Summary

A few years back, Klein noticed that robust green energy programs were facing daunting challenges. She writes that nations were accusing one another of violations and protectionist policies. Free trade and climate action are at odds in many cases around the world. Klein learned that an oil company was using NAFTA to challenge Quebec’s fracking moratorium. Progress made by environmentalists is inevitably challenged by corporations that focus on profit. Klein points out that there are some advancements; solar markets in the U.S. and China are growing. However, in Klein’s opinion, trade rules have to be rewritten because they actually make some appropriate responses to climate change illegal. Privatization, deregulation and the lowering of income and corporate taxes are all barriers against bringing emissions to safe levels.

Klein writes that the climate movement was launched June 23, 1988 during a congressional hearing...