“A Process of Violence”: Indian Author Amitav Ghosh on How Colonialism Fueled the Climate Crisis

As talks at the Glasgow U.N. climate summit accelerate, we look at how the roots of the climate crisis date back to Western colonialism with award-winning Indian author Amitav Ghosh, who examines the violent exploitation of human life and the natural environment in his new book, “The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis.” Ghosh speaks about the political significance of fossil fuels in global politics, saying that “if fossil fuels were to be completely substituted at scale, what you would have is the complete inversion of the world’s geopolitical order.” Ghosh’s previous books include “The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable” and the novel “Gun Island.”