We have just breached one of the first, potentially irreversible climate tipping points, threatening catastrophic climate breakdown. Meanwhile, Indigenous climate activists protested the hypocritical, self-serving COP30 climate conference in Brazil.
“I recently read the RCP’s article on Just Stop Oil and Youth Demand. It resonated with me as someone who has made the journey from Just Stop Oil and getting arrested for direct action, to revolutionary communism and class struggle.”
In India, millions of tyres are sent each year from Britain to be burned in dangerous furnaces. In Brazil, miles of rainforest are being cleared to make way for the COP climate conference. Everywhere, the capitalists’ ‘solutions’ to the climate crisis are being exposed.
The notion of ‘degrowth’ – which advocates cutting down production to save the planet – has gained popularity within the climate movement. But there’s nothing radical about these academic, reformist ideas. Here, Lubna Badi provides a Marxist response to ‘degrowth’.
Recent storms have laid waste to large areas of Britain, exposing how utterly inadequate the country’s infrastructure is in the face of climate-related disasters. Only socialist planning can ensure that society adapts and averts a catastrophe.
Several wildfires are raging uncontrollably in and around the US city of Los Angeles. From the climate crisis, to the underfunding of fire departments, to water privatisation – the blame for this catastrophe lies squarely with the capitalist class.
Six days after flash floods left at least 214 people dead, the Spanish King and Prime Minister were pelted with mud and chased away by angry protesters. These unprecedented scenes were an expression of seething class rage.
With the earth’s natural carbon sinks collapsing, and 15,000 scientists warning that we are entering “an unpredictable new phase of the climate crisis”, it is clear that something drastic must change. We say: fight the climate crisis! Fight capitalism!
The USA has been battered by a series of deadly hurricanes in the past few weeks. These disasters have exposed that capitalism cannot deal with the consequences of the climate crisis – a catastrophe of its own making.
This week on Communist Radio: Ben Gliniecki and Tom Crozier discuss Hurricane Milton hitting the United States, capitalism’s climate catastrophe, and the seismic impact such events are having upon the consciousness of millions.
We publish here a range of letters from the latest issue of ‘The Communist’ touching on a variety of environmental questions: from the anxiety over climate change amongst the youth, to the greenwashing practices of big business and charities.
Despite all the fanfare, the latest UN climate summit has ended in yet another farce. These capitalist pantomimes will never provide any solution to the impending environmental catastrophe. To save the planet, we must fight for revolution.
The latest wave of storms and floods has left a trail of destruction across the UK. It is clear that British capitalism is completely ill-equipped to face increasingly frequent and extreme weather events. The billionaires must pay for this crisis.
With his party sinking in the polls, Rishi Sunak is looking to whip up a climate culture war. Workers must have no trust in either the Tories and their cynical claims, nor the liberals and their impotent demands. We must fight for revolution.
Capitalist politicians are increasing wrapping-up austerity measures in ‘green’ packaging – provoking a backlash amongst ordinary people, and polarising the working class. In place of this reactionary greenwashing, we need to fight for revolution.
Record temperatures and wildfires have hit huge swathes of the planet in recent months. Only by taking power out of the hands of the bankers and billionaires can we plan society rationally, to avoid a complete climate catastrophe.
The Labour leaders have begun to outline their environmental agenda, promising state support for new British industries. In reality, this means more big business profiteering. Instead of green capitalism, the unions must fight for workers’ control.
A recent report from the government’s advisory body on climate change has revealed that Britain is totally ill-equipped for the impacts of warming temperatures. Only socialist planning can ensure that society adapts and averts a catastrophe.
From activists gluing themselves to trains, to throwing soup at paintings: recent years have seen numerous groups employing ‘direct action’ tactics to achieve their aims. Instead, Marxists call for mass organised struggle by workers and youth.
The latest UN climate summit begins on Sunday. But following the impotence and inaction seen at previous COP conferences, expectations amongst environmental activists are low. Capitalism is killing the planet. We need to fight for revolution.
Dozens of activists were arrested at the weekend, protesting against the meat and fossil fuel industries. Small-scale actions are not enough. To end environmental destruction, we need mass struggle to overturn the profit system.
