Making sense of so-called ‘Eco-socialism’: “System Change, Not Climate Change”*

Next time somebody tells you they believe in “changing the system”, ask them quite pertinently, “what do you mean by that?” At the same time, ask them to explain exactly where they get that mindset from, because you may be speaking to an Eco-socialist who thinks recognising the phenomenon of ‘Climate Change’ is only the first step. That’s because, as adherents to this growing radical ideology maintain, what’s really required is global system change, in favour of localised, sustainable, self-sufficient socialism that saves and protects an organic Mother Earth from capitalist exploitation.

*(Please note that this informal article isn’t furnished with a reference list/biography per se; however, the illustrative quotes at the end, containing web references/sources, substitute effectively per same function).

In very basic terms, eco-socialism may be described as a combination of radical ecological (i.e. ‘Green’) ideas, anti-capitalism, socialism and elements of Marxist thought. Typically, although one may not immediately recognise the ideological sources, fairly well-known activist slogans (like “System Change Not Climate Change”) that have been around for some time, are actually associated with eco-socialism. For instance, another example thereof is, “the world is not a commodity”. In this case, there is an attempt to link supporters’ understanding of current social crises to rampant consumerism.

Although not altogether semantic equivalents, terms related to eco-socialism that you may have encountered before, include conceptual expressions/combinations like ‘green socialism’, ‘eco socialism’, ‘Green Marxism’ and ‘socialist ecology’. However, it should be stressed at the outset of this briefest of discussions, that eco-socialism is in no way the same as ecology (the relationships between organisms)/ecologist (a type of biologist)/ecological (environmental, etc.), i.e. for these aren’t necessarily political in nature, nor comparable by way of ideas.

The following is an extremely useful dual definition taken from a Canadian eco-socialist source (EcoSocialismCanada.blogspot), setting up rather tidily the discussion that follows, making in terms of contrastive contiguity clear what is signified by the respective concepts (and by implication, what not):

“An eco[-]socialist differs from an ecologist in that he analyzes          the ‘ecological crisis’ not as a crisis of the relationship between humanity in general and nature but as a crisis of the relationship between an historically determined mode of production and its environment, and therefore in the last analysis as a manifestation of the crisis of the mode of production itself”.

The latter part of the dual/contrastive definition quoted above, from the ‘Ecosocialism Canada’ blog, leans heavily on Marxist phraseology, which, at this point, can be said to indicate the eco-socialist belief that capitalism and its processes, i.e. production and consumption modes, are responsible for a claimed global ecological/environmental crisis or catastrophe.

Eco-socialism can be described as an ideology (and movement) based on ideas that have come about in the last three decades. If you enjoy tracing words, concepts and terms as I do (something called etymology), you will discover that the term is used a bit more prominently, for the first time, in publications from around the early 1990s in order to describe certain influences on the Green (Political Environmentalist) Movement.

However, it has roots going much further back. In a sense, ‘eco-socialist’ ideas, or ones very similar to them, have been around since the 1960s where these may be applied to experimental, alternative modes of living, often with a primitive subsistence farming element. Most people may be able to recall reading a novel or watching a movie in which a commune or collective was portrayed as trying to live, in a self-supporting way, on an isolated farm, etc. However, our recent historical period is not the only one to espouse a set of ideas belonging to this area of radical thought.

Recently, I’ve been reading a great deal of seventeenth, eighteenth & nineteenth century German history in connection with some of my current research projects, containing eras in which holistic, ecological notions figure prominently, not least of all those associated with the German Romantic Movement in which nature, and living in harmony with it, features prominently.

What supporters of the ‘eco-socialist’ ideology would like see, can best be understood by their critique of late twentieth century/early twenty first century fossil fuel based society: Eco-socialists commonly believe that modern human beings no longer live in harmony with nature. They would like to transform society so that greater harmony may come about.

However, eco-socialists’ aspirations reach much further. They consider the practices of our entire civilisation to be exploitative and usually describe these as ‘damaging’. Therefore, what they espouse is complete civilisational transformation, leaving behind the alleged source of all the problems, namely ‘capitalist’ practices.

The ideology works with radical theoretical-ideological constructs like ‘patriarchy’ (male-dominated capitalist society, i.e. [seen /portrayed as] negative), ‘fossil fuel/s based economy/society’ (capitalist society dependent on fuels derived from oil and coal, i.e. negative), ‘mother earth’ (an anthropomorphic representation of the planet as a living mother, i.e. [seen/portrayed as] positive) and ‘eco-communalism’ (i.e. positive). In the case of the latter, a somewhat more detailed discussion aids in grounding decidedly woolly or slippery Hippie-like notions a bit better:

Eco-communalism: In what may appear like a form of socio-historical regression, eco-socialists would like to create a parallel economy to that of global capitalism, also ultimately global, but originating with small, self-sufficient local economies. Whereas capitalism is quite mistakenly stereotyped as being fundamentally centralised in nature, eco-socialists want to create to that a parallel alternative in a decentralised manner from the ‘ground up’. Local self-sufficient, eco-economies in this view would become linked, or interconnected, and is argued to be ultimately more beneficial to society as a whole.

Eco-socialism directly/openly – and as often as not also indirectly, implicitly or deliberately asymmetrically - is prominently supported by a wide range of radical organisations, politicians, academic activists and publications. More significantly, there is a noticeable trend, continuing already for a number of decades, of its influencing other organisations and publications that would typically be regarded as ‘mainstream’.

A few examples, elaborated upon critically by way of notes, may suffice at this point:

  • Ecosocialism Canada (ecosocialismcanada.blogspot)

Referring to an ‘economic/ecology crisis’ socio-doctrinologist:

“The sociologist John Bellamy Foster has defined eco-socialism as the rational regulation of production, respecting the metabolic relationship between social systems and natural systems to ensure the satisfaction of common needs for present and future generations”

Note: ‘System’ is a central concept (appearing in most theories as well) to socio-doctrinology, informing other humanities/arts/social studies fields, pointing to radical socialist socio-economic ‘tranformation’ of the world’s interconnected systems.

Note: A sentence taken from this organisation’s website helps to illustrate how the eco-socialist mentality merges and integrates socialist and ecological ideas of ‘mutual aid’, ‘wholeness’, ‘singularity’, ‘systems’ and ‘interdependence’:

“The biosphere as a whole, which consists of millions of mutually interdependent life forms, might be thought of as one single ecosystem”.

In this case, once again, a sentence helps to illustrate how eco-socialists represent a new breed, a further evolution of the ideological type, of socialists, who see their alternative economics and radical ecological ideas as being interrelated:

“Any socialism worthy of the name will have to be ecologically—or to be more exact, “ecocentrically”— oriented, that is, will have to be an “ecosocialism” devoted to restoring the integrity of our relationship to nature”.

Note: In the extract it can be clearly seen how Green political parties that may at first have been reluctant to incorporate ideas with socialist origins are now fully embracing the eco-socialist agenda, and its movement, playing a key role in helping to facilitate its spread throughout broader coalitions.

[A Green Party member … ] “views the Green Party as essential in the eco-                       socialist transformation but not sufficient and expressed that greens should not be arrogant about ideology or complacent in viewing themselves as sole representatives of the struggle. The call is for practical politics to build trust and a broad social movement with a radical anti-capitalist and eco-socialist agenda.”

  • System Change Not Climate Change

(https://www.systemchangenotclimatechange.org/ecosocialism)

Note: The objective “capitalism has to go” is naïve, for preceding the first use of the concept (1800s), trade, capital and profit (motives) were basic to almost all human interactions throughout history; vaunted “collaboration” with non-socialists in order to promote their agenda confirms the suspicions of many observers in mainstream society that many radical organisations operate with tactics like deceit, conspiracy, collusion and subversion.

“All ecosocialists agree that capitalism has to go, but they also recognize that the only way forward is through collaboration with more mainstream organizations that are not socialist. They also agree that a range of environmental reforms must be pursued, especially those that radicalize the people fighting for them and that bring together disparate branches of the environmental movement”.

  • Ecosocialist Horizons

(http://ecosocialisthorizons.com/ecosocialism/)

Note: The ‘Mother Earth’ notion harkens back to far less developed phases in human development and history, hardly of analytical use in an era of advanced science with truly major global challenges; this also suggests a cultic neo-pagan agenda, and an assault on most major religions and their ‘systems’ as well as ways of thinking; the phenomenon of agricultural and consumption-based ‘surplus’ referred to in the second extract as an object for elimination, is the basis, historically, of human survival and success since the last Ice Age (and the agricultural revolution that follows it).

“Ecosocialism is one of the voices which responds to the cry of Mother Earth, one among many convocations which emerge from our territories. Ecosocialism is a calling in which many others are evoked and resound; one of the many ways to name the pain of Mother Earth, which claims us, names us, and challenges us to change”.

AND

“A total war against life has been launched in order to eliminate the surplus and to control the scarcity that this social relation have falsely conceived [sic]. This system is the only surplus that we must overcome and eliminate. And the only scarcity is the limited recognition that ecosocialism is the original model – that they made us sick with their counter-model; with their alternatives to ways of life based on ancestral principles and practices – which we must now reclaim, with the seeds and crops of the paths to the life we need”.

     

Note: The portions of the quotes in bold reveal that there is a coherent ideological mindset, as well as probable international organising, behind what may seem unrelated campus protests/movements demanding fossil-fuel divestment, and that this if often characterised by ‘direct action’, a radical political culture that circumvents proper democratic processes in favour of immediate results, often through violence, intimidation or other subversive means.

“Along with the rapid spread of student fossil-fuel divestment groups on campuses around the country, the February protest signals an environmental movement that is on the rise”. … “More and more, people in the US are coming to realize that direct political action is necessary now to prevent runaway catastrophic climate change in the future. Crucially, the movement has united around a basic demand to curtail the political and economic power of the enormously profitable fossil-fuel industry”.

Note: The use of concepts/expressions like “steady state economy” and phrases like “a tool to organize production” mean that eco-socialist proponents don’t believe in the notion of economic growth, not even ‘sustainably’, which could lead to a global catastrophe like planetary famine if implemented. On a practical level, it’s almost impossible to effect on a global scale anyway.

“Eco-socialists share many of the criticisms made here of market-led environmentalism, but at the same time most, but not all, reject the possibility of growth in consumption due to the assumed bio-physical limits of the earth’s resources, and therefore advocate a steady state economy.”

AND

“The most positive aspect of the development of the eco-socialist movement is that planning is now being seriously debated as a tool to organise production, as is the possible danger of the degeneration of a future planned socialist society into a totalitarian state such as happened in the Soviet Union”.

*(Please note that this informal article isn’t furnished with a reference list/biography per se; however, the illustrative quotes at the end [see above], containing complete web references/sources for readers’ purposes, are substituted effectively for the same function).

Carl J. Kieck,

June 2017.

Carl J. Kieck is an Independent International Social and Educational Researcher, primarily, and is currently involved in several long-term research projects. He is originally from South Africa, yet, because he finds it stimulating to develop new insights and broaden his horizons, undertakes work internationally in primary, secondary and tertiary education as either a temporary or part-time teacher and lecturer.

 

He can be contacted in the following ways:

 

  • Professional research & consultancy websites:

  • Informally, for social media commentary and social networking:

 

 

        Gab.ai: @CarlKieck

 

  • Professionally, and, for professional networking purposes:

         LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/carl-kieck-research-services- 

                         a544b4139/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Making sense of so-called ‘Eco-socialism’: “System   Change, Not Climate Change”*

Next time somebody tells you they believe in “changing the system”, ask them quite pertinently, “what do you mean by that?” At the same time, ask them to explain exactly where they get that mindset from, because you may be speaking to an Eco-socialist who thinks recognising the phenomenon of ‘Climate Change’ is only the first step. That’s because, as adherents to this growing radical ideology maintain, what’s really required is global system change, in favour of localised, sustainable, self-sufficient socialism that saves and protects an organic Mother Earth from capitalist exploitation.

*(Please note that this informal article isn’t furnished with a reference list/biography per se; however, the illustrative quotes at the end, containing web references/sources, substitute effectively per same function).

In very basic terms, eco-socialism may be described as a combination of radical ecological (i.e. ‘Green’) ideas, anti-capitalism, socialism and elements of Marxist thought. Typically, although one may not immediately recognise the ideological sources, fairly well-known activist slogans (like “System Change Not Climate Change”) that have been around for some time, are actually associated with eco-socialism. For instance, another example thereof is, “the world is not a commodity”. In this case, there is an attempt to link supporters’ understanding of current social crises to rampant consumerism.

