John Bellamy Foster

Tag: Richard D. York

  • Capitalism and the Curse of Energy Efficiency

    Capitalism and the Curse of Energy Efficiency

    “Capitalism and the Curse of Energy Efficiency: The Return of the Jevons Paradox“, (coauthored with Brett Clark and Richard York, Foster listed first), Monthly Review vol. 62, no. 6 (November 2010), pp. 1-12. DOI: 10.14452/MR-062-06-2010-10_1

    The curse of energy efficiency, better known as the Jevons Paradox—the idea that increased energy (and material-resource) efficiency leads not to conservation but increased use—was first raised by William Stanley Jevons in the nineteenth century. Although forgotten for most of the twentieth century, the Jevons Paradox has been rediscovered in recent decades and stands squarely at the center of today’s environmental dispute

    Translations:
    • Spanish translation in Arquitectura Sustentable (Buenos Aires, Associación Argentina de Energias Renovables y Ambiente), http://www.arqsustentable.net/educacion_paradoja.html.

     

  • The Ecological Rift

    The Ecological Rift

    The Ecological Rift“The Ecological Rift: Capitalism’s War with the Earth,” (co-authored with Brett Clark and Richard York, Foster listed first, New York: Monthly Review Press, 2010), 544 pp.

    Editions:

    • German edition, (Hamburg: Laika-Verlag, 2011).

    Translations:

    • Portuguese translation from Expressao Popular 2015.
    • Swedish translation of introduction available at Lalit magazine.
    • French translation of the chapter, “The Ecology of Consumption,” in Ecologie et Politique 43 (2012), pp. 109-30.

    Winner of the 2010 Gerald L. Young Book Award, bestowed by the Society for Human Ecology

    Humanity in the twenty-first century is facing what might be described as its ultimate environmental catastrophe: the destruction of the climate that has nurtured human civilization and with it the basis of life on earth as we know it. All ecosystems on the planet are now in decline. Enormous rifts have been driven through the delicate fabric of the biosphere. The economy and the earth are headed for a fateful collision—if we don’t alter course.

    In The Ecological Rift: Capitalism’s War on the Earth, environmental sociologists John Bellamy Foster, Brett Clark, and Richard York offer a radical assessment of both the problem and the solution. They argue that the source of our ecological crisis lies in the paradox of wealth in capitalist society, which expands individual riches at the expense of public wealth, including the wealth of nature. In the process, a huge ecological rift is driven between human beings and nature, undermining the conditions of sustainable existence: a rift in the metabolic relation between humanity and nature that is irreparable within capitalist society, since integral to its very laws of motion.

    Critically examining the sanguine arguments of mainstream economists and technologists, Foster, Clark, and York insist instead that fundamental changes in social relations must occur if the ecological (and social) problems presently facing us are to be transcended. Their analysis relies on the development of a deep dialectical naturalism concerned with issues of ecology and evolution and their interaction with the economy. Importantly, they offer reasons for revolutionary hope in moving beyond the regime of capital and toward a society of sustainable human development.

    Reviews:

    This book is desperately needed, because it ends any illusion that we can solve our pressing environmental crises within the same system that created them. With tweaking the system—using incremental market-based strategies—off the table, we can put our efforts into genuine, lasting solutions.

    —Annie Leonard, author and host, Story of Stuff

    Marx’s concept of ‘metabolic rift’ in the circulation of soil nutrients between countryside and town is generalized by Foster, Clark, and York to an insightful Marxist analysis of the current ecological rift between modern capitalism and the ecosystem. It is a scholarly, well-referenced, and important contribution.

    —Herman E. Daly, Professor Emeritus, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland and author, Beyond Growth

    This important book treats industrial capitalism as the globally destructive force that it is, and powerfully points the way toward, as the authors put it, ‘universal revolts against imperialism, the destruction of the planet, and the treadmill of accumulation.’ We need these revolts if we are to survive. This book is a crucial part of that struggle.

    —Derrick Jensen, author, Endgame and The Culture of Make Believe

    This timely new work promises to become a basic resource in understanding the incompatibility between capitalism and ecology, and also in arguing for the ecological dimensions of any future socialism.

    —Fredric Jameson, Professor, Duke University; author, Valences of the Dialectic

    The Ecological Rift deserves to—and needs to—become a classic in its field.