Across the world, temperatures and sea levels are rising. But the capitalists and their representatives remain nonchalant – more concerned about protecting their profits than the planet. To stop climate change, we need revolutionary change.
The latest IPCC climate report provides another dire warning of the catastrophe facing the planet. Yet all the capitalists have to offer is lip service and hollow promises. To stop climate change, we need to fight for revolutionary change.
Establishment politicians and press have suggested that the Ukraine conflict could spur a move away from fossil fuels. But instead, it has boosted the profits of the energy monopolies. Only socialist planning can combat the climate crisis.
Last Saturday saw a global day of action against climate change, organised to coincide with the COP26 conference in Glasgow. Marxist activists joined protests across Britain to say: Capitalism is killing the planet! We need a revolution!
Joe Russell discusses how capitalism is destroying our planet, and the need to fight for a socialist revolution in order to solve the climate crisis.
The latest report from the IPCC offers a stark warning about the devastating impacts of climate change. Yet faced with this catastrophe, capitalist politicians remain unmoved. We must take matters into our own hands and fight for revolution.
Under pressure to address the climate catastrophe, politicians and investors are cynically putting a green spin on their exploitative activities. In truth, capitalism is killing our planet. Only socialist planning can end this destruction.
In this podcast, Olivia Ruadh explains why it is the capitalist system that is to blame for climate change – and why we need to fight for a clear socialist solution.
A recent scientific report has rung yet another alarm bell about the environmental catastrophe that is unfolding before our eyes. Capitalism is killing the planet. We need revolutionary change, not climate change.
With his new environmental strategy, the Tory leader has pledged to save both the planet and the economy. But these are empty promises, relying on big business at a time of deep crisis. We need a socialist response to climate chaos.
David Attenborough’s latest documentary tells the story of climate change. But the programme and its presenter point the finger at the wrong culprit: ‘humanity’, rather than the bosses. To save the planet, we need system change.
The Tories have threatened to criminalise climate protests, in the wake of a recent blockade of the Murdoch press by Extinction Rebellion. To fight back, the climate movement must link up with organised workers and struggle for socialism.
A recent Guardian report has revealed how private firms are polluting UK water supplies. This is yet another example of capitalism’s destruction of our environment. We need socialist planning to protect people and the planet.
Boris Johnson’s call for a “defining year of climate action” will fool nobody. The Tories represent those who are destroying the planet. As long as the economy is privately-owned and run for profit, the climate crisis cannot be solved.
Students across the world are taking to the streets again today to demand action against climate change. The movement is drawing anti-capitalist conclusions. We publish here an interview with an activist from this inspiring movement.
Extinction Rebellion activists have attempted to shutdown Heathrow in protest against the airport’s expansion. Only mass mobilisation, not stunts, can stop climate change.
Millions of young people have organised to demand action against climate change, a result of capitalism’s insatiable need for profit. The labour movement must give support. Only the socialist transformation of society can solve this crisis.
Liberal commentators constantly call on us to take ‘individual action’ to avert ecological disaster. But even where this is done, the profit system still stands in the way – as the chaos of plastic recycling aptly demonstrates.
Electric cars are being heralded as a key technological solution to the climate crisis. But under capitalism, this green alternative to petrol-power is dependent on imperialist exploitation. This is why we need a socialist economic plan.
The last year has seen a surge in mass action against climate change. Corbyn’s Labour are promising a ‘Green Industrial Revolution’. But with a continuation of the capitalist status quo, the United Nations is predicting a “climate apartheid”.
Across the world, a new generation of activists is demanding urgent and radical action to stop climate change. But is the demand for a Green New Deal the solution to capitalism’s climate crisis?
The recent Extinction Rebellion protests have shown the passion that exists amongst activists to avert a climate catastrophe. But what is the best way forward from here for the environmental movement?
Today marks the latest international day of action for the student climate strike movement. The task ahead is to channel the energy and radicalism of the strikes into the labour movement and fight for a socialist alternative.
Students across the world are walking out of school today to protest against political inertia at the top over climate change. We must be clear: it is the destructive capitalist system that is responsible for this environmental crisis.