Although not altogether semantic equivalents, terms related to eco-socialism that you may have encountered before, include conceptual expressions/combinations like ‘green socialism’, ‘eco socialism’, ‘Green Marxism’ and ‘socialist ecology’. However, it should be stressed at the outset of this briefest of discussions, that eco-socialism is in no way the same as ecology (the relationships between organisms)/ecologist (a type of biologist)/ecological (environmental, etc.), i.e. for these aren’t necessarily political in nature, nor comparable by way of ideas.

The following is an extremely useful dual definition taken from a Canadian eco-socialist source (EcoSocialismCanada.blogspot), setting up rather tidily the discussion that follows, making in terms of contrastive contiguity clear what is signified by the respective concepts (and by implication, what not):

“An eco[-]socialist differs from an ecologist in that he analyzes          the ‘ecological crisis’ not as a crisis of the relationship between humanity in general and nature but as a crisis of the relationship between an historically determined mode of production and its environment, and therefore in the last analysis as a manifestation of the crisis of the mode of production itself”.

The latter part of the dual/contrastive definition quoted above, from the ‘Ecosocialism Canada’ blog, leans heavily on Marxist phraseology, which, at this point, can be said to indicate the eco-socialist belief that capitalism and its processes, i.e. production and consumption modes, are responsible for a claimed global ecological/environmental crisis or catastrophe.

Eco-socialism can be described as an ideology (and movement) based on ideas that have come about in the last three decades. If you enjoy tracing words, concepts and terms as I do (something called etymology), you will discover that the term is used a bit more prominently, for the first time, in publications from around the early 1990s in order to describe certain influences on the Green (Political Environmentalist) Movement.

However, it has roots going much further back. In a sense, ‘eco-socialist’ ideas, or ones very similar to them, have been around since the 1960s where these may be applied to experimental, alternative modes of living, often with a primitive subsistence farming element. Most people may be able to recall reading a novel or watching a movie in which a commune or collective was portrayed as trying to live, in a self-supporting way, on an isolated farm, etc. However, our recent historical period is not the only one to espouse a set of ideas belonging to this area of radical thought.

Recently, I’ve been reading a great deal of seventeenth, eighteenth & nineteenth century German history in connection with some of my current research projects, containing eras in which holistic, ecological notions figure prominently, not least of all those associated with the German Romantic Movement in which nature, and living in harmony with it, features prominently.

What supporters of the ‘eco-socialist’ ideology would like see, can best be understood by their critique of late twentieth century/early twenty first century fossil fuel based society: Eco-socialists commonly believe that modern human beings no longer live in harmony with nature. They would like to transform society so that greater harmony may come about.

However, eco-socialists’ aspirations reach much further. They consider the practices of our entire civilisation to be exploitative and usually describe these as ‘damaging’. Therefore, what they espouse is complete civilisational transformation, leaving behind the alleged source of all the problems, namely ‘capitalist’ practices.

The ideology works with radical theoretical-ideological constructs like ‘patriarchy’ (male-dominated capitalist society, i.e. [seen /portrayed as] negative), ‘fossil fuel/s based economy/society’ (capitalist society dependent on fuels derived from oil and coal, i.e. negative), ‘mother earth’ (an anthropomorphic representation of the planet as a living mother, i.e. [seen/portrayed as] positive) and ‘eco-communalism’ (i.e. positive). In the case of the latter, a somewhat more detailed discussion aids in grounding decidedly woolly or slippery Hippie-like notions a bit better:

Eco-communalism: In what may appear like a form of socio-historical regression, eco-socialists would like to create a parallel economy to that of global capitalism, also ultimately global, but originating with small, self-sufficient local economies. Whereas capitalism is quite mistakenly stereotyped as being fundamentally centralised in nature, eco-socialists want to create to that a parallel alternative in a decentralised manner from the ‘ground up’. Local self-sufficient, eco-economies in this view would become linked, or interconnected, and is argued to be ultimately more beneficial to society as a whole.

Eco-socialism directly/openly – and as often as not also indirectly, implicitly or deliberately asymmetrically - is prominently supported by a wide range of radical organisations, politicians, academic activists and publications. More significantly, there is a noticeable trend, continuing already for a number of decades, of its influencing other organisations and publications that would typically be regarded as ‘mainstream’.

A few examples, elaborated upon critically by way of notes, may suffice at this point:

  • Ecosocialism Canada (ecosocialismcanada.blogspot)

Referring to an ‘economic/ecology crisis’ socio-doctrinologist:

“The sociologist John Bellamy Foster has defined eco-socialism as the rational regulation of production, respecting the metabolic relationship between social systems and natural systems to ensure the satisfaction of common needs for present and future generations”

Note: ‘System’ is a central concept (appearing in most theories as well) to socio-doctrinology, informing other humanities/arts/social studies fields, pointing to radical socialist socio-economic ‘tranformation’ of the world’s interconnected systems.

Note: A sentence taken from this organisation’s website helps to illustrate how the eco-socialist mentality merges and integrates socialist and ecological ideas of ‘mutual aid’, ‘wholeness’, ‘singularity’, ‘systems’ and ‘interdependence’:

“The biosphere as a whole, which consists of millions of mutually interdependent life forms, might be thought of as one single ecosystem”.

In this case, once again, a sentence helps to illustrate how eco-socialists represent a new breed, a further evolution of the ideological type, of socialists, who see their alternative economics and radical ecological ideas as being interrelated:

“Any socialism worthy of the name will have to be ecologically—or to be more exact, “ecocentrically”— oriented, that is, will have to be an “ecosocialism” devoted to restoring the integrity of our relationship to nature”.

Note: In the extract it can be clearly seen how Green political parties that may at first have been reluctant to incorporate ideas with socialist origins are now fully embracing the eco-socialist agenda, and its movement, playing a key role in helping to facilitate its spread throughout broader coalitions.

[A Green Party member … ] “views the Green Party as essential in the eco-                       socialist transformation but not sufficient and expressed that greens should not be arrogant about ideology or complacent in viewing themselves as sole representatives of the struggle. The call is for practical politics to build trust and a broad social movement with a radical anti-capitalist and eco-socialist agenda.”

  • System Change Not Climate Change

(https://www.systemchangenotclimatechange.org/ecosocialism)

Note: The objective “capitalism has to go” is naïve, for preceding the first use of the concept (1800s), trade, capital and profit (motives) were basic to almost all human interactions throughout history; vaunted “collaboration” with non-socialists in order to promote their agenda confirms the suspicions of many observers in mainstream society that many radical organisations operate with tactics like deceit, conspiracy, collusion and subversion.

“All ecosocialists agree that capitalism has to go, but they also recognize that the only way forward is through collaboration with more mainstream organizations that are not socialist. They also agree that a range of environmental reforms must be pursued, especially those that radicalize the people fighting for them and that bring together disparate branches of the environmental movement”.

  • Ecosocialist Horizons

(http://ecosocialisthorizons.com/ecosocialism/)

Note: The ‘Mother Earth’ notion harkens back to far less developed phases in human development and history, hardly of analytical use in an era of advanced science with truly major global challenges; this also suggests a cultic neo-pagan agenda, and an assault on most major religions and their ‘systems’ as well as ways of thinking; the phenomenon of agricultural and consumption-based ‘surplus’ referred to in the second extract as an object for elimination, is the basis, historically, of human survival and success since the last Ice Age (and the agricultural revolution that follows it).

“Ecosocialism is one of the voices which responds to the cry of Mother Earth, one among many convocations which emerge from our territories. Ecosocialism is a calling in which many others are evoked and resound; one of the many ways to name the pain of Mother Earth, which claims us, names us, and challenges us to change”.

AND

“A total war against life has been launched in order to eliminate the surplus and to control the scarcity that this social relation have falsely conceived [sic]. This system is the only surplus that we must overcome and eliminate. And the only scarcity is the limited recognition that ecosocialism is the original model – that they made us sick with their counter-model; with their alternatives to ways of life based on ancestral principles and practices – which we must now reclaim, with the seeds and crops of the paths to the life we need”.

     

Note: The portions of the quotes in bold reveal that there is a coherent ideological mindset, as well as probable international organising, behind what may seem unrelated campus protests/movements demanding fossil-fuel divestment, and that this if often characterised by ‘direct action’, a radical political culture that circumvents proper democratic processes in favour of immediate results, often through violence, intimidation or other subversive means.

“Along with the rapid spread of student fossil-fuel divestment groups on campuses around the country, the February protest signals an environmental movement that is on the rise”. … “More and more, people in the US are coming to realize that direct political action is necessary now to prevent runaway catastrophic climate change in the future. Crucially, the movement has united around a basic demand to curtail the political and economic power of the enormously profitable fossil-fuel industry”.

Note: The use of concepts/expressions like “steady state economy” and phrases like “a tool to organize production” mean that eco-socialist proponents don’t believe in the notion of economic growth, not even ‘sustainably’, which could lead to a global catastrophe like planetary famine if implemented. On a practical level, it’s almost impossible to effect on a global scale anyway.

“Eco-socialists share many of the criticisms made here of market-led environmentalism, but at the same time most, but not all, reject the possibility of growth in consumption due to the assumed bio-physical limits of the earth’s resources, and therefore advocate a steady state economy.”

AND

“The most positive aspect of the development of the eco-socialist movement is that planning is now being seriously debated as a tool to organise production, as is the possible danger of the degeneration of a future planned socialist society into a totalitarian state such as happened in the Soviet Union”.

*(Please note that this informal article isn’t furnished with a reference list/biography per se; however, the illustrative quotes at the end [see above], containing complete web references/sources for readers’ purposes, are substituted effectively for the same function).

Carl J. Kieck,

June 2017.

Carl J. Kieck is an Independent International Social and Educational Researcher, primarily, and is currently involved in several long-term research projects. He is originally from South Africa, yet, because he finds it stimulating to develop new insights and broaden his horizons, undertakes work internationally in primary, secondary and tertiary education as either a temporary or part-time teacher and lecturer.

He can be contacted in the following ways:

  • Professional research & consultancy websites:

  • Informally, for social media commentary and social networking:

        Gab.ai: @CarlKieck

  • Professionally, and, for professional networking purposes:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carl-kieck-research-services-a544b4139/Making sense of so-called ‘Eco-socialism’: “System Change, Not Climate Change”*

Next time somebody tells you they believe in “changing the system”, ask them quite pertinently, “what do you mean by that?” At the same time, ask them to explain exactly where they get that mindset from, because you may be speaking to an Eco-socialist who thinks recognising the phenomenon of ‘Climate Change’ is only the first step. That’s because, as adherents to this growing radical ideology maintain, what’s really required is global system change, in favour of localised, sustainable, self-sufficient socialism that saves and protects an organic Mother Earth from capitalist exploitation.

*(Please note that this informal article isn’t furnished with a reference list/biography per se; however, the illustrative quotes at the end, containing web references/sources, substitute effectively per same function).

In very basic terms, eco-socialism may be described as a combination of radical ecological (i.e. ‘Green’) ideas, anti-capitalism, socialism and elements of Marxist thought. Typically, although one may not immediately recognise the ideological sources, fairly well-known activist slogans (like “System Change Not Climate Change”) that have been around for some time, are actually associated with eco-socialism. For instance, another example thereof is, “the world is not a commodity”. In this case, there is an attempt to link supporters’ understanding of current social crises to rampant consumerism.

Although not altogether semantic equivalents, terms related to eco-socialism that you may have encountered before, include conceptual expressions/combinations like ‘green socialism’, ‘eco socialism’, ‘Green Marxism’ and ‘socialist ecology’. However, it should be stressed at the outset of this briefest of discussions, that eco-socialism is in no way the same as ecology (the relationships between organisms)/ecologist (a type of biologist)/ecological (environmental, etc.), i.e. for these aren’t necessarily political in nature, nor comparable by way of ideas.

The following is an extremely useful dual definition taken from a Canadian eco-socialist source (EcoSocialismCanada.blogspot), setting up rather tidily the discussion that follows, making in terms of contrastive contiguity clear what is signified by the respective concepts (and by implication, what not):

“An eco[-]socialist differs from an ecologist in that he analyzes          the ‘ecological crisis’ not as a crisis of the relationship between humanity in general and nature but as a crisis of the relationship between an historically determined mode of production and its environment, and therefore in the last analysis as a manifestation of the crisis of the mode of production itself”.

The latter part of the dual/contrastive definition quoted above, from the ‘Ecosocialism Canada’ blog, leans heavily on Marxist phraseology, which, at this point, can be said to indicate the eco-socialist belief that capitalism and its processes, i.e. production and consumption modes, are responsible for a claimed global ecological/environmental crisis or catastrophe.

Eco-socialism can be described as an ideology (and movement) based on ideas that have come about in the last three decades. If you enjoy tracing words, concepts and terms as I do (something called etymology), you will discover that the term is used a bit more prominently, for the first time, in publications from around the early 1990s in order to describe certain influences on the Green (Political Environmentalist) Movement.

