We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, November 2, 2018

The Logic of Human Survival

Click here to access this review by Barry Sheppard of a book entitled A Redder Shade of Green: Intersections of Science and Socialism authored by Ian Angus and posted on Solidarity.
The levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane (the “greenhouse” gases) produce rising surface temperatures, melting of the icecaps, ocean level rise and acidification. Plastic waste in the oceans, tropical forest loss, species extinctions and other indicators have ballooned, with grave implications.

This new book contains polemics, debates and articles from a Marxist perspective, dealing mainly not with the climate change deniers but with other environmentalists, scientists and socialists, who differ with each other on explanations and solutions. This includes ecosocialists — because as Angus explains, there are as many differences among them as there are differences among socialists more broadly.