Two decades ago, barely anyone called themselves an ecosocialist. Yet today the term is widespread on the left.
This comes from an awareness that any viable alternative to capitalism must do away with the current destructive relationship between human society and the wider natural world. It also stems from a recognition that too many socialists in the 20th century failed to take environmental issues seriously.
Peasants, small farmers and Indigenous peoples 鈥渇eed the world and cool the planet鈥. This is what the global peasant movement, La Via Campesina, has come to Bonn to put onto the agenda at the COP23 climate meetings 鈥 both in the official space and at the People鈥檚 Climate Summit where social movements met to strategise for alternatives to capitalism and its climate crisis.
Climate & Capitalism editor and author of A Redder Shade of Green: Inter91自拍论坛 of Science and Socialism Ian Angus takes a look at six new books on Marx鈥檚 ecosocialist views, climate change and health, theory and action, inevitability versus contingency in evolution, new politics and the meaning of Marx鈥檚 Capital.
Canadian activist and writer Naomi Klein聽is the author of books that have helped define the thinking of the left for the past several decades.
Last month, Klein talked to Alan Maass聽about the whiplash pace of natural disasters and the unnatural factors that make them worse 鈥 and how we can fight back while working toward an alternative.
Ian Angus takes a look at five new books of interest to ecosocialists, looking at urban climate change,聽past mass extinctions,聽tropical rainforests, religious anti-science, and the end of Arctic ice. Angus is the editor of Climate and Capitalism, where this list first appeared, and author of the new book A Redder Shade of Green.
Flooding in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, which smashed into the Gulf Coast on August 25, had left at least 23 people dead by August 31, thousands in need of rescue on rooftops or in boats, hundreds of thousands more without power and tens of thousands in need of shelter.
Yet characterisations of the carnage by the National Weather Service as聽聽should not be conflated with the spurious claim that the devastation wrought by Harvey was 鈥渦npreventable鈥 or 鈥渦nexpected鈥.
Four new books on climate change, neoliberalism and movement strategy for ecosocialists compiled by Ian Angus, the author of A Redder Shade of Green and editor of Climate and Capitalism.
Now is exactly聽the time to talk about climate change and all the other systemic injustices 鈥 from racial profiling to economic austerity 鈥 that turn disasters like Harvey into human catastrophes.
Long-time South African climate justice activist and author Patrick Bond is professor of political economy at the Wits School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand.
Ethemcan Turhan and Cem Iskender Aydin spoke with Bond on the need for an international climate justice movement to target the Donald Trump administration.
There are few subjects more reliably depressing than the problem of impending climate chaos.
In some ways, the daily dumpster fire that is the Donald Trump administration is a welcome distraction from the increasingly dire predictions of the Hell on Earth awaiting us if we do not drastically and immediately alter our trajectory.
It is worth going to see聽An聽Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, however, for the same reason that it was valuable to see it鈥檚 prequel,聽An Inconvenient Truth, over a decade ago: Through these films we can come to understand how the liberal establishment proposes to tackle this, the mother of all capitalism鈥檚 crises.
The news that a trillion ton piece of ice just broke off from the Larsen-C ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula is a reminder that global warming is real and dangerous.
While climate scientists say this had been expected, they also say it is connected to global warming. As ice shelves help keep land ice in place, when one breaks it allows land ice to slip into the ocean and drastically contribute to sea level rise.
For years climate scientists have been warning that time is fast running out to stop the worst effects of global warming.
Cuba鈥檚 Council of Ministers approved聽鈥淟ife Task鈥 (Tarea Vida) on April 25, a plan for confronting climate change.
It is the latest manifestation of Cuba鈥檚 sustained endeavour to contain the impact of climate change. The Cuban government has dedicated resources and talent to the project for many years.聽Policymakers have relied on facts, data, and ongoing research.