Ecosocialism

Nov 22, 2015 - 

The same imperialism that has caused so much damage to the Global South today continues expanding and threatening the whole planet. Consequently, the struggle for climate justice has converted into a struggle for the liberation of all workers, peasants, indigenous and ecosystems. The struggle against Empire is a struggle to save life on Earth.

(Originally published in Spanish at www.salvarlatierra.org )

[Website editor's note: This short essay summarizes some of the roots of ecologically-minded Marxism.]

We live in curious times. Just when intellectuals of the Left in the West have a rare opportunity to do something useful, if not actually world-historic, they – or large sections of them – are in full retreat. Just when reformers in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe are looking to Western capitalism for paradigms of economic and political success, many of us appear to be abdicating the traditional role of the Western left as critic of capitalism.

‘On Care for Our Common Home’: the premises

Building Complete Communities and a Zero-Emission Transporation System in BC

Read this 2011 study at https://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publicatio...

In addition to the articles on the Vancouver Ecosocialist web page (www.ecosocialistsvancouver.org) below are a some other sites with important articles and information on the COP21 conference in Paris and related issues:

Peoples Climate Convergence (Vancouver) : http://peoplesclimateconvergence.org/articles-by-subject

Paris Climate Justice: http://www.parisclimatejustice.org/

The Paris Agreement has mostly been greeted with enthusiasm, though it contains at least one obvious flaw. Few seem to have noticed that the main tool mooted for keeping us within the 2℃ global warming target is a massive expansion of carbon trading, including offsetting, which allows the market exchange of credits between companies and nations to achieve an overall emissions reduction. That's despite plenty of evidence that markets haven't worked well enough, or quickly enough, to actually keep the planet safe.