Commonwealth Club Of California Podcast

Scientists have known for decades that climate change is an existential crisis. For just as long, critics say there has been a complete failure of our institutions to rise to the challenge. Governments have struggled to meet even modest goals. Fossil fuel interests maintain a stranglehold on political and economic power. Even though we have seen growing concern from everyday people, civil society has succeeded only in pressuring decisionmakers to adopt watered-down policies. All the while, the climate crisis worsens. Is there any hope of achieving the necessary systemic change? Dana R. Fisher argues that there is a realistic path forward for climate action―but only through mass mobilization that responds to the growing severity and frequency of disastrous events. Spurred by the lack of progress, climate activism has become increasingly confrontational. Fisher examines the radical flank of the climate movement: its emergence and growth, its use of direct action, and how it might evolve as the climate crisis wo