However, it has roots going much further back. In a sense, ‘eco-socialist’ ideas, or ones very similar to them, have been around since the 1960s where these may be applied to experimental, alternative modes of living, often with a primitive subsistence farming element. Most people may be able to recall reading a novel or watching a movie in which a commune or collective was portrayed as trying to live, in a self-supporting way, on an isolated farm, etc. However, our recent historical period is not the only one to espouse a set of ideas belonging to this area of radical thought.

Recently, I’ve been reading a great deal of seventeenth, eighteenth & nineteenth century German history in connection with some of my current research projects, containing eras in which holistic, ecological notions figure prominently, not least of all those associated with the German Romantic Movement in which nature, and living in harmony with it, features prominently.

What supporters of the ‘eco-socialist’ ideology would like see, can best be understood by their critique of late twentieth century/early twenty first century fossil fuel based society: Eco-socialists commonly believe that modern human beings no longer live in harmony with nature. They would like to transform society so that greater harmony may come about.

However, eco-socialists’ aspirations reach much further. They consider the practices of our entire civilisation to be exploitative and usually describe these as ‘damaging’. Therefore, what they espouse is complete civilisational transformation, leaving behind the alleged source of all the problems, namely ‘capitalist’ practices.

The ideology works with radical theoretical-ideological constructs like ‘patriarchy’ (male-dominated capitalist society, i.e. [seen /portrayed as] negative), ‘fossil fuel/s based economy/society’ (capitalist society dependent on fuels derived from oil and coal, i.e. negative), ‘mother earth’ (an anthropomorphic representation of the planet as a living mother, i.e. [seen/portrayed as] positive) and ‘eco-communalism’ (i.e. positive). In the case of the latter, a somewhat more detailed discussion aids in grounding decidedly woolly or slippery Hippie-like notions a bit better:

Eco-communalism: In what may appear like a form of socio-historical regression, eco-socialists would like to create a parallel economy to that of global capitalism, also ultimately global, but originating with small, self-sufficient local economies. Whereas capitalism is quite mistakenly stereotyped as being fundamentally centralised in nature, eco-socialists want to create to that a parallel alternative in a decentralised manner from the ‘ground up’. Local self-sufficient, eco-economies in this view would become linked, or interconnected, and is argued to be ultimately more beneficial to society as a whole.

Eco-socialism directly/openly – and as often as not also indirectly, implicitly or deliberately asymmetrically - is prominently supported by a wide range of radical organisations, politicians, academic activists and publications. More significantly, there is a noticeable trend, continuing already for a number of decades, of its influencing other organisations and publications that would typically be regarded as ‘mainstream’.

A few examples, elaborated upon critically by way of notes, may suffice at this point:

  • Ecosocialism Canada (ecosocialismcanada.blogspot)

Referring to an ‘economic/ecology crisis’ socio-doctrinologist:

“The sociologist John Bellamy Foster has defined eco-socialism as the rational regulation of production, respecting the metabolic relationship between social systems and natural systems to ensure the satisfaction of common needs for present and future generations”

Note: ‘System’ is a central concept (appearing in most theories as well) to socio-doctrinology, informing other humanities/arts/social studies fields, pointing to radical socialist socio-economic ‘tranformation’ of the world’s interconnected systems.

Note: A sentence taken from this organisation’s website helps to illustrate how the eco-socialist mentality merges and integrates socialist and ecological ideas of ‘mutual aid’, ‘wholeness’, ‘singularity’, ‘systems’ and ‘interdependence’:

“The biosphere as a whole, which consists of millions of mutually interdependent life forms, might be thought of as one single ecosystem”.

  • Solidarity ():

In this case, once again, a sentence helps to illustrate how eco-socialists represent a new breed, a further evolution of the ideological type, of socialists, who see their alternative economics and radical ecological ideas as being interrelated:

“Any socialism worthy of the name will have to be ecologically—or to be more exact, “ecocentrically”— oriented, that is, will have to be an “ecosocialism” devoted to restoring the integrity of our relationship to nature”.

Note: In the extract it can be clearly seen how Green political parties that may at first have been reluctant to incorporate ideas with socialist origins are now fully embracing the eco-socialist agenda, and its movement, playing a key role in helping to facilitate its spread throughout broader coalitions.

[A Green Party member … ] “views the Green Party as essential in the eco-                       socialist transformation but not sufficient and expressed that greens should not be arrogant about ideology or complacent in viewing themselves as sole representatives of the struggle. The call is for practical politics to build trust and a broad social movement with a radical anti-capitalist and eco-socialist agenda.”

  • System Change Not Climate Change

(https://www.systemchangenotclimatechange.org/ecosocialism)

Note: The objective “capitalism has to go” is naïve, for preceding the first use of the concept (1800s), trade, capital and profit (motives) were basic to almost all human interactions throughout history; vaunted “collaboration” with non-socialists in order to promote their agenda confirms the suspicions of many observers in mainstream society that many radical organisations operate with tactics like deceit, conspiracy, collusion and subversion.

“All ecosocialists agree that capitalism has to go, but they also recognize that the only way forward is through collaboration with more mainstream organizations that are not socialist. They also agree that a range of environmental reforms must be pursued, especially those that radicalize the people fighting for them and that bring together disparate branches of the environmental movement”.

  • Ecosocialist Horizons

(http://ecosocialisthorizons.com/ecosocialism/)

Note: The ‘Mother Earth’ notion harkens back to far less developed phases in human development and history, hardly of analytical use in an era of advanced science with truly major global challenges; this also suggests a cultic neo-pagan agenda, and an assault on most major religions and their ‘systems’ as well as ways of thinking; the phenomenon of agricultural and consumption-based ‘surplus’ referred to in the second extract as an object for elimination, is the basis, historically, of human survival and success since the last Ice Age (and the agricultural revolution that follows it).

“Ecosocialism is one of the voices which responds to the cry of Mother Earth, one among many convocations which emerge from our territories. Ecosocialism is a calling in which many others are evoked and resound; one of the many ways to name the pain of Mother Earth, which claims us, names us, and challenges us to change”.

AND

“A total war against life has been launched in order to eliminate the surplus and to control the scarcity that this social relation have falsely conceived [sic]. This system is the only surplus that we must overcome and eliminate. And the only scarcity is the limited recognition that ecosocialism is the original model – that they made us sick with their counter-model; with their alternatives to ways of life based on ancestral principles and practices – which we must now reclaim, with the seeds and crops of the paths to the life we need”.

     

Note: The portions of the quotes in bold reveal that there is a coherent ideological mindset, as well as probable international organising, behind what may seem unrelated campus protests/movements demanding fossil-fuel divestment, and that this if often characterised by ‘direct action’, a radical political culture that circumvents proper democratic processes in favour of immediate results, often through violence, intimidation or other subversive means.

“Along with the rapid spread of student fossil-fuel divestment groups on campuses around the country, the February protest signals an environmental movement that is on the rise”. … “More and more, people in the US are coming to realize that direct political action is necessary now to prevent runaway catastrophic climate change in the future. Crucially, the movement has united around a basic demand to curtail the political and economic power of the enormously profitable fossil-fuel industry”.

Note: The use of concepts/expressions like “steady state economy” and phrases like “a tool to organize production” mean that eco-socialist proponents don’t believe in the notion of economic growth, not even ‘sustainably’, which could lead to a global catastrophe like planetary famine if implemented. On a practical level, it’s almost impossible to effect on a global scale anyway.

“Eco-socialists share many of the criticisms made here of market-led environmentalism, but at the same time most, but not all, reject the possibility of growth in consumption due to the assumed bio-physical limits of the earth’s resources, and therefore advocate a steady state economy.”

AND

“The most positive aspect of the development of the eco-socialist movement is that planning is now being seriously debated as a tool to organise production, as is the possible danger of the degeneration of a future planned socialist society into a totalitarian state such as happened in the Soviet Union”.

*(Please note that this informal article isn’t furnished with a reference list/biography per se; however, the illustrative quotes at the end [see above], containing complete web references/sources for readers’ purposes, are substituted effectively for the same function).

Carl J. Kieck,

June 2017.

Carl J. Kieck is an Independent International Social and Educational Researcher, primarily, and is currently involved in several long-term research projects. He is originally from South Africa, yet, because he finds it stimulating to develop new insights and broaden his horizons, undertakes work internationally in primary, secondary and tertiary education as either a temporary or part-time teacher and lecturer.

He can be contacted in the following ways:

  • Professional research & consultancy websites:

  • Informally, for social media commentary and social networking:

        Gab.ai: @CarlKieck

  • Professionally, and, for professional networking purposes:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carl-kieck-research-services-a544b4139/Making sense of so-called ‘Eco-socialism’: “System Change, Not Climate Change”*

Next time somebody tells you they believe in “changing the system”, ask them quite pertinently, “what do you mean by that?” At the same time, ask them to explain exactly where they get that mindset from, because you may be speaking to an Eco-socialist who thinks recognising the phenomenon of ‘Climate Change’ is only the first step. That’s because, as adherents to this growing radical ideology maintain, what’s really required is global system change, in favour of localised, sustainable, self-sufficient socialism that saves and protects an organic Mother Earth from capitalist exploitation.

*(Please note that this informal article isn’t furnished with a reference list/biography per se; however, the illustrative quotes at the end, containing web references/sources, substitute effectively per same function).

In very basic terms, eco-socialism may be described as a combination of radical ecological (i.e. ‘Green’) ideas, anti-capitalism, socialism and elements of Marxist thought. Typically, although one may not immediately recognise the ideological sources, fairly well-known activist slogans (like “System Change Not Climate Change”) that have been around for some time, are actually associated with eco-socialism. For instance, another example thereof is, “the world is not a commodity”. In this case, there is an attempt to link supporters’ understanding of current social crises to rampant consumerism.

Although not altogether semantic equivalents, terms related to eco-socialism that you may have encountered before, include conceptual expressions/combinations like ‘green socialism’, ‘eco socialism’, ‘Green Marxism’ and ‘socialist ecology’. However, it should be stressed at the outset of this briefest of discussions, that eco-socialism is in no way the same as ecology (the relationships between organisms)/ecologist (a type of biologist)/ecological (environmental, etc.), i.e. for these aren’t necessarily political in nature, nor comparable by way of ideas.

The following is an extremely useful dual definition taken from a Canadian eco-socialist source (EcoSocialismCanada.blogspot), setting up rather tidily the discussion that follows, making in terms of contrastive contiguity clear what is signified by the respective concepts (and by implication, what not):

“An eco[-]socialist differs from an ecologist in that he analyzes          the ‘ecological crisis’ not as a crisis of the relationship between humanity in general and nature but as a crisis of the relationship between an historically determined mode of production and its environment, and therefore in the last analysis as a manifestation of the crisis of the mode of production itself”.

The latter part of the dual/contrastive definition quoted above, from the ‘Ecosocialism Canada’ blog, leans heavily on Marxist phraseology, which, at this point, can be said to indicate the eco-socialist belief that capitalism and its processes, i.e. production and consumption modes, are responsible for a claimed global ecological/environmental crisis or catastrophe.

Eco-socialism can be described as an ideology (and movement) based on ideas that have come about in the last three decades. If you enjoy tracing words, concepts and terms as I do (something called etymology), you will discover that the term is used a bit more prominently, for the first time, in publications from around the early 1990s in order to describe certain influences on the Green (Political Environmentalist) Movement.

However, it has roots going much further back. In a sense, ‘eco-socialist’ ideas, or ones very similar to them, have been around since the 1960s where these may be applied to experimental, alternative modes of living, often with a primitive subsistence farming element. Most people may be able to recall reading a novel or watching a movie in which a commune or collective was portrayed as trying to live, in a self-supporting way, on an isolated farm, etc. However, our recent historical period is not the only one to espouse a set of ideas belonging to this area of radical thought.

Recently, I’ve been reading a great deal of seventeenth, eighteenth & nineteenth century German history in connection with some of my current research projects, containing eras in which holistic, ecological notions figure prominently, not least of all those associated with the German Romantic Movement in which nature, and living in harmony with it, features prominently.

What supporters of the ‘eco-socialist’ ideology would like see, can best be understood by their critique of late twentieth century/early twenty first century fossil fuel based society: Eco-socialists commonly believe that modern human beings no longer live in harmony with nature. They would like to transform society so that greater harmony may come about.

However, eco-socialists’ aspirations reach much further. They consider the practices of our entire civilisation to be exploitative and usually describe these as ‘damaging’. Therefore, what they espouse is complete civilisational transformation, leaving behind the alleged source of all the problems, namely ‘capitalist’ practices.

