Ecology Against Capitalism

Book Description

In recent years John Bellamy Foster has emerged as a leading theorist of the Marxist perspective on ecology. His seminal book Marx's Ecology (Monthly Review Press, 2000) discusses the place of ecological issues within the intellectual history of Marxism and on the philosophical foundations of a Marxist ecology, and has become a major point of reference in ecological debates. This historical and philosophical focus is now supplemented by more directly political engagement in his new book, Ecology against Capitalism. In a broad-ranging treatment of contemporary ecological politics, Foster deals with such issues as pollution, sustainable development, technological responses to environmental crisis, population growth, soil fertility, the preservation of ancient forests, and the "new economy" of the Internet age.

Foster's introduction sets out the unifying themes of these essays enabling the reader to draw from them a consolidated approach to a rapidly-expanding field of debate which is of critical importance in our times.

Within these debates on the politics of ecology, Foster's work develops an important and distinctive perspective. Where many of these debates assume a basic divergence of "red" and "green" issues, and are concerned with the exact terms of a trade-off between them, Foster argues that Marxism properly understood already provides the framework within which ecological questions are best approached. This perspective is advanced here in accessible and concrete form, taking account of the major positions in contemporary ecological debate.

Customer Reviews:

A Positive Alternative to Capitalism.......2002-11-17

John Bellamy Foster's "Ecology Against Capitalism" is a collection of essays that addresses some of the various aspects of capitalism's crisis of accumulation and the environment. Importantly, the author compares and contrasts the failures of the ecological economics model with the more promising ecosocialist paradigm, arguing that the latter is humanity's best chance to create a stable, healthy and humane world.

I haven't read any other books by Foster, but it is hard to imagine a better effort. This powerful little book is written with passion, clarity and purpose. Foster seems to pack more meaning in 170 pages than others who use twice the space. Consequently one can imagine the book serving as an excellent supplemental textbook for students who may be interested in rapidly developing their critical thinking skills.

Many of the articles discuss how the growth of capitalism is leading to environmental collapse. Foster shows that assigning market values to nature and introducting relatively less harmful technologies will not end the destruction. Rather, these so-called Green Economics solutions will merely lead to a "more efficient exploitation of the environment" (pg. 58) by the capital markets.

Foster strongly believes that a moral element is at play. The "higher immorality" of the bourgeoise class is implicit in its accumulation of material goods and profits at the expense of the poor and the environment; but it is also sometimes explicitly stated, such as in Lawrence Summers' infamous World Bank memo where a policy of exporting pollution to poor countries was rationalized because the economies are less developed there.

In my opinion, one of the best passages on the issue of morality concerned Foster's devastating critique of Malthus, who was one of the original apologists for the privileged class. Foster brilliantly turns the cult of Malthusianism on its head by arguing that the environmental crisis is a result of overconsumption by the rich, not the poor. Foster points out that neo-Malthusianism remains influential within neoliberal thought and argues forcefully that it must end if we are to ever stop deluding ourselves and get to work on real solutions to the crisis.

Foster's personal experiences with the timber industry conflicts in the Pacific Northwest are related in the book's lengthiest essay. The author discusses the limits of achieveing environmental sustainability without class struggle and the support of labor. Interestingly, Foster demonstrates the practical value of ecosocialist theory by articulating a workable solution that went beyond the rhetoric of "jobs versus logs". Perhaps not surpisingly, the author tells us that the promising proposal was quashed by a Bush Sr. administration official in favor of a pro-industry solution.

Ultimately, Foster shows that an ecosocialist society that values democracy, community and nature can indeed create "a positive, not just a negative, alternative to capitalism" (pg. 132). I urge you to read this outstanding book.

An Ecology without Capitalism?.......2002-06-06

In this new book John Bellamy Foster has assembled a great deal of evidence (in a dozen chapters written and published over the last decade) that the earth's ecology is incompatible with capitalism. But is there an alternative?

Foster says: "A shift toward a broad movement for ecological conversion and the creation of a sustainable society also means that that the partnership between the state and the capitalist class, which has always formed the most important linchpin of the capitalist system, must be loosened by degrees, as part of an overall social and environmental revolution. This partnership must be replaced, in the process of a radical transformation of the society, by a new partnership between democratized state power and popular power" (p. 132).

