Customer Reviews

Eco-Socialism: From Deep Ecology to Social Justice

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This book is a very, very wide introduction to the approach to ecologism from a Marxist perspective. Overall, it's a book worth reading if you're interested in either political ecologism or leftism, but be warned: It's very uneven, and confronts a plethora of major issues. For starters, Pepper makes the case for the eco-Marxist critique of capitalism: That capitalism is incapable of coming to terms with the health of mother earth, and that mere reformism of capitalism will not be enough to protect the future of both earth's biodiversity and human civilization. Naturally, this is a HUGE undertaking.

There are several chapters that Pepper dedicates to describing Marx's conception of the metabolism with nature, and why capitalism is incapable of respecting that metabolism. Basically, all human societies must appropriate the products of nature, and in turn, enforce a labor regime that enables the appropriation of said products. So, a society's legal code, social structure, cultural mores, and economic organization all must promote the continual regeneration of society, that is, the continual appropriation of nature's gifts. This is where Pepper helps his reader the most. He shows that ecological degradation is never simply a case of human beings consuming or destroying nature's physical being. Rather, ecological degradation goes hand-in-hand with an enforced socio-economic regime. Since the capitalist regime of accumulation is based on the dominance of the masses by the ruling political and economic classes, and the structure of capitalism itself requires the constant accumulation of profit, capitalism itself must be seen as the enemy of natural health. I won't go any further into detail here, but Pepper's treatment of the issue is very thorough. Not only are these sections a good introduction to eco-Marxism for leftists, but these sections would also make a good introduction to Marxian analysis for your environmentalist friends.

The other strong area of the book is found in Pepper's outlines of the history of interaction between the left and Western environmentalism. Pepper explains why the left and the greens have had a discordant relationship at various points in history. More importantly, he explains why this discordance must be overcome, because both factions will need one another in order to ensure a better future for the human species.

A lot of space in "Eco-Socialism" is dedicated to critiquing the other two major schools of political ecologism: Social Ecology and Deep Ecology. Pepper's criticisms of Social Ecology mirror the traditional Marxist critiques of anarchy, and generally, Pepper handles this well. When it comes to Deep Ecology though, Pepper's critiques are simply unfair. I got the impression that Pepper didn't actually know much about Deep Ecology as a movement. He rightfully skewers Lovelock's "Gaia Hypothesis," but he accuses virtually all Deep Ecologists of being misanthropic, which isn't a fair assessment of the movement as a whole. In fact, Pepper actually tries to use Wendell Berry as an example of ecological misanthropy based on nothing more than an off-hand quote of Berry's. Anybody who has actually read Berry will know that this is an outright false characterization of his ethos. Also, Naess, who could be said to be the founder of Deep Ecology, took matters of social justice and societal inequality seriously in his development of deep ecology as a cultural movement. If you want to see a document that represents the breadth of Deep Ecologism, I recommend Deep Ecology for the Twenty-First Century, edited by George Sessions.

Pepper also spends a lot of time on idle speculations about current trends in socialist politics, none of which seem very important. All in all, I'd say the book is about 50% excellent, 50% mediocre, but almost certainly worth browsing through if you're at all interested in either political ecologism or radical economics. If you're looking for a more concise, less scatter-brained introduction to the eco-Marxist approach,The Vulnerable Planet: A Short Economic History of the Environment (Cornerstone Books) by John Bellamy Foster may be a superior choice.