Why Capitalism Loves Disasters

In this Our Changing Climate climate change video essay, I look at why disaster capitalism exists and how it works. Specifically, I dive into the core principles behind disaster capitalism-- how crises are exploited to pass neoliberal policies, turn a profit, and privatize land and resources previously held in common. But I also dive into how climate change and the climate crisis are a gold mine for disaster capitalism. Not only does capitalism destabilize communities on the frontlines of climate change and climate disasters, but it also capitalizes on the destruction of these natural disasters, further entrenching free-market capitalist ideas and policies. Capitalism is fueling climate change as well as profiting and exploiting the wreckage it leaves in its wake.

Check out other Climate YouTubers:

Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
2:03 - What Is Disaster Capitalism?
4:01 - A History Of Disaster
8:18 - Capitalism Loves the Climate Crisis
12:42 - Towards a Collective Response
15:27 - CuriosityStream and Nebula Sponsor Spot

Certain images and footage courtesy of Getty Images
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#capitalism #socialism #climatechange

[OurChangingClimate]

What are some other topics you'd like me to cover in future videos?

[pablouribe]

Chaos and Disaster is their best ally, and fear. They like people who are so desperate that they do not even think about the consequences of their actions, because they are surviving. At the same time, they thrive in the "fake" needs they generate, because if something is really wanted, you can make it expensive.

[simonvanleeuwen]

Highly recommend to everyone who is watching this video to read The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein as mentioned in the video. This is the first book I read that accurately highlighted some of the wrongdoings of capitalism and its tactics. It makes you sad, angry, and disgusted, but most importantly motivates you to fight this system.

[SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

Ever hear the saying “Gas prices take the elevator up and the stairs down”? I feel like it’s especially relevant to this topic.

Because CEOs and politicians love to use disasters to trigger the elevator, AND use that same disaster in order to stick to the stairs. Ukraine is a great example of this. The Republicans have already released a playbook of talking points where they want everyone to try to use this as an excuse to drill for more oil in America. At the same time, they want to use the excuse of not having access to Russian oil as a reasoning for why sky-high gas prices have to stick around.

But of course they continue to neglect to mention any plans to deploy more solar and wind generation of electricity…

[gamingcomedy]

I live in the DFW area of Texas. The week everything was frozen was crazy. Not only did those ~250 people die from the lack of power and warmth, but a lot of people died on the roads as well. I personally had a customer of mine pass away from a massive highway pile up. These capitalist were still forcing people to go into work. SOME OF THOSE OFFICES DIDN'T HAVE POWER! What were they supposed to do when they arrived?? My work was still open. Luckily my manager is understanding, so I avoided the roads, but not everyone is so lucky. It was sad, and that really started my radicalization. Now I'm a hardcore socialst who studies daily. It's time for serious change.

[tiredandretired]

It is not just disasters. In general, the more messed up things are, the cheeper workers are and the more they can charge for things we need. A starving person will give all he has for a.bowl of rice or do anything any work for that same bowl. That is why everything is getting worse despite the fact that it could be fixed.

[Hyperventilacion]

Hey this topic is actually my master's thesis, although it's more focused on the resistance in the post-disaster. An important thing to consider regarding critical post-disaster studies is that there's a growing consensus that disasters are human made, we have the capacity and systems in place to greatly reduce the damage (physical and social) that comes after a hazardous natural event, hence they mostly become a disaster due to the failure (or lack of interest) of our governments and systems to mitigate the vulnerabilities that come from natural hazards, on top of that, these event overwhelmingly affect already vulnerable populations which are in that positions due to Neoliberal policies in the first place. While this is very serious and concerning, the post-disaster is also a great opportunity for reorganization and to fight back the status quo, Jacob Remes takes this empowering perspective with his concept of Disaster Citizenship, I analyzed the 2010 earthquake of Chile using this perspective.

[knarf_on_a_bike]

Talk about disaster capitalism: war in Ukraine, gasoline prices go through the roof, petroleum industry makes record profits. Go figure. . .

[NoNTrvaL]

"...making a killing". Both literally and figuratively. Love that phrasing!

[Dexter]

This is one of the many reasons I believe we will never fix climate change. As long as the ones with the power to really change things in the better keeps profiting out of this, they will actively stop people from trying to save the environment. That until no amount of money will provide them any advantages anymore, but at that point it will be too late for saving anything.

[johannageisel]

The entire Corona crisis is a good example for this. The rich got so much richer while the normal people suffer.

[パガイ]

As someone who lived in Texas during the big freeze, believe me when I say that community support was the only thing keeping people alive. I personally worked driving distilled water to people whose pipes were damaged by the freezing, and I knew other people who drove food miles out to people in food deserts without access to gas to drive their cars.

[GeahkBurchill]

The Shock Doctrine is still the most terrifying book I’ve ever read — and I’m a Stephen King fan

[OutdoorLonghair]

FYI: Chicago Mercantile Exchange added WATER to the futures commodity market.
There is now financial incentive to make WATER harder to get.

[Priestofgoddess]

That is why stuff like financial crashs are not a failure of the system, but a intrinsic part of it.

[fish.]

I wish the 1% didn't exist or just in general I wish the class system/captialism didn't exist.

[grmpEqweer]

Texas has these severe cold snaps. I blame Greg Abbott for not forcing the grid to winterize and add spare capacity. He was warned.

[D-Pants]

Not just bikes is such a great channel.

[BdR]

In The Netherlands there's currently (sep 2022) a scandal about 3 guys that were supposed to provide face masks to hospitals at beginning of the pandemic. They long held that they wouldn't stand to profit and they were doing it "at cost".

Until a leaked audio recordings from beforehand turned up, where one of them says things like *We're going to become crazy rich* . So yeah, too often disaster = profit

[liasonlee]

This world is changing, for better or worse,
and instead of "workers of the world unite"
we could come up with "people of the world unite"
unite we must against the dire future, against the greed and malicious self serving intentions of capitalists.