The winner of the 2018 Deutscher Prize discusses Karl Marx’s radical understanding of capitalism’s deadly disruption of the universal metabolism of nature.
Marxist ecology
Archive | Marxist Ecology
Six new books
Ecosocialist Bookshelf, June 2019
Marxist environmental essays … Science and the Anthropocene … Is disaster avoidable? … Capitalism at sea … Beef and class struggle … Climate and the biggest volcano
Book Review
New contributions to the theory and practice of Marxist Ecosocialism
Michael Löwy reviews two important books for ecosocialists: ‘Karl Marx’s Ecosocialism’ by Kohei Saito, and ‘Red-Green Revolution’ by Victor Wallis.
Interview
John Bellamy Foster on the ‘Green New Deal’
To bring about meaningful change, the resolution proposed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez must be part of an ecological revolution with a broad social base.
Movement debate
Why Ecosocialism? A discussion of the case for a red-green future
Michael Löwy initiates a wide-ranging debate on the great transition from capitalist destruction to a just and sustainable future
Earth's metabolism
Exploring the deep biosphere: Organisms abound in regions thought devoid of life
70% of all bacteria live deep in the earth, constituting a reserve of carbon and biodiversity that vastly outnumbers and outweighs all humans combined
Essential reading
‘Karl Marx’s Ecosocialism’ wins the 2018 Deutscher Prize
Kohei Saito honored for his brilliant study of Marx’s views on the relationship between society and nature
Movement building
Marxist ecosocialism and the value debate
Many socialists have contributed to the debate on Marxism, nature, and value, strengthening our common understanding of the enemy we face and the movement we must build.
Book Review
The Logic of Human Survival
Veteran socialist says ‘A Redder Shade of Green’ should be read by all who are concerned with climate change and the degradation of the environment.
Not beach books, but ...
Ecosocialist Bookshelf, July 2018
Essential summer reading for green-lefts and left-greens. Ecosocialist essays on metabolic rifts. James Connolly Reader. A Nation Unmade by War. Formerly Known as Food. Nourished Planet.
Essential reading for Ecosocialists
Socialist magazine explores capital’s metabolic rifts
Special issue features new articles by John Bellamy Foster, Hannah Holleman, Ian Angus, Michael Friedman, Brett Clark, Stefano Longo, and Justus von Liebig
Reading from the left
Ecosocialist Bookshelf, June 2018, Part 2
Five new books: Ecological Crisis and Capital … El Niño in World History … Plate Tectonics … Marxist Essays … Origins of Agriculture and the State
Metabolic rifts
Vladimir Vernadsky and the Disruption of the Biosphere
Virtually unknown in the west, the great Russian geologist and geochemist pioneered scientific study of life’s impact on the Earth.
Marx 200
Ecosocialism and the recovery of Marx’s ecological legacy
An ecology that truly seeks to confront today’s challenges requires Marx’s remarkable analysis of the destructive logic inherent in the unlimited accumulation of capital.
Metabolic rifts
Earth’s Circular Economy: Recycling as a Law of Life
On every scale, from the smallest cells to the entire planet, the essential elements of life are constantly used and re-used. Biogeochemical cycles are the basis of the biosphere.
New books for reds and greens
Ecosocialist Bookshelf, May 2018
Environmentalism of the Rich, A Scientist’s Fight for a Nuclear Test Ban, Limits to Capitalist Nature, Cocoa, Extracting Profit from Africa, Indigenous Struggles in Peru
Global Environmental Change
Marx, nature, and political morality
Marx saw the rift between people and nature not only as a primary failing of capitalism, but also as a mechanism through which capitalism may be superseded.
Metabolic Rifts
Marx and Metabolism: Lost in translation?
Why wasn’t Marx’s concept of metabolic rift recognized until recently? Changed circumstances, unpublished works, and bad translations all played a role.
Populationism never dies
Ecological Marxism vs. environmental neo-Malthusianism: An old debate continues
Despite being consistently discredited, overpopulation ideology resurfaces with the same predictable regularity as capitalist crises. Only Marxism offers a clear alternative.
Books for Lefts
Ecosocialist Bookshelf, April 2018, Part 2
Three highly recommended books in the Democratic Marxism series: Marxisms in the 21st Century, Capitalism’s Crises, and The Climate Crisis.