the climate crisis.
Read the full article on [marxist.ca](https://www.marxist.ca/article/its-too-late-david-suzuki-and-the-death-agony-of-liberal-environmentalism).
This is what liberal cooptation does to radical movements. Nixon created the EPA to coopt the radical environmentalist movement. “Well, looks like the government is doing something to improve the environment! Guess I can just grill and vote every 4 years and recycle knowing my competent government is definitely taking steps to address climate change!”
I understand where Suzuki is coming from. Capitalism will doom the human race because too many think the economy is priory #1. Ugh.
Seems like an awfully biased piece. I’m not a capitalism super fan but let’s not act like things would suddenly change if we switched political systems. Suzuki’s operating off what the science is telling us, and our way out of this mess has come and gone. In any case his suggestion of local community building would be great – how can you expect individuals to care about their country or the world for that matter if they can’t even care for theirs neighbors?
Consider the source of this article.
Marxist.com, with “communist revolution” in big letters at the top of the page.
Without taking a stance for or against this particular world view, it is clear that this article has a very, very strong bias toward leading readers in a certain direction.
“The problem is too much carbon is being dug up from the ground and put into the air. The only real solution of course is… Ending capitalism!”
I don’t disagree necessarily, just I want to put it out there that there are a few jumps and things we should maybe also try? Like the saying was “no plan B”. Made sense at the time but now that we’re pretty much 100% agreed that plan a of “stop carbon emissions” has failed, let’s dust off those plan Bs that were in fact existent and were more than “hunker down”.
Geoengineering, carbon sequestration, carbon tax later rather than never. Like… That makes a lot more sense than “Marxism and give up.”
Blaming ecological overshoot on capitalism is misinformed and reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the predicament. Read “Overshoot” by William Catton Jr. The engine of the human superorganism will continue to overshoot under a capitalist (distributed) economy, or a communist (centralized) one. All that matters now is how humanity responds to the carrying capacity crash.
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