This study group will examine the dire situations ordinary people confront as climate change and related crises accelerate, and the struggles for climate and environmental justice that are arising to meet these challenges. We will look at such cases as Puerto Rico (Irma-Maria), New York (Sandy), and the Mideast (drought, wars, refugees), through lenses provided by Ashley Dawson, Christian Parenti, and others.
Ashley Dawson argues that cities are ground zero for climate change, contributing the lion’s share of carbon to the atmosphere, while also lying on the frontlines of rising sea levels. He offers an alarming portrait of the future of our cities.
Our ability to address urgent threats to our existence like climate change and nuclear weapons is hampered and undermined by questionable assumptions about “human nature” that underlie much political thought and action…. “There will be no liberation without us knowing how to depend on each other, how to be encumbered with and responsible for each other.”
With Fred Magdoff —co-author with Chris Williams of the new book Creating an Ecological Society, which assesses how capitalism is destabilizing Earth’s climate and envisions a society that is genuinely democratic, equitable, and ecologically sustainable.
…this course will focus on key concepts in Earth system science (water, air, soil, and life) and systems thinking. Gaining a perspective of how we exist in the natural world even in built environments influences the framing of questions and then how these questions might be answered in order to understand ways we can become sustainable and resilient societies.
Jason W. Moore and Christian Parenti introduce a new essay collection, Anthropocene or Capitalocene? Nature, History, and the Crisis of Capitalism. The book challenges the theory and history offered by proponents of the “Anthropocene” and stresses how climate change and related crises are rooted in the rise and domination of capital.
Our studies address the nexus of capitalism, science, threats to human existence on planet Earth, and the fight for climate justice and ecosocialism.
This group will read and discuss classic and contemporary works in the Marxist tradition that address the nexus of capitalism, science, nature, and climate change.