The Heresy of Sustainable Capitalism: Questioning False Solutions

Sor Juana risked condemnation by arguing against Church orthodoxy when logic demanded it. Applied to climate work, this means intellectual courage to question whether capitalism—inherently based on endless growth and resource extraction—can be reformed into sustainability. Mainstream climate discourse promotes carbon trading, green technology, corporate sustainability initiatives as solutions. Critical analysis reveals these as technical fixes that preserve wealth concentration while shifting environmental costs. This concept encourages climate scholars and activists to articulate what Sor Juana demonstrated: sometimes the entire framework is wrong, not just details within it. True climate justice may require fundamental economic restructuring, not better capitalism. Sor Juana's model suggests naming this openly, risking criticism from institutions invested in incremental approaches. The heresy is saying that climate crisis flows from economic systems valuing profit over life, requiring systemic transformation not market-based tweaks. This intellectual honesty becomes essential for movements to aim at actual solutions rather than accepting corporate-sponsored pseudo-solutions that perpetuate inequity.