Noam Chomsky is one of the world’s most influential political commentators, widely admired – and widely criticised – for his decades of anti-imperialist writing and activism. 

Now he turns his attention to the greatest challenge that has ever faced humanity – the environmental crisis. And with leading economist Robert Pollin he comes to Intelligence Squared to talk about the themes of the new book they have written together, The Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal.  

Chomsky and Pollin argued that the leaders of the US, the most powerful state in human history, are dedicating themselves with a passion to destroying the prospects for organised human life. At the same time, the authors argued, there is a solution at hand, which is the Green New Deal.

Putting meat on the bones of the Green New Deal starts with a simple idea: we have to stop burning fossil fuels to produce energy within the next thirty years at most. But the Green New Deal will fail if it doesn’t protect the jobs and livelihoods of working people and support rising living standards for the poor throughout the world. The programme is entirely realistic in terms of its economic and technical features, say Chomsky and Pollin. But is it politically feasible? And what do we need to do to build the political force to make a global Green New Deal a reality? 

Chomsky and Pollin set out their solutions to the climate crisis and encourage us all to think about what we are doing as individuals to bring about the transformation we so urgently need.