The ideology works with radical theoretical-ideological constructs like ‘patriarchy’ (male-dominated capitalist society, i.e. [seen /portrayed as] negative), ‘fossil fuel/s based economy/society’ (capitalist society dependent on fuels derived from oil and coal, i.e. negative), ‘mother earth’ (an anthropomorphic representation of the planet as a living mother, i.e. [seen/portrayed as] positive) and ‘eco-communalism’ (i.e. positive). In the case of the latter, a somewhat more detailed discussion aids in grounding decidedly woolly or slippery Hippie-like notions a bit better:

Eco-communalism: In what may appear like a form of socio-historical regression, eco-socialists would like to create a parallel economy to that of global capitalism, also ultimately global, but originating with small, self-sufficient local economies. Whereas capitalism is quite mistakenly stereotyped as being fundamentally centralised in nature, eco-socialists want to create to that a parallel alternative in a decentralised manner from the ‘ground up’. Local self-sufficient, eco-economies in this view would become linked, or interconnected, and is argued to be ultimately more beneficial to society as a whole.

Eco-socialism directly/openly – and as often as not also indirectly, implicitly or deliberately asymmetrically - is prominently supported by a wide range of radical organisations, politicians, academic activists and publications. More significantly, there is a noticeable trend, continuing already for a number of decades, of its influencing other organisations and publications that would typically be regarded as ‘mainstream’.

A few examples, elaborated upon critically by way of notes, may suffice at this point:

  • Ecosocialism Canada (ecosocialismcanada.blogspot)

Referring to an ‘economic/ecology crisis’ socio-doctrinologist:

“The sociologist John Bellamy Foster has defined eco-socialism as the rational regulation of production, respecting the metabolic relationship between social systems and natural systems to ensure the satisfaction of common needs for present and future generations”

Note: ‘System’ is a central concept (appearing in most theories as well) to socio-doctrinology, informing other humanities/arts/social studies fields, pointing to radical socialist socio-economic ‘tranformation’ of the world’s interconnected systems.

Note: A sentence taken from this organisation’s website helps to illustrate how the eco-socialist mentality merges and integrates socialist and ecological ideas of ‘mutual aid’, ‘wholeness’, ‘singularity’, ‘systems’ and ‘interdependence’:

“The biosphere as a whole, which consists of millions of mutually interdependent life forms, might be thought of as one single ecosystem”.

  • Solidarity ():

In this case, once again, a sentence helps to illustrate how eco-socialists represent a new breed, a further evolution of the ideological type, of socialists, who see their alternative economics and radical ecological ideas as being interrelated:

“Any socialism worthy of the name will have to be ecologically—or to be more exact, “ecocentrically”— oriented, that is, will have to be an “ecosocialism” devoted to restoring the integrity of our relationship to nature”.

Note: In the extract it can be clearly seen how Green political parties that may at first have been reluctant to incorporate ideas with socialist origins are now fully embracing the eco-socialist agenda, and its movement, playing a key role in helping to facilitate its spread throughout broader coalitions.

[A Green Party member … ] “views the Green Party as essential in the eco-                       socialist transformation but not sufficient and expressed that greens should not be arrogant about ideology or complacent in viewing themselves as sole representatives of the struggle. The call is for practical politics to build trust and a broad social movement with a radical anti-capitalist and eco-socialist agenda.”

  • System Change Not Climate Change

(https://www.systemchangenotclimatechange.org/ecosocialism)

Note: The objective “capitalism has to go” is naïve, for preceding the first use of the concept (1800s), trade, capital and profit (motives) were basic to almost all human interactions throughout history; vaunted “collaboration” with non-socialists in order to promote their agenda confirms the suspicions of many observers in mainstream society that many radical organisations operate with tactics like deceit, conspiracy, collusion and subversion.

“All ecosocialists agree that capitalism has to go, but they also recognize that the only way forward is through collaboration with more mainstream organizations that are not socialist. They also agree that a range of environmental reforms must be pursued, especially those that radicalize the people fighting for them and that bring together disparate branches of the environmental movement”.

  • Ecosocialist Horizons

(http://ecosocialisthorizons.com/ecosocialism/)

Note: The ‘Mother Earth’ notion harkens back to far less developed phases in human development and history, hardly of analytical use in an era of advanced science with truly major global challenges; this also suggests a cultic neo-pagan agenda, and an assault on most major religions and their ‘systems’ as well as ways of thinking; the phenomenon of agricultural and consumption-based ‘surplus’ referred to in the second extract as an object for elimination, is the basis, historically, of human survival and success since the last Ice Age (and the agricultural revolution that follows it).

“Ecosocialism is one of the voices which responds to the cry of Mother Earth, one among many convocations which emerge from our territories. Ecosocialism is a calling in which many others are evoked and resound; one of the many ways to name the pain of Mother Earth, which claims us, names us, and challenges us to change”.

AND

“A total war against life has been launched in order to eliminate the surplus and to control the scarcity that this social relation have falsely conceived [sic]. This system is the only surplus that we must overcome and eliminate. And the only scarcity is the limited recognition that ecosocialism is the original model – that they made us sick with their counter-model; with their alternatives to ways of life based on ancestral principles and practices – which we must now reclaim, with the seeds and crops of the paths to the life we need”.

     

Note: The portions of the quotes in bold reveal that there is a coherent ideological mindset, as well as probable international organising, behind what may seem unrelated campus protests/movements demanding fossil-fuel divestment, and that this if often characterised by ‘direct action’, a radical political culture that circumvents proper democratic processes in favour of immediate results, often through violence, intimidation or other subversive means.

“Along with the rapid spread of student fossil-fuel divestment groups on campuses around the country, the February protest signals an environmental movement that is on the rise”. … “More and more, people in the US are coming to realize that direct political action is necessary now to prevent runaway catastrophic climate change in the future. Crucially, the movement has united around a basic demand to curtail the political and economic power of the enormously profitable fossil-fuel industry”.

Note: The use of concepts/expressions like “steady state economy” and phrases like “a tool to organize production” mean that eco-socialist proponents don’t believe in the notion of economic growth, not even ‘sustainably’, which could lead to a global catastrophe like planetary famine if implemented. On a practical level, it’s almost impossible to effect on a global scale anyway.

“Eco-socialists share many of the criticisms made here of market-led environmentalism, but at the same time most, but not all, reject the possibility of growth in consumption due to the assumed bio-physical limits of the earth’s resources, and therefore advocate a steady state economy.”

AND

“The most positive aspect of the development of the eco-socialist movement is that planning is now being seriously debated as a tool to organise production, as is the possible danger of the degeneration of a future planned socialist society into a totalitarian state such as happened in the Soviet Union”.

*(Please note that this informal article isn’t furnished with a reference list/biography per se; however, the illustrative quotes at the end [see above], containing complete web references/sources for readers’ purposes, are substituted effectively for the same function).

Carl J. Kieck,

June 2017.

Carl J. Kieck is an Independent International Social and Educational Researcher, primarily, and is currently involved in several long-term research projects. He is originally from South Africa, yet, because he finds it stimulating to develop new insights and broaden his horizons, undertakes work internationally in primary, secondary and tertiary education as either a temporary or part-time teacher and lecturer.

He can be contacted in the following ways:

  • Professional research & consultancy websites:

  • Informally, for social media commentary and social networking:

        Gab.ai: @CarlKieck

  • Professionally, and, for professional networking purposes:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carl-kieck-research-services-a544b4139/Making sense of so-called ‘Eco-socialism’: “System Change, Not Climate Change”*

Next time somebody tells you they believe in “changing the system”, ask them quite pertinently, “what do you mean by that?” At the same time, ask them to explain exactly where they get that mindset from, because you may be speaking to an Eco-socialist who thinks recognising the phenomenon of ‘Climate Change’ is only the first step. That’s because, as adherents to this growing radical ideology maintain, what’s really required is global system change, in favour of localised, sustainable, self-sufficient socialism that saves and protects an organic Mother Earth from capitalist exploitation.

*(Please note that this informal article isn’t furnished with a reference list/biography per se; however, the illustrative quotes at the end, containing web references/sources, substitute effectively per same function).

In very basic terms, eco-socialism may be described as a combination of radical ecological (i.e. ‘Green’) ideas, anti-capitalism, socialism and elements of Marxist thought. Typically, although one may not immediately recognise the ideological sources, fairly well-known activist slogans (like “System Change Not Climate Change”) that have been around for some time, are actually associated with eco-socialism. For instance, another example thereof is, “the world is not a commodity”. In this case, there is an attempt to link supporters’ understanding of current social crises to rampant consumerism.

Although not altogether semantic equivalents, terms related to eco-socialism that you may have encountered before, include conceptual expressions/combinations like ‘green socialism’, ‘eco socialism’, ‘Green Marxism’ and ‘socialist ecology’. However, it should be stressed at the outset of this briefest of discussions, that eco-socialism is in no way the same as ecology (the relationships between organisms)/ecologist (a type of biologist)/ecological (environmental, etc.), i.e. for these aren’t necessarily political in nature, nor comparable by way of ideas.

The following is an extremely useful dual definition taken from a Canadian eco-socialist source (EcoSocialismCanada.blogspot), setting up rather tidily the discussion that follows, making in terms of contrastive contiguity clear what is signified by the respective concepts (and by implication, what not):

“An eco[-]socialist differs from an ecologist in that he analyzes          the ‘ecological crisis’ not as a crisis of the relationship between humanity in general and nature but as a crisis of the relationship between an historically determined mode of production and its environment, and therefore in the last analysis as a manifestation of the crisis of the mode of production itself”.

The latter part of the dual/contrastive definition quoted above, from the ‘Ecosocialism Canada’ blog, leans heavily on Marxist phraseology, which, at this point, can be said to indicate the eco-socialist belief that capitalism and its processes, i.e. production and consumption modes, are responsible for a claimed global ecological/environmental crisis or catastrophe.

Eco-socialism can be described as an ideology (and movement) based on ideas that have come about in the last three decades. If you enjoy tracing words, concepts and terms as I do (something called etymology), you will discover that the term is used a bit more prominently, for the first time, in publications from around the early 1990s in order to describe certain influences on the Green (Political Environmentalist) Movement.

However, it has roots going much further back. In a sense, ‘eco-socialist’ ideas, or ones very similar to them, have been around since the 1960s where these may be applied to experimental, alternative modes of living, often with a primitive subsistence farming element. Most people may be able to recall reading a novel or watching a movie in which a commune or collective was portrayed as trying to live, in a self-supporting way, on an isolated farm, etc. However, our recent historical period is not the only one to espouse a set of ideas belonging to this area of radical thought.

Recently, I’ve been reading a great deal of seventeenth, eighteenth & nineteenth century German history in connection with some of my current research projects, containing eras in which holistic, ecological notions figure prominently, not least of all those associated with the German Romantic Movement in which nature, and living in harmony with it, features prominently.

What supporters of the ‘eco-socialist’ ideology would like see, can best be understood by their critique of late twentieth century/early twenty first century fossil fuel based society: Eco-socialists commonly believe that modern human beings no longer live in harmony with nature. They would like to transform society so that greater harmony may come about.

However, eco-socialists’ aspirations reach much further. They consider the practices of our entire civilisation to be exploitative and usually describe these as ‘damaging’. Therefore, what they espouse is complete civilisational transformation, leaving behind the alleged source of all the problems, namely ‘capitalist’ practices.

The ideology works with radical theoretical-ideological constructs like ‘patriarchy’ (male-dominated capitalist society, i.e. [seen /portrayed as] negative), ‘fossil fuel/s based economy/society’ (capitalist society dependent on fuels derived from oil and coal, i.e. negative), ‘mother earth’ (an anthropomorphic representation of the planet as a living mother, i.e. [seen/portrayed as] positive) and ‘eco-communalism’ (i.e. positive). In the case of the latter, a somewhat more detailed discussion aids in grounding decidedly woolly or slippery Hippie-like notions a bit better:

Eco-communalism: In what may appear like a form of socio-historical regression, eco-socialists would like to create a parallel economy to that of global capitalism, also ultimately global, but originating with small, self-sufficient local economies. Whereas capitalism is quite mistakenly stereotyped as being fundamentally centralised in nature, eco-socialists want to create to that a parallel alternative in a decentralised manner from the ‘ground up’. Local self-sufficient, eco-economies in this view would become linked, or interconnected, and is argued to be ultimately more beneficial to society as a whole.

Eco-socialism directly/openly – and as often as not also indirectly, implicitly or deliberately asymmetrically - is prominently supported by a wide range of radical organisations, politicians, academic activists and publications. More significantly, there is a noticeable trend, continuing already for a number of decades, of its influencing other organisations and publications that would typically be regarded as ‘mainstream’.

A few examples, elaborated upon critically by way of notes, may suffice at this point:

  • Ecosocialism Canada (ecosocialismcanada.blogspot)

Referring to an ‘economic/ecology crisis’ socio-doctrinologist:

“The sociologist John Bellamy Foster has defined eco-socialism as the rational regulation of production, respecting the metabolic relationship between social systems and natural systems to ensure the satisfaction of common needs for present and future generations”

Note: ‘System’ is a central concept (appearing in most theories as well) to socio-doctrinology, informing other humanities/arts/social studies fields, pointing to radical socialist socio-economic ‘tranformation’ of the world’s interconnected systems.

