What Is Ecosocialism?

As we wrote in our "Intro to Climate Change" article, the economic system of capitalism is incompatible with living on a finite planet. This is because capitalism's ultimate goal is profit, which leads--and has lead--to extraction of natural resources so that they can be commodified and sold. In addition, companies who profit from causing climate change (i.e., Big Oil) have actively made fighting climate change very difficult, prioritizing profit above future human safety.

We ask ourselves, "If not capitalism, then what?" To show you a possible answer, this post reviews the essay "What Is Ecosocialism?" by Michael Löwy. It was originally published in the journal Capitalism, Nature, Socialism in June 2005. It is available to read online here.

In his essay, Löwy uses James O'Connor's definition of ecosocialism's aim: "an ecologically rational society founded on democratic control, social equality, and the predominance of use-value." (Use-value is defined as the value of a commodity, a tradeable object, according to its usefulness rather than its value on the market.) This could be created "by organizing production as a function of social needs and the requirements of environmental protection." This would mean that, instead of the economy's ultimate goal being profit, it would be to satisfy society's needs while protecting the environment.

The main goal of Löwy's essay is to make the case for alliance between environmental and socialist movements and explain the future that they could work together to create. He writes that, for this to happen, socialists would need to give up Marx's ideas of productivism, and environmentalists would need to abandon the myth of "green capitalism." Löwy also describes how this was already happening in 2005, in some countries in the Global South's fights against exploitation of their environments by companies and through projects such as reliable transportation that connect " 'reds' and 'greens.'" His writing is eloquent without being extremely difficult to read and draws from many sources.

We at Greenguide believe that you should read this because it explains how we could move on from the unsustainable system of capitalism, and towards a system that would protect the planet and provide for all of us. This is what we believe is the best possible future.

"What Is Ecosocialism?" by Michael Löwy was originally published in Capitalism, Nature, Socialism, volume 16, number 2. It was translated by Eric Canepa. It is published by Taylor and Francis on behalf of the Center For Political Ecology.