Free City Radio
Tuesday July 23rd, 2024 with Stefan Christoff
The Sustainability Class: How to Take Back Our Future from Lifestyle Environmentalists

Listen to an interview about "The Sustainability Class: How to Take Back Our Future from Lifestyle Environmentalists" a book by Vijay Kolinjivadi and Aaron Vansintjan that will be out later this year. The book is described this way: "An original argument that environmental sustainability has been co-opted by the urban elite, along with examples from around the world of ways we can save our planet. With more urban residents interested in living sustainably, we have seen the emergence of a green-tech service economy premised around a kind of “lifestyle environmentalism.” Concerns over sustainability have been co-opted to sell a high-tech urban lifestyle, causing cities to become more unequal and unsustainable, cementing the elite’s status, and excluding the working class, racial minorities, and women. Focusing on what they term the “sustainability class”—a woke and wealthy set of urbanites convinced that sustainability can be achieved through individual actions, green and “smart” development, and technological efficiency—authors Vijay Kolinjivadi and Aaron Vansintjan challenge many of the popular ideas about saving the planet. It is actually the approach of the sustainability class itself, the authors argue, that is unsustainable; improving eco-efficiency within a capitalist, growth-oriented system will neither save us nor lead to true sustainability." Info: thenewpress.com/books/sustainability-class Thanks to the Social Justice Centre for supporting my work on this weekly program. The music is by Anarchist Mountains. Aaron and Vijay write on the accompanying photo: "The cover photo was taken during a visit to a homeless encampment near LA's Chinatown, where an unhoused man had committed suicide the night before. He died while being restrained and handcuffed by police. Photo by Neal Rockwell. www.nealrockwellphoto.com"