Note: A sentence taken from this organisation’s website helps to illustrate how the eco-socialist mentality merges and integrates socialist and ecological ideas of ‘mutual aid’, ‘wholeness’, ‘singularity’, ‘systems’ and ‘interdependence’:

“The biosphere as a whole, which consists of millions of mutually interdependent life forms, might be thought of as one single ecosystem”.

  • Solidarity ():

In this case, once again, a sentence helps to illustrate how eco-socialists represent a new breed, a further evolution of the ideological type, of socialists, who see their alternative economics and radical ecological ideas as being interrelated:

“Any socialism worthy of the name will have to be ecologically—or to be more exact, “ecocentrically”— oriented, that is, will have to be an “ecosocialism” devoted to restoring the integrity of our relationship to nature”.

Note: In the extract it can be clearly seen how Green political parties that may at first have been reluctant to incorporate ideas with socialist origins are now fully embracing the eco-socialist agenda, and its movement, playing a key role in helping to facilitate its spread throughout broader coalitions.

[A Green Party member … ] “views the Green Party as essential in the eco-                       socialist transformation but not sufficient and expressed that greens should not be arrogant about ideology or complacent in viewing themselves as sole representatives of the struggle. The call is for practical politics to build trust and a broad social movement with a radical anti-capitalist and eco-socialist agenda.”

  • System Change Not Climate Change

(https://www.systemchangenotclimatechange.org/ecosocialism)

Note: The objective “capitalism has to go” is naïve, for preceding the first use of the concept (1800s), trade, capital and profit (motives) were basic to almost all human interactions throughout history; vaunted “collaboration” with non-socialists in order to promote their agenda confirms the suspicions of many observers in mainstream society that many radical organisations operate with tactics like deceit, conspiracy, collusion and subversion.

“All ecosocialists agree that capitalism has to go, but they also recognize that the only way forward is through collaboration with more mainstream organizations that are not socialist. They also agree that a range of environmental reforms must be pursued, especially those that radicalize the people fighting for them and that bring together disparate branches of the environmental movement”.

  • Ecosocialist Horizons

(http://ecosocialisthorizons.com/ecosocialism/)

Note: The ‘Mother Earth’ notion harkens back to far less developed phases in human development and history, hardly of analytical use in an era of advanced science with truly major global challenges; this also suggests a cultic neo-pagan agenda, and an assault on most major religions and their ‘systems’ as well as ways of thinking; the phenomenon of agricultural and consumption-based ‘surplus’ referred to in the second extract as an object for elimination, is the basis, historically, of human survival and success since the last Ice Age (and the agricultural revolution that follows it).

“Ecosocialism is one of the voices which responds to the cry of Mother Earth, one among many convocations which emerge from our territories. Ecosocialism is a calling in which many others are evoked and resound; one of the many ways to name the pain of Mother Earth, which claims us, names us, and challenges us to change”.

AND

“A total war against life has been launched in order to eliminate the surplus and to control the scarcity that this social relation have falsely conceived [sic]. This system is the only surplus that we must overcome and eliminate. And the only scarcity is the limited recognition that ecosocialism is the original model – that they made us sick with their counter-model; with their alternatives to ways of life based on ancestral principles and practices – which we must now reclaim, with the seeds and crops of the paths to the life we need”.

     

Note: The portions of the quotes in bold reveal that there is a coherent ideological mindset, as well as probable international organising, behind what may seem unrelated campus protests/movements demanding fossil-fuel divestment, and that this if often characterised by ‘direct action’, a radical political culture that circumvents proper democratic processes in favour of immediate results, often through violence, intimidation or other subversive means.

“Along with the rapid spread of student fossil-fuel divestment groups on campuses around the country, the February protest signals an environmental movement that is on the rise”. … “More and more, people in the US are coming to realize that direct political action is necessary now to prevent runaway catastrophic climate change in the future. Crucially, the movement has united around a basic demand to curtail the political and economic power of the enormously profitable fossil-fuel industry”.

Note: The use of concepts/expressions like “steady state economy” and phrases like “a tool to organize production” mean that eco-socialist proponents don’t believe in the notion of economic growth, not even ‘sustainably’, which could lead to a global catastrophe like planetary famine if implemented. On a practical level, it’s almost impossible to effect on a global scale anyway.

“Eco-socialists share many of the criticisms made here of market-led environmentalism, but at the same time most, but not all, reject the possibility of growth in consumption due to the assumed bio-physical limits of the earth’s resources, and therefore advocate a steady state economy.”

AND

“The most positive aspect of the development of the eco-socialist movement is that planning is now being seriously debated as a tool to organise production, as is the possible danger of the degeneration of a future planned socialist society into a totalitarian state such as happened in the Soviet Union”.

*(Please note that this informal article isn’t furnished with a reference list/biography per se; however, the illustrative quotes at the end [see above], containing complete web references/sources for readers’ purposes, are substituted effectively for the same function).

Carl J. Kieck,

June 2017.

Carl J. Kieck is an Independent International Social and Educational Researcher, primarily, and is currently involved in several long-term research projects. He is originally from South Africa, yet, because he finds it stimulating to develop new insights and broaden his horizons, undertakes work internationally in primary, secondary and tertiary education as either a temporary or part-time teacher and lecturer.

He can be contacted in the following ways:

  • Professional research & consultancy websites:

  • Informally, for social media commentary and social networking:

        Gab.ai: @CarlKieck

  • Professionally, and, for professional networking purposes:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carl-kieck-research-services-a544b4139/Making sense of so-called ‘Eco-socialism’: “System Change, Not Climate Change”*

Next time somebody tells you they believe in “changing the system”, ask them quite pertinently, “what do you mean by that?” At the same time, ask them to explain exactly where they get that mindset from, because you may be speaking to an Eco-socialist who thinks recognising the phenomenon of ‘Climate Change’ is only the first step. That’s because, as adherents to this growing radical ideology maintain, what’s really required is global system change, in favour of localised, sustainable, self-sufficient socialism that saves and protects an organic Mother Earth from capitalist exploitation.

*(Please note that this informal article isn’t furnished with a reference list/biography per se; however, the illustrative quotes at the end, containing web references/sources, substitute effectively per same function).

In very basic terms, eco-socialism may be described as a combination of radical ecological (i.e. ‘Green’) ideas, anti-capitalism, socialism and elements of Marxist thought. Typically, although one may not immediately recognise the ideological sources, fairly well-known activist slogans (like “System Change Not Climate Change”) that have been around for some time, are actually associated with eco-socialism. For instance, another example thereof is, “the world is not a commodity”. In this case, there is an attempt to link supporters’ understanding of current social crises to rampant consumerism.

Although not altogether semantic equivalents, terms related to eco-socialism that you may have encountered before, include conceptual expressions/combinations like ‘green socialism’, ‘eco socialism’, ‘Green Marxism’ and ‘socialist ecology’. However, it should be stressed at the outset of this briefest of discussions, that eco-socialism is in no way the same as ecology (the relationships between organisms)/ecologist (a type of biologist)/ecological (environmental, etc.), i.e. for these aren’t necessarily political in nature, nor comparable by way of ideas.

The following is an extremely useful dual definition taken from a Canadian eco-socialist source (EcoSocialismCanada.blogspot), setting up rather tidily the discussion that follows, making in terms of contrastive contiguity clear what is signified by the respective concepts (and by implication, what not):

“An eco[-]socialist differs from an ecologist in that he analyzes          the ‘ecological crisis’ not as a crisis of the relationship between humanity in general and nature but as a crisis of the relationship between an historically determined mode of production and its environment, and therefore in the last analysis as a manifestation of the crisis of the mode of production itself”.

The latter part of the dual/contrastive definition quoted above, from the ‘Ecosocialism Canada’ blog, leans heavily on Marxist phraseology, which, at this point, can be said to indicate the eco-socialist belief that capitalism and its processes, i.e. production and consumption modes, are responsible for a claimed global ecological/environmental crisis or catastrophe.

Eco-socialism can be described as an ideology (and movement) based on ideas that have come about in the last three decades. If you enjoy tracing words, concepts and terms as I do (something called etymology), you will discover that the term is used a bit more prominently, for the first time, in publications from around the early 1990s in order to describe certain influences on the Green (Political Environmentalist) Movement.

However, it has roots going much further back. In a sense, ‘eco-socialist’ ideas, or ones very similar to them, have been around since the 1960s where these may be applied to experimental, alternative modes of living, often with a primitive subsistence farming element. Most people may be able to recall reading a novel or watching a movie in which a commune or collective was portrayed as trying to live, in a self-supporting way, on an isolated farm, etc. However, our recent historical period is not the only one to espouse a set of ideas belonging to this area of radical thought.

Recently, I’ve been reading a great deal of seventeenth, eighteenth & nineteenth century German history in connection with some of my current research projects, containing eras in which holistic, ecological notions figure prominently, not least of all those associated with the German Romantic Movement in which nature, and living in harmony with it, features prominently.

What supporters of the ‘eco-socialist’ ideology would like see, can best be understood by their critique of late twentieth century/early twenty first century fossil fuel based society: Eco-socialists commonly believe that modern human beings no longer live in harmony with nature. They would like to transform society so that greater harmony may come about.

However, eco-socialists’ aspirations reach much further. They consider the practices of our entire civilisation to be exploitative and usually describe these as ‘damaging’. Therefore, what they espouse is complete civilisational transformation, leaving behind the alleged source of all the problems, namely ‘capitalist’ practices.

The ideology works with radical theoretical-ideological constructs like ‘patriarchy’ (male-dominated capitalist society, i.e. [seen /portrayed as] negative), ‘fossil fuel/s based economy/society’ (capitalist society dependent on fuels derived from oil and coal, i.e. negative), ‘mother earth’ (an anthropomorphic representation of the planet as a living mother, i.e. [seen/portrayed as] positive) and ‘eco-communalism’ (i.e. positive). In the case of the latter, a somewhat more detailed discussion aids in grounding decidedly woolly or slippery Hippie-like notions a bit better:

Eco-communalism: In what may appear like a form of socio-historical regression, eco-socialists would like to create a parallel economy to that of global capitalism, also ultimately global, but originating with small, self-sufficient local economies. Whereas capitalism is quite mistakenly stereotyped as being fundamentally centralised in nature, eco-socialists want to create to that a parallel alternative in a decentralised manner from the ‘ground up’. Local self-sufficient, eco-economies in this view would become linked, or interconnected, and is argued to be ultimately more beneficial to society as a whole.

Eco-socialism directly/openly – and as often as not also indirectly, implicitly or deliberately asymmetrically - is prominently supported by a wide range of radical organisations, politicians, academic activists and publications. More significantly, there is a noticeable trend, continuing already for a number of decades, of its influencing other organisations and publications that would typically be regarded as ‘mainstream’.

A few examples, elaborated upon critically by way of notes, may suffice at this point:

  • Ecosocialism Canada (ecosocialismcanada.blogspot)

Referring to an ‘economic/ecology crisis’ socio-doctrinologist:

“The sociologist John Bellamy Foster has defined eco-socialism as the rational regulation of production, respecting the metabolic relationship between social systems and natural systems to ensure the satisfaction of common needs for present and future generations”

Note: ‘System’ is a central concept (appearing in most theories as well) to socio-doctrinology, informing other humanities/arts/social studies fields, pointing to radical socialist socio-economic ‘tranformation’ of the world’s interconnected systems.

Note: A sentence taken from this organisation’s website helps to illustrate how the eco-socialist mentality merges and integrates socialist and ecological ideas of ‘mutual aid’, ‘wholeness’, ‘singularity’, ‘systems’ and ‘interdependence’:

“The biosphere as a whole, which consists of millions of mutually interdependent life forms, might be thought of as one single ecosystem”.

  • Solidarity ():

In this case, once again, a sentence helps to illustrate how eco-socialists represent a new breed, a further evolution of the ideological type, of socialists, who see their alternative economics and radical ecological ideas as being interrelated:

“Any socialism worthy of the name will have to be ecologically—or to be more exact, “ecocentrically”— oriented, that is, will have to be an “ecosocialism” devoted to restoring the integrity of our relationship to nature”.

Note: In the extract it can be clearly seen how Green political parties that may at first have been reluctant to incorporate ideas with socialist origins are now fully embracing the eco-socialist agenda, and its movement, playing a key role in helping to facilitate its spread throughout broader coalitions.

[A Green Party member … ] “views the Green Party as essential in the eco-                       socialist transformation but not sufficient and expressed that greens should not be arrogant about ideology or complacent in viewing themselves as sole representatives of the struggle. The call is for practical politics to build trust and a broad social movement with a radical anti-capitalist and eco-socialist agenda.”

