The Value of a Whale

English language

Published Oct. 2, 2022 by Manchester University Press.

ISBN:: 978-1-5261-6262-5

(1 review)

Public understanding of, and outcry over, the dire state of the climate and environment is greater than ever before. Parties across the political spectrum claim to be climate leaders, and overt denial is on the way out. Yet when it comes to slowing the course of the climate and nature crises, despite a growing number of pledges, policies and summits, little ever seems to change. Nature is being destroyed at an unprecedented rate. We remain on course for a catastrophic 3°C of warming. What's holding us back?

In this searing and insightful critique, Adrienne Buller examines the fatal biases that have shaped the response of our governing institutions to climate and environmental breakdown, and asks: are the 'solutions' being proposed really solutions? Tracing the intricate connections between financial power, economic injustice and ecological crisis, she exposes the myopic economism and market-centric thinking presently undermining a future where all life can …

Public understanding of, and outcry over, the dire state of the climate and environment is greater than ever before. Parties across the political spectrum claim to be climate leaders, and overt denial is on the way out. Yet when it comes to slowing the course of the climate and nature crises, despite a growing number of pledges, policies and summits, little ever seems to change. Nature is being destroyed at an unprecedented rate. We remain on course for a catastrophic 3°C of warming. What's holding us back?

In this searing and insightful critique, Adrienne Buller examines the fatal biases that have shaped the response of our governing institutions to climate and environmental breakdown, and asks: are the 'solutions' being proposed really solutions? Tracing the intricate connections between financial power, economic injustice and ecological crisis, she exposes the myopic economism and market-centric thinking presently undermining a future where all life can flourish. The book examines what is wrong with mainstream climate and environmental governance, from carbon pricing and offset markets to 'green growth', the commodification of nature and the growing influence of the finance industry on environmental policy. In doing so, it exposes the self-defeating logic of a response to these challenges based on creating new opportunities for profit, and a refusal to grapple with the inequalities and injustices that have created them. Both honest and optimistic, The Value of a Whale asks us - in the face of crisis - what we really value.

3 editions

pdotb reviewed Value of a Whale by Adrienne Buller

Comprehensive and compelling

5 stars

Buller's book takes the idea of assigning a monetary value to a whale ($2m, apparently) as a jumping-off point to consider how the promise of green capitalism -- that if we just eliminate externalities and assign monetary values to the natural world, everything will be fine -- goes horribly wrong. She carefully demolishes the promise of carbon taxes and carbon offsets, though much of the book goes on to discuss how the greening of asset manager capitalism, especially that espoused by the CEO of Blackrock, doesn't and can never work. The latter part of the book pivots from discussing carbon as the principal problem, to covering the loss of biodiversity and the supposed attempts to prevent this through, you guessed it, markets in conservation credits. Among the many, many great takeaways from the book are the insight that attempting to deal with the environment through markets inevitably means compressing all …

Buller's book takes the idea of assigning a monetary value to a whale ($2m, apparently) as a jumping-off point to consider how the promise of green capitalism -- that if we just eliminate externalities and assign monetary values to the natural world, everything will be fine -- goes horribly wrong. She carefully demolishes the promise of carbon taxes and carbon offsets, though much of the book goes on to discuss how the greening of asset manager capitalism, especially that espoused by the CEO of Blackrock, doesn't and can never work. The latter part of the book pivots from discussing carbon as the principal problem, to covering the loss of biodiversity and the supposed attempts to prevent this through, you guessed it, markets in conservation credits. Among the many, many great takeaways from the book are the insight that attempting to deal with the environment through markets inevitably means compressing all the complexity of the natural world down to a single value (see the value of the whale above), and that so much of green capitalism is an attempt to maintain all the structures of exploitation and power, while claiming to have done something to save the world.

I was inspired to read the book by hearing an interview with Adrienne Buller on Grace Blakeley's 'The World To Win' podcast. Worth a listen to get a taste of what the book is about but, really, you should probably just read it. It's so good.

tribunemag.co.uk/2022/08/89-is-green-capitalism-possible-w-adrienne-buller