The Value of a Whale
by Adrienne Buller
Whales consume, digest, and efficiently store large amounts of carbon-rich prey and release very little Carbon dioxide. Some genius, therefore, arrived at an estimate that a whale captures about 33 tons of Carbon dioxide over its lifespan.
Capitalism had no other choice but to put a price on this, and therefore, another genius at IMF, arrived at the value of “ecosystem services” provided by a whale, estimated at $2 million. That is the value of a Whale.
By this token, the value of human life in any urban context would probably be negative, proving Thanos right!
The Value of a Whale is a book about the hypocrisy of the entire Green Economy and how it is built to support the narrative of financialisation of everything in the environment. They want to put a price on everything that happens in nature, NOT TO SAVE THE PLANET, but to make money while harbouring the pretence.
A small number of index funds control a large number of companies.
A small number of governments have outsized influence on international climate policy
A small number of organisations issue all of the bond ratings
A coterie of powerful people meet at Davos to determine how to divide the world
They come up with stupid ideas, such as carbon sequestration, and decide that they can solve the climate problem simply by removing all the carbon from the air. Never mind that this would require the forestation of land equal to the area of Brazil. Or that to undertake these projects, a neo-colonial effort is underway that ensures the dispossession of lands from people in Africa so that trees can be planted where they once lived.
The entire premise of the green economy is that markets are competent enough to solve all problems. On the one hand this statement is patently false and on the other hand, we are in the current situation because the markets have completely failed at the task.
Also, many of the “facts” the undergirder the climate change thesis are complete nonsense. The 2 degrees Celsius figure that has become a tentpole for all climate discussions is not based on environmental impacts but modelling done by economist William Nordhaus of the economic loss due to an increase in temperature.
All of the climate projections magically stop at the year 2100. As if the world either stops existing at that point. The truth is, when you have 70 and 80-year-olds making decisions, 2100 is going to be so long after their death that they need not care.
If you had a child in the last 5 years, you probably need to care what happens beyond 2100
This book is an incredible critique not only of the green economy by a naked indictment of the failure of what we call the economic system across the world. I highly recommend reading this book.