by
Eula Biss
I think he’s wrong on this, but we’re talking about fossil fuels now. Oil and coal are capital, he says, and we need to leave that capital in the ground. We should not mine it, sell it, buy it, or burn it. But people already own it. A journalist recently observed, he says, that the last time we walked away from an accumulation of capital this significant was Emancipation.
this quote epitomizes everything that's both interesting and annoying about the book. on the one hand, there is kind of a good point (though made by someone else) but it's left to wilt. the author doesn't add anything. it's supposed to just stand there on its own. similar to jenny offill, but somehow more annoying. is her point that it takes a civil war to do this? that the only way to abandon capital is through violence? if so, she doesn't really support it or foreshadow it elsewhere in this section. and if not, what the hell is her point?