The House that Neoliberalism has Built Cannot Handle Climate Change

By Loc Nguyen / Winter 2021

It was a Sunday morning two weeks ago. My phone rang while I was sitting, looking out the window, enjoying a cup of hot coffee, listening to my favorite ballad song, and feeling the warm California sunlight creeping into the leaves in my backyard. It was a call from Thanh, my childhood best friend, who is living and working in Houston, Texas. He shared tremblingly that electricity is back in his area but I believe I can feel sorrow, hope and worry are mixing together in his voice. Those past days were the worst days since he came to America. Moreover, rolling blackouts, lacking safe water, several days of sub-freezing temperatures knockout Thanh. The strongest-willed man I ever knew surrenders unconditionally to the wrath of nature. Three layers of thick blankets were just enough to keep his body warm but cannot hide his growing despair.

I was shocked when I heard three Vietnamese children and their grandmother died in Sugar Land, Texas house fire after trying to stay warm during power outages. On my Facebook News Feed, the story of those heartbreaking deaths is shared a lot by my friends. The image of three elementary-age children smiling on the GoFundMe pages, which have been set up to honor them, broke my stone heart. I felt chest pains, I felt something stuck in my throat. My tears fell. I tried to hold it back but it lost control. The Texas winter storm last month proved life is impermanent. Many people prayed for Texas and all those facing extreme weather. Maybe the most imaginative Texan could not imagine their house covered with almost two inches of snow overnight. Twenty-nine million Texans are experiencing one of its coldest winters ever. Although this terrible winter storm has passed and warm sunshine has returned, this raises the serious question: What causes failure in Texas?

Under our very eyes, a failure of Texas electrical infrastructure contributed to Texas' disaster become more unpredictable. And the electrical systems that are too old and not maintained regularly caused dozens of heartbreaking deaths in Texas. Texans blame the degradation of the electrical infrastructure. And they criticized irresponsible officials in Texas. Many Democrats are criticizing Governor Greg Abbott for not being fully prepared for the storm. Like many other Republicans, Governor Greg Abbott also falsely blamed frozen wind turbines or green energy for the mass outages in Texas. "A hot potato” is being passed from one person's hand to another. No one wants to catch it. It will take a long time to investigate and diagnose exactly what happened to the Texas grid and whose responsibility. But throughout the winter storm, power outages meant people lived for days in sub-freezing temperatures. Looking at the problem objectively, it's easy to blame climate change as an objective cause. The most optimistic people have also noticed the irregularities of the weather in recent years. The unusual winter storm in Texas is certainly the consequence of climate change. According to the article "Heating Arctic may be to blame for snowstorms in Texas, scientists argue", the author Milman states what Judah Cohen, the director of seasonal forecasting at Atmospheric and Environmental Research, told The Guardian, “This is happening not in spite of climate change, it’s in part due to climate change.” He also mentions that frigid air is being pushed from the north pole further south, possibly to the US-Mexico border by the rapid heating of the Arctic. As we know, climate change is created by applying negative impacts on the environment and nature in the long term. A tornado in North Carolina, the storms carried heavy snow and freezing rain into New England, a foot and a half of new snow in Chicago, storms dumped snow and ice from Ohio to the Rio Grande are the newest examples. That news can be found easily in daily newspapers or even on our social media. Now the rest of the United State faces the same issue. Climate change is making severe weather disasters stronger and more frequent. Unfortunately, the old American energy system is not ready for it. So what secrets are hidden behind the darkness? What political ideologies are affecting our quality of life and even our planet?

Through a macro lens, we see that not only Texas electrical companies but also many others have put profits above people and the planet. "Today is yesterday’s effect". Analyzing historical events helps us to uncover today's issues. On the positive side, we can see the culmination of the Industrial Revolution with unprecedented growth in technology and hastening the urbanization of America during the Gilded Age. But on a more sinister side, the huge attraction of wealth and opulence made politicians and “new kings" such as wealthy shipping and railroad tycoons be greedier. Under freedom from the government, irresponsible use of chemicals and fossil fuel in factories, and mass production resulted in badly increased pollution and led to a depletion of certain natural resources. Regardless of the future consequences, they put profit above everything "by establishing federal control over interstate commerce" and also "by making the contract sacred” (Howard Zinn). According to “Robber Barons and Rebels”, Howard Zinn, an American historian, philosopher, and socialist thinker, also stated that "And so, the schools, the churches, the popular literature taught that to be rich was a sign of superiority, to be poor a sign of personal failure, and that the only way upward for a poor person was to climb into the ranks of the rich by extraordinary effort and extraordinary luck.” (Zinn) A negative ideology was crammed into people's heads at that time leading to the later creation of neoliberal ideology. This actively demonstrates that ethical values are overshadowed by huge profits in the business market at all times. We cannot deny the fact that "Corrupt people and institutions continued to be corrupt. Even when they capitulated, their solutions merely rebranded the problem." (Twohig). To help us illustrate this point, we can turn to the video "A Message From the Future" by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She exposed negativity in the business models of Exxon Mobil, the oil and gas company. They ignored a global warming warning presented to Congress by James Hansen, NASA's top climate change scientist, in 1988 in the light of the fact that they could not refuse huge profits before their very eyes. Fossil fuel companies made hundreds of billions so they easily "spent millions setting up a network of lobby groups and think tanks to create doubt and denial about climate change." (Cortez) As the matter of fact, the corporate lobbyists and denialists spread doubt to keep obsolete industries and broken infrastructures in place. Unfortunately, the truth about toxic emissions and pollutants of fossil fuel industries is covered by a ton of green papers.

