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Andreas Malm's brilliant book Fossil Capital suggests that the origin of the current climate crisis can be found in the coupling of fossil fuels with capitalism in 19th century industrial Britain. More provocatively he argues that the choice of coal to power early industrial capitalism was a conscious, rather than inevitable decision. This choice and the resultant consequence of global warming, were made in order to undermine and challenge working class resistance to early 19th century capitalism. In the 21st century with temperatures continuing to rise and 2016 once again the hottest year on record by some margin, the issue of an alternative to Fossil Capital is more urgent than ever." (email)

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"The more we know about the catastrophic implications of climate change, the more fossil fuels we burn. How did we end up in this mess?

In this masterful new history, Andreas Malm claims it all began in Britain with the rise of steam power. But why did manufacturers turn from traditional sources of power, notably water mills, to an engine fired by coal? Contrary to established views, steam offered neither cheaper nor more abundant energy—but rather superior control of subordinate labour. Animated by fossil fuels, capital could concentrate production at the most profitable sites and during the most convenient hours, as it continues to do today. Sweeping from nineteenth-century Manchester to the emissions explosion in China, from the original triumph of coal to the stalled shift to renewables, this study hones in on the burning heart of capital and demonstrates, in unprecedented depth, that turning down the heat will mean a radical overthrow of the current economic order."

Fossil Capital

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