Ecological Catastrophe and the Neoliberal Imagination

Abstract

This paper considers the way in which the predominance of neo-liberalism as a social and economic model has framed thinking about the available options with regard to address of the ecological crisis — what is seen as possible, plausible and desirable. The paper specifically argues that neo-liberalism discouraged thought about large-scale, public, action in favor of more "market-friendly" solutions (as with the theoretical possibility of the redress of "externalities" via mechanisms like cap-and-trade arrangements, reliance on consumer choice and technological palliatives like point-source carbon capture) — and in the absence of those solutions' plausibility, despair.

Keywords: Neo-liberalism, Political Economy, Environmentalism, Neo-liberal Environmentalism, Ecological Crisis, Climate Change, Economic History, Political Ideology, Catastrophe, Dystopia, Science Fiction, Futurology, Libertarianism