Now that we have examined how the neoliberal shift and privatization had led to the deregulation of companies like the electrical companies in Texas, we can consider the problems of two kinds of grids in America. I am wondering if this cold-weather crisis with freezing temperatures causes the failure of Texas's electricity grid and puts the poor and elderly at serious risk of freezing to death. To look deeper at this issue, we realize the deep reason is a failure of deregulation and markets. The government strongly promotes collaboration with private electrical companies to gradually transition from the traditional grids to the deregulated grids. The article “Millions of Texans Are Freezing Right Now - Our Deregulated Electrical Grid Is to Blame” by Fred Stafford supports my claims. He mentions that "restructuring electricity in America was a bipartisan project of neoliberalism" (Stafford). The author also states that “Instead of state agencies regulating the business of monopoly utilities in a centralized manner, deregulated grids create a series of perpetual auctions running across the country." It turns out, electricity we use to light the bulbs is "the result of nonstop bidding and profit-maximization" (Stafford). We can infer that this is a win-win relationship. State agencies, private power companies, and middle-man utilities are sharing a delicious cake in the electricity market together. Breaking up the monopoly utilities helps state agencies significantly cutting down operating costs, regulating costs, and maintenance costs while also collecting taxes from power companies. Power companies can make more profits by generating and selling electricity to middle-man utilities. Middle-man utilities can get more commissions from power companies and take advantage of a deregulated electricity system that allowed "the volatility of the spot price for wholesale electricity" to be passed directly to consumers. "Nonstop bidding" and "profit- maximization" force those companies trying to find solutions to cover losses and make more profits. Without requirement and oversight from the government, these companies can do whatever they want in dark, even if it means cutting corners such as maintenance costs, quality of material, or alternatives sources. So utility infrastructure and services are not safe and reliable for the people especially the most vulnerable. As "smart consumers", we are attracted by unusually low and stable electricity prices but we "will pay the price for the state’s vulnerable energy infrastructure"(Villarreal). After extreme winter weather, Texans "are now bearing the brunt of a crisis within a crisis", helpless, they couldn’t afford "the catastrophically high energy prices" and also couldn't pay " thousands of dollars worth of energy bills overnight". It turns out, in the electricity market, everyone buys and few people really understand it. In other words, the consumers like us are at the bottom of the “food chain”. We are not only “food” for those behind and but also directly affected by their acts. Our task is to pay utility bills every month on time and hope that there is no power outage when the environmental crisis arrives.

Now that we see the depths of neoliberalism and its parallels to pressing social issues in The United States, we can consider climate change as a deeper layer of the neoliberal shift consequence. Now we temporarily put aside the colossal failure of electrical infrastructure due to the cold weather crisis in Texas. With general knowledge, I believe that you all know the three main causing climate change are the greenhouse effect, global warming, and human activities, typically the Industrial Revolution. Going beyond those direct causes, we can consider neoliberal ideology as an indirect cause or we may think it is a root cause. Zooming the micro-lens on climate change, we uncover a neoliberalism mindset impacting our environment, our planet. To make it easier to understand, we can imagine neoliberalism is the son of Mother Nature. So weather crises such as unusual winter storms, tornadoes, tsunamis are Mother Nature's punishments for her son's unruly behavior. Mother Nature cannot tolerate her unruly son at all times so the stern punishments will help him awake and fix his mistake himself. To help us illustrate this point, we can turn to the study conducted by George Monbiot, a British writer known for his environmental and political activism. After the winter storm in Texas had passed, we all thought about direct causes “while the environmental crisis predated neoliberalism, it has been greatly accelerated by neoliberalism by this escape from the constraints of democracy” (Monbiot).

