I have found myself in agreement with Lou's recent post suggesting that
the roots of ecological crisis and overpopulation pressures lie in the
contradictions of capitalism, and that a socialist revolution is not
only necessary but also desirable if we are to have a sustainable
ecological system in the future. I have not quite followed where Mark is
going with energy crisis, partly because I don't understand his exuberant
use of language. Regarding reformist folks who think energy crisis is not
inevitable if we use other natural sources in place of oil
such as solar energy (or wheel-chair friendly busses in LA), I find
their views helpful, but failing to take into account the big *global*
picture. Parelman said that Southern citizens do not want California
beaches to polluted any longer. Whole protecting the beaches is of great
concern to some people, it is EQUALLY important yet urgently necessary
to consider human environmental destruction from the perspective of
world system analysis, international division of labor, core periphery
and "global power dependency relationships". The following article
suggests a research agenda along these lines, transcending the
limitations of american centric approaches. It is a cross national study
on the environmental implications of greenhouse gases. The authors argue
that "The United States is the largest global emitter of CO2".
Mine