20 Facts About Eco-socialism

Eco-socialism is an ideology merging aspects of socialism with that of green politics, ecology and alter-globalization or anti-globalization.

Eco-socialism asserts that the capitalist economic system is fundamentally incompatible with the ecological and social requirements of sustainability.

Eco-socialism's groundbreaking essay "Ecology and Revolutionary Thought" introduced ecology as a concept in radical politics.

Eco-socialism has had a minor influence over developments in the environmental policies of what can be called "existing socialist" regimes, notably the People's Republic of China.

Eco-socialism disagrees with the elite theories of capitalism, which tend to label a specific class or social group as conspirators who construct a system that satisfies their greed and personal desires.

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Eco-socialism focuses closely on Marx's theories about the contradiction between use values and exchange values.

Eco-socialism posits an eco-socialist analysis, developed from Marx, that patterns of production and social organisation are more important than the forms of technology used within a given configuration of society.

Eco-socialism is quick to warn "environmental liberals" against over-selling the virtues of renewable energies that cannot meet the mass energy consumption of the era; although he would still support renewable energy projects, he believes it is more important to restructure societies to reduce energy use before relying on renewable energy technologies alone.

Eco-socialism furthers rejects the Neo-Smithian school, who believe in Adam Smith's vision of "a capitalism of small producers, freely exchanging with each other", which is self-regulating and competitive.

Eco-socialism has been partly influenced by and associated with agrarian socialism as well as some forms of Christian socialism, especially in the United States.

Eco-socialism cites David McNally, who advocates increasing consumption levels under socialism, which, for Kovel, contradicts any notion of natural limits.

Eco-socialism believes that open source has "bypassed" both the market and the state, and could provide "developing countries with free access to vital computer software".

Eco-socialism holds up the Zapatista Army of National Liberation and the Gaviotas movement as examples of such communities, which "are produced outside capitalist circuits" and show that "there can be no single way valid for all peoples".

Eco-socialism adds that people will be allowed to be members of any community they choose with "associate membership" of others, such as a doctor having main membership of healthcare communities as a doctor and associate membership of child-rearing communities as a father.

Eco-socialism suggests the end of military aid and other forms of support to "comprador elites in the South" will eventually "lead to their collapse".

Eco-socialism posits that the WPTO should have an elected council that will oversee a reform of prices in favour of an Ecological Price "determined by the difference between actual use-values and fully realized ones", thus having low tariffs for forms of ecological production like organic agriculture; he envisages the high tariffs on non-ecological production providing subsidies to ecological production units.

Eco-socialism thinks that this will provide a "standard of transformation" for non-ecological industries, like the automobile industry, thus spurring changes towards ecological production.

Eco-socialism then believes that the new enterprises can build "socially developed plans" of production for societal needs, such as efficient light-rail transport components.

Eco-socialism cites the example of Paraguayan Indian communities in the eighteenth century who made sure that all community members learned musical instruments, and had labourers take musical instruments to the fields and take turns playing music or harvesting.

Eco-socialism nevertheless wrongly claims that eco-socialists endorse "the Malthusian view of the relationship between man and nature", and states that Al Gore, a former Democratic Party Vice President of the United States and now a climate change campaigner, is an eco-socialist, despite the fact that Gore has never used this term and is not recognised as such by other followers of either Green politics or socialism.