Marx & Mother NatureToward an Eco-Materialist Conception of History

by Craig Collins, Ph.D.

Is Marxism Dead?• For many people, the last 150

years of capitalist growth & the demise of one “socialist” experiment after another has discredited Marxism.

• But a reformulation of Marx & Engels’ materialist method of analysis in light of this history can produce some valuable answers to vital questions that confound those who continue to work toward replacing capitalism with a more humane social order.

Some Perplexing Questions• To be of value, Marx’s method must critically re-

examine its own flawed assumptions in light of history with the goal of addressing several important questions:– What is the source of capitalism's unexpected resilience?– What are capitalism's terminal limitations & fatal

contradictions?– Why hasn't the working class assumed the role of socialist

vanguard?– Why haven't "socialist" revolutions produced enduring

alternatives to global capitalism?– What social forces may become the agents of future

revolutionary transformations?

Can Mother Earth ProvideSome Answers?

• Reformulating Marx’s materialist conception of history by applying some insights drawn from ecology & the impact of energy on society produces some very useful & eye-opening answers to these questions.

The Value of Marx’s MaterialismMarx spent so much time developing historical

materialism & analyzing capitalism because he realized that:

• Unless you understand the historical process you are involved in, your efforts to change it may turn out very different from your expectations.

This is why he was so This is why he was so critical of revolutionaries critical of revolutionaries who used who used “will power & “will power & not economic conditions”not economic conditions” as the basis of their social as the basis of their social revolution.revolution.

Marx’s Materialism: A ReviewThe central insights of Marx’s theory of

history were reached by asking: What activities & relationships must always be present to sustain any form of social life whatsoever?

For Marx, once this key question was framed, the answer became strikingly obvious:

The necessary condition for any society is that humans must work together to extract their means of survival from nature.

He called this activity PRODUCTION

The Mode of Production• The tools, skills & work

relationships that keep any society alive Marx called the economic base, or mode of production.

• He divided the mode of production into 2 closely related components:

Forces & Relationsof Production

Forces of ProductionThe Nexus Between Society & Nature

Marx called the tools & skills needed to extract resources from nature the forces of production.

“Technology discloses man’s mode of dealing with nature, the process of production by which he sustains life, and thereby also lays bare the mode of formation of his social relations, and of the mental conceptions that flow from them.” -Marx

Relations of ProductionThe way society organized

itself to produce, exchange, & distribute resources Marx called the relations of production.

This includes property relations; the way labor is recruited, organized, & compensated; markets or other methods of exchanging goods; & the methods developed by controlling classes to claim & command society’s surplus product.

Class structure is society’sClass structure is society’s most basic production relation.most basic production relation.Class structure is society’sClass structure is society’s most basic production relation.most basic production relation.

Marx’s view of history focused on changes in production relations:

Tribal Society• Primitive Communism

Asiatic Society• Despotism

Ancient Society• Slavery

Feudal Society• Serfdom

Capitalist Society• Wage Labor

Socialist—Communist?

The Base-Superstructure RelationshipForces & relations of production are

society’s economic base. This base has a dominant but

reciprocal relationship with the superstructure: the political, legal, cultural, religious & educational aspects of society.

“In the social production of their existence, men inevitably enter into definite relations, which are independent of their will, namely [the] relations of production appropriate to a given stage in the development of their material forces of production. The totality of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation, on which arises a legal and political superstructure, and to which correspond definite forms of consciousness.” — Marx

The Productive Forces:Dynamo of Social Change

“In acquiring new productive forces men change their mode of production.”

• Changes in productive forces could induce changes in class relations.

“The hand mill gives you society with the feudal lord, the steam mill, society with the industrial capitalist.”

• Thus, dominant classes often resisted changes in the forces of production that could transform class relations.

Deep Economic Forces Create Revolutionary Transformations

Marx concluded that:“No social order ever

disappears before ALL the productive forces, for which there is room in it, have been developed; and new higher relations of production NEVER appear before the material conditions of their existence have matured in the womb of the old society.”