  • System Change Not Climate Change

(https://www.systemchangenotclimatechange.org/ecosocialism)

Note: The objective “capitalism has to go” is naïve, for preceding the first use of the concept (1800s), trade, capital and profit (motives) were basic to almost all human interactions throughout history; vaunted “collaboration” with non-socialists in order to promote their agenda confirms the suspicions of many observers in mainstream society that many radical organisations operate with tactics like deceit, conspiracy, collusion and subversion.

“All ecosocialists agree that capitalism has to go, but they also recognize that the only way forward is through collaboration with more mainstream organizations that are not socialist. They also agree that a range of environmental reforms must be pursued, especially those that radicalize the people fighting for them and that bring together disparate branches of the environmental movement”.

  • Ecosocialist Horizons

(http://ecosocialisthorizons.com/ecosocialism/)

Note: The ‘Mother Earth’ notion harkens back to far less developed phases in human development and history, hardly of analytical use in an era of advanced science with truly major global challenges; this also suggests a cultic neo-pagan agenda, and an assault on most major religions and their ‘systems’ as well as ways of thinking; the phenomenon of agricultural and consumption-based ‘surplus’ referred to in the second extract as an object for elimination, is the basis, historically, of human survival and success since the last Ice Age (and the agricultural revolution that follows it).

“Ecosocialism is one of the voices which responds to the cry of Mother Earth, one among many convocations which emerge from our territories. Ecosocialism is a calling in which many others are evoked and resound; one of the many ways to name the pain of Mother Earth, which claims us, names us, and challenges us to change”.

AND

“A total war against life has been launched in order to eliminate the surplus and to control the scarcity that this social relation have falsely conceived [sic]. This system is the only surplus that we must overcome and eliminate. And the only scarcity is the limited recognition that ecosocialism is the original model – that they made us sick with their counter-model; with their alternatives to ways of life based on ancestral principles and practices – which we must now reclaim, with the seeds and crops of the paths to the life we need”.

     

Note: The portions of the quotes in bold reveal that there is a coherent ideological mindset, as well as probable international organising, behind what may seem unrelated campus protests/movements demanding fossil-fuel divestment, and that this if often characterised by ‘direct action’, a radical political culture that circumvents proper democratic processes in favour of immediate results, often through violence, intimidation or other subversive means.

“Along with the rapid spread of student fossil-fuel divestment groups on campuses around the country, the February protest signals an environmental movement that is on the rise”. … “More and more, people in the US are coming to realize that direct political action is necessary now to prevent runaway catastrophic climate change in the future. Crucially, the movement has united around a basic demand to curtail the political and economic power of the enormously profitable fossil-fuel industry”.

Note: The use of concepts/expressions like “steady state economy” and phrases like “a tool to organize production” mean that eco-socialist proponents don’t believe in the notion of economic growth, not even ‘sustainably’, which could lead to a global catastrophe like planetary famine if implemented. On a practical level, it’s almost impossible to effect on a global scale anyway.

“Eco-socialists share many of the criticisms made here of market-led environmentalism, but at the same time most, but not all, reject the possibility of growth in consumption due to the assumed bio-physical limits of the earth’s resources, and therefore advocate a steady state economy.”

AND

“The most positive aspect of the development of the eco-socialist movement is that planning is now being seriously debated as a tool to organise production, as is the possible danger of the degeneration of a future planned socialist society into a totalitarian state such as happened in the Soviet Union”.

*(Please note that this informal article isn’t furnished with a reference list/biography per se; however, the illustrative quotes at the end [see above], containing complete web references/sources for readers’ purposes, are substituted effectively for the same function).

Carl J. Kieck,

June 2017.

Carl J. Kieck is an Independent International Social and Educational Researcher, primarily, and is currently involved in several long-term research projects. He is originally from South Africa, yet, because he finds it stimulating to develop new insights and broaden his horizons, undertakes work internationally in primary, secondary and tertiary education as either a temporary or part-time teacher and lecturer.

He can be contacted in the following ways:

  • Professional research & consultancy websites:

  • Informally, for social media commentary and social networking:

        Gab.ai: @CarlKieck

  • Professionally, and, for professional networking purposes:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carl-kieck-research-services-a544b4139/Making sense of so-called ‘Eco-socialism’: “System Change, Not Climate Change”*

Next time somebody tells you they believe in “changing the system”, ask them quite pertinently, “what do you mean by that?” At the same time, ask them to explain exactly where they get that mindset from, because you may be speaking to an Eco-socialist who thinks recognising the phenomenon of ‘Climate Change’ is only the first step. That’s because, as adherents to this growing radical ideology maintain, what’s really required is global system change, in favour of localised, sustainable, self-sufficient socialism that saves and protects an organic Mother Earth from capitalist exploitation.

*(Please note that this informal article isn’t furnished with a reference list/biography per se; however, the illustrative quotes at the end, containing web references/sources, substitute effectively per same function).

In very basic terms, eco-socialism may be described as a combination of radical ecological (i.e. ‘Green’) ideas, anti-capitalism, socialism and elements of Marxist thought. Typically, although one may not immediately recognise the ideological sources, fairly well-known activist slogans (like “System Change Not Climate Change”) that have been around for some time, are actually associated with eco-socialism. For instance, another example thereof is, “the world is not a commodity”. In this case, there is an attempt to link supporters’ understanding of current social crises to rampant consumerism.

Although not altogether semantic equivalents, terms related to eco-socialism that you may have encountered before, include conceptual expressions/combinations like ‘green socialism’, ‘eco socialism’, ‘Green Marxism’ and ‘socialist ecology’. However, it should be stressed at the outset of this briefest of discussions, that eco-socialism is in no way the same as ecology (the relationships between organisms)/ecologist (a type of biologist)/ecological (environmental, etc.), i.e. for these aren’t necessarily political in nature, nor comparable by way of ideas.

The following is an extremely useful dual definition taken from a Canadian eco-socialist source (EcoSocialismCanada.blogspot), setting up rather tidily the discussion that follows, making in terms of contrastive contiguity clear what is signified by the respective concepts (and by implication, what not):

“An eco[-]socialist differs from an ecologist in that he analyzes          the ‘ecological crisis’ not as a crisis of the relationship between humanity in general and nature but as a crisis of the relationship between an historically determined mode of production and its environment, and therefore in the last analysis as a manifestation of the crisis of the mode of production itself”.

The latter part of the dual/contrastive definition quoted above, from the ‘Ecosocialism Canada’ blog, leans heavily on Marxist phraseology, which, at this point, can be said to indicate the eco-socialist belief that capitalism and its processes, i.e. production and consumption modes, are responsible for a claimed global ecological/environmental crisis or catastrophe.

Eco-socialism can be described as an ideology (and movement) based on ideas that have come about in the last three decades. If you enjoy tracing words, concepts and terms as I do (something called etymology), you will discover that the term is used a bit more prominently, for the first time, in publications from around the early 1990s in order to describe certain influences on the Green (Political Environmentalist) Movement.

However, it has roots going much further back. In a sense, ‘eco-socialist’ ideas, or ones very similar to them, have been around since the 1960s where these may be applied to experimental, alternative modes of living, often with a primitive subsistence farming element. Most people may be able to recall reading a novel or watching a movie in which a commune or collective was portrayed as trying to live, in a self-supporting way, on an isolated farm, etc. However, our recent historical period is not the only one to espouse a set of ideas belonging to this area of radical thought.

Recently, I’ve been reading a great deal of seventeenth, eighteenth & nineteenth century German history in connection with some of my current research projects, containing eras in which holistic, ecological notions figure prominently, not least of all those associated with the German Romantic Movement in which nature, and living in harmony with it, features prominently.

What supporters of the ‘eco-socialist’ ideology would like see, can best be understood by their critique of late twentieth century/early twenty first century fossil fuel based society: Eco-socialists commonly believe that modern human beings no longer live in harmony with nature. They would like to transform society so that greater harmony may come about.

However, eco-socialists’ aspirations reach much further. They consider the practices of our entire civilisation to be exploitative and usually describe these as ‘damaging’. Therefore, what they espouse is complete civilisational transformation, leaving behind the alleged source of all the problems, namely ‘capitalist’ practices.

The ideology works with radical theoretical-ideological constructs like ‘patriarchy’ (male-dominated capitalist society, i.e. [seen /portrayed as] negative), ‘fossil fuel/s based economy/society’ (capitalist society dependent on fuels derived from oil and coal, i.e. negative), ‘mother earth’ (an anthropomorphic representation of the planet as a living mother, i.e. [seen/portrayed as] positive) and ‘eco-communalism’ (i.e. positive). In the case of the latter, a somewhat more detailed discussion aids in grounding decidedly woolly or slippery Hippie-like notions a bit better:

Eco-communalism: In what may appear like a form of socio-historical regression, eco-socialists would like to create a parallel economy to that of global capitalism, also ultimately global, but originating with small, self-sufficient local economies. Whereas capitalism is quite mistakenly stereotyped as being fundamentally centralised in nature, eco-socialists want to create to that a parallel alternative in a decentralised manner from the ‘ground up’. Local self-sufficient, eco-economies in this view would become linked, or interconnected, and is argued to be ultimately more beneficial to society as a whole.

Eco-socialism directly/openly – and as often as not also indirectly, implicitly or deliberately asymmetrically - is prominently supported by a wide range of radical organisations, politicians, academic activists and publications. More significantly, there is a noticeable trend, continuing already for a number of decades, of its influencing other organisations and publications that would typically be regarded as ‘mainstream’.

A few examples, elaborated upon critically by way of notes, may suffice at this point:

  • Ecosocialism Canada (ecosocialismcanada.blogspot)

Referring to an ‘economic/ecology crisis’ socio-doctrinologist:

“The sociologist John Bellamy Foster has defined eco-socialism as the rational regulation of production, respecting the metabolic relationship between social systems and natural systems to ensure the satisfaction of common needs for present and future generations”

Note: ‘System’ is a central concept (appearing in most theories as well) to socio-doctrinology, informing other humanities/arts/social studies fields, pointing to radical socialist socio-economic ‘tranformation’ of the world’s interconnected systems.

Note: A sentence taken from this organisation’s website helps to illustrate how the eco-socialist mentality merges and integrates socialist and ecological ideas of ‘mutual aid’, ‘wholeness’, ‘singularity’, ‘systems’ and ‘interdependence’:

“The biosphere as a whole, which consists of millions of mutually interdependent life forms, might be thought of as one single ecosystem”.

  • Solidarity ():

In this case, once again, a sentence helps to illustrate how eco-socialists represent a new breed, a further evolution of the ideological type, of socialists, who see their alternative economics and radical ecological ideas as being interrelated:

“Any socialism worthy of the name will have to be ecologically—or to be more exact, “ecocentrically”— oriented, that is, will have to be an “ecosocialism” devoted to restoring the integrity of our relationship to nature”.

Note: In the extract it can be clearly seen how Green political parties that may at first have been reluctant to incorporate ideas with socialist origins are now fully embracing the eco-socialist agenda, and its movement, playing a key role in helping to facilitate its spread throughout broader coalitions.

[A Green Party member … ] “views the Green Party as essential in the eco-                       socialist transformation but not sufficient and expressed that greens should not be arrogant about ideology or complacent in viewing themselves as sole representatives of the struggle. The call is for practical politics to build trust and a broad social movement with a radical anti-capitalist and eco-socialist agenda.”

  • System Change Not Climate Change

(https://www.systemchangenotclimatechange.org/ecosocialism)

Note: The objective “capitalism has to go” is naïve, for preceding the first use of the concept (1800s), trade, capital and profit (motives) were basic to almost all human interactions throughout history; vaunted “collaboration” with non-socialists in order to promote their agenda confirms the suspicions of many observers in mainstream society that many radical organisations operate with tactics like deceit, conspiracy, collusion and subversion.

“All ecosocialists agree that capitalism has to go, but they also recognize that the only way forward is through collaboration with more mainstream organizations that are not socialist. They also agree that a range of environmental reforms must be pursued, especially those that radicalize the people fighting for them and that bring together disparate branches of the environmental movement”.

  • Ecosocialist Horizons

(http://ecosocialisthorizons.com/ecosocialism/)

Note: The ‘Mother Earth’ notion harkens back to far less developed phases in human development and history, hardly of analytical use in an era of advanced science with truly major global challenges; this also suggests a cultic neo-pagan agenda, and an assault on most major religions and their ‘systems’ as well as ways of thinking; the phenomenon of agricultural and consumption-based ‘surplus’ referred to in the second extract as an object for elimination, is the basis, historically, of human survival and success since the last Ice Age (and the agricultural revolution that follows it).

