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ABSTRACT
The Holocene epoch in geological history of the last 10,000–12,000 years has given way to a new geological epoch which natural scientists are calling the Anthropocene, marked by humanity’s emergence as the main driver of change in the Earth system as a whole, threatening the future of civilization, a majority of ecosystems on the planet, and the human species itself. From a historical-materialist perspective, this planetary emergency constitutes a crisis of civilization. Human civilization arose in the relatively benign environment of the Holocene. In contrast, the Anthropocene is an epoch of increased ecological constraints and dangers, marked by what has been called the Great climacteric, objectively requiring the creation of a new more sustainable society, or ecological civilization. The making of such an ecological civilization is closely linked to the long revolutionary transition from capitalism to socialism.
Acknowledgements
This is a revised version of a talk, “The Anthropocene and Ecological Civilization: A Marxian View,” presented in Eugene, Oregon on May 2, 2016, in honor of visiting scholars from China. It was organized as part of the Tenth International Forum on Ecological Civilization, Claremont, California, April 2016, under the auspices of the Institute for Postmodern Development of China. Many of the participants in the international forum in Claremont traveled to Eugene for this presentation, which was included as an extension of that conference. The author would like to thank Zhihe Wang, Meijun Fan, Jordan Besek, and Intan Suwandi for their roles in making all of this possible. He would also like to thank Brett Clark for his help and encouragement in the revising of the manuscript.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on Contributor
John Bellamy Foster is professor of sociology at the University of Oregon, and editor of Monthly Review (New York). His books include The Theory of Monopoly Capitalism (1986, 2014), The Vulnerable Planet (1994), Marx’s Ecology (2000), Ecology against Capitalism (2002), Naked Imperialism (2006), The Critique of Intelligent Design (with Brett Clark and Richard York, 2008), The Ecological Revolution (2009), The Great Financial Crisis (with Fred Magdoff, 2009), The Ecological Rift (with Brett Clark and Richard York, 2010), What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know about Capitalism (with Fred Magdoff, 2011), and The Endless Crisis (with Robert W. McChesney, 2012)—all published by Monthly Review Press; and Marx and the Earth (with Paul Burkett, 2016)—published by Brill.