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The history of the climate crisis is often told as a story about technology.
Growing out of the dark satanic mills of the Industrial Revolution, and accelerating along with new forms of production and consumption in the mid-twentieth century, we often hear that is technological development and innovation that got us into the mess we’re in. But it can also, apparently, get us out of it: what’s needed is a new green industrial revolution, or else other forms of technology like nuclear power or some form of geoengineering.
Could a more nuanced, and more accurate, history of technology and production tell us something new about the politics of the climate crisis? And could it even help us to think about new directions beyond fossil fuelled capitalism?
This week we’re joined by David Edgerton, historian and author of books including The Rise and Fall of the British Nation, and The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History Since 1900. He joins John Merrick, deputy editor of The Break–Down in his first podcast appearance, to discuss how his historical work has shaped his understanding of the climate crisis, the rise of China as both an emissions and a green tech powerhouse, the new retro revivalism of the British right, and the ubiquity of AI boosterism.