“Ecosocialism is one of the voices which responds to the cry of Mother Earth, one among many convocations which emerge from our territories. Ecosocialism is a calling in which many others are evoked and resound; one of the many ways to name the pain of Mother Earth, which claims us, names us, and challenges us to change”.

AND

“A total war against life has been launched in order to eliminate the surplus and to control the scarcity that this social relation have falsely conceived [sic]. This system is the only surplus that we must overcome and eliminate. And the only scarcity is the limited recognition that ecosocialism is the original model – that they made us sick with their counter-model; with their alternatives to ways of life based on ancestral principles and practices – which we must now reclaim, with the seeds and crops of the paths to the life we need”.

     

Note: The portions of the quotes in bold reveal that there is a coherent ideological mindset, as well as probable international organising, behind what may seem unrelated campus protests/movements demanding fossil-fuel divestment, and that this if often characterised by ‘direct action’, a radical political culture that circumvents proper democratic processes in favour of immediate results, often through violence, intimidation or other subversive means.

“Along with the rapid spread of student fossil-fuel divestment groups on campuses around the country, the February protest signals an environmental movement that is on the rise”. … “More and more, people in the US are coming to realize that direct political action is necessary now to prevent runaway catastrophic climate change in the future. Crucially, the movement has united around a basic demand to curtail the political and economic power of the enormously profitable fossil-fuel industry”.

Note: The use of concepts/expressions like “steady state economy” and phrases like “a tool to organize production” mean that eco-socialist proponents don’t believe in the notion of economic growth, not even ‘sustainably’, which could lead to a global catastrophe like planetary famine if implemented. On a practical level, it’s almost impossible to effect on a global scale anyway.

“Eco-socialists share many of the criticisms made here of market-led environmentalism, but at the same time most, but not all, reject the possibility of growth in consumption due to the assumed bio-physical limits of the earth’s resources, and therefore advocate a steady state economy.”

AND

“The most positive aspect of the development of the eco-socialist movement is that planning is now being seriously debated as a tool to organise production, as is the possible danger of the degeneration of a future planned socialist society into a totalitarian state such as happened in the Soviet Union”.

*(Please note that this informal article isn’t furnished with a reference list/biography per se; however, the illustrative quotes at the end [see above], containing complete web references/sources for readers’ purposes, are substituted effectively for the same function).

Carl J. Kieck,

June 2017.

Carl J. Kieck is an Independent International Social and Educational Researcher, primarily, and is currently involved in several long-term research projects. He is originally from South Africa, yet, because he finds it stimulating to develop new insights and broaden his horizons, undertakes work internationally in primary, secondary and tertiary education as either a temporary or part-time teacher and lecturer.

He can be contacted in the following ways:

  • Professional research & consultancy websites:

  • Informally, for social media commentary and social networking:

        Gab.ai: @CarlKieck

  • Professionally, and, for professional networking purposes:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carl-kieck-research-services-a544b4139/Making sense of so-called ‘Eco-socialism’: “System Change, Not Climate Change”*

Next time somebody tells you they believe in “changing the system”, ask them quite pertinently, “what do you mean by that?” At the same time, ask them to explain exactly where they get that mindset from, because you may be speaking to an Eco-socialist who thinks recognising the phenomenon of ‘Climate Change’ is only the first step. That’s because, as adherents to this growing radical ideology maintain, what’s really required is global system change, in favour of localised, sustainable, self-sufficient socialism that saves and protects an organic Mother Earth from capitalist exploitation.

*(Please note that this informal article isn’t furnished with a reference list/biography per se; however, the illustrative quotes at the end, containing web references/sources, substitute effectively per same function).

In very basic terms, eco-socialism may be described as a combination of radical ecological (i.e. ‘Green’) ideas, anti-capitalism, socialism and elements of Marxist thought. Typically, although one may not immediately recognise the ideological sources, fairly well-known activist slogans (like “System Change Not Climate Change”) that have been around for some time, are actually associated with eco-socialism. For instance, another example thereof is, “the world is not a commodity”. In this case, there is an attempt to link supporters’ understanding of current social crises to rampant consumerism.

Although not altogether semantic equivalents, terms related to eco-socialism that you may have encountered before, include conceptual expressions/combinations like ‘green socialism’, ‘eco socialism’, ‘Green Marxism’ and ‘socialist ecology’. However, it should be stressed at the outset of this briefest of discussions, that eco-socialism is in no way the same as ecology (the relationships between organisms)/ecologist (a type of biologist)/ecological (environmental, etc.), i.e. for these aren’t necessarily political in nature, nor comparable by way of ideas.

The following is an extremely useful dual definition taken from a Canadian eco-socialist source (EcoSocialismCanada.blogspot), setting up rather tidily the discussion that follows, making in terms of contrastive contiguity clear what is signified by the respective concepts (and by implication, what not):

“An eco[-]socialist differs from an ecologist in that he analyzes          the ‘ecological crisis’ not as a crisis of the relationship between humanity in general and nature but as a crisis of the relationship between an historically determined mode of production and its environment, and therefore in the last analysis as a manifestation of the crisis of the mode of production itself”.

The latter part of the dual/contrastive definition quoted above, from the ‘Ecosocialism Canada’ blog, leans heavily on Marxist phraseology, which, at this point, can be said to indicate the eco-socialist belief that capitalism and its processes, i.e. production and consumption modes, are responsible for a claimed global ecological/environmental crisis or catastrophe.

Eco-socialism can be described as an ideology (and movement) based on ideas that have come about in the last three decades. If you enjoy tracing words, concepts and terms as I do (something called etymology), you will discover that the term is used a bit more prominently, for the first time, in publications from around the early 1990s in order to describe certain influences on the Green (Political Environmentalist) Movement.

However, it has roots going much further back. In a sense, ‘eco-socialist’ ideas, or ones very similar to them, have been around since the 1960s where these may be applied to experimental, alternative modes of living, often with a primitive subsistence farming element. Most people may be able to recall reading a novel or watching a movie in which a commune or collective was portrayed as trying to live, in a self-supporting way, on an isolated farm, etc. However, our recent historical period is not the only one to espouse a set of ideas belonging to this area of radical thought.

Recently, I’ve been reading a great deal of seventeenth, eighteenth & nineteenth century German history in connection with some of my current research projects, containing eras in which holistic, ecological notions figure prominently, not least of all those associated with the German Romantic Movement in which nature, and living in harmony with it, features prominently.

What supporters of the ‘eco-socialist’ ideology would like see, can best be understood by their critique of late twentieth century/early twenty first century fossil fuel based society: Eco-socialists commonly believe that modern human beings no longer live in harmony with nature. They would like to transform society so that greater harmony may come about.

However, eco-socialists’ aspirations reach much further. They consider the practices of our entire civilisation to be exploitative and usually describe these as ‘damaging’. Therefore, what they espouse is complete civilisational transformation, leaving behind the alleged source of all the problems, namely ‘capitalist’ practices.

The ideology works with radical theoretical-ideological constructs like ‘patriarchy’ (male-dominated capitalist society, i.e. [seen /portrayed as] negative), ‘fossil fuel/s based economy/society’ (capitalist society dependent on fuels derived from oil and coal, i.e. negative), ‘mother earth’ (an anthropomorphic representation of the planet as a living mother, i.e. [seen/portrayed as] positive) and ‘eco-communalism’ (i.e. positive). In the case of the latter, a somewhat more detailed discussion aids in grounding decidedly woolly or slippery Hippie-like notions a bit better:

Eco-communalism: In what may appear like a form of socio-historical regression, eco-socialists would like to create a parallel economy to that of global capitalism, also ultimately global, but originating with small, self-sufficient local economies. Whereas capitalism is quite mistakenly stereotyped as being fundamentally centralised in nature, eco-socialists want to create to that a parallel alternative in a decentralised manner from the ‘ground up’. Local self-sufficient, eco-economies in this view would become linked, or interconnected, and is argued to be ultimately more beneficial to society as a whole.

Eco-socialism directly/openly – and as often as not also indirectly, implicitly or deliberately asymmetrically - is prominently supported by a wide range of radical organisations, politicians, academic activists and publications. More significantly, there is a noticeable trend, continuing already for a number of decades, of its influencing other organisations and publications that would typically be regarded as ‘mainstream’.

A few examples, elaborated upon critically by way of notes, may suffice at this point:

  • Ecosocialism Canada (ecosocialismcanada.blogspot)

Referring to an ‘economic/ecology crisis’ socio-doctrinologist:

“The sociologist John Bellamy Foster has defined eco-socialism as the rational regulation of production, respecting the metabolic relationship between social systems and natural systems to ensure the satisfaction of common needs for present and future generations”

Note: ‘System’ is a central concept (appearing in most theories as well) to socio-doctrinology, informing other humanities/arts/social studies fields, pointing to radical socialist socio-economic ‘tranformation’ of the world’s interconnected systems.

Note: A sentence taken from this organisation’s website helps to illustrate how the eco-socialist mentality merges and integrates socialist and ecological ideas of ‘mutual aid’, ‘wholeness’, ‘singularity’, ‘systems’ and ‘interdependence’:

“The biosphere as a whole, which consists of millions of mutually interdependent life forms, might be thought of as one single ecosystem”.

  • Solidarity ():

In this case, once again, a sentence helps to illustrate how eco-socialists represent a new breed, a further evolution of the ideological type, of socialists, who see their alternative economics and radical ecological ideas as being interrelated:

“Any socialism worthy of the name will have to be ecologically—or to be more exact, “ecocentrically”— oriented, that is, will have to be an “ecosocialism” devoted to restoring the integrity of our relationship to nature”.

Note: In the extract it can be clearly seen how Green political parties that may at first have been reluctant to incorporate ideas with socialist origins are now fully embracing the eco-socialist agenda, and its movement, playing a key role in helping to facilitate its spread throughout broader coalitions.

[A Green Party member … ] “views the Green Party as essential in the eco-                       socialist transformation but not sufficient and expressed that greens should not be arrogant about ideology or complacent in viewing themselves as sole representatives of the struggle. The call is for practical politics to build trust and a broad social movement with a radical anti-capitalist and eco-socialist agenda.”

  • System Change Not Climate Change

(https://www.systemchangenotclimatechange.org/ecosocialism)

Note: The objective “capitalism has to go” is naïve, for preceding the first use of the concept (1800s), trade, capital and profit (motives) were basic to almost all human interactions throughout history; vaunted “collaboration” with non-socialists in order to promote their agenda confirms the suspicions of many observers in mainstream society that many radical organisations operate with tactics like deceit, conspiracy, collusion and subversion.

“All ecosocialists agree that capitalism has to go, but they also recognize that the only way forward is through collaboration with more mainstream organizations that are not socialist. They also agree that a range of environmental reforms must be pursued, especially those that radicalize the people fighting for them and that bring together disparate branches of the environmental movement”.

  • Ecosocialist Horizons

(http://ecosocialisthorizons.com/ecosocialism/)

Note: The ‘Mother Earth’ notion harkens back to far less developed phases in human development and history, hardly of analytical use in an era of advanced science with truly major global challenges; this also suggests a cultic neo-pagan agenda, and an assault on most major religions and their ‘systems’ as well as ways of thinking; the phenomenon of agricultural and consumption-based ‘surplus’ referred to in the second extract as an object for elimination, is the basis, historically, of human survival and success since the last Ice Age (and the agricultural revolution that follows it).

“Ecosocialism is one of the voices which responds to the cry of Mother Earth, one among many convocations which emerge from our territories. Ecosocialism is a calling in which many others are evoked and resound; one of the many ways to name the pain of Mother Earth, which claims us, names us, and challenges us to change”.

AND

“A total war against life has been launched in order to eliminate the surplus and to control the scarcity that this social relation have falsely conceived [sic]. This system is the only surplus that we must overcome and eliminate. And the only scarcity is the limited recognition that ecosocialism is the original model – that they made us sick with their counter-model; with their alternatives to ways of life based on ancestral principles and practices – which we must now reclaim, with the seeds and crops of the paths to the life we need”.

     

Note: The portions of the quotes in bold reveal that there is a coherent ideological mindset, as well as probable international organising, behind what may seem unrelated campus protests/movements demanding fossil-fuel divestment, and that this if often characterised by ‘direct action’, a radical political culture that circumvents proper democratic processes in favour of immediate results, often through violence, intimidation or other subversive means.

“Along with the rapid spread of student fossil-fuel divestment groups on campuses around the country, the February protest signals an environmental movement that is on the rise”. … “More and more, people in the US are coming to realize that direct political action is necessary now to prevent runaway catastrophic climate change in the future. Crucially, the movement has united around a basic demand to curtail the political and economic power of the enormously profitable fossil-fuel industry”.

