Ecology Against Capitalism

Rating:
Summary: An Ecology without Capitalism?
Review: In this new book John Bellamy Foster has assembled a great deal of evidence (in a dozen chapters written and published over the last decade) that the earth's ecology is incompatible with capitalism. But is there an alternative?

Foster says: "A shift toward a broad movement for ecological conversion and the creation of a sustainable society also means that that the partnership between the state and the capitalist class, which has always formed the most important linchpin of the capitalist system, must be loosened by degrees, as part of an overall social and environmental revolution. This partnership must be replaced, in the process of a radical transformation of the society, by a new partnership between democratized state power and popular power" (p. 132).

Reading just that far, one might conclude that such a loosening by degrees could be achieved within the two-party system in the United States or in other regimes where voters choose between conservatives and liberals. Certainly many environmental progressives (if that's not a contradiction) have opted to work within the existing political duopoly.

But the Ralph Nader campaigns of 1996 and 2000, and the concomitant rise of the Green Party, presage a different direction. It is one, however, which will require both a deeper and more ecological understanding of the incompatibility of ecosystems with a profit system, and a more radical politics than the market-regulation offered by the Green Party platform and Citizen Nader's narrower planks.

Foster goes on to say: "Such a shift requires revolutionary change that must be more than simply a rejection of capitalist methods of accumulation and their effects on people and the environment. Socialism -- as a positive, not just a negative, alternative to capitalism -- remains essential to the conversion process, because its broad commitment to worldwide egalitarian change reflects an understanding of 'how the needs of the various communities can be fit together in a way that leaves nobody out, and that also satisfies global environmental requirements'."

In his major opus, Marx's Ecology (2000), Foster showed Marx's development of an ecological perspective that drew from the latest natural science discoveries. These included the discovery of the micro metabolic cycles by the cell theorists, Theodor Schwann and Matthias Schleiden, which Marx linked with the discovery of the grand metabolic cycles of earth and sky by the agrochemist Justus von Liebig. To this one would have to add the influence on Marx of Karl Fraas, an important figure in forest ecology neglected by Foster and most scholars in this country.

Marx's resulting awareness of the ecological care necessary to plan a sustainable socialism was ignored, however, by the Soviet Union under Stalin, as Foster showed, despite profound contributions by scientists like Vladimir I. Vernadsky, whose 1924 book, The Biosphere (1998), has become an internationally-recognized classic of ecology. Critical radicals today, and particularly those in the ecosocialism paradigm, reject the lack of democracy and bureaucratic centralism of such regimes, which
played a key role in the adoption of policies that degraded the environment.

Nevertheless, Foster argues, "Within a socialist framework, the sources of the largest-scale and most severe environmental destruction could be dealt with head-on, in a way that has already shown itself to be beyond the capacity -- not to say against the interests -- of capital."

Foster acknowledges a range of collaborators and rivals in the crafting of his new book. Most important is Paul Burkett, whose
Marx and Nature: A Red and Green Perspective (1999) finally clarified the distinction between the human use of nature and the exploitation of the exchange value of commodities. Foster also cites James O'Connor, author of Natural Causes (1998)as showing that "While there are many variations in economic growth theory, all presuppose that capitalism cannot stand still...that it must 'accumulate or die,' in Marx's words" (p. 80).

Although Foster's new book appeared at the same time as Joel Kovel's The Enemy of Nature (2002), which has the same basic theme, the books are quite different. Foster's collection of articles is intended to deal with specifics, it is "an attempt to intervene directly in contemporary political-economic debates on capitalism and the environment..." (p. 7). Kovel's book is actually an intervention into eco-politics and provides a sustained exploration of Ecosocialism as compared and contrasted with Deep Ecology, Bioregionalism, Anarchist Social Ecology, and particularly with Populism and variants of small-business capitalism.

If Foster's new book is focused on what needs to be undone in an ecological and economic conversion, Kovel's is much more a manual of what needs to be done to build the alternative to capitalism. The books actually complement each other, and both are essential tools for the ecological activist and the open-minded citizen.

Rating:
Summary: A Positive Alternative to Capitalism
Review: John Bellamy Foster's "Ecology Against Capitalism" is a collection of essays that addresses some of the various aspects of capitalism's crisis of accumulation and the environment. Importantly, the author compares and contrasts the failures of the ecological economics model with the more promising ecosocialist paradigm, arguing that the latter is humanity's best chance to create a stable, healthy and humane world.

I haven't read any other books by Foster, but it is hard to imagine a better effort. This powerful little book is written with passion, clarity and purpose. Foster seems to pack more meaning in 170 pages than others who use twice the space. Consequently one can imagine the book serving as an excellent supplemental textbook for students who may be interested in rapidly developing their critical thinking skills.

Many of the articles discuss how the growth of capitalism is leading to environmental collapse. Foster shows that assigning market values to nature and introducting relatively less harmful technologies will not end the destruction. Rather, these so-called Green Economics solutions will merely lead to a "more efficient exploitation of the environment" (pg. 58) by the capital markets.

Foster strongly believes that a moral element is at play. The "higher immorality" of the bourgeoise class is implicit in its accumulation of material goods and profits at the expense of the poor and the environment; but it is also sometimes explicitly stated, such as in Lawrence Summers' infamous World Bank memo where a policy of exporting pollution to poor countries was rationalized because the economies are less developed there.

In my opinion, one of the best passages on the issue of morality concerned Foster's devastating critique of Malthus, who was one of the original apologists for the privileged class. Foster brilliantly turns the cult of Malthusianism on its head by arguing that the environmental crisis is a result of overconsumption by the rich, not the poor. Foster points out that neo-Malthusianism remains influential within neoliberal thought and argues forcefully that it must end if we are to ever stop deluding ourselves and get to work on real solutions to the crisis.

Foster's personal experiences with the timber industry conflicts in the Pacific Northwest are related in the book's lengthiest essay. The author discusses the limits of achieveing environmental sustainability without class struggle and the support of labor. Interestingly, Foster demonstrates the practical value of ecosocialist theory by articulating a workable solution that went beyond the rhetoric of "jobs versus logs". Perhaps not surpisingly, the author tells us that the promising proposal was quashed by a Bush Sr. administration official in favor of a pro-industry solution.

Ultimately, Foster shows that an ecosocialist society that values democracy, community and nature can indeed create "a positive, not just a negative, alternative to capitalism" (pg. 132). I urge you to read this outstanding book.