-Preface to the Critique of Political Economy

What is a Revolutionary Class?• Marx’s study revealed that

feudalism collapsed because it could not accommodate emerging industrial forces of production.

• The bourgeoisie was the most potent revolutionary element in the anti-feudal alliance because its fortune relied upon these emerging forces of production.

• Peasants often rebelled, but could not transform society with new productive forces.

• The working class was still small & disorganized.

The Industrial Capitalist System• The industrial capitalist

mode of production was based on:

• Mechanized forces of production.

• Commodified relations of production (wage labor & private ownership of the means of production).– Instead of lord & serf, the

new class relations were worker & capitalist.

Would Capitalism Block Growth?• Marx did not apply the logic he derived

from his analysis of feudalism’s demise to his vision of capitalism’s limits.

• He did not envision the emergence of qualitatively new productive forces that capitalism couldn’t accommodate, championed by an incipient revolutionary class.

• Instead, he reasoned that capitalist relations would become incompatible with its own industrialized means of production.

• Unlike peasants under feudalism, the working class would assume the revolutionary role of advancing the industrial forces that capitalists refused to develop.

Capitalism’s Productive Limits?• Marx asserted that the

socialized nature of the industrial forces unleashed by capitalism were incompatible with privatized production relations.Symptoms:– Crises of over-production.– Falling rate of profit.– Centralization arrests

development.

• Further development requires the working class to abolish the private appropriation of socially produced wealth.

Underestimating Capitalism• Looking back, we now know

that Marx’s assumption that capitalism would soon arrest the development of its own productive forces was mistaken.

• To this day, capitalism continues to develop its productive forces.

• This raises the question:Do industrial forces of

production become fundamentally incompatible with capitalism?

Fatal Contradictions?• So far, the serious

contradictions Marx identified have not proven fatal.

• Capitalism has side-stepped these barriers & crises by a process of destructive regeneration.

• Capitalism’s “solution” to each new crisis has been to destroy & rebuild its forces of production in a uneven process of long-term growth.

• As long as capitalism has the energy to regenerate itself after each collapse or war, it will continue to do so.

The Working Class:Revolutionary or Rebel Force?

• Unlike the bourgeoisie under feudalism, the working class has not introduced qualitatively new productive forces that industrial capitalism cannot accommodate.

• Despite deep crises, world wars & revolutions that aspired to socialism, the working class has been unable build genuine, enduring socialist relations of production upon an industrial foundation.

Traditional Marxists Assumed…• The working class

could create socialism by seizing control of & developing the existing industrial means of production.

• Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky & Mao all promoted centralized industrial production, assuming it was compatible with socialist relations of production.

Industrial Socialism?• Time after time, efforts

to establish real working class control over industrial productive forces have eventually failed.

• At best, the result has been state managed industrialism which eventually reintegrated itself into the world capitalist system.

Industrial Forces RequireHierarchical Centralization

• Industrial production systems require labor’s subordination to the demands of giant, highly mechanized, fast-paced, repetitive systems of energy/resource conversion & vast, complex chains of production & distribution.

• These systems resist decentralized, democratic control & foster an industrial elite of CEOs or central planners.– No modern society, whether it claims to be

capitalist or socialist, has successfully resisted the hierarchical, undemocratic restraints imposed by industrial forces of production.

Reframing the Picture• If we recall Marx’s premise that

productive forces shape production relations in light of this history, we must ask…

• What if the industrial mode of production requires some form of hierarchical, undemocratic, worker-management production relations?

• The capitalist form: Corporations extract surplus value through wage labor exploitation for capital expansion.

• The statist form: Central planners extract surplus product as use values to maintain their positions of privilege & power.

If the best revolutionary efforts & intentions have failed to overcome the material restrictions of

industrial society…We must re-examine Marx’s

conclusion with new eyes:

“No social order ever disappears before ALL the productive forces, for which there is room in it, have been developed; and new higher relations of production NEVER appear before the material conditions of their existence have matured in the womb of the old society.”

