What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know About Capitalism
John Bellamy Foster outlines the answer from the Marxist perspective.
1. The Planetary Ecological Crisis
2. Common Ground: Transcending Business as Usual
3. Characteristics of Capitalism in Conflict with the Environment
----- a. Capitalism is a system that must continually expand;
----- b. Expansion leads to investing abroad in search of secure sources of raw materials,
cheaper labour, and new markets;
----- c. A System that, by Its Very Nature, Must Grow and Expand Will Eventually Come Up Against the Reality of Finite Natural Resources;
----- d. A System Geared to Exponential Growth in the Search for Profits Will Inevitably Transgress Planetary Boundaries;
----- e. Capitalism Is Not Just an Economic System-It Fashions a Political, Judicial, and Social System to Support the System of Wealth and Accumulation;
IV. Characteristics of Capitalism in Conflict with Social Justice
----- A. As the System Naturally Functions, a Great Disparity Arises in Both Wealth and Income ;
----- B. Goods and Services Are Rationed According to Ability to Pay ;
----- C. Capitalism Is a System Marked by Recurrent Economic Downturns;
V. Proposals for the Ecological Reformation of Capitalism
----- A. Better Technologies that Are More Energy Efficient and Use Fewer Material Inputs
----- B. Nuclear Power
----- C. Large-Scale Engineering Solutions
----- D. Cap and Trade (Market Trading) Schemes
VI. What Can Be Done Now?
VII. Another Economic System Is Not Just Possible-It's Essential
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In other words, brilliant as usual.