The Politics of Renewable Energy

On who owns the power.

Matt Huber joins us to discuss his article, "Socialist Politics and the Electricity Grid", and how organised labour is central to a politics of plenty. What is the grid and who owns it? What are the limitations of a "100% renewables" approach? 

On the politics of energy, the left is divided in a similar way to the ruling class. How do we move from a strategy of 'blocking' (preventing new infrastructure) to one of 'building'? And why does a movement to limit climate change need to focus on production, rather than consumption?

We conclude by discussing the conflict between struggles around "the end of the month" (living standards) and those around "the end of the world" (climate change).

Readings & Links:

• Socialist Politics & the Electricity Grid, Matt Huber & Fred Stafford, Catalyst
• Climate Change as Class War: Building Socialism on a Warming Planet, Matt Huber, Verso
• On post-neoliberalism: /326/ What Did Capitalism Do Next?, Bungacast
• On de-growth: /310/ Do You Want to De-Grow?, Bungacast
• On green activism: /91/ Exhaustion Revealing ft. Leigh Phillips, Bungacast
• Matt's Twitter thread on Kokei Saito's degrowth communism