Capitalism as a mode of production is based on private ownership of the means of production characterized by the elicitation of surplus value by the ruling class with the intentions aimed at capital accumulation through wage-based labour and commodities being market-based. It has for hundreds of years thrived on gross exploitation of natural resources to sustain itself. Being inherently exploitative of both the working class and the planet, this system is driven by a motive to make profit and capital accumulation. Thus the process of capital accumulation comes into conflict with the cycle of nature. While the owners of the means of production seek to maximize profit and accumulate capital they are drawn into the competitive world of the markets. The desperation of the capitalists to maximize profit and capital accumulation has led to raw materials and wage-based labour being valorized.
The valorization process is a theoretical explanation used by Marx in Das Kapital (Critique of political economy) to elaborate on the creation of value. For Marx, capitalists do not produce use-value for their own use but rather are produced for the sake of having exchange-value. Moreover, capitalists seek for commodities that are of greater value as compared to the value of commodities used to produce it-surplus value. That is why corporations resort to exploiting natural resources at the lowest cost and at unsustainable rates. It is for this reason natural resources are being depleted which leaves nature with no choice but to maintain its inability to regenerate itself. As the capitalist system developed into its higher stage [imperialism] and society moved in the age of globalization, so does the destruction of the environment. Wherever capital ventures to extract natural resources, be it coal, diamonds or gold through mining–scars of environmental destruction are left behind for future generations to see and endure the effects thereof. Professor JF Durand writes on gold mining in the Witwatersrand, (Heavy metal contaminants).. “mostly contaminate soil and water, through which they enter into other systems such as plants, animals, and man. Although some heavy metals including copper, manganese, iron, zinc, and molybdenum are required in minute quantities for proper metabolism in living organisms, their concentration in living things poses huge health risks. (… ) Exposure of humans to heavy metal contaminated environments can lead to respiratory problems, cancer, skin diseases, paralysis, loss of teeth, eye problems, kidney and lung dysfunction, muscle and joints pains and many other complications…”. (Durand 2012)
The economy, environment and energy have co-evolved. This means one cannot exist without influencing the existence of the other- they are interdependent. Economic activities are dependent on the transformation of raw materials which are drawn from the environment through the hard work of labourers. Marx reveals the interdependence by further explaining the use-value, that commodities are made up of a combination of two elements – matter and labour. If use-value- labour is extracted from the equation, a material subtraction remain then it becomes furnished by nature. For instance, without capitalism, the use-value for fossil fuels may have never been discovered and could have never been the backbone of the global economy.
Neither would capitalism been a dominant force without fossil fuels. The capitalist system has exhausted the planet and its organisms; leaning towards a collapsed ecosystem. From polar glaciers melting, species going extinct, unusually high temperatures and cold spells, overfishing, acidification of the ocean, coastal areas being crowded by in habitability, mass desertification and the continuous burning of fossil fuels to maintain and enrich the few- the capitalist class. Even though people on a day to day basis are contributing to the rapid climate changes, the blame cannot be placed on their shoulders. Since the late 1980s, a number of corporations have contributed to about 70% of greenhouse emissions. The consequences of the logic of capitalism through industrialization will diminish what is left of planet earth and where does that leave us as humankind?
However, due to structural growth we see under capitalism it is impossible for capitalists to turn a blind eye on the catastrophic climate change. Nevertheless, due to the hunger and greed for economic growth, the efforts to reduce carbon emissions will not find expression.
Scientists would agree to say, it is the beginning of a major crisis that will hit hard on humankind in years to come. This will lead to consequences of climate change being a catastrophe. Like the working class in our quest to fight against exploitation and oppression by the capitalist system we need to partake in immediate action to defend and protect the planet and its resources from exploitation. To be a little bit specific, to pave a way forward, let me respond to the question posed by Lenin (1902), what is to be done?
What is to be done?
Capitalism has failed to respond to the challenges posed by climate change in fact the capitalists are delaying to take corrective actions because ending climate change requires an end to capitalism. In our approach towards the climate catastrophe, we need an urgent socialist plan to ensure there are adequate resources left to equally distribute and society, the working class, in particular, is organized in defence of the planet against climate change and its effects. Though there are reforms put in place which are expected to be implemented by 2030, such as phasing out fossil fuels, creating an unionized green and sustainability jobs, large-scale investments on renewables and zero carbon emissions. These initiatives are good however we need to look at possibilities of their implementation by 2030.
We need to develop ecological materialism connected to historical materialism itself, says (Foster and Burkett).
This enables us to find practical eco-friendly production alternatives without hampering society’s ability to fully make use of available natural resources in the further development of society while also not falling into a trap of environmental reductionism.
It is important for the working class to review its social and economic relations to ownership of means of production, capital and labour. There is a need for a radical shift from industrialization to a socialist state. This calls for us to look at climate change from a revolutionary perspective. We need to advance for a green revolution inline with the working-class revolution. The green industrial revolution speaks on social, communal ownership of the means of production which extends to transportation. There has to be an urgent implementation of naturalization and nationalization policies for all sectors that are carbon emitters into public ownership to assist with monitoring and reduction of carbon footprints.
Certainly, there is more to be done. Now let us look at the relationship between climate change and private property. Regulating the oil and gas industry for the sustainability of the environment and taking them out of private ownership can be one of the most effective ways to reduce the impact it has on the environment.
We, ourselves are products: the pollution of industrial society is to be found not only in the water and in the air, but in the slums, the traffic jams, and not these only as physical objects but as ourselves in them and in relation to them . . . The process . . . has to be seen as a whole, but not in abstract or singular ways. We have to look at all our products and activities, good and bad, and to see the relationships between them which are our own real relationships. (Williams 1980)
Humanity needs to rediscover its consciousness so as to march towards developing a praxis which deeply interrogates the dialectical relation which has always existed between man and nature and the ability for both these entities to shape and influence one another in order for proposed alternatives to be employed without fail.
As we continue to advance the working-class revolution and if we really want to build socialism, the working class must become climate change activists. We need to become eco-socialists. The struggle against climate change catastrophe is inseparable from the working-class struggle. To end climate change, we need to end capitalism.
Written by Lebohang Ntuli (Former NWC member of SASCO) ,Current YCLSA PWC member in Moses Mabhida Province. She writes in her own personal capacity