The Ecosocialist Resources column is published at irregular intervals. It features links to new articles, reports, talks and videos that are relevant to Climate & Capitalism’s mission and goals.
Inclusion of a link does not imply endorsement, or that we agree with everything (or even anything!) the item says.
If you read or write an article that might be appropriate for this column, please post your suggestion in the Climate and Capitalism Facebook group.
- Trade Unionists must be the agents of human survivalAn Interview with Roy Wilkes Roy Wilkes lives in Manchester, England. He is secretary of the organizing committee of the Campaign against Climate Change Trade Union Conference that will take place in London on February 9. Roy is also a member of Respect Renewal and of the International Socialist Group. He was interviewed by Richard Searle of ...---READ-->>
- Latin America's Democratic Revolution and the Greening of the Leftby Daniel Denvir Global warming, indigenous rights, energy sovereignty and Latin America’s democratic revolution were on the top of Ecuador’s colloquium celebrating the Action Week / 2008 World Social Forum here in the capital. The set of panel discussions, entitled “Another Latin America: Where Are the New Revolutions Going?” took place on Friday January 25th, at the ...---READ-->>
- Richard Levins: Cuba, Ecology and the Need for a Dialectical ApproachThe January 2008 issue of Monthly Review includes a short memoir by Richard Levins, co-author with Richard Lewontin of the wonderful book The Dialectical Biologist. In the MR piece, Levins discusses the long arc of his career as a scientist who was also a dedicated activist and Marxist. On the cover, Monthly Review ...---READ-->>
- Eco-socialist Network Formed in Adelaide, AustraliaBy Leslie Richmond From Green Left Weekly, 26 January 2008 In October 2007, with the federal election looming, and global warming generating a lot of tepid air in parliaments around the country, a diverse group of people in Adelaide established the Eco-socialist Network to attempt to generate more serious discussion of environmental issues. Green Left Weekly’s ...---READ-->>
- How to Avoid Action on Climate ChangeThe following is the text of Ian Angus’s keynote speech at “Smells Like Green Spirit,” a conference sponsored by the University of British Columbia Student Environment Centre, on January 19, 2008. Canadians are known for being modest and self-effacing. We don’t brag much, and sometimes we seem to have an inferiority complex, a belief that we ...---READ-->>
- Tar Sands CrimesOn Sunday, January 20, I was one of two speakers at a public meeting entitled “Can We Stop Global Warming,” sponsored by the Vancouver Socialist Forum. My talk will be broadcast in Vancouver this week as part of “a special look at climate and the capitalist malaise” on Alex Smith’s excellent Radio Ecoshock program. UPDATE: This program ...---READ-->>
- Climate Change – Social Change Conference, Australia, April 11-13Climate change – Social change conference April 11-13, 2008 Sydney, Australia The world is teetering on the brink of unstoppable climate change. Many now recognise the need for serious change in the way we produce and use energy, our transport systems, food production, urban design and forestry practices. Yet politicians are still mouthing platitudes while allowing corporations to ...---READ-->>
- Options for Ecosocialists in 2008(The general line of document below was endorsed by a meeting of the Green Left (a group within the Green Party of England and Wales) at their meeting this month. I met Sean Thompson at the founding meeting of the Ecosocialist International Network on Paris in October. He has been a socialist activist in Britain ...---READ-->>
- “More Forest, Less Bank!” Protecting the World’s Forests Will Take More than MoneyMedia reports on last month’s Bali conference focused almost exclusively on what happened inside the conference hall and in negotiating sessions. But while politicians and bureaucrats haggled over the details of their toothless “Action Plan,” something quite different was happening outside. Dozens of activist groups also met in Bali, laying the basis for a revived ...---READ-->>