    —Simon Butler, Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal

  • The Midas Effect

    “The Midas Effect: A Critique of Climate Change Economics,”, (coauthored with Brett Clark and Richard York, Foster listed first), Development and Change, vol. 40, no. 6 (November 2009), pp. 1085-96. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7660.2009.01613.x.

    James Hansen, a leading US climatologist and director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, warns that global climate change today constitutes a ‘planetary emergency’. Existing trends threaten to set in mo- tion irreversible climate transformations, proceeding ‘mostly under their own momentum’, thereby fundamentally transforming the conditions of life on earth.

  • Darwin’s Worms and the Skin of the Earth: An Introduction to Charles Darwin’s The Formation of Vegetable Mould, Through the Action of Worms, With Observations on their Habits

    “Darwin’s Worms and the Skin of the Earth: An Introduction to Charles Darwin’s The Formation of Vegetable Mould, Through the Action of Worms, With Observations on their Habits (Selections)”, (coauthored with Brett Clark and Richard York, Clark listed first), Organization and Environment, vol. 22, no. 3 (September 2009), pp. 338-50.

    Charles Darwin’s discovery of the theory of evolution by natural selection is unquestionably one of the most profound scientific achievements in history. Darwin was heavily influenced by the great geologist Charles Lyell, who developed uniformitarianism, the methodological and substantive doctrine that sought to explain all geological formations as the result of the accumulation of small events happening continually over long periods of time. In The Formation of Vegetable Mould, Through the Action of Worms, with Observations on Their Habits, Darwin—inspired by Lyell’s grand conception—focused on how worms transform the surface of the earth through their constant, everyday activities.They contribute to the formation of soil,turning it over and over,which enhances the circulation of nutrients within ecosystems.All studies of nature are indebted to Darwin for his devotion to illustrating the power of the materialist approach and for illuminating how the world works through its natural processes, including the invisible labor of worms.

  • Capitalism in Wonderland

    Capitalism in Wonderland

    “Capitalism in Wonderland” [PDF], (coauthored with Richard York and Brett Clark, Foster listed third), Monthly Review vol. 61, no. 1 (May 2009), pp. 1-18. DOI: 10.14452/MR-061-01-2009-05_1

    In a recent essay, “Economics Needs a Scientific Revolution,” in one of the leading scientific journals, Nature, physicist Jean-Philippe Bouchaud, a researcher for an investment management company, asked rhetorically, “What is the flagship achievement of economics?” Bouchaud’s answer: “Only its recurrent inability to predict and avert crises.” Although his discussion is focused on the current worldwide financial crisis, his comment applies equally well to mainstream economic approaches to the environment—where, for example, ancient forests are seen as non-performing assets to be liquidated, and clean air and water are luxury goods for the affluent to purchase at their discretion. The field of economics in the United States has long been dominated by thinkers who unquestioningly accept the capitalist status quo and, accordingly, value the natural world only in terms of how much short-term profit can be generated by its exploitation. As a result, the inability of received economics to cope with or even perceive the global ecological crisis is alarming in its scope and implications.

    Translations:
    • Spanish translation in Herramienta 3 (Argentina, November 2010), http://www.herramienta.com.ar.
    • Chinese translation by Xia Yong, Marxism and Reality (China), no. 5, 2009.
    • Russian translation in Vpered, July 6, 2009, vpered.org.ru.
    • Turkish translation in Monthly Review, Turkish edition, no. 21 (Istanbul: Kalkedon, 2009), pp. 7-25.

     

  • The Ecological Revolution

    The Ecological Revolution

    The Ecological Revolution“The Ecological Revolution: Making Peace with the Planet,” (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2009), 319 pp.

    Awards:

    • Winner of the Greald L. Young Book Award of the Society for Human Ecology, 2010.

    Editions:

    • Edited French-language editon, entitled Marx Écologiste. Amsterdam Press, 2011, includes chapters 8-11.

    Translations:

    • German translation Hamburg: Laika-Verlag, 2012.
    • Bangla translation being published in India by Cornerstone Books, Kharagpur.
    • Final chapter reprinted in Briarpatch magazine, July/August 2009.
    • Korean translation being translated by Dae-Han Song for the Korean Alliance of Progressive Movements.
    • Chinese translation forthcoming from Renmin Press.

