        Section E - What do anarchists think causes ecological problems?

   This section of the FAQ expands upon section D.4 ([1]"What is the
   relationship between capitalism and the ecological crisis?") in which
   we indicated that since capitalism is based upon the principle of "grow
   or die," a "green" capitalism is impossible. By its very nature
   capitalism must expand, creating new markets, increasing production and
   consumption, and so invading more ecosystems, using more resources, and
   upsetting the interrelations and delicate balances that exist with
   ecosystems. We have decided to include a separate section on this to
   stress how important green issues are to anarchism and what a central
   place ecology has in modern anarchism.

   Anarchists have been at the forefront of ecological thinking and the
   green movement for decades. This is unsurprisingly, as many key
   concepts of anarchism are also key concepts in ecological thought. In
   addition, the ecological implications of many anarchist ideas (such as
   decentralisation, integration of industry and agriculture, and so
   forth) has meant that anarchists have quickly recognised the importance
   of ecological movements and ideas.

   Murray Bookchin in particular has placed anarchist ideas at the centre
   of green debate as well as bringing out the links anarchism has with
   ecological thinking. His eco-anarchism (which he called social ecology)
   was based on emphasising the social nature of the ecological problems
   we face. In such classic works as Post-Scarcity Anarchism, Toward an
   Ecological Society and The Ecology of Freedom he has consistently
   argued that humanity's domination of nature is the result of domination
   within humanity itself.

   However, anarchism has always had an ecological dimension. As Peter
   Marshall notes in his extensive overview of ecological thought,
   ecologists "find in Proudhon two of their most cherished social
   principles: federalism and decentralisation." He "stands as an
   important forerunner of the modern ecological movement for his stress
   on the close communion between humanity and nature, for his belief in
   natural justice, for his doctrine of federalism and for his insight
   that liberty is the mother and not the daughter of order." [Nature's
   Web, p. 307 and p. 308] For Proudhon, a key problem was that people
   viewed the land as "something which enables them to levy a certain
   revenue each year. Gone is the deep feeling for nature." People "no
   longer love the soil. Landowners sell it, lease it, divide it into
   shares, prostitute it, bargain with it and treat it as an object of
   speculation. Farmers torture it, violate it, exhaust it and sacrifice
   it to their impatient desire for gain. They never become one with it."
   We "have lost our feeling for nature." [Selected Writings of
   Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, p. 261]

   Other precursors of eco-anarchism can be found in Peter Kropotkin's
   writings. For example, in his classic work Fields, Factories and
   Workshops, Kropotkin argued the case for "small is beautiful" 70 years
   before E. F. Schumacher coined the phase, advocating "a harmonious
   balance between agriculture and industry. Instead of the concentration
   of large factories in cities, he called for economic as well as social
   decentralisation, believing that diversity is the best way to organise
   production by mutual co-operation. He favoured the scattering of
   industry throughout the country and the integration of industry and
   agriculture at the local level." His vision of a decentralised
   commonwealth based on an integration of agriculture and industry as
   well as manual and intellectual work has obvious parallels with much
   modern green thought, as does his stress on the need for appropriate
   levels of technology and his recognition that the capitalist market
   distorts the development, size and operation of technology and
   industry. Through his investigations in geography and biology,
   Kropotkin discovered species to be interconnected with each other and
   with their environment. Mutual Aid is the classic source book on the
   survival value of co-operation within species which Kropotkin regarded
   as an important factor of evolution, arguing that those who claim
   competition within and between species is the chief or only factor have
   distorted Darwin's work. All this ensures that Kropotkin is "a great
   inspiration to the modern ecological movement." [Marshall, Op. Cit., p.
   311 and p. 312]

   As well as Kropotkin's work, special note must be made of French
   anarchist Elisee Reclus. As Clark and Martin note, Reclus introduced "a
   strongly ecological dimension into the tradition of anarchist and
   libertarian social theory". He made "a powerful contribution to
   introducing this more ecological perspective into anarchist thought,"
   of "looking beyond the project of planetary domination and attempting
   to restore humanity to its rightful place within, rather than above,
   nature." Reclus, "much more than Kropotkin, introduced into anarchist
   theory themes that were later developed in social ecology and
   eco-anarchism." [John P. Clark and Camille Martin (ed.), Anarchy,
   Geography, Modernity, p. 19] For example, in 1866 Reclus argued as
   follows:

     "Wild nature is so beautiful. Is it really necessary for man, in
     seizing it, to proceed with mathematical precision in exploiting
     each new conquered domain and then mark his possession with vulgar
     constructions and perfectly straight boundaries? If this continues
     to occur, the harmonious contrasts that are one of the beauties of
     the earth will soon give way to depressing uniformity . . .

