Planetary Crises: Extraction and the Costs of ‘Green Capitalism’
The MEP’s Ecosocialist Study Group welcomes new participants as we read and discuss a range of important new works on the science and politics of the climate emergency, the nature of economic and ecological crises, the status of freedom with respect to environmental constraints, and related topics. Beginning March 25, we will take up Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism, by Thea Riofrancos.
Extraction addresses the question, Will green capitalism save us from the climate crisis? “Clean” technologies and renewable energy are certainly growing sites of capitalist investment, with government policies playing a key role in making these sectors profitable. But the supply chains that produce the technologies pose vexing dilemmas for the energy transition. These dilemmas are most dramatic at the extractive frontiers of green capitalism: where the natural resources needed to manufacture electric vehicles and build windmills are extracted. Riofrancos unpacks these challenges through the lens of lithium, a so-called “critical mineral” essential for its role in decarbonizing one of the most polluting sectors: transportation.
Other recently published books we have read or will be reading include:
- Against the Crisis: Economy and Ecology in a Burning World, by Ståle Holgersen
- Free Gifts: Capitalism and the Politics of Nature, by Alyssa Battistoni
- Anthropocene Communism: Land and Capital in the Age of Disaster, by Paul Guillibert
- Overshoot: How the World Surrendered to Climate Breakdown, by Wim Carton and Andreas Malm
- The Long Heat: Climate Politics When It’s Too Late, by Carton and Malm
- The Alibi of Capital, by Timothy Mitchell
Facilitated by Fred Murphy. Since 2015 Fred has led numerous MEP study groups on ecosocialism, science and technology, political economy, the history of capitalism, and Latin American politics. He studied and taught historical sociology at the New School for Social Research and reported from Latin America for several socialist publications.
These sessions are dedicated to the memory of Steve Knight, who co-led the Ecosocialist Working Group for nearly ten years, guiding our conversations on degrowth and ecomodernism, world-ecology and the metabolic rift, science, technology and capitalism, and related topics.