Climate change is out of control. It is already too late to avoid soaring temperatures, scarce water, and extreme weather. But the financial structure of capitalism is tied to fossil fuels. Market-based solutions are ineffectual. John Bellamy Foster, a professor of sociology at the University of Oregon and the editor of Monthly Review, speaks about the kind of program necessary to stop this catastrophe.
“A unique collection of articles explaining highly consequential debates in the natural and social sciences, as well as in environmental politics and theory. In a wonderfully accessible way, Angus clarifies the real-world implications of these debates and their importance in the struggle for a better world.”
—Hannah Holleman, author, activist, and professor of sociology, Amherst College
Fred Magdoff is Professor Emeritus of Plant and Soil Science at the University of Vermont. Among his recent books are Agriculture and Food in Crisis (edited with Brian Tokar) and What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know About Capitalism (with John Bellamy Foster).
Chris Williams is an environmental activist, teacher, journalist, and author of Ecology and Socialism: Solutions to Capitalist Ecological Crisis.]
May 8, 2017 - Climate change, as it has emerged as a defining political issue of our time, has a peculiar exceptionalism attached to it. While we know it is in some sense a political problem, or at least demands a political solution, we nevertheless tend to think of it as a problem in nature – one that transcends social issues and threatens social life itself.
The hard right U.S. administration of Donald Trump has widened the terrain of struggle over climate change and, indeed, the entire array of environmental issues facing the ecology of North America and the working class movement. Climate change deniers, big oil executives, and finance capitalists now occupy pivotal positions in an array of state agencies and apparatuses directly impacting these portfolios.
How does the provisional list [see earlier article titled "Provisional Points For Discussion" ] differ from any list offered by a non-ecosocialist entity? What makes ecosocialists different? A few points....
Yes to rapid transit, free buses, etc. easy to say, but not if they simply encourage urban sprall and generalized growth, which is exactly what happens.
As eco-catastrophe rushes closer, BC’s May 9 election will result—whoever wins—in provincial climate policies that are eco-suicidally inadequate. Patience until the next election—federal or provincial—will not be a survival trait.
Survival partisans must enumerate policy goals that genuinely address the climate emergency and continue pushing for them after May 9.
March 25, 2017 — Alexandre Araujo Costa, a Brazilian ecology activist, spoke to Belgian ecology writer and activist Daniel Tanuro on a range of questions concerning ecology and ecosocialism.
