By retaking control of the region’s natural resources, pink-tide governments throughout Latin America were able to make great strides in the redistribution of wealth, working to attend to the social debt owed to the population. But this came at a cost. Today there is a clear global consensus that climate change is real and we risk making the planet uninhabitable if we do not take urgent action immediately.

How can progressive and leftist governments in Latin America work to secure climate justice? Should we consider de-growth as the strategy, as some progressive thinkers advocate? What of anti-extractivism, which has become a common position among many on the left throughout the world? Or does the solution lies in the communalization of life?

To help us answer these questions, host José Luis Granados Ceja speaks with Liliana Buitrago, environmental activist and Researcher from the Venezuelan Political Ecology Observatory. This episode also features a conversation with Venezuela Analysis’ Cira Pasqual Marquina on the efforts by environmentalists and communards in Venezuela to tackle the issue of climate change in their communities.

Music: 

Embandolaos - Los Caimanes Negros

Efren Clavo - La Tierra Está Sufriendo