Reading just that far, one might conclude that such a loosening by degrees could be achieved within the two-party system in the United States or in other regimes where voters choose between conservatives and liberals. Certainly many environmental progressives (if that's not a contradiction) have opted to work within the existing political duopoly.

But the Ralph Nader campaigns of 1996 and 2000, and the concomitant rise of the Green Party, presage a different direction. It is one, however, which will require both a deeper and more ecological understanding of the incompatibility of ecosystems with a profit system, and a more radical politics than the market-regulation offered by the Green Party platform and Citizen Nader's narrower planks.

Foster goes on to say: "Such a shift requires revolutionary change that must be more than simply a rejection of capitalist methods of accumulation and their effects on people and the environment. Socialism -- as a positive, not just a negative, alternative to capitalism -- remains essential to the conversion process, because its broad commitment to worldwide egalitarian change reflects an understanding of 'how the needs of the various communities can be fit together in a way that leaves nobody out, and that also satisfies global environmental requirements'."

In his major opus, Marx's Ecology (2000), Foster showed Marx's development of an ecological perspective that drew from the latest natural science discoveries. These included the discovery of the micro metabolic cycles by the cell theorists, Theodor Schwann and Matthias Schleiden, which Marx linked with the discovery of the grand metabolic cycles of earth and sky by the agrochemist Justus von Liebig. To this one would have to add the influence on Marx of Karl Fraas, an important figure in forest ecology neglected by Foster and most scholars in this country.

Marx's resulting awareness of the ecological care necessary to plan a sustainable socialism was ignored, however, by the Soviet Union under Stalin, as Foster showed, despite profound contributions by scientists like Vladimir I. Vernadsky, whose 1924 book, The Biosphere (1998), has become an internationally-recognized classic of ecology. Critical radicals today, and particularly those in the ecosocialism paradigm, reject the lack of democracy and bureaucratic centralism of such regimes, which
played a key role in the adoption of policies that degraded the environment.

Nevertheless, Foster argues, "Within a socialist framework, the sources of the largest-scale and most severe environmental destruction could be dealt with head-on, in a way that has already shown itself to be beyond the capacity -- not to say against the interests -- of capital."

Foster acknowledges a range of collaborators and rivals in the crafting of his new book. Most important is Paul Burkett, whose
Marx and Nature: A Red and Green Perspective (1999) finally clarified the distinction between the human use of nature and the exploitation of the exchange value of commodities. Foster also cites James O'Connor, author of Natural Causes (1998)as showing that "While there are many variations in economic growth theory, all presuppose that capitalism cannot stand still...that it must 'accumulate or die,' in Marx's words" (p. 80).

Although Foster's new book appeared at the same time as Joel Kovel's The Enemy of Nature (2002), which has the same basic theme, the books are quite different. Foster's collection of articles is intended to deal with specifics, it is "an attempt to intervene directly in contemporary political-economic debates on capitalism and the environment..." (p. 7). Kovel's book is actually an intervention into eco-politics and provides a sustained exploration of Ecosocialism as compared and contrasted with Deep Ecology, Bioregionalism, Anarchist Social Ecology, and particularly with Populism and variants of small-business capitalism.

Book Description

When the ecological movement emerged in the 1960s, it warned that continued consumerism and growth would lead to ecological catastrophe. This "green" philosophy represented a challenge to the basic tenets of Marxism, which traditionally ignored issues of ecological sustainability. Tracing the history of the integration of ecological understanding with Marxist philosophy, The Greening of Marxism explores the influence of green politics on Marxism, examines the new politics emerging from these movements, and shows how red\n-\green alliances can transform the political landscape.

Eco-Socialism or Eco-Capitalism?: A Critical Analysis of Humanity's Fundamental Choices

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An unique vision of a sustainable future

Eco-Socialism or Eco-Capitalism?: A Critical Analysis of Humanity's Fundamental Choices
Saral Sarkar
Manufacturer: Zed Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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This major synoptic work is remarkable for its author’s holistic treatment of the environment and social justice as inescapably related questions. He refuses to analyze the industrialized and developing countries as though they are so different that any understanding of the one can ignore the other. Saral Sarkar argues that the USSR bumped up against environmentally defined and resource-related limits to growth at a relatively early stage; but this does not mean that a free market, globalized capitalist economy will indefinitely escape a similar fate. Nor will a modified "eco-capitalism," as promoted by some sections of the Western environmental movement, provide a sufficiently grounded solution to the twin problems of environmental destruction and social injustice. The author looks, therefore, to a fundamentally different future--one in which our very notion of progress is differently conceived.