Is the Industrial Order Finished & Pregnant With a New One?

For this to be true today…• Industrialism would have to be

exhausting its productive capacity.• Emerging technologies that capitalism

cannot fully accommodate would have to be maturing in the womb of industrial society.

• New social movements, linked to these emerging technologies, would begin offering society a revolutionary alternative to global industrialism.

• To advance their interests, these movements would begin fashioning a political alliance to replace dead-end industrialism with a sustainable alternative.

Updating Marx’s InsightWhen we realize that modes

of production are actually modes of energy extraction & conversion, their basic limitations stand out.

• Marx acknowledged this energy exchange by referring to production as “metabolism:” – The social activities required

to convert the Earth’s life sustaining energies to human use.

Domination or Dance?• But notice the direction of action in Marx’s

description of labor as metabolism: “Labor is, first of all, a process between man and nature, a process by which man, through his own actions, mediates, regulates, and controls the metabolism between himself and nature.”

• For Marx, man is the active force, nature is passive.

Production As Co-Evolution• Humans are not the only

active agent at work here.• This co-evolutionary dance

is a dialectical energy exchange between a social system & the ecosystem that sustains it…with profound unintended consequences for both sides:– Anti-biotic resistance– Species Extinction– Runaway climate change.

Co-Evolution & Energy EpochsGrasping this co-evolutionary

process sheds light on:– Why capitalism has survived.– What its limits are.– What alternative productive

forces could replace malignant, dead-end industrialism with an ecologically sustainable mode of production.

Also, it allows us to see that:

We stand on the threshold of the third great historical transformation of human society.

All Social Systems Need Energy

History’s major modes of production are distinguished by the energy base, or niche, they exploit.

• The ENERGY BASE is the particular set of environmental energy sources a society’s technology is designed to convert into food & fuel.

History’s 3 Major Modes of Production Have Metabolized Their Own Unique Energy Niche

• Hunting/Gathering– The native plants & animals

of wild ecosystems

• Agricultural/Pastoral– The crops & livestock of

domesticated ecosystems – Wind, water, wood– Wild plants (especially forests) &

animals (especially marine life)

• Mechanized/Industrial– Fossil Fuels (85%)– Uranium– Domesticated & wild plants &

animals (wind & water)

Eco-Materialism’s Central Insights

#1 Modes of production adapt to, & convert, a particular energy base.

#2 They reach their productive limit when their energy base no longer sustains them.

Marx Missed a Bigger PictureMarx’s view of history

focused on changes in production relations:

– Tribal Society• Primitive Communism

– Asiatic Society• Despotism

– Ancient Society• Slavery

– Feudal Society• Serfdom

– Capitalist Society• Wage Labor

– Socialist--Communist?

This overlooks the bigger changes of energy base:

• Hunting/Gathering Epoch(Tribal Societies)

• Agricultural Epoch(Asiatic, Ancient & Feudal Society)

• Industrial Epoch(Capitalist & Statist Societies)

• Ecological Epoch?(Solar communalism or feudalism?)

Energy Base Shapes Forces & Relations of Production

• Shapes its forces & relations of production.

• Determines why, when & where human history moved from foraging to farming & then from agricultural to industrial civilization.

• It will determine when industrial society will exhaust itself.

The contradiction between a society’s The contradiction between a society’s mode of production & its energy base:mode of production & its energy base:The contradiction between a society’s The contradiction between a society’s mode of production & its energy base:mode of production & its energy base:

Forces Conform To & Convert Energy Base• Foragers designed fishing nets,

spears, scrapers/knives, traps, flints, fire drills, collecting baskets, etc. to metabolize the energy sources of wild ecosystems by hunting & gathering the plants & animals of their native habitats.

• Farmers invented plows, fences, sickles, yokes, dams & canals, wind & water mills, granaries, looms, plant & animal breeding, etc. to convert the energy stores of their domesticated ecosystems by controlling soil nutrients & the life cycles of select crops & livestock.