    Since the atomic bomb made its first appearance on the world stage in 1945, it has been clear that we possess the power to destroy our own planet. What nuclear weapons made possible, global environmental crisis, marked especially by global warming, has now made inevitable—if business as usual continues.

    The roots of the present ecological crisis, John Bellamy Foster argues in The Ecological Revolution, lie in capital’s rapacious expansion, which has now achieved unprecedented heights of irrationality across the globe. Foster compellingly demonstrates that the only possible answer for humanity is an ecological revolution: a struggle to make peace with the planet. Foster details the beginnings of such a revolution in human relations with the environment which can now be found throughout the globe, especially in the periphery of the world system, where the most ambitious experiments are taking place.

    This bold new work addresses the central issues of the present crisis: global warming, peak oil, species extinction, world water shortages, global hunger, alternative energy sources, sustainable development, and environmental justice. Foster draws on a unique range of thinkers, including Karl Marx, Thomas Malthus, William Morris, Albert Einstein, Hannah Arendt, Rachel Carson, Vandana Shiva, and István Mészáros. The result is a startlingly radical synthesis, which offers new hope for grappling with the greatest challenge of our age: what must be done to save the earth for humanity and all living species.

    Reviews:

    In this time of growing ecological and economic crisis, John Bellamy Foster’s voice stands out like no other. In his new book, The Ecological Revolution, he demonstrates that questions of ecology cannot be separated from questions of economics, and that building a truly sustainable future means putting people and the planet before profit.

    —Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States

    Foster is the most systematic thinker on red-green politics writing today—and he is quite clear about What is to be done! In these essays, he applies Marx’s theory of metabolic rift to elucidate a variety of contexts—the Pentagon’s pursuit of oil, neoliberalism and the Jo’burg Manifesto, the poverty of contemporary sociology, imperialism and ecological debt, critique of the New Sustainability Paradigm—all the while keeping his synthesis of historical scholarship, natural scientific detail, and Marxist theory readily accessible to a wide readership. Here is reason and discipline driven by passion and care.

    —Ariel Salleh, Research Associate in Political Economy, at the University of Sydney

    Author of Ecofeminism as Politics, Editor of Eco-Sufficiency and Global Justice, and Co-editor of the journal Capitalism Nature Socialism

    In The Ecological Revolution, John Bellamy Foster rightly shows the inadequacy of the technological approaches to which the capitalist response to the ecological crisis is limited, raising the question of a wider revolution in ecology and community. In the process he puts to rest the widely held assumption that Marx and Marxists have little to contribute on the ecological crisis. His book demonstrates that Marx addressed the ecological issues with keen insight and that the historical materialist ecological tradition is alive and relevant today.

    —John B. Cobb, Jr., Professor Emeritus, Claremont School of Theology

    Co-author with Herman Daly of For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy Toward Community, The Environment, and a Sustainable Future

    For fifteen years, in the books The Vulnerable Planet, Marx’s Ecology, and Ecology Against Capitalism, Foster has warned us of capitalist ecological catastrophe. With accessibility, grace, and a powerful intellectual punch, this new collection tackles the neoconservative petro-military complex of the Bush years sandwiched between Clinton-Gore-Obama’s pernicious eco-neoliberalism. Foster’s searing denunciations of environmental commodification give us confidence to fight bourgeois economic ideology—from the likes of Thomas Friedman, William Nordhaus, Larry Summers, and Nick Stern—and to demand an eco-socialist future.

    —Patrick Bond, senior professor of development studies

    University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban

    This book is a major achievement. It combines enormous breadth of scholarship with consummate theoretical integration to produce a powerful political argument. It should be required reading for anyone who cares about the future of humanity and the planet – that is, everyone!

    —Ted Benton, Marx and Philosophy Review of Books

  • Critique of Intelligent Design

    Critique of Intelligent Design

    Buy at Monthly Review Press

    “Critique of Intelligent Design: Materialism versus Creationism from Antiquity to the Present,” (co-authored with Brett Clark and Richard York, Foster listed first, New York: Monthly Review Press, 2008), 240 pp.

    Critique of Intelligent Design is a direct reply to the criticisms of intelligent design proponents and a compelling account of the long debate between materialism and religion in the West. It provides an overview of the contemporary fight concerning nature, science, history, morality, and knowledge. Separate chapters are devoted to the design debate in antiquity, the Enlightenment and natural theology, Marx, Darwin, and Freud, and to current scientific debates over evolution and design. It offers empowering tools to understand and defend critical and scientific reasoning in both the natural and social sciences and society as a whole.