Customer Reviews:

An unique vision of a sustainable future.......2003-09-03

"Eco-Socialism or Eco-Capitalism" by Saral Sarkar offers an unique vision of a sustainable future. Mr. Sarkar was born and educated in India and wrote the book while residing in Germany, where he has been active in the Green Party and related political and environmental movements for many years. The author's education, work and multi-cultural life experiences combine to produce a nuanced, thoughtful and mature work that should intrigue readers interested in political theory and the environment.

Mr. Sarkar believes that the ecology movement must recognize that socialism, not capitalism, offers the best hope for society to realize the state of "biocentric equality" that will be needed to secure human rights and stabilize the environment. Central to the author's analysis is the "limits to growth" paradigm espoused by Green Economics thinkers such as Herman Daly, which posits that economic growth achieved through increasing natural resources consumption can not continue indefinitely. But the author goes well beyond Daly and his peers by insisting that a steady state economy (SSE) can not succeed in a free market capitalist system; rather, it can only be viable in the context of socialism.

Mr. Sarkar does not toss the word "socialism" around lightly. In fact, he devotes two chapters extensively studying why socialism failed in the USSR. In short, Mr. Sarkar posits that environmental constraints combined with widespread moral degeneration led to a crisis that could not be resolved by the USSR's privileged political/bureaucratic class. While many might argue that the USSR failed on a number of other levels as well, I found the author's analysis credible and well-supported by the evidence. Importantly, the analysis provides several take-aways that are later incorporated into the author's proposed eco-socialist theory, such as the importance of morals to the building and maintenance of a well-functioning society.

Mr. Sarkar examines the natural resource base that the present world economy depends upon in order to ascertain if new technologies might be able to offer us hope in overcoming scarcity. The author surveys various energy sources and technologies to provide detailed answers to this question. He also critiques the fashionable view that the contemporary "dematerialized" information society is less environmentally destructive than yesterday's industrial society. Mr. Sarkar's thoughts that follow from this discussion about what must be done in the face of the world's dwindling stock of natural resources might appear to some to be commonsense but are nonetheless well worth reading. Indeed, the author's candor is refreshing and welcome, especially when compared with the media's usual message of consumerism without end.

Mr. Sarkar presents his vision of how an eco-socialist society might succeed and discusses the notion of progress in the final two chapters of the book. The author believes that eco-socialism can rightly fuse the moral strengths of socialism with the pragamtism of the ecology movement to create a society that is free from greed, war, exploitation and rascism. This is achieved by embracing policies that are widely acknowledged in Leftist circles, including: full employment, women's rights, pay equity, limits on private enterprise, greater emphasis on the local production of goods and services, increased democratic participation, and so on. But the author also makes a very strong argument for controversial measures such as the rationing of consumer goods, strict controls on population growth, and more. Mr. Sarkar's justification is that the inconveniences created for some will be more than offset by the creation of a harmonious, peaceful and stable planet for all.

Product Description

CNS (Santa Cruz), paperback, 142 pages, Issue Eight

Capitalism Nature Socialism: A Journal of Socialist Ecology Volume 12(2) June 2001

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Capitalism Nature Socialism: A Journal of Socialist Ecology Volume 12(2) June 2001
Edited
Manufacturer: n/a
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OZRGU8

Capitalism Nature Socialism: A Journal of Socialist Ecology Volume 12(3) September 2001

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Capitalism Nature Socialism: A Journal of Socialist Ecology Volume 12(3) September 2001
n/a
Manufacturer: n/a
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OZWUN6

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Conference papers (CES/CNS pamphlet)
James O'Connor
Manufacturer: CNS/CES
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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Customer Reviews:

Pretty good.......2001-02-21

I like this book and the first one too. I like the way Scoop treats her horses. I think it is neat how she rides bare back. I really hate her cousin Steven. This book was about Sarah Coop her friends call her Scoop. She has a horse stable for backyard horses and she has a couple of boarders but her one boarder might take their horse away to another stable so Scoop and her friends have to try to get the owners to let the horse stay there.

