The enemy of nature

The end of capitalism or the end of the world?

Joel Kovel, Zed Books, 330 pages, paperback, £14.99

This book is a powerful indictment of the state of the environment and a call to action on a profound level.

The basic thesis is that capitalism is the cause of ecological problems, including global warming and other lesser hazards. Kovel states in his introduction that, if our institutions could grasp this idea, there would not be an ecological crisis in the first place. He adds that capital is incapable of mending the ecological crisis it has provoked.

In one of his examples of the impact of corporate greed, he gives a powerful description of the causes behind the Bhopal disaster, where a pesticide plant released tonnes of poisonous gases into the atmosphere, killing between 2,500 and 5,000 people.

The book also effectively attacks the Kyoto protocol, describing it as “inherently incoherent” and describing the opportunities it offers for swindling. Kovel outlines the protocol’s pro-market, pro-business limitations as well as its failure to limit the proliferation of greenhouse gases.

The book is weakest when it comes to describing action to prevent further ecological crises. Unions barely merit a mention, with the author instead using examples such as the “ecosocialism” of the Zapatistas, an armed group in modern Mexico. This emphasis is misplaced, given that unions across the globe are taking up environmental issues with renewed vigour.