Search results for ""author kohei saito""

Will green capitalism save the planet? Is it even trying?Not when the very logic of the capitalist system pits it against Earth's life-support systems, as the Japanese philosopher Kohei Saito demonstrates in this astonishing international bestseller.Drawing on cutting-edge research across multiple disciplines, Saito shows how nothing but a transformation of our economic life can save us from climate collapse. Karl Marx himself reached this breakthrough at theend of his life, long before climate change had even begun. It radically altered his vision of proletarian revolution. Now that we are entering our own end-game, we must grasp Marx's final lesson before it is too late.If we are to avoid the most terrible political prospects of of climate change, the future must belong to degrowth communism, a fair and humane existence within the limits of nature. There is no alternative: the endlessacceleration of capital has run out of road. We must slow down.

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Facing global climate crisis, Karl Marx's ecological critique of capitalism more clearly demonstrates its importance than ever. This book explains why Marx's ecology had to be marginalized and even suppressed by Marxists after his death throughout the twentieth century. Marx's ecological critique of capitalism, however, revives in the Anthropocene against dominant productivism and monism. Investigating new materials published in the complete works of Marx and Engels (Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe), Saito offers a wholly novel idea of Marx's alternative to capitalism that should be adequately characterized as degrowth communism. This provocative interpretation of the late Marx sheds new lights on the recent debates on the relationship between society and nature and invites readers to envision a post-capitalist society without repeating the failure of the actually existing socialism of the twentieth century.

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Will green capitalism save the planet? Is it even trying?Not when the very logic of the capitalist system pits it against Earth's life-support systems, as the Japanese philosopher Kohei Saito demonstrates in this astonishing international bestseller.Drawing on cutting-edge research across multiple disciplines, Saito shows how nothing but a transformation of our economic life can save us from climate collapse. Karl Marx himself reached this breakthrough at theend of his life, long before climate change had even begun. It radically altered his vision of proletarian revolution. Now that we are entering our own end-game, we must grasp Marx's final lesson before it is too late.If we are to avoid the most terrible political prospects of of climate change, the future must belong to degrowth communism, a fair and humane existence within the limits of nature. There is no alternative: the endlessacceleration of capital has run out of road. We must slow down.

Read more less

Facing global climate crisis, Karl Marx's ecological critique of capitalism more clearly demonstrates its importance than ever. This book explains why Marx's ecology had to be marginalized and even suppressed by Marxists after his death throughout the twentieth century. Marx's ecological critique of capitalism, however, revives in the Anthropocene against dominant productivism and monism. Investigating new materials published in the complete works of Marx and Engels (Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe), Saito offers a wholly novel idea of Marx's alternative to capitalism that should be adequately characterized as degrowth communism. This provocative interpretation of the late Marx sheds new lights on the recent debates on the relationship between society and nature and invites readers to envision a post-capitalist society without repeating the failure of the actually existing socialism of the twentieth century.

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"[A] well-reasoned and eye-opening treatise . . . [Kohei Saito makes] a provocative and visionary proposal." —Publishers Weekly, (starred review)"Saito’s clarity of thought, plethora of evidence, and conversational, gentle, yet urgent tone . . . are sure to win over open-minded readers who understand the dire nature of our global. . . . A cogently structured anti-capitalist approach to the climate crisis." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)Why, in our affluent society, do so many people live in poverty, without access to health care, working multiple jobs and are nevertheless unable to make ends meet, with no future prospects, while the planet is burning?In his international bestseller, Kohei Saito argues that while unfettered capitalism is often blamed for inequality and climate change, subsequent calls for “sustainable growth” and a “Green New Deal” are a dangerous compromise. Capitalism creates artificial scarcity by pursuing profit based on the value of products rather than their usefulness and by putting perpetual growth above all else. It is therefore impossible to reverse climate change in a capitalist society—more: the system that caused the problem in the first place cannot be an integral part of the solution. Instead, Saito advocates for degrowth and deceleration, which he conceives as the slowing of economic activity through the democratic reform of labor and production. In practical terms, he argues for: the end of mass production and mass consumption decarbonization through shorter working hours the prioritization of essential labor over corporate profits By returning to a system of social ownership, he argues, we can restore abundance and focus on those activities that are essential for human life, effectively reversing climate change and saving the planet.

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