A Quick Guide to Eco-Ideologies

J. Hughes, co-editor Eco-Socialist Review
(e-mail) "mailto:jhughes@medicine.bsd.uchicago.edu


EcoCapitalism

Most conservatives believe that environmentalism is a lot of hype, and that scientific advance will fix all ecological problems. But libertarian and Republican "environmentalists" propose a "Coasian" solution to the problem of "environmental externalities." That is, they believe that the problem with the environment is that we haven't divided it up into property. Supposedly, if we sold all of the air, water, and land to private concerns, then rights to pollute could be bought and sold, perfectly balancing industrial and environmental interests. The Reagan/Bush administrations have undertaken to sell these rights (cheap) to industry as the American public's proxy.

Conservationism

The Sierra Club and other pre-60s environmental groups were largely made up of hunters and outdoorsmen who were concerned about preserving "wildlife" and "the great outdoors." Conservationists established the national parks, and still get excited about preserving America's "vital resources." Conservationists were/are generally pro- corporate Republicans.

Environmentalism

This term has come to stand for a mainstream stance, reflecting the current liberal Democratic politics of the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and others. They are oriented toward mailing-list memberships, well-paid central staffs, and legal and lobbying activities, instead of grass-roots activism. These lobbies include eco-capitalists and conservationists, and often accept corporate contributions and board members. While most of their members and activities are implicitly anti-corporate, they are loath to openly proclaim a radical stance and alienate Washington policy circles and corporate elites.

EcoPopulism

The majority of ecological activists in the country don't call themselves "environmentalists" or "greens." They are the mothers enraged about their children's illnesses who organize a toxic waste protest, or the workers who get the shop steward to contact the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Except for the unions, grassroots groups have weak central staffs if any. The most striking exception is the Citizens Clearinghouse on Hazardous Wastes which grew out of the Love Canal toxic disaster, and which now networks more than 500 local anti-toxics groups around the country. While these groups are non-ideological they express remarkably anti-corporate views, since they are directly confronted with the incompatibility of profiteering and human needs. Their militancy is often undercut, however, by their communities' dependence on the jobs and tax-base of the companies they are fighting. They also usually lack a broader analysis of ecological politics, and fall into the parochialism of "Not In My BackYard" (NIMBY).

Greens

This term came into vogue with the ascension of the West German Green Party into the Bundestag, and the subsequent emergence of Green parties throughout Europe and the Third World. People who call themselves "greens" generally advocate multi-issue, independent political action through green parties, but range from "green greens" strictly concerned with an ecological agenda, to revolutionary anarchist "fundi greens" who see electoral politics as only propaganda, to "red greens" who believe green politics has replaced Marxism as a comprehensive radical ideology, unifying socialism, feminism, anti- racism, and so on. The several dozen local chapters of "The Greens (USA)" hold the franchise as the U.S.' proto- Green Party.

Deep Ecology

Deep ecology is an anti-rationalist philosophy, and therefore difficult to define. But its principal tenet is the replacing of "anthropocentric" thinking with "bio- centrism." Biocentrism views "Nature" as valuable in itself, and that all species are equally valuable within it. Deep ecologists argue for a radical reduction in human population, in human "interference" in nature, and in the human standard of living. They tend to argue that pre- industrial peoples are/were in an organic harmony with the natural order, and that European industrial culture has severed this harmony. Industrial society is like a cancer spreading through a global host.
Deep ecologists overlap with the "New Age" greens, who are more concerned with lifestyle changes, self- realization and spirituality than political change. On the other hand, the group Earth First! is usually considered an anarchistic, eco-guerrilla version of deep ecology. EF! activists spend a lot of time in wilderness areas and argue that the majority of American land should be returned to natural eco-systems. They have blown up construction equipment and spiked trees to stop logging. After several EF! leaders expressed racist, macho, and generally mysanthropic views, EF! came under attack from the Left. Subsequently, leftists gained an upper-hand in EF!, and they are now working more closely with left groups like the IWW.

EcoMarxism

EcoMarxists continue the Marxist tradition of arguing that all social problems result from capitalism. EcoMarxists often argue that the miserable ecological disasters of the Communist regimes resulted from their adopting "capitalist technology." The leading eco-Marxist in the U.S. is James O'Connor, the editor of the eco- ideologically diverse, journal Capitalism, Nature, Socialism. Almost all American socialist and communist groups and individuals express reductionist eco-Marxist views.

EcoFeminism

Ecofeminists tend to be New Age and deep ecologist, though more radical, weaving their insights into a non- linear critique of the entire patriarchal, logocentric, death- loving, European worldview. Their basic point is that patriarchal society associates women with nature, and rapes and debases both. The ecological movement, therefore, must include the overturning of patriarchy. Ecofeminism grew out of women's anti-military mobilizations and has strong roots in the radical witchcraft movement.

BioRegionalism

Bioregionalists believe that human societies should be decentralized, and political boundaries should reflect bio- geographic locales. Instead of America and Canada with states and provinces, we should have the Great Lakes BioRegion, and then smaller bioregions around watersheds, valleys and so on. Bioregionalists tend to be subculturally New Age and deep ecological, and uninterested in political activism.

Social Ecology

This term was invented by the Vermont writer Murray Bookchin, and purports to be a coherent philosophy of ecological anarchism. Humanity is not seen as separate from nature, but rather "nature aware of itself." Un-natural hierarchy has arisen in society, however, and caused alienation between human beings, and humanity and nature, cutting us off from our oneness. The way to save the ecosystem, therefore, is to smash human hierarchy in all its forms, including race, sex, and class, which will return us to a natural ecological sanity.
The only form of State that social ecologists abide is the city-state, where small size allows all decisions to be made through Grecian direct participation. Social ecologists are anti-capitalist, and advocate the municipalization of the economy.
Though Bookchin's ideas were confined to a small circle in the 60s and 70s, in the 80s he emerged as a major leader in the A HREF="http://garnet.berkeley.edu:3333/EDINlist/.election/.green/.green.html">Greens (USA), organizing the Green's radicals, the Left Green Network. The social ecologists are close to the left-wing "Fundis" in the European Green parties.

EcoSocialism

Ecosocialists believe that democratic socialism is a necessary condition for ecological protection, though not a sufficient one. Ecosocialists point to the ecological successes of democratic socialist governments of Northern Europe, where workers' parties and unions were powerful enough to establish policies opposed by corporations. Ecosocialists contrast these socialist successes to the disasters of Communism, which completely forbad opposition to the bureaucrats' industrial plans, and to the marginal successes of democratic capitalism, which allowed democratic opposition to the industrial system, but limited the permissible interference with the prerogatives of capital.
The most prominent ecosocialist spokesperson in the U.S. is Barry Commoner, who argues that regulation has been ineffective in protecting the environment, and that democratic control of the economy must be extended. Ecosocialists reject the idea that socialism by itself will save the ecosystem, and believe that only a broad coalition of the "democratic left," including ecological groups and other movements, can establish a just and sustainable society.
Ecosocialists also support the strengthening of transnational institutions to implement a global program of First World aid for sustainable Third World development, as articulated in the socialist program of Gro Harlem Brundtland's Our Common Future. The Environmental Commission of the Democratic Socialists of America, with its journal the EcoSocialist Review, is the major ecosocialist organization in the U.S.

Reprinted from the EcoSocialist Review, the journal of the Environmental Commission of the Democratic Socialists of America.



See also Democratic Socialism and Green Politics" by J. Hughes



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