Production Relations Adapt to Technology & Energy Niche

• Small, mobile cultures with minimal diversification & no ruling elite are well adapted to collecting the limited useable energy stores of wild ecosystems.

• The larger useable energy stores of domesticated agrarian ecosystems both supported & required settled peasant villages & city-states with greater diversification of labor.

• Ruling classes of emperors & priest-kings with standing armies defended, expanded, managed & dominated these farming societies by commanding the flow of “surplus” energy (taxes, grains, animals, water storage & distribution).

Modes of Production DependOn Their Energy Base

Forces of Production

Energy Base

Relations of Production

Superstructure

Why & When Do People Change Their Modes of Production?

• Necessity: People don’t try to change unless their old system fails.

• Opportunity: They don’t succeed unless new sources of energy are available.

• Capacity: new sources aren’t adopted unless the political system accepts change.

Hunting & GatheringOver 90% of Human History

• Climate change, demographic pressure, geographical expansion & technological improvements slowly depleted their energy base in some locations.– But many foraging

cultures developed sustainable relationships with their habitats that endured for thousands of years.

The Transition to Agriculture• When climate changes &

demographic pressure depleted wild sources of food, many foraging cultures were compelled to adopt agriculture.– But first, all efforts to improve the

technologies of foraging were exhausted.

• This great leap happened first where conditions were most desperate & rich soil, good climate & plentiful water made agriculture a relatively easy alternative.

Agriculture: Necessity + OpportunityAgriculture appeared

first where:• Population was

concentrated in lush river valleys surrounded by arid regions.

• Habitats became depleted of wild stores of plants & animals.

• Growing grains on fertile, easily irrigated floodplains provided a convenient alternative to foraging.

The Rise & Fall ofAgricultural CivilizationsEnergy base depletion is accelerated by:• Heightened demographic pressure:

– To increase labor supply & agricultural output • Intensified surplus extraction for:

– Elite power & wealth (class exploitation)– Warfare over land, labor, vital resources

• Conquest & territorial expansion provides a temporary “solution” to energy base depletion. – War elevates male status as warriors.– Patriarchal control over women & the means of

reproduction to pass on wealth.

Competitive exclusion works against long term environmental balance.

Overshoot & Collapse• A society whose energy

base can no longer support it is subject to crisis, decay, external threats, & internal collapse.

• Unless it gains access to new sources of energy, its size & complexity will decrease until it can be sustained by the remaining energy available to it.

Energy Base & Revolutionary Change• No society adopts a new energy

base & mode of production until its old energy base no longer sustains it.

• Necessity has been the mother of invention for each great revolutionary leap from one mode of production to another.

The Industrial Transformation• The industrial revolution came only

after demographic pressure, soil exhaustion, timber scarcity, famine & wars left the energy base of European agriculture depleted.

• Conquest & mercantile colonial expansion was only a temporary “solution.”

• Europe did not grow its way out of its intensifying crisis until it tapped a new energy base--coal.– Production & consumption per capita

took-off for the 1st time only after coal power was adopted.

• Fossil fuels became the energy base for the 2nd great reorganization of humanity’s relationship with nature.

Why England?• England was the most wood

scarce, energy desperate nation in Europe.

• But it had vast, accessible coal deposits.

• The coal-powered steam engine solved major energy bottlenecks:– Coal replaced water power, wood &

whale oil as fuel for industry.• Liberating the FACTORY SYSTEM

– Mining• Ventilation & water incursion

– Transportation• Railroad/steamship

– Food/clothing supply• Food crops replace horse & sheep

fodder. (Wheat/cotton)

Coal & Class Conflict• Coal-powered industrialism allowed

Europe to evade the cataclysmic predictions of both Marx & Malthus.– European society did not experience

demographic disaster or proletarian revolution.

• Coal-powered industrialization out-ran demographic pressures, raised living standards & tempered class conflict in the European/American core of the global capitalist system.

