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.
- Failing to Make the Connectionsby William Bowles From Investigating New Imperialism, August 7, 2007 I’m torn, really torn between trying to keep up with the deceptions the corporate press keep feeding us and wanting to ignore the entire sorry mess completely, but well you know how it is, almost without exception, everyday there’s a story that grabs my attention because it ...---READ-->>
- Ecosocialism and the Revitalization of Marxist TheoryIn the Summer 2007 issue of From the Left, John Bellamy Foster argues that the 1990s, often viewed only as a time of decline and retreat for Marxism, were also the beginning of a new period of popular struggle against imperialism (especially in Latin America) and exciting new developments in Marxist theory.One key aspect of ...---READ-->>
- Who Is Really Leading the Fight Against Climate Change?Some socialists say that climate change is only an issue in rich countries. On the contrary — as Larry Lohman writes, the most intense front line fights against greenhouse gas emissions are being conducted in the Third World.Larry Lohman’s article originally appeared in Red Pepper. The summary of the fight in Chana (following Lohman’s article) ...---READ-->>
- Bush Pushes for Inaction on Climate ChangeGeorge Bush has invited Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and South Korea to send representatives to Washington in September. From Global Warming Watch President Bush is organising a September conference and inviting the world’s major polluters to develop strategies to hold onto business as usual for as long as possible.I’ll eat ...---READ-->>
- U.S. Issues Stealth Report on Climate ChangeIt’s well known in Public Relations circles that the best way to avoid media coverage of unpleasant or controversial information is to release it on Friday afternoon, after the reporters have gone home. The Bush administration did just that last week, issuing the 19-months-late US Climate Action Report with the least-possible publicity. Climate Science Watch, a ...---READ-->>
- Roy Bailey Sings ‘Red and Green’I came across this wonderful song on the website of the Alliance for Green Socialism. The artist, well-known British folksinger Roy Bailey, has very kindly granted permission to post it on Climate and Capitalism. “Red and Green” was written by Robb Johnson. Roy Bailey recorded it on his CD “CODA” (Fuse Records CFCD 404) which can ...---READ-->>
- U.K. Emissions Policy – “Clearly Incoherent”The following are excerpts from the “Conclusions and Recommendations” section of Beyond Stern: From the Climate Change Programme Review to the Draft Climate Change Bill, published on July 30 by the the Environmental Audit Committee of the U.K. House of Commons. The language is parliamentary and polite, but the criticisms of Labour Government policy are ...---READ-->>
- Greenwashing SaskatchewanThe province of Saskatchewan, with 3% of Canada’s population, produces 9% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. Will the NDP government’s recently-released Energy and Climate Change Plan cut those emissions? John Warnock says no. In The NDP’s Climate Change Plan: Political Greenwash he argues convincingly that the plan produced by a party that has long claimed to ...---READ-->>
- James Hansen: Business As Usual Will Cause Catastrophic Sea Level RiseC&C does not usually publish articles on the science of climate change, but this one is particularly compelling — I don’t know what James Hansen’s political views are, but his scientific analysis makes a compelling scientific case for rapid, radical social and political change. James Hansen heads NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York. ...---READ-->>
- Joel Kovel: Why Ecosocialism Today?a socialism worthy of the name will have to be ecologically—or to be more exact, “ecocentrically”—oriented, that is, it will have to be an “ecosocialism” devoted to restoring the integrity of our relationship to nature---READ-->>
- Live Earth and Al Gore’s Oil Connectionby David T. Rowlands from Green Left Weekly, 20 July 2007 The corporate media has heaped praise on Al Gore following the international rock gig Live Earth. But to ask the U’wa people, from the tropical cloud forests of north-eastern Colombia, what they thought about Gore and Occidental Petroleum (Oxy), the oil company from which his personal ...---READ-->>
- Cuba’s Fight Against Capitalism’s Climate Crisisby James Haywood from Socialist Voice, July 2, 2007 “Cuba has an energy policy whose core concept is to rely less and less on hydrocarbons and give greater space in the energy balance to renewable sources like solar, wind, tide, and water. Cuba has put in place a conservation system that starts at house level and continues ...---READ-->>
- Socialist Register 2007 – Coming to Terms with NatureSocialist Register 2007 Coming to Terms with Nature. Leo Panitch and Colin Leys, editors. Monthly Review Press, New York, 2006. reviewed by Sarah Parker The editors and authors of this year’s Socialist Register have produced an excellent collection whose aim is “contributing to the development of a better eco-socialist understanding of contemporary capitalism, and the kind of ...---READ-->>
- Myths of the Agro-Fuel TransitionBy Eric Holt-Giménez, Ph.D. Executive Director, Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy Biofuels invoke an image of renewable abundance that allows industry, politicians, the World Bank, the UN, and even the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to present fuel from corn, sugarcane, soy and other crops as a smooth transition from peak oil to a renewable ...---READ-->>
- Climate Change and the Muslim WorldA Briefing published by the World Development Movement (WDM) and the London Islamic Network for the Environment (LINE). Climate change is increasingly seen as the biggest challenge facing humanity. We will all be affected by it, but it is many of the poorest countries in the world who will be affected most. Muslim majority countries such ...---READ-->>
- Great Green Smokescreenby Simon Korner Dispatches on Channel 4 on July 16 examined the trend for offsetting one’s “carbon footprint,” and questioned how accurate the science for measuring this really is.BP has claimed on its website that by buying into a scheme for trapping the emissions on a huge Mexican pig farm and burning off the harmful ...---READ-->>
- Climate Change and Class Conflictby Chris Harman In the past two years the question of climate change has moved from the margins of mainstream political debate to the centre. Hardly a week goes by without some international meeting discussing it. Politicians and corporations of all hues now declare their commitment to do something; even George Bush admits that there is ...---READ-->>
- International Ecosocialist Meeting – Update #1More information on this fall’s planned international meeting of ecosocialists The response to last month’s call for an international meeting of ecosocialists has been very encouraging. As that announcement said: “This meeting is a very preliminary first step: we will get to know each other, establish a provisional organizing committee, and begin discussions of projects and activities. ...---READ-->>
- Cubans Call for a Global Response to Climate ChangeFrom Granma (newspaper of the Communist Party of Cuba), July 6, 2007 By a group of authors from the Cuban Ministry of Science and Technology (CITMA) and the Council of State Before the beginning of the recent meeting of the Group of 8, President Bush announced his strategy to deal with the severe problem of climate change ...---READ-->>
- Australian Socialists' Environment Charter Moving AheadEcosocialists around the world have primarily focused on exposing and analysing the capitalist threat to our planet. Australian ecosocialists are moving on the the next step, developing a program that lays out the concrete changes they propose for decarbonizing the planet.Dave Reilly (LeftClick) reports that the discussion process in the Socialist Alliance is now in ...---READ-->>