Planetary Crises: ‘Metabolic Rifts’
Next monthly session July 15
The MEP’s Ecosocialist Study Group welcomes new participants as we read and discuss each month an important new work on the science and politics of the climate emergency, the nature of economic and ecological crises, and related topics. On July 15 we will host a converstion with Ian Angus, author of Metabolic Rifts: Capitalism’s Assault on the Earth System.
Like an autoimmune disease that attacks the body it dwells in, capitalism is tearing apart the very planet that feeds it. Metabolic Rifts builds on Karl Marx’s insight that while capitalism is dependent on the natural world, it is also waging war on the natural systems that sustain life on Earth. Focusing on deadly rifts in the most important natural systems, Ian Angus explains and elaborates on the Marxist view that capitalism is massively disrupting essential exchanges of matter and energy between society and the rest of nature, putting the entire Earth System in danger. After tracing the long-neglected history of metabolic rift theory in scientific and socialist writing, Angus draws on a wealth of modern research to extend and deepen the natural science basis of Marxist ecology.
Other recently published books of interest to this group are listed below.
Previously read:
- Against the Crisis: Economy and Ecology in a Burning World, by Ståle Holgersen
- Free Gifts: Capitalism and the Politics of Nature, by Alyssa Battistoni
- Extraction, by Thea Riofrancos
- The Alibi of Capital, by Timothy Mitchell
To be considered:
- 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
- More, More and More: An All-Consuming History of Energy, by Jean-Baptiste Fressoz
- Working Nature: A History of the Energy Economy, by Daniela Russ
- How the World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We’re Going, by Vaclav Smil
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.