Summary
The Ecological Rift argues that the current ecological crisis, including climate destruction and the decline of all ecosystems, stems from the inherent paradox of capitalist society: the expansion of individual wealth at the expense of public wealth, particularly the wealth of nature. This creates an irreparable rift in the metabolic relation between humanity and nature, which is integral to capitalism's laws of motion. The book insists that fundamental changes in social relations, beyond the current regime of capital, are necessary to transcend these ecological and social problems and move toward a society of sustainable human development.
The authors critically examine mainstream economic and technological arguments, offering a radical assessment of the problem and its solution. Their analysis relies on a deep dialectical naturalism that considers ecology and evolution alongside their interaction with the economy. This approach provides reasons for revolutionary hope in addressing the collision between the economy and the earth, aiming to alter the course toward environmental catastrophe.
Key concepts
- Paradox of wealth — The concept that capitalist society expands individual riches by diminishing public wealth, including natural wealth.
- Ecological rift — The division driven between human beings and nature that undermines the conditions for sustainable existence.
- Metabolic relation — The integral connection between humanity and nature that is damaged within capitalist society.
- Dialectical naturalism — An analytical approach concerned with ecology, evolution, and their interaction with the economy.
From the book
Description: 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…
Snippet: ... <b>Lewontin</b> , and Levins , particularly as they relate to nature , science , and society , see Richard York and Brett Clark , The Science and Humanism of <b>Stephen Jay</b> Gould ( New York : Monthly Review Press , 2010 ) . 37. Richard Dawkins ...