Ride the pink horse ([Dell Books 35 cent series)

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The story of Sailor and Sen
Great 40s hardboiled novel

Ride the pink horse ([Dell Books 35 cent series)
Dorothy B Hughes
Manufacturer: Dell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
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ASIN: B0007HTGU6

Book Description

During its Fiesta, a small desert town in New Mexico welcomes three strangers. Sailor, a hood from Chicago, is here to confront his boss, Sen (a crooked "weasel-faced" senator), in order to extort money. He is the only one who can finger Sen for setting up the murder of his wealthy wife, made to look like a robbery gone wrong. On the trail of both is Mac. Though from the same slums as Sailor, Mac decided on a different route and joined the police. He knows that Sailor can put Sen behind bars and wants him to testify in order to get him there. Though Sailor is aware that this is the right thing to do, he needs the money from Sen more. Over the space of a few days, the three characters collide with one another at regular intervals in a clumsy dance, one advancing as the other retreats, continually surrounded by the swirling colors, sounds, and smells of the festival. Ride the Pink Horse is a highly visual piece of crime fiction, and one that illustrates exactly why Hughes received numerous awards for her work. "Nobody but Dorothy Hughes can cast suspense into such an uncanny spell, and she's never done it better." -- San Francisco Chronicle

Customer Reviews:

The story of Sailor and Sen.......2005-03-19

It's good, though not as good as THE FALLEN SPARROW or THE SO BLUE MARBLE, Hughes' two masterpieces.

It is sometimes supposed that she took the "back story" of RIDE THE PINK HORSE from Willard Motley's famous novel KNOCK ON ANY DOOR, for both books feature a pair of slum boys, one of whom grows up to be a hood, the other a top cop. However if anything the shoe is on the other foot as PINK HORSE was published earlier than KNOCK--though it is true that KNOCK was written first.

A memorable film was made of this novel, with Robert Montgomery in his noir outfit, and the lovely, mysterious Wanda Hendrix dyeing her hair to try to look Latina. She doesn't look Mexican but she looks utterly fantastic. And Thomas Gomez, surprise, a real Mexican to play a Mexican, an utterly unique casting call for Hollywood back in the day. Gomez was even nominated for the Oscar.

For some reason the film isn't available on DVD, indeed was it ever even on video? However we have the book in this splendid Canongate edition. Like Patrick Quentin's PUZZLE FOR PILGRIMS, it shows us Latin America through the slatted blinds of noir bleakness. Hughes wrote one more splendid novel, IN A LONELY PLACE, and then several other lesser books.

There was even a re-make of PIONK HORSE in the early 1960s, one of the very first TV movies, by Don Siegel who had also made THE KILLERS for TV. This telefilm too has not been released on video. THE HANGED MAN (with Robert Culp and Vera Miles) took the events of RIDE THE PINK HORSE and transported them to New Orleans, and threw in the Mardi Gras parade for good measure, even filming a bit of Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto making winderful music together. How about a two sided DVD release of RIDE THE PINK HORSE and THE HANGED MAN?

Great 40s hardboiled novel.......2003-12-12

Anyone who thinks only men write hardboiled fiction--and great hardboiled fiction, at that--is in for a shock with this novel. Dorothy Hughes, the author, has to be classed as one of the best of the breed, based on this novel alone--although two of her other works, The Fallen Sparrow and In a Lonely Place, were also made into film noirs.

The real pleasure here is the crackling dialogue that lashes back and forth between Sailor (basis for Barry Gifford's character's name in Wild at Heart?), a down at the heels drifter, and the Sen--short for Senator Willis Douglass, a corrupt sleaze who had his wife killed so he could be with his floozy of a mistress.

Both meet up in Mexico where Sailor has tracked the Sen to get the rest of the dough Douglass promised him for keeping his mouth shut about what happened. But also there is Mac, a Chicago cop hot on the trail of one or maybe both of the two men.

If you want a strong, gripping read that creates a tense world dripping with 40s atmosphere, look no further. Noir fiends, like me, should rejoice that Canongate Crime has reissued this title in a very nice trade paperback. Just the ticket for the holidays!

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The Ten Per Cent Gang (Black Horse Western)
I.J. Parnham
Manufacturer: Robert Hale Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0709075731

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