• Railroads, steamships, factories & industrial weaponry allowed Europe & the US to penetrate & exploit the labor & wealth of the Americas, Asia & Africa as never before.

MalthusMalthus

MarxMarx

— Fossil Fuels —Not Just Another Resource

• Without coal-powered machines/factories the industrial revolution would not have been possible.

• Fossil fuels have been the predominant source of energy ever since…85%.

• The entire global chain of extraction, production & consumption is fueled by coal, oil & natural gas.

Fossil Fuels--The Energy Base of Industrial Society

• With plenty of petroleum, industrial growth appeared unstoppable.

• It reshaped all previous forms of production.– Agriculture & foraging are

now done on an industrial scale.

• But without this rich, highly concentrated source of energy, industrialism would literally run out of gas.

Industrial AgricultureWe’re Eating Oil

• It takes 10 calories of fossil fuels to produce 1 calorie of food.

• Petroleum is vital for:– Pumping water– Fertilizer– Pesticides– Mechanized Planting

& Harvesting– Processing– Transportation– Refrigeration– Packaging– Cooking & Preparation

Farming on Fossil Fuels

The So-Called “Green Revolution”The So-Called “Green Revolution”Crops Bred To Grow on a Life-Support System of Fossil FuelsCrops Bred To Grow on a Life-Support System of Fossil Fuels

Fossil Fuels Feed the World

Petroleum, Labor & Productivity“Labor is ... not the only source of material

wealth, i.e., of the use-values it

produces. As William Petty says, labor is

the father of material wealth, the Earth

is its mother.” -Marx

• Those who hold that labor is the only source of wealth are mistaken.

• Nature’s store of fossil fuels are a source of tremendous wealth because they produce far more useful energy than the human energy necessary for their extraction.

• One gallon of gasoline produces the equivalent work of a person laboring 8 hours day, 5 days a week, for 3 weeks.

• One barrel of oil contains the work equivalent of 12 people laboring a full year!

Energy & Labor Exploitation• Petroleum powered machines are

the essential for:– Replacing wage labor (automation).– Increasing output per labor/hour.– Allowing production to continue year-

round, day & night. – Keeping the working class weak &

wages low by:• Mechanizing agriculture--driving

people off the land (surplus labor).• Reducing the cost of food.• De-skilling work.• Accessing distant labor pools by

reducing transport costs.

All of this works only if fossil energy remains abundant & cheap.

““Machinery becomes the most powerful weapon in the war of capital against the working class” -EngelsMachinery becomes the most powerful weapon in the war of capital against the working class” -Engels

Industrialism & “Free” Labor

Commodified (wage) labor is well suited to rapidly changing, high-energy production because it is:

• Disposable & mobile.• Cheap to reproduce.• Desperate & competitive.

Industrialism Without Capitalism?• Industrial systems can be state managed

& may operate without commodifying labor or means of production.

• This has been a common strategy of revolutionary nationalist regimes seeking to industrialize while protecting their economies from foreign capitalist penetration & subordination.– The Russian & Chinese revolutions were

prime examples of this Leninist model of nationalist state-managed industrialization.

• But state planned industrialism is not socialism & it operates at a distinct disadvantage compared to expansionist, globalized capitalist industrialism.

*Other forms: Maoism, Juché, etc.

Petro-Powered Industry Favors Globalized, Profit-Driven Production Relations

Profit-driven production for a world market :

• Demands rapid, flexible mechanization to maximize labor productivity & exploitation.

• Encourages globalized chains of production to move capital wherever resources & labor are cheapest.

• Fosters a globalized market to consume industrial output & maintain profits.

These factors disadvantage state-These factors disadvantage state-controlled, nationally bound, industrial controlled, nationally bound, industrial

economies that don’t exploit labor & economies that don’t exploit labor & resources on a global scale.resources on a global scale.