Thousands of students across the world will take to the streets today to demand action over climate change. But after the protests today, how can this inspiring movement move forward and achieve its radical aims?
Thousands of school students took to the streets last Friday, demanding immediate action against the impending climate catastrophe. We need system change, not climate change.
Thousands of students will walk out from school tomorrow as part of an international protest against politicians’ passivity in the face of existential environmental crises. We must demand a bold socialist alternative.
The Extinction Rebellion movement has hit the headlines recently for its direct action tactics. But to fight climate change, we must unite the green and red agendas by linking ecological demands with those of workers.
The recent IPCC report has set alarm bells ringing about the urgency of combatting climate change. But the capitalists cannot – and will not – do anything to save the planet.
As temperatures rise, the capitalists can do nothing but look on impotently. At the end of the day, it is their system that is responsible for this destruction.
Capitalism is killing our planet. But by taking over a tiny number of big companies, we could solve the problem through a socialist plan of production.
Access to the most important element of life is increasingly under threat due to a killer combo of rising temperatures and decades of infrastructure neglect.
The United Nations’ annual climate change summit, COP23, is drawing to a close in Bonn, Germany. But, as Joe Russell explains, such summits have been shown to generate little other than a lot of hot air. Decisive, radical action is needed. To combat climate change, revolutionary change is needed.
There were scenes of jubilation in Paris last Saturday evening, as delegates celebrated the results of negotiations at the United Nations climate change conference. But before the ink had even dried on the paper, doubts were already being raised – doubts that, in the final analysis, reflect the limitations and contradictions of the capitalist system.
In one week’s time, world leaders will meet in Paris for the COP21 United Nations climate change conference. But as bourgeois politicians impotently discuss and negotiate, the atmosphere continues to heat up as capitalism kills the planet. As Adam Booth outlines, the future facing humanity is clear: socialism or barbarism.
Hundreds of environmental activists from a broad range of backgrounds gathered in London on Saturday 28th March for an all-day event about the climate crisis and the radical alternatives needed to solve it. “This Changes Everything” marked an important step forward for the environmental movement, with speaker after speaker emphasising the need for fundamental change.
What is the best way to tackle the climate crisis? In this talk, Adam Booth puts forward the Marxist case for revolutionary change to end climate change.
With the planet facing environmental crises, some have sought to bring about change through individual efforts, trying to change the environmental practices of corporations by altering individual purchasing choices. We publish here an article by Kevin Harriman and Kevin Nance of Socialist Appeal USA, who look at the question of consumerism and the environment under capitalism, and explain the socialist alternative.
Across the media, the question of food is consistently raised here in Britain, from the endless programmes about cooking to the constant stream of warnings about malnutrion and obesity. We publish here an article written by John Peterson, editor of Socialist Appeal USA, who discusses the relationship between the food we eat and the capitalist system of production and distribution that we live under.
The past seven months have seen the release of the Fifth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The conclusions of the latest IPCC report are unequivocal: climate change is real; its effects will be disastrous; and nothing short of a revolution will do if we are to combat it.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) recently released a report that came up with a novel idea: convince the world population to eat insects in order to avert mass hunger. In reality it is already possible to feed everyone without the need to eat bugs. What stands in the way is the “market”, i.e. capitalism.
The development of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) has opened up whole new possibilities for improving the nutrition of humanity. However, under capitalism, GMOs are being abused by large agro-corporations to maximize shareholders’ profits at the expense of ordinary people around the world. What is a working-class approach to confronting the problems of GMOs and food security?
Capitalism is damaging the very planet we live on. But those affected most by climate change are not those who cause it. The working class and poor across the world once again are forced to pay for the crises that capitalism causes. Rob Dransfield of the Edinburgh Marxists discusses the impacts of capitalism on the environment and the lives of those effected by these changes.
Adam Booth, writer for www.socialist.net, talks about the environmental crisis and its relationship to capitalism, analysing the question from a Marxist perspective. Adam discusses issues such as carbon trading, green economic stimulus, and the role of individual actions in averting climate change, and in contrast presents a socialist solution to the environmental and ecological problems facing society and the planet.
