Abstract

The last twenty years has seen the rise of a series of intellectual and practical responses to environmental degradation. Many socialists and critical theorists have sought to develop sophisticated analyses of ecological despoiling and have aimed to provide the contours of various ‘eco-socialist’ alternatives. These range from visions of small-scale communal autarky through ‘green’ or ‘eco-city’ concepts to global perspectives. Crucially, for most of these ecologically minded socialists, the social relations of capitalism rather than simply the ‘industrial mode of production’ has been the focus of critique. Where many liberal or reactionary environmentalists see the industrial processes of production and the wasteful activities of consumption as driving the planet towards ecological doom, most socialists seek to analyze the ways in which the relational social processes of capital augment, enlarge and exaggerate the ecological harm that results from industrial production and mass consumption.