Ecosocialist Bookshelf is a monthly column, hosted by Ian Angus. Books described here may be reviewed at length in future. Inclusion of a book does not imply endorsement, or that C&C agrees with everything (or even anything!) it says. Climate & Capitalism has received review copies of some of these books, but we do not receive any payment for reviews or for reader purchases.
This month’s column appears in two parts. See part one here.
Wim Carton and Andreas Malm
THE LONG HEAT
Climate Politics When It’s Too Late
Verso
The world is crossing the 1.5°C global warming limit, perhaps exceeding 2°C soon after. What is to be done when these boundaries, set by the Paris Agreement, have been passed? Caron and Malm deliver a scathing critique of proposals to geoengineer our way out of climate disaster — only social and political transformation can save humanity.
John Bellamy Foster
BREAKING THE BONDS OF FATE
Epicurus and Marx
Monthly Review Press
Karl Marx wrote his doctoral thesis on Epicurus, but until now little attention has been given to how the ideas of the ancient Greek materialist philosopher influenced Marxist thought. Foster’s pathbreaking and insightful study transforms our understanding of the profound connections between these two great thinkers.
Kai Heron, Keir Milburn and Bertie Russell
RADICAL ABUNDANCE
How to Win a Green Democratic Future
Pluto Press
Capitalist “abundance” means we have too much of what we don’t need and too little of what we do. We need an alternative, a world of human and non-human flourishing made possible by democratically planned production. The authors argue that a world of radical abundance can only be made by taking control of our collective reproduction in the here and now.
Chuck Collins
BURNED BY BILLIONAIRES
How Concentrated Wealth and Power Are Ruining Our Lives and Planet
The New Press
The actions of the top .01% have severe consequences for the rest of us, especially those of marginalized identities. Collins takes down the “myth of meritocracy,” unraveling how the rich rig the game in their favor, resulting in a concentration of wealth in the hands of a tiny (but growing) class of billionaires—leading to both intense income and political polarization.
Michael Maniates
THE LIVING GREEN MYTH
The Promise and Limits of Lifestyle Environmentalism
Wiley
We’re told that changing individual behavior will save the planet. Maniates says that is is a con that fosters pernicious assumptions about social change, separates individuals from their real power in the world, and fuels damaging consumption. It thrives because it meets the short-term priorities of governments and business, not the long-term needs of the planet’s human and non-human inhabitants.
Alexander Clapp
WASTE WARS
The Wild Afterlife of Your Trash
Hachette
Rich world garbage has spawned a massive, globe-spanning, multi-billion-dollar economy, one that offloads our consumption footprints onto distant continents, pristine landscapes, and unsuspecting populations— often with devastating consequences for the poorest nations of the world.
Timmons Roberts, Carlos Milani, Jennifer Jacquet, and Christian Downie, editors
CLIMATE OBSTRUCTION
A Global Assessment
Oxford University Press
Over 100 experts systematically expose the complex, organized, and well-funded operators who have actively resisted and undermined policy efforts to address climate change. They make the case that as climate action becomes globalized, efforts to obstruct it have become more deceptive, widespread, better funded, and dangerous.
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