Home Environment Economic roots of the environmental crisis

Economic roots of the environmental crisis

Details
Published on Saturday
22 December 2012  15:47
Written by Radical Socialist

Economic roots of the environmental crisis

Fred Magdoff and John Bellamy Foster

What Every Environmentalist Needs To Know about Capitalism: A Citizen’s Guide to Capitalism and the Environment

Monthly Review Press, 2011 •

160 pages • $13.95

Review by Dan Sharber

RECENTLY, PRESIDENT Obama rejected the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline—a 1,700-mile oil pipeline that would have run from the tar sands of Alberta to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico. This is undoubtedly a huge victory for the environmental movement. However, Bill McKibben—activist and founder of 350.org—was quick to give away the credit: “This isn’t just the right call, it’s the brave call. The knock on Barack Obama from many quarters has been that he’s too conciliatory. But here, in the face of a naked political threat from Big Oil to exact ‘huge political consequences,’ he’s stood up strong.”

McKibben did go on to give credit to the thousands of grassroots activists who are the real brave ones working for environmental justice. However, they are presented as a partner to the president, working together for a common goal against an intransigent Republican, big business, and oil companybased opposition. McKibben seems to have discovered, in his estimation, the form that victories can take in the battle for the environment, and it is an inside-outside strategy that is as old as the hills and has far more failures than victories. This focus on form and strategy precludes any discussion of what is at the root of the environmental catastrophe—our economic system.

As any good activist knows, the ultimate goals of the movement should guide the strategy and tactics. This is why it is so important to correctly identify the problem, else your solutions will be ineffective or actually counter-productive.

This is where the new book by John Bellamy Foster and Fred Magdoff, What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know About Capitalism, shines.

The book was adapted from an article originally published in Monthly Review magazine under the same title. Readers of Monthly Review or other leftwing environmental sources will be familiar with most of the issues and problems explored in this book. Despite this, the book is still very useful. For those not as familiar with the current environmental problems, things are worse than you think.

Between climate change, ocean acidification, ozone depletion, global freshwater use, loss of biodiversity, and chemical pollution our planet and all life on it is in big trouble unless things change—and change soon. In addition to the problems, the authors discuss and ultimately discount various mainstream environmental solutions. These  include both those proposed in corporate boardrooms and those proposed by well-meaning and committed activists. What all these solutions have in common, though, is that they are wholly inadequate or incapable of dealing with the problem of global climate change. The reason these solutions will not work is all a function of their inability (or in some cases, specific unwillingness) to identify and confront capitalism as the source of all environmental ills.

A real positive with this book is that while it debunks what it calls “utopian reformist” solutions (like technocratic solutions or personal consumption choices), it does so without insulting the generally well-meaning people who care deeply about the problem and truly believe those are the solutions. This is valuable because it is important not to alienate or unnecessarily antagonize those struggling for environmental justice now who can be won to an anticapitalist view later.

The main drawback with the book is that it is somewhat disorganized. There is no fault with the information, but if you are looking for a clear explanation of the specific environmental problems and/or an in-depth look at why mainstream solutions will not work then there are better books for that—some even by Foster and Magdoff.

Where this book stands out, though, is in the prescriptions for action provided at the end.

What has been lacking in some Marxist discussions of the environment are real, tangible medium-term goals or issues to work behind. Commonly, the argument for why capitalism is the problem is very compelling, but the overly simple solution of socialist revolution, while correct, can be too intangible for environmentalists new to Marxism.

Foster and Magdoff do the heavy lifting of convincing the reader that capitalism is the problem, but they don’t just stop at “organize for socialism.” They provide a veritable laundry list of things to get involved in, all with the ultimate goal of replacing capitalism—a barbaric system based on exploitation and destruction—with a socialist society based on cooperation and sustainability.

This list of issues and ideas is clear and easy to understand and could even be used as an organizing tool to launch a specifically anticapitalist environmental activism group that could work around specific local and national issues, while always keeping an eye on fighting against and ultimately replacing the capitalist system. It could also be a valuable primer or discussion tool within the Occupy movement where environmental issues as well as anticapitalist politics have both received a positive reception.

What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know is useful for people who care about the environment but don’t know what to do or where to look for the root problems, as well as for Marxists looking to plug into environmental struggles in their own community.

RELATED ARTICLES

The Struggle for Food Sovereignty in Tunisia

Details Published on Wednesday 07 November 2018 16:20 Written by Radical Socialist

IPCC recognizes inequality as a key for “climate risk”. But we must go much further than that.

Details Published on Saturday 19 April 2014 10:40 Written by Radical Socialist

Most Popular

মণিপুরঃ র‍্যাডিকাল সোশ্যালিস্টের বিবৃতি

Details Published on Sunday 23 July 2023 02:04 Written by Radical Socialist

Social Democracy Punished

Details Published on Monday 12 October 2009 18:30 Written by Radical Socialist Jan Malewski, François Sabado (From International Viewpoint) At the centre and south of Europe — in Germany and Portugal...

Support the Libyan Revolution

Details Published on Friday 04 March 2011 10:10 Written by Radical Socialist Support the Libyan revolution! Gaddafi out FI Bureau The shock waves of the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions continue to...

Tunisia and the Arab Revolution

Details Published on Monday 14 February 2011 16:41 Written by Radical Socialist TUNISIA AND THE ARAB REVOLUTION Osvaldo Coggiola After 40 days of mobilisation and with over a hundred people...

The automotive industry will be at the heart of the coming economic crisis

Details Published on Friday 08 November 2019 16:23 Written by Radical Socialist from International Viewpoint Thursday 7 November 2019, by Winfried Wolf Since mid-2019, we have been living through...

Lessons from the travails of the Bolivian president

Details Published on Sunday 14 July 2013 13:40 Written by Radical Socialist Lessons from the travails of the Bolivian president by Yakov Rabkin The episode with the Bolivian president’s plane...

A look at the experience of the LPP and the Pakistani Left

Details Published on Wednesday 30 June 2010 08:13 Written by Radical Socialist Pierre Rousset 1 April 2010   In the course of a two-week stay in Pakistan, I was able to...

Class Struggle and Environmental Activism

Details Published on Saturday 17 October 2009 01:51 Written by Radical Socialist

Detroit: The Olympics of Restructuring

Details Published on Tuesday 09 April 2013 16:51 Written by Radical Socialist Detroit: The Olympics of Restructuring by Dianne Feeley March 17, 2013 On March 14, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder...

Bravura expression of growing left influence in Pakistan

Details Published on Thursday 18 february 2010 18:45 Written by Radical Socialist The 5th LPP congress   Farooq Tariq   The two-day Labour Party Pakistan Fifth congress helped to advance the revolutionary...