     "The question of knowing which of the works of man serves to
     beautify and which contributes to the degradation of external nature
     can seem pointless to so-called practical minds; nevertheless, it is
     a matter of the greatest importance. Humanity's development is most
     intimately connected with the nature that surrounds it. A secret
     harmony exists between the earth and the peoples whom it nourishes,
     and when reckless societies allow themselves to meddle with that
     which creates the beauty of their domain, they always end up
     regretting it."
     [quoted by Clark and Martin, Op. Cit., pp. 125-6]

   "Man," Reclus says, can find beauty in "the intimate and deeply seated
   harmony of his work with that of nature." Like the eco-anarchists a
   century later, he stressed the social roots of our environmental
   problems arguing that a "complete union of Man with Nature can only be
   effected by the destruction of the frontiers between castes as well as
   between peoples." He also indicated that the exploitation of nature is
   part and parcel of capitalism, for "it matters little to the
   industrialist . . . whether he blackens the atmosphere with fumes . . .
   or contaminates it with foul-smelling vapours." "Since nature is so
   often desecrated by speculators precisely because of its beauty,"
   Reclus argued, "it is not surprising that farmers and industrialists,
   in their own exploitative endeavours, fail to consider whether they
   contribute to defacing the land." The capitalist is "concerned not with
   making his work harmonious with the landscape." [quoted by Clark and
   Martin, Op. Cit., p. 28, p. 30, p. 124 and p. 125] Few modern day
   eco-anarchists would disagree.

   So, while a specifically ecological anarchism did not develop until the
   revolutionary work done by Murray Bookchin from the 1950's onwards,
   anarchist theory has had a significant "proto-green" content since at
   least the 1860s. What Bookchin and writers like him did was to make
   anarchism's implicit ecological aspects explicit, a work which has
   immensely enriched anarchist theory and practice.

   In addition to pointing out the key role ecology plays within
   anarchism, this section is required to refute some commonly proposed
   solutions to the ecological problems we face. While it is wonderful
   that green ideas have becoming increasingly commonplace, the sad fact
   is that many people have jumped on the green bandwagon whose basic
   assumptions and practices are deeply anti-ecological. Thus we find
   fascists expounding on their environmental vision or defenders of
   capitalism proposing "ecological" solutions based on expanding private
   property rights. Similarly, we find the notion of green consumerism
   raised as viable means of greening the planet (rather than as an
   addition to social struggle) or a focus on symptoms (such as population
   growth) rather than root causes. This section refutes many such flawed
   suggestions.

   A key concept to remember in our discussion is that between
   environmentalism and ecology. Following Bookchin, eco-anarchists
   contrast their ideas with those who seek to reform capitalism and make
   it more green (a position they term "environmentalism" rather than
   ecology). The latter "focus on specific issues like air and water
   pollution" while ignoring the social roots of the problems they are
   trying to solve. In other words, their outlook "rest[s] on an
   instrumental, almost engineering approach to solving ecological
   dislocations. To all appearances, they wanted to adapt the natural
   world to the needs of the existing society and its exploitative,
   capitalist imperatives by way of reforms that minimise harm to human
   health and well-being. The much-needed goals of formulating a project
   for radical social change and for cultivating a new sensibility toward
   the natural world tended to fall outside the orbit of their practical
   concerns." Eco-anarchists, while supporting such partial struggles,
   stress that "these problems originate in a hierarchical, class, and
   today, competitive capitalist system that nourishes a view of the
   natural world as a mere agglomeration of 'resources' for human
   production and consumption." [The Ecology of Freedom, pp. 15-6] This
   means that while some kind of environmentalism may be possible under
   capitalism or some other authoritarian system, an ecological approach
   is impossible. Simply put, the concerns of ecology cannot be squeezed
   into a hierarchical perspective or private property. Just as an
   eco-system cannot be commanded, divided and enclosed, nor can a truly
   ecological vision. Attempts to do so will impoverish both.

   As we discuss in the [2]next section, for anarchists the root cause of
   our ecological problems is hierarchy in society compounded by a
   capitalist economy. For anarchists, the notion of an ecological
   capitalism is, literally, impossible. Libertarian socialist Takis
   Fotopoulous has argued that the main reason why the project of
   "greening" capitalism is just a utopian dream "lies in a fundamental
   contradiction that exists between the logic and dynamic of the growth
   economy, on the one hand, and the attempt to condition this dynamic
   with qualitative interests" on the other. ["Development or Democracy?",
   pp. 57-92, Society and Nature, No. 7, p. 82] Green issues, like social
   ones, are inherently qualitative in nature and, as such, it is
   unsurprising that a system based on profit would ignore them.

   Under capitalism, ethics, nature and humanity all have a price tag. And
   that price tag is god. This is understandable as every hierarchical
   social system requires a belief-system. Under feudalism, the
   belief-system came from the Church, whereas under capitalism, it
   pretends to come from science, whose biased practitioners (usually
   funded by the state and capital) are the new priesthood. Like the old
   priesthoods, only those members who produce "objective research" become
   famous and influential -- "objective research" being that which accepts
   the status quo as "natural" and produces what the elite want to hear
   (i.e. apologetics for capitalism and elite rule will always be praised
   as "objective" and "scientific" regardless of its actual scientific and
   factual content, the infamous "bell curve" and Malthus's "Law of
   Population" being classic examples). More importantly, capitalism needs
   science to be able to measure and quantify everything in order to sell
   it. This mathematical faith is reflected in its politics and economics,
   where quantity is more important than quality, where 5 votes are better
   than 2 votes, where $5 is better than $2. And like all religions,
   capitalism needs sacrifice. In the name of "free enterprise," "economic
   efficiency," "stability" and "growth" it sacrifices individuality,
   freedom, humanity, and nature for the power and profits of the few.