At this point in time, it is easy to realize that we are expecting the Second Gilded Age and America's wealth is in the hands of elites. But I will not mention the growing rich-poor gap, widening income gap, or the inequality between classes in the social hierarchy here. To clarify the relationship between neoliberal deregulation and climate change, we can turn our attention to Amazon company and Jeff Bezos, the richest person in the world. With the ambition to become the "new king" in global online shopping and the largest retailer in the world, Amazon has launched the Amazon Prime program to attract millions of customers every year. Prime members can enjoy Two-day shipping or Same-day delivery programs with a $12.99 monthly fee or $119 annual fee. Imagine you order a small item like a razor tonight, it will be placed on your doorstep or in your mailbox tomorrow afternoon. Amazon will be happy, the seller will be happy and you will be happy but the planet is not. An article by Terri Nguyen on Vox supports my claim. In his article “Amazon’s 1-day shipping is convenient- and terrible for the environment”, Terry describes that “cutting delivery times- as appealing as that sounds to buyers and Amazon- will likely come at the expense of the environment.” Amazon is trying to reassure us that "its delivery services are an environmentally friendly solution" more than "customer driving to a store" (Terry). This point is a perfect example of the contradictions of this efficient neoliberal economy. We can consume a lot more at faster rates, but our consumption patterns seriously hurt the planet. Under neoliberalism, "human life is defined by competition and we are defined as if we are simply trying to maximize our own wealth and power at the expense of everything else” (Monbiot). Now that we can look at Jeff Bezos's and also US President Donald Trump's actions to help us illustrate this point. Like what Exxon company did before, Jeff Bezos donated $ 10 billion to save the Earth's environment. And he announced that he wants to "explore new ways of fighting the devastating impact of climate change on this planet" to distract public opinion. In reality, if we compare his "personal net worth of $129.9bn according to Forbes" and the huge profits he making every year to " $10bn to save the Earth’s environment", we can see it can never hurt him. He just sacrificed a pawn to take control of the whole game. From the government side, the Trump administration withdrew from the Paris climate agreement, replaced Clean Power Plan to serve the best interests of the fossil fuel industry, and attempted to freeze the fuel economy standards of cars. We can see what the Trump administration did to create favorable conditions for Amazon's growth. Those are obstacles that prevent us, as a society, from solving this problem. Neoliberal deregulation and the strong impact of this ideology on the government have made the global climate crisis be nearly impossible to correct. Note, we are in the midst of an unprecedented climate crisis.

"I care about climate justice and the living planet”, “we need to keep the fossil fuels in the ground" and "we cannot solve a crisis without treating it as a crisis" (Thunberg). Those are strong and inspiring messages from Greta Thunberg, a young Swedish environmental activist, presented at the UN Climate Change COP24 Conference. Those messages are also what I want to speak up and I want us to understand and think throughout my paper. We see that neoliberalism is one of the main reasons that result in climate change. The failure of neoliberalism and the climate crisis will define the struggle for the benefits of the most vulnerable such as poor and elderly and also the working- class in the future. We should not let climate change just be a topic of discussion in the media and political halls. The climate crisis is real. It is time to act. “Green New Deal” is a solution to these crises that requires everyone in the world to abandon neoliberalism and adopt a new economic strategy to radically reduce carbon dioxide emissions and greenhouse gases. In spite of the fact that this is an ideal and ambitious plan to guide us to overcome this issue, it's not easy to do. Indeed, it is very difficult for us to change an ideology that has been in the brains of many people for many decades. It is hard to change both a huge economic system and a lumbering government apparatus in a short time so we need a long-term plan. In my opinion, we should change our own behavior, thoughts, and consciousness before thinking about bigger things. Instead of choosing Two-day shipping or Same-day delivery options, I am always thinking about what I need to buy a few days or a few weeks before and select the Green Delivery button to receive my all items in only one package. I usually walk to buy coffee at Starbuck near my house, I often use public transport to avoid expensive parking fees at UCSD. Those are the simple examples we can do right now. I believe that the educational system is also a good method to change the ideology of future generations and guide them in good ways. Articles, research papers about the negative impact of neoliberalism on people and the planet should be taught carefully in community colleges and university systems. The government needs to involve “massive public investment in clean energy, transit and climate adaptation work”. Developing long-term programs to protect and restore vulnerable natural environments, improving infrastructure, and focusing on the development of renewable energy sources and green initiatives. In my opinion, to fix the failure of Texas deregulated grids we need to create unions. These unions are run by the people and their task is to oversee the operations of power companies. Because customers have the right to know the quality of the products they use. It sounds like socialist ideology but I think it is a good way to solve this issue. “People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar” (Thich Nhat Hanh). My favorite quote of Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh will help us awake and gain more confidence in preventing climate change.

Word Cited

“A Message From the Future With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.” YouTube, YouTube, 17 Apr. 2019.

“Amazon's Jeff Bezos Pledges $10bn to Save Earth's Environment.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 17 Feb. 2020.

“Heating Arctic May Be to Blame for Snowstorms in Texas, Scientists Argue.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 17 Feb. 2021,

“'I Had to Pay $500 a Day': Freeze Shows Texans True Cost of Unregulated Power.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 24 Feb. 2021.

Connect4Climate, director. Greta Thunberg Full Speech at UN Climate Change COP24 Conference. YouTube, YouTube, 15 Dec. 2018.

Nguyen, Terry. “Amazon's 1-Day Shipping Is Convenient - and Terrible for the Environment.” Vox, Vox, 16 Oct. 2019.

Stafford, Fred, et al. “Millions of Texans Are Freezing Right Now - Our Deregulated Electrical Grid Is to Blame.” Jacobin.

Twohig, Niall. “Beyond a Life in the Red.” The Triton, The Triton, 7 Jan. 2019.

VersoBooks, director. Neoliberalism, Climate Change, Migration: George Monbiot in Conversation with Verso. YouTube, YouTube, 15 Mar. 2017.

Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States.

“What Is the Green New Deal?” The Leap, 7 Oct. 2020.