The imperialists are struggling for control of the Arctic. This plundering of resources, accompanied by a huge waste of money on military spending, will not bring prosperity to the peoples of the Arctic.
Just five years ago, not a day would go by without global warming making
the headlines. The American politician Al Gore’s documentary film about
climate change, An Inconvenient Truth, was seen by hundreds of
thousands in cinemas across the world. The Conservative Party rebranded
themselves as the champions of the environment, nailing their ecological
colours to the mast and urging people to ‘vote Blue to go Green’. Even
the arch-reactionary American president George W. Bush was forced to
concede that, maybe, the environment was worth thinking about.
The "red mud" surge in Hungary several days ago, which destroyed houses, ruined land, cost a number of lives and has poluted the Danube – with a second surge being threatened – has shocked people not only in Hungary but throughout Europe and beyond. How did it happen – and who is to blame? The bosses media outlets are being in the main somewhat vague on this – our reporter in Hungary goes behind the scenes.
Much is said in the news about the disastrous situation that now
exists in the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the Deepwater Horizon
explosion. An ecological disaster of gigantic proportions has been
created by the profit motive, which is what drives the BP executives.
However, were the company to be thoroughly unionised, with workers’
representatives controlling every level of safety, this disaster could
have been averted.
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico highlights the
real state of US capitalism today. While making a lot of noise, Obama
is not prepared to take on the oil companies in any serious meaningful
way. What he is doing is passing the buck to the US working class.
The huge spillage of oil in the Gulf of Mexico was an accident
waiting to happen, as this brief comment from an ex-oil worker points
out. It shows quite clearly that our environment cannot be left in the
hands of a greedy, money-grabbing coterie of capitalists who own and
control the means of production.
It’s been close to a month since the Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig
exploded and sank into the Gulf of Mexico, just 45 miles south of the
already beleaguered gulf coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi. The
ensuing oil spill may well surpass that which followed the wreck of the
Exxon Valdez, which poured over 11 million gallons of oil into Alaska’s
Prince William Sound in the spring of 1989.
What would such a transitional programme look like for the environment? What set of demands should socialists make regarding the climate change? In this article, we attempt to outline such a programme.
For many people, the idea of a revolutionary change in society seems like a pipe-dream that will never be possible in their lifetime. In this respect, Trotsky developed the idea of the “Transitional Programme”: a set of demands that could take society from our current situation under capitalism, towards our final goal of international socialism. What would such a transitional programme look like for the environment? What set of demands should socialists make regarding the climate change?
‘Ethical consumption’ and other capitalist ‘solutions’ to the climate crisis are a blind alley. We need a socialist alternative.
In the previous few months, we have attempted to show how capitalist ‘solutions’ to climate change, such as market-based methods like carbon trading, are not able to combat the environmental problems facing humanity and our planet. Similarly, international treaties that attempt to operate within the confines of capitalism are also doomed to failure, as was seen in Copenhagen last year. Capitalism cannot solve these problems – capitalism is the problem.
The dramatic collapse of the talks at
the Climate Summit in Copenhagen serves to highlight one thing: the
capitalist governments of the world cannot solve burning issues, such
as damage to the environment provoked by the anarchy of the market. The
thirst for profit is in direct contradiction to the interests of the
working people of the world. Social revolution on a global scale is the
only real answer to the problem.
At 5.30am on Saturday 19th
December, after almost two weeks of negotiations, the UN Framework Convention
on Climate Change in Copenhagen
ended with an almost universal agreement that the summit had been a complete
failure.
As the climate change "summit" continues in Copenhapen, we reproduce here an English translation of a leaflet produced by Marxists in Denmark for a demonstration last Saturday
From 7th to 18th December
2009, delegates from 192 countries will be gathering in Copenhagen, Denmark,
in order to create a new, “legally-binding”, global treaty on climate change.
The UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen (known
as COP15) marks the culmination of two-years of negotiation to try and generate
a replacement for the Kyoto
protocol, which is due to expire in 2012.
