Article Subjects and Geography: Ecology
The Senegal Delta and Global Capitalism
February 1, 2024
As Pietro Daniel Omodeo observes in this review, "environmental politics cannot be separated from political decision-making." Using the example of the Senegal delta, as explored in Maura Benegiamo's La terra dentro il capitale, Omodeo shows that the neocolonial "Great Expropriation of the global commons" is underway in the Global South, with grim ecological and social consequences for those living in the delta.
The Dialectics of Ecology: An Introduction
January 1, 2024
In this introduction to his forthcoming The Dialectics of Ecology (Monthly Review Press, 2024), John Bellamy Foster charts the relatively recent reconstruction of Marxian ecology, based on the classical Marxist understanding of the social-metabolic system linking humanity and nature. It is through dialectical naturalism, he writes, that we can face the crises of the Anthropocene while building a society that truly supports the well-being both of society and Earth itself.
Marxian Ecology and Sustainable Human Development
December 1, 2023
Mahesh Maskey, editor of Bampanth (Nepal), interviews John Bellamy Foster about the growing emphasis on Marxian ecology among socialists in the Global South and North and the history of solidarity between MR and Nepali leftists.
Notes from the Editors, November 2023
November 1, 2023
In 2022, China released its "Global Civilization Initiative," a document enumerating China's commitment to fostering diversity, equality, and cultural exchange. The editors analyze how the U.S. foreign policy community and media jumped to attack the initiative in the interest of defending U.S. imperial strategy around the globe.
‘Monthly Review’ and the Environment
November 1, 2023
In this personal interview with Batuhan Sarican, John Bellamy Foster discusses the idea ecosocialism, relating it to his personal relationship to the environment and our collective relationship to the metabolism of nature.
Marxian Ecology, East and West: Joseph Needham and a Non-Eurocentric View of the Origins of China’s Ecological Civilization
October 1, 2023
Following the work of scientist and Sinologist Joseph Needham, this talk by John Bellamy Foster illuminates the conceptual linkages between the ancient Greek and Chinese thought and modern dialectical materialism and ecological civilization. This interweaving of intellectual traditions, he writes, has created a "powerful organic ecological-materialist philosophy."
The Double Objective of Democratic Ecosocialism
September 1, 2023
Humanity in this moment faces two major crises: one ecological, growing more acute with every planetary boundary passed; the other social, leading to deprivation and despair across the globe. An effective ecosocialist approach to these crises, Jason Hickel writes, must aim to resolve both in a single stroke.
Ecological Marxism
September 1, 2023
In this interview from April 2023, Jia Keqing and John Bellamy Foster discuss the state of ecological Marxism worldwide, the question of anthropocentrism, the theory of metabolic rift, and the environmental proletariat.