Posts Tagged ‘ecosocialism’

Derek Wall, Principal Male Speaker of the Green Party of England and Wales, has an excellent overview of ecosocialism and its increasing relevance and importance to the Left in Britain and Europe.
Many European Green Parties, in my view have moved to the centre ground and need an injection of ecosocialism if they are to be [...]

“When we look at the real history of the emergence of ecological thinking and science, there can be little doubt that Marxists and socialists were forerunners of it. They were many of the principal figures in the development of ecological thought and science. So the notion that socialists came to this field late is completely [...]

From an interview with Derek Hall, writer, economist, and Principal Male Speaker of the Green Party of England and Wales.
Capitalism is based on infinite economic growth, that is ecologically impossible and social injust. So if we are to tackle ecological crisis we need socialism, capitalism is totalitarian, everything ends up being based on the need [...]

An Ecosocialist Manifesto
Climate and Capitalism Ian Angus blogs extensively on ecosocialism
Another Green World From Derek Wall, Principal Male Speaker of the Green Party of England and Wales.
Marxsite. Ecosocialism Lots of linksGreen Socialist magazine (UK)
Capitalism Nature Socialism magazine
Green Left (Australia)
Green Lefts, Left Greens (Australia)
Ecosocialism.blogspot.com good stuff, but hasn’t posted in a awhile.

From the Ecosocialist manifesto
The capitalist world system is historically bankrupt. It has become an empire unable to adapt, whose very gigantism exposes its underlying weakness. It is, in the language of ecology, profoundly unsustainable, and must be changed fundamentally, nay, replaced, if there is to be a future worth living.
Capitalism, by its nature, isn’t concerned [...]

The generalization of ecological production under socialist conditions can provide the ground for the overcoming of the present crises. A society of freely associated producers does not stop at its own democratization. It must, rather, insist on the freeing of all beings as its ground and goal. It overcomes thereby the imperialist impulse both subjectively [...]

Joel Kovel and Michael Lowy presented the Ecosocialist Manifesto in 2001 as a socialist response to the environmental degradation of the planet.
We believe that the present capitalist system cannot regulate, much less overcome, the crises it has set going. It cannot solve the ecological crisis because to do so requires setting limits upon accumulation—an unacceptable [...]

Bob’s post, “Ecosocialism or collapse,” got me thinking about the challenge of global climate change in a new light. In the post, he quotes Richard A. Smith on “three principles for an ecosocialist economy to save us from collapse.” These can be summarized as (1) economy of stasis, (2) production for need (as opposed to [...]

“Confronting the climate change crisis” details how socialism can provide answers to global warming.
A radical movement against climate change can be built around demands such as these:
Establish and enforce rapid mandatory reductions in CO2 emissions: real reductions, not phony trading plans.
Make the corporations that produce greenhouse gases pay the full cost of cutting emissions.
End all [...]

More from “Confronting the climate change crisis”
There are three major barriers against capitalism achieving the goal of reducing co2 emissions.
Changing from fossil fuels to other energy sources will require massive spending.
Such spending will not increase profits and thus will be anathema to most businesses. They will only do it when forced to by conditions or [...]

I don’t usually post on environmental issues, not because I’m not interested but mainly because it’s not a subject I feel particularly knowledgeable about. Usually I prefer to read and learn but I do enjoy a challenge so this post is largely me thinking aloud.
For me, the merits of eco-socialism largely depend upon what it’s [...]

Ian Angus, in “Confronting the climate change crisis,” explains why another favorite solution by capitalism to global warming, taxing greenhouse gas emissions, won’t work.
Another “market-driven” approach proposes levying taxes levied on corporate greenhouse gas emissions. But if the “carbon taxes” are too low, they won’t stop emissions — and if they are high enough, corporations [...]

From an article by Richard A. Smith, his three principles for an ecosocialist economy to save us from collapse.
Ecosocialist economy of stasis. Massive cutbacks on growth and rationing in the developed world combined with strictly planned growth in the third world.
But under what mechanism could this occur? It would require either complete consensus or a [...]

More on Ian Angus’ “Confronting the climate change crisis”
The primary capitalist response to global warming has been to institute an unworkable and unenforceable system of pollution credits. Never mind that the system doesn’t work, is open to corruption, fraud and rule-breaking. At core it favors the elites and solves nothing.
George Monbiot has compared [selling pollution [...]