    Reprints:

    • Reprint of chapter 5, “Marx’s Critique of Heaven and Critique of Earth,” Monthly Review, vol. 60, no. 5 (October 2008), pp. 22-42; Chapter 5.
    Translations:
    •  Arabic translations in Civilized Dialogue, issue 2498 (December 17, 2008), http://www.ahewar.org/ and Free Thought, March 3, 2010.
  • Ecology

    Ecology

    “Ecology: The Moment of Truth—An Introduction“, (coauthored with Brett Clark and Richard York, Foster listed first), Monthly Review, vol. 60, no. 3 (July 2008), pp. 1-11. DOI: 10.14452/MR-060-03-2008-07_1

    It is impossible to exaggerate the environmental problem facing humanity in the twenty-first century. Nearly fifteen years ago one of us observed: “We have only four decades left in which to gain control over our major environmental problems if we are to avoid irreversible ecological decline.” Today, with a quarter-century still remaining in this projected time line, it appears to have been too optimistic. Available evidence now strongly suggests that under a regime of business as usual we could be facing an irrevocable “tipping point” with respect to climate change within a mere decade. Other crises such as species extinction (percentages of bird, mammal, and fish species “vulnerable or in immediate danger of extinction” are “now measured in double digits”);3 the rapid depletion of the oceans’ bounty; desertification; deforestation; air pollution; water shortages/pollution; soil degradation; the imminent peaking of world oil production (creating new geopolitical tensions); and a chronic world food crisis—all point to the fact that the planet as we know it and its ecosystems are stretched to the breaking point. The moment of truth for the earth and human civilization has arrived.

    Translations:
    • Spanish translation in Biblioteca Virtual Umegalfa, February 2014
    • Chinese translation by Dong Hui, in Seeking Truth (China), no. 5, 2009
    • Portuguese translation in Monthly Review, Portuguese-Language Edition (Brazil), July 2009.

     

  • The Critique of Intelligent Design

    “The Critique of Intelligent Design: Epicurus, Marx, Darwin and Freud and the Materialist Defense of Science,” [PDF], (coauthored with Brett Clark and Richard York, Foster listed second), Theory and Society, vol. 36 (December 2007), pp. 515. DOI: 10.1007/s11186-007-9046-9.

    A new version of the age-old controversy between religion and science has been launched by today’s intelligent design movement. Although ostensibly concerned simply with combating Darwinism, this new creationism seeks to drive a “wedge” into the materialist view of the world, originating with the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus and manifested in modern times by Darwin, Marx, and Freud.

  • Political Economy and the Environmental Crisis: Introduction to Special Issue

    “Political Economy and the Environmental Crisis: Introduction to Special Issue” [PDF] (co-authored with Richard York, Foster listed first—special issue on the treadmill of production, part I), vol. 17, no. 3 (September 2004), pp. 293-95. DOI: 10.1177/1086026604268016

    According to Frederick Buell (2003) in his book ‘From Apocalypse to Way of Life‘, perceptions of environmental crisis in the 1960s and 1970s were both narrower in scope and more apocalyptic (usually Malthusian) in tone than those of today. Rather than diminishing, the problem of the environment has only expanded in the years since Rachel Carson’s ‘Silent Spring‘, was published. Severe environmental crisis is no longer foreign to us—not some future to be feared and avoided so much as a present in which we are living. It has become a structural reality of modern life and accepted as such, even normalized. If anything, a certain fatalism has emerged. It is now increasingly understood by environmental sociologists and many others that global ecological degradation is at the core of the development of modern (particularly capitalist) forms of production and is inescapable as long as those relations of production remain unaltered. Proba- bly the earliest analyst to articulate such a structural view through a fully developed political-economic theory of environmental degradation under corporate capitalism was Allan Schnaiberg (1980) in his magnum opus, ‘The Environment: From Surplus to Scarcity‘. It was here that Schnaiberg introduced the important concept of the treadmill of production—the topic taken up in this special issue. Schnaiberg rejected all apocalyptic notions, believing that something could be done if social relations could be radically transformed, yet his indictment of our present system of production for its degradation of the environment was all the more damning as a result.