Some environmentalists want both nuclear power and renewables. Richard Seymour says that's an evasion. We must choose, and the choice isn't easy.
The Atomic Genie
Reading matters
Ecosocialist Bookshelf, September 2018
New books for reds and greens. Three centuries of factories; Holland in the Little Ice Age; Thinking in deep time; Horizontal Gene Transfer; The physics of evolution
Book Review
The Omega Principle: A vicious circle of fish, cattle and capitalism
How a giant industry that plunders the seas for tiny fish is reinforcing unsustainable industrial agriculture
Climate and hunger
Warmer climate = more hungry insects = less food
New research: Each one degree rise in global temperature will increase insect-driven losses to rice, corn and wheat crops by 10 to 25 percent
Book Review
Degrowth considered
The ecological insights of degrowth theory are undermined by blindspots about renewability, agriculture, unalienated labor, and the power of our enemies
On the precipice
To overcome climate paralysis, unite for system change
On the precipice of disaster, we have vast numbers of potential allies. All our differences pale next to the overwhelming urgency of our common task.
Technofixes
Engineering the climate could cost us the earth
Geoengineering is a political technology, part of institutional apparatus that is preventing effective climate action and delaying structural change
Red-Green Perspective
Carrying capacity, technology, and ecomodernist confusion
A radical biologist replies to an ecomodernist who ignores the social roots of environmental crises
Book Review
Ecomodernism and nuclear power: No solution for climate change
In 'Energy: A Human History,' Richard Rhodes trivializes the dangers of nuclear power and plunges into the abyss of ecomodernist technobabble.
John Bellamy Foster:
‘There is still time for an ecological revolution to prevent Hothouse Earth’
We need hundreds of millions of people to mobilize in an independent, revolutionary campaign to reconstitute global production and consumption.
The Rising Tide of environmental destruction
Arundhati Roy: The deadly flood in Kerala may be only a gentle warning
'Unbridled greed, denuding of forest land, illegal construction, destruction of natural water systems, and mismanagement of dams, have all played a huge part.'
Reading matters
Ecosocialist Bookshelf, August 2018
Six new books for reds & greens. Marxist History of Capitalism. Superbugs. Rising Oceans. Capitalism in Critical Theory. Food Bank Nations. American Oligarchy
Guardian Gets It Wrong
An ecosocialist reply to a defender of ‘green capitalism’
People running big corporations—indeed, those running businesses of all sizes—seek to maximize profits not because they are misguided, but because that’s their job in a capitalist economy.
Movement building
The fires this time: Implications for ecosocialist strategy
A call for public discussion of the role of deindustrialization in building an alternative to the catastrophic course of 21st century capitalism.
Review
An unstoppable drive to Hothouse Earth?
Can the global climate be stabilized before runaway change creates conditions that are too hot for human civilization and deadly for most species?
Dry Deniers
Australia: Worst drought ever, but don’t mention climate change!
“At the federal level there is a climate information vacuum of truth and at the state level there is no action."
No way out
Eternity, nature, society and the absurd fantasies of the rich
The wealthier they are, the more they fear that others will try to take their wealth. No wonder the super-rich are building bunkers to escape the apocalypse.
We're back!
Packed NYC meeting celebrates relaunch of Science for the People
Reborn organization and magazine will combine writing on scientific issues, building a network of radical scientists, and acting for social justice
Crisis deepens
State of the Climate Report: It’s hot and getting hotter
It’s official: 2017 was the third-warmest year on record, and the hottest non-El Niño year. Greenhouse gases hit record highs and sea levels kept on rising
Book review
Invasive species and ‘rewilding’ – Is doing nothing a solution?
In 'The New Wild,' Fred Pearce argues nature will restore itself if we just leave it alone. Is passive acceptance really the best response to biodiversity loss?