At a recent meeting of a local Labour Party
Branch in Worcester,
a slick high tech presentation was given by a group called Transition Worcester,
who said they had the answer to the environmental crisis. It is to turn the
clock back 200 years to a mythical age where all trade was local and people
enjoyed the benefit of locally grown meat, fruit & veg. Within this presentation were ideas such as we
should no longer trade with developing countries and we should therefore export
our unemployment to the third world.
We are constantly bombarded with the myth that capitalism drives innovation, technology, and scientific advancement. But in fact, the precise opposite is true. Capitalism is holding back every aspect of human development, and science and technology is no exception.
Earlier this year, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband ended years of silence
from the Government as to how they are going to address the issue of
climate change, and how they plan to replace Britain’s aging power
plants, many of which are nearing the end of their lifetime,
threatening to plunge the country into darkness due to a lack of
electricity. The Government’s answer lies in a technology called
"Carbon Capture and Storage", or CCS, which they claim will be the
silver bullet that simultaneously kills the problems of global warming
and national energy supply.
This article raises some concerns about CCS as part of the ongoing discussion inside the Labour movement about socialism and our natural resources.We welcome any comments on this contribution and the issues it raises.
On 23rd March 1989 the oil tanker Exxon Valdez left normal shipping lanes and smashed into the Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska. Within hours, the once mighty vessel had spilled over ten million gallons of oil into the icy waters: the largest oil spill in ever recorded in US waters.Over the coming months, around eleven thousand square miles of open sea became contaminated. Local wildlife – many species of which were rare or endangered elsewhere – perished in vast quantities. News reports brought back footage of over 1,300 miles of shoreline turned black and scattered with dead or dying fish, birds, and seals.
The
European Union set up an Emissions Trading Scheme as a market solution to deal
with pollution. Pollution is of course, overwhelmingly generated by big
business (‘market’) activities. Now the scheme has turned around to bite them.As a result
of the crisis, polluting companies have found themselves strapped for cash. So
they’ve cashed in their carbon credits for short term readies.
We are told that there is not enough food for everyone, that
there are too many human beings on the planet and therefore we must all reduce
consumption – a handy idea in the hands of the bourgeois propagandists. The
real facts and figures reveal that the world produces enough food. So where
does the problem lie?
Unite’s Graham Tran
comments, “There was recently a case where a young man was given a 24 month
prison sentence for spraying graffiti on train carriages. When Shell was
prosecuted following the deaths of two workers on Brent Bravo, they pleaded
guilty and got a fine of £90,000. That is the equivalent of the profit they
make in 45 minutes. A two year sentence for spraying paint on trains – 45
minutes for killing two men.”
Many of those living in Aberdeen and
the surrounding area were woken up by the sound of helicopters flying over
their houses, flying to the largest offshore oil piping disaster that the world
has ever seen. The crew of the Piper Alpha platform consisted of 230 men. Only
63 were to make it out of the Piper that night. This article is a tribute to
those who never managed to get out due to the negligence of their employers.
The press have carried a number of stories over recent weeks about the
discovery of planets outside of our solar system. But what is the
reality behind these "new earths"? Are we about to "boldly go where no
one has gone before" or is it a bit more complicated than that?
In Britain and
internationally supermarket chains have come to dominate the food distribution
market. The tendency to monopolisation is evident. But with it go many
practices that literally endanger our health, and with it also working
conditions, wages, the environment and so on. The only answer is to take them
over, remove the profit motive and run them in the interests of all working
people.
The environmental statistics have been pouring in, and the prognosis
for the planet looks dire: global warming is accelerating, leaving
environmental destruction in its wake. Already we are witnessing some
of its devastating consequences and there are trends
which, if allowed to proceed unchecked, will culminate in humans
huddled around the two poles in search of respite from the heat.
Britain, like all the other capitalist countries, is
dependent on burning fossil fuels as our basic energy source. It is obvious
that fossil fuels must run out one day. It is also well known that carbon
emissions from burning fossil fuels contribute to climate change. One
‘solution’ put forward to this is to grow your own biofuel.