Economic Growth & Fossil FuelsCapitalism’s exponential growth Capitalism’s exponential growth metabolism relies on carboniferous energymetabolism relies on carboniferous energy

Malignant Metabolic AcceleratorsMotivators of exponential growth:• Maximizing the rate of return on

invested capital. (accumulation & profit)

• Debt + interest based monetary system.• Market competition & hyper-

consumption.• International rivalry for energy & other

vital resources. These accelerators have depleted

industrialism’s hydrocarbon energy base within a few centuries by rewarding rapid, wasteful expansion & discouraging conservation.

The Fast Lane To Failure?• Despite major technological

improvements in society’s ability to extract energy from nature, each new mode of production has fallen into crisis quicker than the last.

• Each new mode has added new social dynamics that have accelerated the rate of resource exploitation & the depletion of its energy base.

Industrialism: The Mother of All Bubbles!——World Production—World Production—

Agricultural Era Industrial Era

Fossil Fuels & Global Domination• Carboniferous energy fuels

worldwide chains of extraction, production, consumption, & coercion.– Factories, mines, cities, farms,

aqueducts, railways, electricity grids, pipelines, freeways, harbors, airports, communication networks, prisons, governments & military bases cannot operate without them.

• This global system is dominated by financial institutions, MNCs & powerful core states that control access, flow & use of energy.

• No petroleum, no power.

A Tunnel With No Exit

This rapid pace of energy use is ultimately incompatible with the system’s non-renewable,

finite energy base.

Running on Empty--The Symptoms• Capital Scarcity

– Energy sector claims bigger share of available capital.• Demands greater subsidies & military

protections.

• Diminishing Returns– Rising extraction costs & declining

returns (EROEI*--net energy)• Before 1950: 100 to 1• Today: 6 to 1 (worldwide)• In the US: .8 to 1

• Energy Famine-Economic Crisis– We now consume 6 barrels of oil for

each one we discover…but demand still soars!

– Rising energy prices– Inflation-stagnation-recession

*Energy Return On Energy Invested*Energy Return On Energy Invested

Systemic Failures, Unsustainable “Solutions”Mounting systemic failures

induce even more energy intensive “solutions”:

– Food shortages, declining yields:• Genetic engineering?

– Fresh water shortage:• Desalination?

– Marine fisheries collapse:• Ocean farming?

– Deforestation:• Tree plantations?

– Bee colony collapse:• Artificial pollination?

– Climate change (sea level rise; coral bleaching, frequent tropical storms, etc.):• Sea walls, massive migrations?

Escalating Resource Wars

Dual Limits of Industrial Capitalism• Energy base depletion:– There are no known substitutes

for fossil fuels that will permit exponential growth.

– If substitutes were discovered, they would only accelerate…

• Ecocide:– Climate chaos– Ecosystem destruction &

biodiversity collapse– Environmental toxicity– Over-population/consumption

• Resource depletion

Capitalism’s Catabolic End GameThe Decline of Industrial Civilization

• Expansive capitalist relations of production & exchange are becoming incompatible with a shrinking energy base.

• As industrial society declines it may be forced to abandon its growth dynamic & adopt more static, authoritarian, protectionist forms of industrial production.

• Without growth catabolic capitalists may begin cannibalizing society to make a profit off collapse, crisis, conflict & hoarding vital resources.

Class Struggle & Industrial AusterityIn the era of energy abundance,

neither working class nor anti-imperialist resistance undermined industrial expansion.

• Instead, this resistance widened the benefits of industrialism for working people & emerging nations.

• However, this will change as global industrialization runs out of gas.–Out-growing crises becomes impossible. – As living standards decline, inequality

between classes & between nations will grow.– Rising conflict over scarce resources will

undermine democratic systems as well as international trade & cooperation.

Co-opting Resistance• During the expansionist

phase of energy abundance, some of industrialism’s wealth was used to pacify resistance.

• Working class & nationalist leaders were co-opted into the “growth alliance.”

• As energy supplies shrink, the material base for pacification erodes & the growth alliance disintegrates.

• Can future class & national resistance be drawn into a revolutionary green alliance?