Note: The use of concepts/expressions like “steady state economy” and phrases like “a tool to organize production” mean that eco-socialist proponents don’t believe in the notion of economic growth, not even ‘sustainably’, which could lead to a global catastrophe like planetary famine if implemented. On a practical level, it’s almost impossible to effect on a global scale anyway.

“Eco-socialists share many of the criticisms made here of market-led environmentalism, but at the same time most, but not all, reject the possibility of growth in consumption due to the assumed bio-physical limits of the earth’s resources, and therefore advocate a steady state economy.”

AND

“The most positive aspect of the development of the eco-socialist movement is that planning is now being seriously debated as a tool to organise production, as is the possible danger of the degeneration of a future planned socialist society into a totalitarian state such as happened in the Soviet Union”.

*(Please note that this informal article isn’t furnished with a reference list/biography per se; however, the illustrative quotes at the end [see above], containing complete web references/sources for readers’ purposes, are substituted effectively for the same function).

Carl J. Kieck,

June 2017.

Carl J. Kieck is an Independent International Social and Educational Researcher, primarily, and is currently involved in several long-term research projects. He is originally from South Africa, yet, because he finds it stimulating to develop new insights and broaden his horizons, undertakes work internationally in primary, secondary and tertiary education as either a temporary or part-time teacher and lecturer.

He can be contacted in the following ways:

  • Professional research & consultancy websites:

  • Informally, for social media commentary and social networking:

        Gab.ai: @CarlKieck

  • Professionally, and, for professional networking purposes:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carl-kieck-research-services-a544b4139/Making sense of so-called ‘Eco-socialism’: “System Change, Not Climate Change”*

Next time somebody tells you they believe in “changing the system”, ask them quite pertinently, “what do you mean by that?” At the same time, ask them to explain exactly where they get that mindset from, because you may be speaking to an Eco-socialist who thinks recognising the phenomenon of ‘Climate Change’ is only the first step. That’s because, as adherents to this growing radical ideology maintain, what’s really required is global system change, in favour of localised, sustainable, self-sufficient socialism that saves and protects an organic Mother Earth from capitalist exploitation.

*(Please note that this informal article isn’t furnished with a reference list/biography per se; however, the illustrative quotes at the end, containing web references/sources, substitute effectively per same function).

In very basic terms, eco-socialism may be described as a combination of radical ecological (i.e. ‘Green’) ideas, anti-capitalism, socialism and elements of Marxist thought. Typically, although one may not immediately recognise the ideological sources, fairly well-known activist slogans (like “System Change Not Climate Change”) that have been around for some time, are actually associated with eco-socialism. For instance, another example thereof is, “the world is not a commodity”. In this case, there is an attempt to link supporters’ understanding of current social crises to rampant consumerism.

Although not altogether semantic equivalents, terms related to eco-socialism that you may have encountered before, include conceptual expressions/combinations like ‘green socialism’, ‘eco socialism’, ‘Green Marxism’ and ‘socialist ecology’. However, it should be stressed at the outset of this briefest of discussions, that eco-socialism is in no way the same as ecology (the relationships between organisms)/ecologist (a type of biologist)/ecological (environmental, etc.), i.e. for these aren’t necessarily political in nature, nor comparable by way of ideas.

The following is an extremely useful dual definition taken from a Canadian eco-socialist source (EcoSocialismCanada.blogspot), setting up rather tidily the discussion that follows, making in terms of contrastive contiguity clear what is signified by the respective concepts (and by implication, what not):

“An eco[-]socialist differs from an ecologist in that he analyzes          the ‘ecological crisis’ not as a crisis of the relationship between humanity in general and nature but as a crisis of the relationship between an historically determined mode of production and its environment, and therefore in the last analysis as a manifestation of the crisis of the mode of production itself”.

The latter part of the dual/contrastive definition quoted above, from the ‘Ecosocialism Canada’ blog, leans heavily on Marxist phraseology, which, at this point, can be said to indicate the eco-socialist belief that capitalism and its processes, i.e. production and consumption modes, are responsible for a claimed global ecological/environmental crisis or catastrophe.

Eco-socialism can be described as an ideology (and movement) based on ideas that have come about in the last three decades. If you enjoy tracing words, concepts and terms as I do (something called etymology), you will discover that the term is used a bit more prominently, for the first time, in publications from around the early 1990s in order to describe certain influences on the Green (Political Environmentalist) Movement.

However, it has roots going much further back. In a sense, ‘eco-socialist’ ideas, or ones very similar to them, have been around since the 1960s where these may be applied to experimental, alternative modes of living, often with a primitive subsistence farming element. Most people may be able to recall reading a novel or watching a movie in which a commune or collective was portrayed as trying to live, in a self-supporting way, on an isolated farm, etc. However, our recent historical period is not the only one to espouse a set of ideas belonging to this area of radical thought.

Recently, I’ve been reading a great deal of seventeenth, eighteenth & nineteenth century German history in connection with some of my current research projects, containing eras in which holistic, ecological notions figure prominently, not least of all those associated with the German Romantic Movement in which nature, and living in harmony with it, features prominently.

What supporters of the ‘eco-socialist’ ideology would like see, can best be understood by their critique of late twentieth century/early twenty first century fossil fuel based society: Eco-socialists commonly believe that modern human beings no longer live in harmony with nature. They would like to transform society so that greater harmony may come about.

However, eco-socialists’ aspirations reach much further. They consider the practices of our entire civilisation to be exploitative and usually describe these as ‘damaging’. Therefore, what they espouse is complete civilisational transformation, leaving behind the alleged source of all the problems, namely ‘capitalist’ practices.

The ideology works with radical theoretical-ideological constructs like ‘patriarchy’ (male-dominated capitalist society, i.e. [seen /portrayed as] negative), ‘fossil fuel/s based economy/society’ (capitalist society dependent on fuels derived from oil and coal, i.e. negative), ‘mother earth’ (an anthropomorphic representation of the planet as a living mother, i.e. [seen/portrayed as] positive) and ‘eco-communalism’ (i.e. positive). In the case of the latter, a somewhat more detailed discussion aids in grounding decidedly woolly or slippery Hippie-like notions a bit better:

Eco-communalism: In what may appear like a form of socio-historical regression, eco-socialists would like to create a parallel economy to that of global capitalism, also ultimately global, but originating with small, self-sufficient local economies. Whereas capitalism is quite mistakenly stereotyped as being fundamentally centralised in nature, eco-socialists want to create to that a parallel alternative in a decentralised manner from the ‘ground up’. Local self-sufficient, eco-economies in this view would become linked, or interconnected, and is argued to be ultimately more beneficial to society as a whole.

Eco-socialism directly/openly – and as often as not also indirectly, implicitly or deliberately asymmetrically - is prominently supported by a wide range of radical organisations, politicians, academic activists and publications. More significantly, there is a noticeable trend, continuing already for a number of decades, of its influencing other organisations and publications that would typically be regarded as ‘mainstream’.

A few examples, elaborated upon critically by way of notes, may suffice at this point:

  • Ecosocialism Canada (ecosocialismcanada.blogspot)

Referring to an ‘economic/ecology crisis’ socio-doctrinologist:

“The sociologist John Bellamy Foster has defined eco-socialism as the rational regulation of production, respecting the metabolic relationship between social systems and natural systems to ensure the satisfaction of common needs for present and future generations”

Note: ‘System’ is a central concept (appearing in most theories as well) to socio-doctrinology, informing other humanities/arts/social studies fields, pointing to radical socialist socio-economic ‘tranformation’ of the world’s interconnected systems.

Note: A sentence taken from this organisation’s website helps to illustrate how the eco-socialist mentality merges and integrates socialist and ecological ideas of ‘mutual aid’, ‘wholeness’, ‘singularity’, ‘systems’ and ‘interdependence’:

“The biosphere as a whole, which consists of millions of mutually interdependent life forms, might be thought of as one single ecosystem”.

  • Solidarity ():

In this case, once again, a sentence helps to illustrate how eco-socialists represent a new breed, a further evolution of the ideological type, of socialists, who see their alternative economics and radical ecological ideas as being interrelated:

“Any socialism worthy of the name will have to be ecologically—or to be more exact, “ecocentrically”— oriented, that is, will have to be an “ecosocialism” devoted to restoring the integrity of our relationship to nature”.

Note: In the extract it can be clearly seen how Green political parties that may at first have been reluctant to incorporate ideas with socialist origins are now fully embracing the eco-socialist agenda, and its movement, playing a key role in helping to facilitate its spread throughout broader coalitions.

[A Green Party member … ] “views the Green Party as essential in the eco-                       socialist transformation but not sufficient and expressed that greens should not be arrogant about ideology or complacent in viewing themselves as sole representatives of the struggle. The call is for practical politics to build trust and a broad social movement with a radical anti-capitalist and eco-socialist agenda.”

  • System Change Not Climate Change

(https://www.systemchangenotclimatechange.org/ecosocialism)

Note: The objective “capitalism has to go” is naïve, for preceding the first use of the concept (1800s), trade, capital and profit (motives) were basic to almost all human interactions throughout history; vaunted “collaboration” with non-socialists in order to promote their agenda confirms the suspicions of many observers in mainstream society that many radical organisations operate with tactics like deceit, conspiracy, collusion and subversion.

“All ecosocialists agree that capitalism has to go, but they also recognize that the only way forward is through collaboration with more mainstream organizations that are not socialist. They also agree that a range of environmental reforms must be pursued, especially those that radicalize the people fighting for them and that bring together disparate branches of the environmental movement”.

  • Ecosocialist Horizons

(http://ecosocialisthorizons.com/ecosocialism/)

Note: The ‘Mother Earth’ notion harkens back to far less developed phases in human development and history, hardly of analytical use in an era of advanced science with truly major global challenges; this also suggests a cultic neo-pagan agenda, and an assault on most major religions and their ‘systems’ as well as ways of thinking; the phenomenon of agricultural and consumption-based ‘surplus’ referred to in the second extract as an object for elimination, is the basis, historically, of human survival and success since the last Ice Age (and the agricultural revolution that follows it).

“Ecosocialism is one of the voices which responds to the cry of Mother Earth, one among many convocations which emerge from our territories. Ecosocialism is a calling in which many others are evoked and resound; one of the many ways to name the pain of Mother Earth, which claims us, names us, and challenges us to change”.

AND

“A total war against life has been launched in order to eliminate the surplus and to control the scarcity that this social relation have falsely conceived [sic]. This system is the only surplus that we must overcome and eliminate. And the only scarcity is the limited recognition that ecosocialism is the original model – that they made us sick with their counter-model; with their alternatives to ways of life based on ancestral principles and practices – which we must now reclaim, with the seeds and crops of the paths to the life we need”.

     

Note: The portions of the quotes in bold reveal that there is a coherent ideological mindset, as well as probable international organising, behind what may seem unrelated campus protests/movements demanding fossil-fuel divestment, and that this if often characterised by ‘direct action’, a radical political culture that circumvents proper democratic processes in favour of immediate results, often through violence, intimidation or other subversive means.

“Along with the rapid spread of student fossil-fuel divestment groups on campuses around the country, the February protest signals an environmental movement that is on the rise”. … “More and more, people in the US are coming to realize that direct political action is necessary now to prevent runaway catastrophic climate change in the future. Crucially, the movement has united around a basic demand to curtail the political and economic power of the enormously profitable fossil-fuel industry”.

Note: The use of concepts/expressions like “steady state economy” and phrases like “a tool to organize production” mean that eco-socialist proponents don’t believe in the notion of economic growth, not even ‘sustainably’, which could lead to a global catastrophe like planetary famine if implemented. On a practical level, it’s almost impossible to effect on a global scale anyway.

“Eco-socialists share many of the criticisms made here of market-led environmentalism, but at the same time most, but not all, reject the possibility of growth in consumption due to the assumed bio-physical limits of the earth’s resources, and therefore advocate a steady state economy.”

AND

“The most positive aspect of the development of the eco-socialist movement is that planning is now being seriously debated as a tool to organise production, as is the possible danger of the degeneration of a future planned socialist society into a totalitarian state such as happened in the Soviet Union”.

*(Please note that this informal article isn’t furnished with a reference list/biography per se; however, the illustrative quotes at the end [see above], containing complete web references/sources for readers’ purposes, are substituted effectively for the same function).

Carl J. Kieck,

June 2017.

Carl J. Kieck is an Independent International Social and Educational Researcher, primarily, and is currently involved in several long-term research projects. He is originally from South Africa, yet, because he finds it stimulating to develop new insights and broaden his horizons, undertakes work internationally in primary, secondary and tertiary education as either a temporary or part-time teacher and lecturer.

 

He can be contacted in the following ways:

 

  • Professional research & consultancy websites:

  • Informally, for social media commentary and social networking:

 

        Gab.ai: @CarlKieck

 

  • Professionally, and, for professional networking purposes:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carl-kieck-research-services-a544b4139/