The way
the computer industry functions today is a perfect illustration of all the
faults and massive inefficiencies of capitalism, where the primary goal is not
serving the interests of society. Developing, improving and distributing
software takes place only where big profits can be made. This stands in sharp
contrast to free software, where human knowledge and the produce of human
labour is used to the advantage all of society.
In the course of human history new discoveries,
particularly in the fields of science and medicine, have challenged established
thought. This is now happening again with stem cell research. What could lead
to curing many diseases that up to now have been fatal is coming under a
barrage of criticism because of religious and reactionary prejudices.
A recent six week investigation by the Financial Times found widespread profiteering and fraud in carbon trading, the main mechanism for greenhouse gas reduction proposed by the Kyoto treaty. Many schemes will produce only limited reductions in greenhouse gases and will have little or no effect on global warming.
The environmental
problems
we face are creations
of the capitalist system.
The problem is that
there is no planning on and no concern for environmental issues in an unplanned
economy. Short-term ‘rational' decisions produced
environmental disaster in the longer term. Socialism is
the only way we can protect the environment.
The Stern Report highlights the problem of global warming linked to the high emissions of carbon. Stern tries to find a solution within capitalism, without understanding that capitalism is actually the problem. The unplanned, chaotic nature of the system, where all is based on immediate profit means no real solution can be found within it. The answer lies in planning and that can only be achieved under socialism.
Earlier this year we received a letter from a reader of Socialist Appeal who says we put too much importance on one factor that contributes to climate change, human-induced emissions of "greenhouse" gases. In his answer Phil Mitchinson looks at the broader aspects of pollution, climate change and so on and stresses the need for a radical, socialist transformation of society if we are even to begin to tackle these vital problems.
Global warming and other environmental issues are always in the news. There is even
a party – the Green Party – that claims to put the environment at the
centre of its concerns. The Green Party claims to be neither right wing
nor left wing as, they say, environmental issues transcend the
traditional issues of class and the division between rich and poor that
define conventional political discussions and divisions. This is poppycock. Environmental issues are vitally important to
us inhabitants of the planet earth. But the environmental problems, and
the potential environmental catastrophe, we face are creations of the
capitalist system.
Dramatic climate change in recent years has led scientists to the conclusion that global warming is the cause. This is bad news for the private owners of the $2trn dollar oil, gas and natural gas industries. If serious action were taken to deal with global warming, their profits would be in trouble. That is why these big monopolies have spent millions on a campaign designed to rubbish the global warming theory.
The debate over global warming and the consequences it may or may not have for planet Earth and humanity has been raging for several decades now. Global warming is an endless source of controversy, but one thing is clear – our climate is changing.
On December 23, 2003 the US government officially acknowledged the outbreak of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) in a herd of cattle in the state of Washington.This is officially the first case of mad cow in the US, but is in reality the second case of an outbreak in the integrated Canadian and US cattle industry. The farming and cattle crisis is at root a reflection of the crisis of capitalism worldwide and a result of "globalization".
"According to the defenders of capitalism and the "free market", socialism in general and marxism in particular is all but dead and buried. However it may be instructive to examine one of the main environmental problems created by the free market, namely global warming. This has been described as the greatest disaster facing humankind, not to mention a myriad of other species! The question is can the capitalist system find a global solution?".
Genetic engineering has come upon the world with a rush, accompanied by the usual claims of being a way of feeding the earth's poor and removing want. However these claims need to examined in the light of what has actually been done to date, and what is planned for the future. In fact the impetus for the development of genetic engineering, namely the rapid pursuit of maximum profits and futher control of world agriculture runs counter to the stated aims as well as encouraging unsafe science.
Sewage-fed cows, "mad cows", dioxin contaminated chickens, hormone injected cattle, genetically modified Soya, animal carcasses used to make animal feed, contaminated mineral water and Coca- Cola. A common thread runs through all these cases: the search for the highest profits on the part of the food industry to the detriment of everybody's health. Michele Fabbri, Italian Marxist magazine Falce Martello.
According to Monsanto, the American multinational currently making vast profits out of genetically modified food, the future's so bright that they could genetically modify us to wear shades! Joking apart, there is a serious issue here. Are GM foods safe?