How Green is Socialism?

With Nancy Fraser and Raul Zelik, hosted by Rahel Jaeggi.
From an ecological point of view, capitalism has considerable disadvantages: Not only does its logic of growth deplete existing resources at a frantic and ever-increasing speed, but capitalism’s reward system also incentivizes people to exploit natural wealth free of charge. Once raw materials are used up, the systemic compulsion to minimize costs in a capitalist economy also punishes those who do not pass on the consequences of consumption and production to others. Consequently, the oceans are polluted and the atmosphere-after acid rain and ozone depletion-is finally on the verge of collapse due to constant pollution by industrial exhaust gases.
Against this background, it is not necessary to have a detailed knowledge of Marx’s excerpts on industrial agriculture to see why his theory on how capitalism works is experiencing a renaissance in contemporary ecological discussions. Increasingly, the diagnosis is presented: Capitalism cannot solve the current ecological crises. What is needed is a different (in want of a better name: “socialist”) society.
As convincing as the diagnosis of the causes of the manifold ecological crises is, the proposal to see the solution to the problems in socialism must come as a surprise. Neither the actually existing socialist states of the 20th century nor the socialism of the 21st century in China and Venezuela have a convincing ecological record. On the contrary, it seems almost as if capitalism’s unleashed spirit of innovation is developing ecological restructuring into just the latest guarantor of growth. We therefore discuss with three Marx-inspired proponents of ecological socialism, the limits of capitalism’s capacity for change and their ideas for a sustainable democratic society.
Raul Zelik is an author, political scientist, and translator. Zelik was associate professor for international politics at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. And thought political theory in Berlin, Kassel and Bogotá. His most recent book is on the concept of green socialism („Wir Untoten des Kapitals. Über politische Monster und einen grünen Sozialismus“).
Nancy Fraser is the Henry and Louise A. Loeb Professor of Philosophy and Politics at the New School for Social Research. She is a leading critical theorist and socialist feminist whose work over the past forty years has addressed issues of power, identity, emancipation, capital, justice, and oppression, especially in relation to the limits of liberalism.