   Understanding the social roots of the problems we face is the key. Many
   greens attack what they consider the "wrong ideas" of modern society,
   its "materialistic values" and counter-pose new ideas, more in tune
   with a green society. This approach, however, misses the point. Ideas
   and values do not "just happen", but are the product of a given set of
   social relationships and the struggles they produce. This means that it
   is not just a matter of changing our values in a way that places
   humanity in harmony with nature (important though that is), but also of
   understanding the social and structural origins of the ecological
   crisis. Ideas and values do need to be challenged, but unless the
   authoritarian social relationships, hierarchy and inequalities in power
   (i.e. what produces these values and ideas) are also challenged and,
   more importantly, changed an ecological society is impossible. So
   unless other Greens recognise that this crisis did not develop in a
   social vacuum and is not the "fault" of people as people (as opposed to
   people in a hierarchical society), little can be done root out the
   systemic causes of the problems that we and the planet face.

   Besides its alliance with the ecology movement, eco-anarchism also
   finds allies in the feminist and peace movements, which it regards,
   like the ecology movement, as implying the need for anarchist
   principles. Thus eco-anarchists think that global competition between
   nation-states is responsible not only for the devouring of nature but
   is also the primary cause of international military tensions, as
   nations seek to dominate each other by military force or the threat
   thereof. As international competition becomes more intense and weapons
   of mass destruction spread, the seeds are being sown for catastrophic
   global warfare involving nuclear, chemical, and/or biological weapons.
   Because such warfare would be the ultimate ecological disaster,
   eco-anarchism and the peace movement are but two aspects of the same
   basic project. Similarly, eco-anarchists recognise that domination of
   nature and male domination of women have historically gone hand in
   hand, so that eco-feminism is yet another aspect of eco-anarchism.
   Since feminism, ecology, and peace are key issues of the Green
   movement, anarchists believe that many Greens are implicitly committed
   to anarchism, whether they realise it or not, and hence that they
   should adopt anarchist principles of direct action rather than getting
   bogged down in trying to elect people to state offices.

   Here we discuss some of the main themes of eco-anarchism and consider a
   few suggestions by non-anarchists about how to protect the environment.
   In [3]section E.1, we summarise why anarchists consider why a green
   society cannot be a capitalist one (and vice versa). [4]Section E.2
   presents a short overview of what an ecological society would be like.
   [5]Section E.3 refutes the false capitalist claim that the answer to
   the ecological crisis is to privatise everything while [6]section E.4
   discusses why capitalism is anti-ecological and its defenders,
   invariably, anti-green. Then we indicate why green consumerism is
   doomed to failure in [7]section E.5 before, in [8]section E.6, refuting
   the myth that population growth is a cause of ecological problems
   rather than the effect of deeper issues.

   Obviously, these are hardly the end of the matter. Some tactics popular
   in the green movement are shared by others and we discuss these
   elsewhere. For example, the issue of electing Green Parties to power
   will be addressed in section J.2.4 ([9]"Surely voting for radical
   parties will be effective?") and so will be ignored here. The question
   of "single-issue" campaigns (like C.N.D. and Friends of the Earth) will
   be discussed in [10]section J.1.4. Remember that eco-anarchists, like
   all anarchists, take a keen interest in many other issues and struggles
   and just because we do not discuss something here does not mean we are
   indifferent to it.

   For anarchists, unless we resolve the underlying contradictions within
   society, which stem from domination, hierarchy and a capitalist
   economy, ecological disruption will continue and grow, putting our
   Earth in increasing danger. We need to resist the system and create new
   values based on quality, not quantity. We must return the human factor
   to our alienated society before we alienate ourselves completely off
   the planet.

   Peter Marshall's Nature's Web presents a good overview of all aspects
   of green thought over human history from a libertarian perspective,
   including excellent summaries of such anarchists as Proudhon, Kropotkin
   and Bookchin (as well as libertarian socialist William Morris and his
   ecologically balanced utopia News from Nowhere).

References

   1. file://localhost/home/mauro/baku/debianize/maint/anarchy/secD4.html
   2. file://localhost/home/mauro/baku/debianize/maint/anarchy/secE1.html
   3. file://localhost/home/mauro/baku/debianize/maint/anarchy/secE1.html
   4. file://localhost/home/mauro/baku/debianize/maint/anarchy/secE2.html
   5. file://localhost/home/mauro/baku/debianize/maint/anarchy/secE3.html
   6. file://localhost/home/mauro/baku/debianize/maint/anarchy/secE4.html
   7. file://localhost/home/mauro/baku/debianize/maint/anarchy/secE5.html
   8. file://localhost/home/mauro/baku/debianize/maint/anarchy/secE6.html
   9. file://localhost/home/mauro/baku/debianize/maint/anarchy/secJ2.html#secj24
  10. file://localhost/home/mauro/baku/debianize/maint/anarchy/secJ1.html#secj14
