Crimes Against Nature: Capitalism and Global Heating, by Jeff Sparrow

• 240 pages
• Scribe publishing
• Published 2nd November 2021
• ISBN: 9781922310705

I read this book last year and have quoted from it many times. I include it in my top eight books of the last few years. It’s a very well-written compilation of essays on our environmental crises and the root cause of them, and, spoiler alert, the root cause is not everyday people, but rather growth-driven economics and corporations with their need for evermore growth. Covering a wide range of topics from the nature of work, the introduction of cars, the social licensing that recycling gave corporations, our relationship to nature and how it has been undermined by the ruling class and much more, I highly recommend this book. It will provide you with a clear-eye view of the changes we need and where our focus should be.

Before I read Crimes Against Nature, I listened to this podcast with the author. Here is a brief description of the episode:

“For too long ordinary people have been singled out – their actions, and consumption habits, and blamed for climate change. 

Instead, we should be pointing the finger at large corporations, and growth-based economics. 

So believes writer Jeff Sparrow, whose book Crimes Against Nature argues that unless the economic system changes, no amount of recycling, or individual action, is likely to achieve much. 

He tells Paul Barclay that, despite this, he is optimistic, because he believes collective action can bring about real change.”

Well worth a listen if you have the time.

About the author, Jeff Sparrow:

“Jeff Sparrow is a writer, editor, broadcaster, and Walkley Award–winning journalist. He is a columnist for The Guardian Australia, a former Breakfaster at Melbourne’s 3RRR, and a past editor of Overland literary journal. His most recent books are Fascists Among Us: online hate and the Christchurch massacre; Trigger Warnings: political correctness and the rise of the right; and No Way But This: in search of Paul Robeson. He lectures at the Centre for Advancing Journalism at The University of Melbourne.”

Follow Jeff on X (formerly Twitter).

About Erin Remblance, your host during #DegrowthLitMonth:

Erin Remblance established her early career in blue-chip fast-moving consumer goods companies in Sydney & London, but always sensed there was more important work to be done. Having children gave her the space to explore the environmental and cultural crises on the planet that need to be urgently addressed. She shifted her focus to dedicate her life towards educating people on climate change, degrowth, planetary boundaries, modern monetary theory and more. Erin is a writer, researcher, co-creator of (re)Biz, wife, and mother of three children. She lives north of Sydney, Australia with her family, on the occupied ancestral country of the Gayemagal people.

Follow Erin on Substack, LinkedIn, (re)Biz and X (formerly Twitter).

#DegrowthLitMonth