From Dependence To Self-SufficiencyIn the 3rd World: Energy scarcity & the

collapse of export-led agri-business & industry will radically transform peripheral economies.– Extreme dislocation & political conflict loom on

the horizon.– Unemployed urban masses will abandon cities

& return to the countryside.– Land reform movements will demand:

• Land redistribution• Food self-sufficiency & sustainability

– End fossil fuel dependent inputs & global markets.

• Can sustainable agriculture support existing & growing populations?

– Industries will have to be powered by renewable energy & produce for a regional or national market.• How useful is the Cuban model?

The Ecological Mode of Production• The amount of fossil energy that can be

burned at any time is limited only by the pace of extraction, but once it’s gone--IT’S GONE.

• Renewable, eco-friendly technologies are maturing in the womb of petroleum scarce industrial society.

• Economies based on renewable energy will “never” run out, but they cannot support rising populations, exponential growth & increasing consumption. They are steady-state.– Solar energy reaches Earth at a constant pace.

There are fixed limits to how much can be taken for human use at any time without disrupting other vital life-support systems of the biosphere.

Can Solar Energy Sustain Capitalism?• There is no doubt that

capitalism can & will use solar power as a supplement to fossil fuels & uranium.

• Solar may become essential for cushioning the decline of industrial society.

• But solar technologies alone cannot sustain the exponential economic growth, limitless consumption & unrelenting demographic/food pressures characteristic of industrial capitalism.

Eco-Socialism is NOT Inevitable• In the 21st century,

carboniferous capitalism & industrialism will collapse & low waste, steady-state economies will emerge.

• But these technologies will only impose broad possibilities & constraints upon future production relations.

• Within these constraints, many futures are possible.

Another world is Another world is inevitable.inevitable.But what kind?But what kind?

Another world is Another world is inevitable.inevitable.But what kind?But what kind?

Solar Technologies DiscourageCentralization & Hierarchy

• More evenly dispersed solar access resists large, centralized, complex, vertically integrated energy conversion technologies & distribution systems.

• Solar technologies can foster production relations that are more:– Decentralized & less hierarchical.– Regionally self-sufficient.– Easily controlled by communities of

direct users & collectors.• Potentially, they may undermine

globalization by making peripheral societies more self-sufficient in energy, technology & food.

From Centralized Industrial Agriculture to Decentralized Organic Farming

• As mechanized global agriculture fails, what will replace it?

• Localized, sustainable farming can take many forms:– Feudal or tenant farming– Democratic farming co-ops

The Seeds of a New Society• A diverse movement toward an

ecological society is emerging.• It includes: organic farmers,

environmental groups, simple living advocates, anti-globalization & peace activists, renewable energy developers, indigenous peoples movements, land reform movements, resource protection movements, environmental justice groups, labor activists & progressive unions, green businesses, eco-feminists, grassroots community organizations, green & other progressive political parties & organizations…

• The most celebrated gathering of this network is the World Social Forum.

Good News & Bad NewsThe Good News:• Increased Global Grassroots Activism

– Addressing ecological & social crises will require global cooperation & local activism.

– The material basis for co-opting activism will decline as the legitimacy of the old system crumbles.

The Bad News: • Rule by Fear, Force & Fraud

– Capitalists will use fear over growing resource scarcity & economic crisis to reduce wages & turn workers against workers.

– Political elites will use patriotism, religion, scarcity & fear to suppress democratic activism & promote military action to seize dwindling resources & preserve the “American way of life.”

Unite the Many, Defeat the Few• The next phase in this

growing conflict will pit those who wish to move toward a more peaceful, sustainable, equitable & democratic society against the petro-military-industrial complex.

• There is the potential for a broad democratic green alliance that even includes some capitalists.

Finding the Path Forward• Eco-materialism provides a

useful analytical tool for highlighting the opportunities & dangers on the horizon.

• However, this analytical tool is useless unless it is carefully applied to the real world & our ongoing efforts to defend the future of our species & our planet.

The EndThe End