- New Publication: Confronting the Climate Change CrisisAvailable now: A new anthology of 10 frequently downloaded articles by Ian Angus, editor of Climate and Capitalism. They were published in Climate and Capitalism, Canadian Dimension, or Socialist Voice during 2007. Confronting the climate change crisis The IPCC and the conservatism of consensus Exploding the myths of ‘carbon offsets’ The war machine is addicted to oil The ‘emissions intensity’ ...---READ-->>
- From False to Real Solutions for Climate Changeby Patrick Bond Amidst her welcome critique of the biofuel mania, Vandana Shiva’s ZNet commentary last month (December 13, 2007) also made this point: “The Kyoto Protocol totally avoided the material challenge of stopping activities that lead to higher emissions and the political challenge of regulation of the polluters and making the polluters pay in accordance ...---READ-->>
- Ethanol and the Gulf Dead Zone: More Echoes of EngelsI previously quoted Friedrich Engels in regard to the impact of the U.S. ethanol boom on Brazilian rainforests. Here’s the quote again: Let us not, however, flatter ourselves overmuch on account of our human victories over nature. For each such victory nature takes its revenge on us. Each victory, it is true, in the first place ...---READ-->>
- 2007 Was Britain's 'Second Warmest Year'Share this with any global-warming-deniers you may be acquainted with — also with anyone who has a few doubts, or just isn’t certain, and everyone else as well. from BBC NEWS, January 3, 2008 Last year was the second warmest on record in the UK, according to figures released by the Met Office. The average mean ...---READ-->>
- Time to Stop the Greenwashingby Glen Barry from Earth Meanders, January 4, 2008 It’s a very positive sign for the green left that some mainstream green activists are publishing statements as strong as this one. Dr. Glen Barry is the President and Founder of Ecological Internet (EI). He is a conservation biologist and political ecologist, a writer of essays and blogs, ...---READ-->>
- A Conversation About Green SocialismFrom Socialist Unity, a blog hosted by Andy Newman in Britain, January 4, 2008 Derek Wall is one of two Principal Speakers who act as spokespeople for the Green Party of England and Wales. I interviewed him recently about how he sees the current political situation, and how progressives in the Green party and outside it ...---READ-->>
- Svend Robinson: Canada's Role in Bali Was Painful to SeeSvend Robinson, Canada’s first openly gay elected official and a leading activist for gay rights, was a New Democratic Party member of Canada’s federal parliament from 1979 to 2004. He is now working with Public Services International, based in France. He can be contacted by email at svend.robinson@world-psi.org. This article is posted here with Svend ...---READ-->>
- Elaine Browne Quits the U.S. Green PartyEditor’s note: For some time it has been an open secret in U.S. radical circles that the Green Party is dominated by a “Demogreen” current that believes the organization’s main role is to influence the Democratic Party, rather than to build an independent radical alternative. The conflict between the party’s “moderate” leadership and the its radical ...---READ-->>
- U.S. Ethanol and Amazon Forests: Echoes of EngelsIn The Part Played by Labor in the Transition from Ape to Man, Friedrich Engels wrote: “Let us not, however, flatter ourselves overmuch on account of our human victories over nature. For each such victory nature takes its revenge on us. Each victory, it is true, in the first place brings about the results we expected, ...---READ-->>
- The Bali Conference on Climate Change: An Initial Balance SheetBy Daniel Tanuro Daniel Tanuro is the ecological correspondent of La Gauche, newspaper of the Belgian Socialist Workers Party. An earlier version of this article, in French, was published in Europe Solidaire sans frontières, Dec. 20, 2007. The translation of the expanded article was done by Climate and Capitalism. It has been reviewed by the author. How ...---READ-->>
- Iraq and Climate ChangeWhen our grandchildren and more distant descendants assemble in such classrooms as may be available and ask their teachers, “Why did our ancestors not take effective action to prevent the catastrophic effects of climate change?” one of the answers will surely be, “The war in Iraq.” by Michael T. Clare Foreign Policy in Focus, December 7, 2007 Long ...---READ-->>