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.
- Books for your green left reading (and gift) list …Green Left Weekly asked various people to name the best books published this year “A game-changer on steroids” Mat Ward chose Too Many Pe0ple? Population, Immigration, and the Environmental Crisis by Ian Angus and Simon Butler (Haymarket Books, 2011) For me, a great book is one that substantially changes the way people see the world. Nicholas Shaxson’s Treasure Islands, which came ...---READ-->>
- Are consumers destroying the earth?Monstrous as the consumer economy has become, consumer spending is not the biggest environmental problem. Most waste and pollution is caused by industrial, military and commercial processes, over which consumers have no control. CONSUMERS ARE NOT THE BIG GREEN PROBLEM by Simon Butler Green Left Weekly, December 3, 2011 Most environmentalists would agree consumerism and consumer culture put too ...---READ-->>
- Why do rich governments want the climate talks to fail?If treasuries can find trillions to bail out dodgy banks, if financiers can be paid hundreds of millions in bonuses and the politics of Europe can be redrawn in just a few weeks, then why can’t the rich and big-emitting countries make a deal to try to avert what could be the greatest problem the ...---READ-->>
- Green capitalism? As likely as a vegetarian tigerThe always excellent Climate Connections blog published these quotes from speakers at a meeting organized in Durban this week by La Via Campesina. Read and share … Lidy Nacpil, Jubilee South: “The talk now on the table at the COP is to base the Green Climate Fund on private investment. But if there is ...---READ-->>
- Durban conference must reject carbon markets for agricultureAgriculture soil carbon offsets will do nothing to stop climate change the climate, while further shifting the burden of mitigation onto small producers in the poorest countries At the global climate talks in Durban, South Africa, more than 100 organizations have signed the letter below, calling for rejection of proposals efforts to create a carbon market for place ...---READ-->>
- New pubs: 7 Billion vs 1%; Feed the world; Ecosocialist revolutionClimate and Capitalism editors and writers in print … DifferenTakes #73, published by the Population and Development Program at Hampshire College, is a new article by Ian Angus and Simon Butler, “Panic over 7 billion: Letting the 1% off the hook.” PopDev encourages wide distribution. Read online or download PDF here. “Feed the world without destroying the planet” is a new pamphlet on ...---READ-->>
- Athabasca Chipewyan people to sue Shell Canada over tar sands“The fate of our communities and our river is at stake and we are in the crosshairs of Shell’s plans to aggressively expand tar sands in our traditional territory. We ask the public to support ACFN’s efforts to stop Shell from permanently destroying our lands and community.” On November 30, on the eve of the world ...---READ-->>
- Amazonian peoples' report exposes the grim reality of REDDNew report by Amazonian indigenous peoples exposes the reality of REDD+ in Peru: Land conflicts, carbon piracy and violations of indigenous peoples’ rights A new report published by Peruvian indigenous organisations, AIDESEP, FENAMAD and CARE, and international human rights organisation the Forest Peoples Programme (FPP), reveals the impact that REDD projects and programmes are already having on ...---READ-->>
- Pipeline and tanker trouble. Tar sands impact on B.C. coasts“Our communities have taken a stand against the Northern Gateway pipeline because we would lose everything. This pipeline is where we draw the line. Big oil pipelines and the accompanying oil super tankers mean that life as we know it will be over.” A new report shines a light on the dangers associated with transporting tar ...---READ-->>
- Too Many People? Review by British socialist magazine“Too Many People? is not disheartening or alarmist, as some books about climate change can be. It is assertive, passionate and a key reference for arming ourselves against those, on the right and the left, who talk about population control.” Socialist Review is a monthly magazine published by the Socialist Workers Party, the largest organization on the ...---READ-->>
- On climate, Canada is a rogue stateIf Canada’s overt policy objective was to emit as much carbon as possible, it is hard to imagine the feds doing more to make that happen. … Canada’s carbon footprint is more than double when we count exports by Marc Lee Progressive Economics Forum, Nov. 29, 2011 On Sunday, CTV leaked Canada’s intentions to pull out of the Kyoto treaty process ...---READ-->>
- Canada wins 1st and 2nd place fossil awards for bad faith in Durban“Canada is here in Durban in bad faith. Countries should be asking themselves why Canada is sitting at the Kyoto negotiating table with a secret plan to formally withdraw from the protocol mere weeks after the talks end.” From the Climate Action Network (CAN) Durban, South Africa – The first day of the United Nations climate change ...---READ-->>
- A socialist perspective on life after capitalismAlex Callinicos: “One important priority for any new society would be to move rapidly towards a low carbon economy. This is necessary not only to prevent chaotic climate change, but also to provide the billions of people who now toil in wretched misery with a decent existence.” Alex Callinicos is the author of Bonfire of Illusions: The ...---READ-->>
- Too Many People? review by Greek environmentalistThis timely work methodically reviews and demolishes the pseudo-science of Populationism … reinforcing humanist and internationalist arguments exposing the methods and politics and pseudo-statistics of populationist organisations---READ-->>
- UK government secretly promotes Canada's tar sandsThe Tory-led coalition in the UK seems is Canada’s partner in crime, pressing the European Union to reject regulations that would restrict use of dirty oil mined in Alberta’s destructive tar sands projects by Damian Carrington The Guardian, November 27, 2011 The UK government has been giving secret support at the very highest levels to Canada‘s campaign against European ...---READ-->>
- Greenhouse gas concentrations reach new high; rate of increase accelerates“Even if we managed to halt our greenhouse gas emissions today – and this is far from the case – they would continue to linger in the atmosphere for decades to come and so continue to affect the delicate balance of our living planet and our climate.” News Release issued November 21, 2011, by the World ...---READ-->>
- In Durban, developing countries must resist the bullying, bribery and blackmail of the rich polluters“The best outcome from Durban would be one based on climate justice. It is time to stand up to the climate change bullies, to reject the Copenhagen Accord and the Cancún Agreements that implement it.” This is the concluding section of The end game in Durban? How developed countries bullied and bribed to try to kill ...---READ-->>
- Indigenous statement condemns REDD“We call upon all people committed to climate justice to support life, and we implore the global community to take responsibility for reducing emission of green house gases at the source and to reject REDD+ as a false solution that breads a new form of climate racism.” Declaration of Members of the Indigenous Peoples’ Biocultural Climate Change ...---READ-->>
- The people's democratic struggle and the struggle for the environment. An interview with Fred Magdoff“The people’ democratic struggle and the struggle for the environment should be intimately tied together. The only meaningful way to deal with social as well as environmental problems is to organize a new society based on equality, democracy, and care for the environment.”---READ-->>
- Marxism and the Environmental Crisisby John Molyneux John Molyneux, who lives in Dublin, is a member of the Irish and British Socialist Workers Parties. This article was published in his blog in August, 2010. Over the next ten, twenty or fifty years humanity faces an immense environmental crisis as a result of rapid and chaotic climate change. Indeed the crisis is already underway ...---READ-->>