Also in Nature & Environment

How the Rich Are Destroying the Earth

by Herve´ Kempf

Foreword by Greg Palast

Praise

"[Kempf] makes a very strong case indeed that ecological problems and social justice are inextricably connected."

—John-Paul Flintoff, The Sunday (London) Times blog

"Can global warming be reversed and our ecological balance restored? The answer is certainly yes. But as Hervé Kempf explains with great force and élan, it will require a massive social transformation, in which the principles of ecology and social justice gain ascendance over corporate greed. How the Rich are Destroying the Earth presents brutal truths about our present-day reality, while also offering optimism in the struggle for a sustainable future."

—Robert Pollin, Co-Director of the Political Economy Research Institute and author of Contours of Descent

"A powerful indictment of neoliberalism and its assault on people and the planet. Kempf shows that the system responsible for increasing the power of the wealthy elite has also spawned, not only poverty, but also environmental destruction in its wake."

—Marty Wolfson, University of Notre Dame

"Kempf's elegant thesis puts a stake in the heart of neoliberalism, explains ecology like a poet, and unravels the self-serving economic theories of both the left and the right. Kempf is a modern day Lorax with a political conscience. He worries about the trees and the ad execs and the CIA, about ecology and economy and democracy--in short, he puts the pieces of the puzzle together. Santa's getting this one for all my friends."

—John Passacantando, Executive Director of Greenpeace USA

"In How the Rich Are Destroying the Earth Hervé Kempf has boldly dropped a mindbomb and broken a long standing taboo."

—Kalle Lasn, Editor-in-Chief of Adbusters magazine and author of Culture Jam

"Kempf powerfully draws attention to issues of wealth, poverty, and the ecological basis for life that have been too long neglected by economists and those who listen to us."

—Julie A. Nelson, author of Economics for Humans

"How the Rich Are Destroying the Earth is a fact-filled, concise, hard-hitting, highly rational, and much needed analysis of the crises we face, and of the need to both reduce and redistribute global material consumption. Kempf's unswerving dedication to presenting the facts behind the problems and his insistence on breaking old molds is a call to action that must be heeded."

—John Perkins, New York Times bestselling author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man and The Secret History of the American Empire

"Speaks seldom-heard truths about economic growth, environmental destruction, poverty, and equity that hold the key to human survival and well-being. An important book."

—David Korten, author of The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community and When Corporations Rule the World

"I certainly hope the provocative title of this little book doesn't keep anybody from reading it because it's a gem. In concise and highly readable prose, Hervé Kempf makes the case that the uncontrolled pursuit of extreme wealth in the global economy is the greatest roadblock to a sustainable future. He challenges our misplaced faith in economic growth and technological panaceas, and makes clear the inevitability of catastrophe unless our global oligarchs are restrained through citizen action in democratic societies. You will learn a lot from this small volume and much of it will shock you, but in the end Kempf sounds a strong note of optimism, an optimism that can only be justified if enough of us hear and heed his powerful message. You owe it to your grandchildren to read this book."

—John de Graaf, coauthor of Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic and Executive Director of Take Back Your Time

"At last someone is speaking the truth that so many know yet few acknowledge: the rich are destroying the earth. And people are listening, reading, understanding. Read this book, then stop the rich from destroying our only home, and while you're at it destroy the wretched system that allows the rich to do this. Thank you Hervé Kempf, and thank you Chelsea Green."

—Derrick Jensen, author of A Language Older Than Words, Listening to the Land, and others

"Kempf's warning, from the perch of Le Monde, needs to be heeded. Ecologists must read it to see the centrality of political economy; Lefties must read it to get a sense of the ongoing eco-cide."

—Vijay Prashad, author of The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World

"Stunning survey . . . great journalism."

—Anne Crignon, Le Nouvel Observateur

"[A] bombshell book."

—Louis-Gilles Francoeur, Le Devoir (Montréal, Québec)

"Hervé Kempf wastes no words and pulls no punches in showing how the planet's most privileged people are also its most dangerous. His book is to the early twenty-first century what The Theory of the Leisure Class was to the early twentieth--but with a couple of extra shots of much-needed adrenaline."

—Stan Cox, author of Sick Planet: Corporate Food and Medicine

"An intellectually original and undeniably pugnacious endeavor."

—Patrick Piro, Politis

"An invigorating book, to be read at once."

—L'Ecologiste

"A vigorous indictment against the 'neoliberal ideology,' guilty of driving the planet towards its own destruction."

—Olivier Nouaillas, La Vie

"Our biosphere is dying, and with it the livelihood of billions. But the global royalty that sets the rules for trade and commerce goes on in its bubble, oblivious to anything but its self interest. Filled with righteous anger, this book tells a truth that cannot be denied and may just save the planet and our lives."

—Maude Barlow, author of Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water

"It's time we stopped pretending that the climate crisis is unrelated to market fundamentalism, because we cannot fix the climate until we fix the way power and wealth are allocated. Kempf reminds us of the verities we forgot when we became mesmerized by affluence."

—Clive Hamilton, Professor of Public Ethics at the (Australian) Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics