Westernocene: A Capitalocene critique of climate change

Climate change, globally recognized as a defining crisis of the contemporary era, is mostly viewed under the understanding of what the West calls the ' Anthropocene', which regards nature as a 'cheap value' or 'natural resource' for human progress. This view acknowledges human exceptionalism and the general accountability of humans towards the catastrophic condition of nature. But this paper counters this ‘misleading generalization’, bringing the notion of 'Capitalocene' and 'Westernocene' into frame. Broadly, these two concepts question the capitalist structure and also the industrialist definition of development as recognized by the West. This paper aims to critique the Anthropocene narrative through a 'Westernocene' in blend with 'Capitalocene' perspective, showing how capitalism, rather than humanity in general, constitutes the primary driver of climate change. It argues that any account of planetary crisis must foreground the roles of capitalist accumulation, global inequality, and histories of colonial exploitation. This paper also brings The Capitalocene as a Critique of Hegemonic Approaches to the Climate Crisis. The methodology of this study adopts a critical theoretical methodology, synthesizing insights from political ecology, environmental humanities, and analysis of the theories of climate justice. This article also makes an account of all major empirical data and global reports (UNFCCC, SIPRI, HDI, GDP, etc.), and it interrogates narratives of the West to glorify the ‘universal burden’ of humankind in the label of ‘Sustainable development’’. By advancing these notions of 'Westernocene' and 'Capitalocene', we build a conceptual framework that constitutes an ‘Anti-Anthropocene’ argument for climate justice by reframing climate change as a political-economic project. It confronts that climate change requires more than just technological adaptation; it also demands systemic transformation, which brings an ‘uneven burden’ of West and East that addresses capitalism itself, intersecting it with ecological critique, with decolonial thought, and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.