Ecosocialist Resources

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.


  • Climate and economic crises: Why we need an ecosocialist 'just transition'
    Presentation by Patrick Bond for a panel discussion on Climate Change and Just Transition, at the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa Climate Change Conference in Johannesburg, July 18, 2011. Click to view (PDF): Durban-based academic Patrick Bond’s book The Politics of Climate Justice will be released later this year. Recent articles by him are posted here.
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  • The face of climate corruption in Canada
    What’s truly amazing about Canadian politicians is how cheaply they can be bought. +++++++++++++++ Oil giants chipped in $180,000 to help Canada’s energy ministers have “unbiased” discussions about our energy future by Graham Saul Executive Director, Climate Action Network Canada The Mark, July 19, 2011  Energy ministers from across Canada have just returned from an all-expenses-paid tour of the tar sands, ...
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  • British Green leader enters the population debate … on the wrong side
    There are other issues she should concentrate her efforts on and the uneasy marriage of resource depletion with population is one we could do without by Martin O’Beirne The Ecosocialist, July 17, 2011  Caroline Lucas, leader of the England & Wales Green party has entered the debate on human population. I should point out that I have not read ...
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  • Japan's #2 paper: Phase out nuclear, shift to renewable energy
    “The government has no choice but to change its energy policy in the direction of reducing Japan’s dependence on nuclear power and expanding the use of renewable sources.” These editorials were published in the July 13 edition of Ashi Shimbun, the second most widely read daily newspaper in Japan. Japan should stop nuclear fuel cycle policy Since Japan’s ...
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  • Hunger in the midst of plenty
    Billions of people regularly struggle to get enough to eat. The problem isn’t a lack of produce or a rising population. It is a system driven by profit. by Mike Haynes Socialist Review, July/August 2011  The global price of food has risen again to a new high, breaking the records set in 2008. In Britain this matters, especially if ...
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  • Capitalism and ecological balance are mutually exclusive
    Chris Williams is a long-time environmental activist and author of Ecology and Socialism: Solutions to Capitalist Ecological Crisis. He is a chemistry and physics professor at Pace University, and chairperson of the Packer Collegiate Institute science department. This interview, conducted by Jon Hochschartner,  was published in Counterpunch on July 14, 2011. JON HOCHSCHARTNER: Children in Fukushima recently ...
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  • Australia's carbon price agreement: what’s in it for renewables?
    The plan is a gain for the grass roots campaign for renewable energy, but we must be clear about its limitations by Ben Courtice Blind Carbon Copy, July 15, 2011 After a few days to consider the ins and outs of the carbon price, this is an attempt to summarise the meaning of the agreement for renewable energy ...
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  • Natural gas: no solution to climate change
    New Suzuki/Pembina report exposes Canada’s wrong-way policy on natural gas production. by Julia Kilpatrick Pembina Institute, July 14, 2011 In a meeting last April with Canada’s  Senate Standing Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources, then-environment minister Jim Prentice said: “in terms of reducing our emissions of greenhouse gas as well as other pollutants, the more natural ...
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  • Australia's carbon price plan: 'The greatest corporate windfall of our time’
    Friends of the Earth Australia says the newly announced carbon price mechanism will give generous handouts to polluters while having limited impact on greenhouse gas emissions Statement issued by Friends of Earth Australia July 11, 2011 Friends of the Earth Australia has today criticised the carbon price mechanism for its generous handouts to polluters and for its limited ...
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  • Climate change impact: 11% of species extinct by 2100
    Human-caused climate change could become responsible for hundreds-of-thousands if not millions of species vanishing from the Earth by Jeremy Hamce Mongobay, July 11, 2011  Scientists have predicted for decades that climate change could have a grave impact on life on Earth, which is already facing numerous threats from habitat loss, over-exploitation, pollution, invasive species, and other impacts. However, ...
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  • Eco-Socialism and the Population Question: An Open Reply to Ian's Open Letter
    Deep ecology versus ecosocialism, part 6: Saral Sarkar argues for a synthesis of socialism and deep ecology by Saral Sarkar Cologne, July 10, 2011 Dear Ian, I had thought, two contributions from me, that was enough. But now that you have written an open letter directly addressed to me, I do not want to be impolite by ignoring it. ...
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  • Introducing the Next Eco-Warriors
    Book Review: The Next Eco Warriors: 22 Young Women and Men Who are Saving the Planet. Edited by Emily Hunter. (Conari Press, 2011) reviewed by Derrick O’Keefe rabble.ca, July 7, 2011 Evo Morales, Bolivia’s indigenous president, has said that the challenge of the 21st century is to respect and restore the rights of Mother Earth. And the stakes ...
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  • Rosa Luxemburg: Reform versus Revolution
    Thanks to Luna17 for reminding us of this brilliant passage from the woman Lenin described as one of the  “outstanding representatives of the revolutionary proletariat and of unfalsified Marxism.” Legislative reform and revolution are not different methods of historic development that can be picked out at the pleasure from the counter of history, ...
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  • Fukushima: Growing resistance challenges pro-nuclear policies
    The Japanese people must simultaneously face the consequences of the earthquake, the tsunami and the Fukushima disaster. The Japanese crisis makes no exception to the rule: in time of humanitarian disaster class domination strengthens more than it is blurred in the name of solidarity.  by Pierre Rousset International Viewpoint, July 2011 Every day brings new revelations on the gravity ...
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  • A letter to Saral Sarkar on population, wilderness, and ecosocialism
    Deep ecology versus ecosocialism, part 5: If ecosocialists support wilderness clearances and population reduction they will be on the wrong side of some of the most important struggles in the world today. The following is C&C Editor Ian Angus’s response to Saral Sarkar on Malthusianism and Ecosocialism, and Sarkar’s Reply to some points made by my ...
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  • Sarkar’s confused defense of Malthus's capitalist ideology
    Deep ecology versus ecosocialism, part 4. A prominent Marxist Humanist says that Saral Sarkar’s defense of Malthus against Marx and Engels is “astoundingly wrong-headed” The following article is a response to Saral Sarkar on Malthusianism and Ecosocialism. It first appeared in slightly different form on the EI-Network discussion list, and is posted here with the author’s ...
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  • Saral Sarkar on Malthusianism and Ecosocialism
    Deep ecology versus ecosocialism, part 3: Saral Sarkar explains why he thinks population reduction is essential, and why he nevertheless calls himself an eco-socialist. Saral Sarkar has submitted another contribution to this ongoing  debate. He prefaced his submission with this: “Here is my last contribution to this discussion. I will not write anything more on this topic, ...
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  • Why carbon taxes won't save the environment
    “There is no economic mechanism that can substitute for the initiative of an aroused populace.” Socialist scholar and historian John Riddell has kindly given us permission to publish this letter, which he wrote to a Canadian green activist who supports carbon taxes as a means of fighting greenhouse gas emissions. It was so good of you to ...
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  • The misleading mantra of 'overpopulation'
    If the Earth is too crowded right now, it is because we have too many billionaires. By Peter Schwartzman and David Schwartzman Originally published in Green Horizon in 2007 as “Is the World Overpopulated.” Republished here with the authors’ permission. Homo sapiens now numbers 6.6 Billion. In the U.S., we just passed the 300 million threshold. These numbers ...
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  • Confessions of a nuclear power safety expert
    “I soon came to the conclusion that neither international cooperation nor technological advancements would guarantee human societies to build and safely run nuclear reactors”
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