"They," "socialists," are not at all doing their duty when they uncritically reproduce statements directly Malthusian claiming that the "natural" carrying capacity of the earth is 2 billion people.
But clearly the Earth cannot sustain an infinite number of people.
Global warming is not a product of 6 billion people on a planet built for 2. Global warming is the product of the private property system of capital's need to garner profit no matter what the SOCIAL cost.
But you are wrong. Global warming is a byproduct of the burning of fossil fuel. There is no "socialist" solution to this problem. There is nothing in Marx or Engels that can provide an answer. Even under socialism, there will be only one way to use internal combustion engines. This is not even a question of "pollution" in the conventional sense. You can put all sorts of scrubbers on factory burners, car engines, etc. to prevent sulfur emissions. But greenhouse gases are the inevitable byproduct of energy consumption.
If that isn't the case, then indeed, the more than 2 billion people living on a dollar a day, the 4 billion living in poverty, the 5.2 billion living on the rations determined by a ruling class, have no way out, as the energy requirements for their emancipation from privation, that is to say the emancipation of us all, cannot be fulfilled.
dms
Of course there is a way out for a society that lives in balance with nature. The idea is to share equally in the resources of the planet without class divisions. That being said, we still need to accept ecological limits. Furthermore, the main problem facing the world's poor is not being deprived of automobiles or air conditioning. It is being driven off their land into the favelas and slums as Samir Amin pointed out in a recent MR article. The capacity to feed, shelter, clothe, educate and provide health care one's family is a function more of class relations than anything else right now. Once a basic standard of living is provided, you get into a more problematic area involving the desire for an automobile and other energy-burning but dubious consumer goodies enjoyed in the West. The entire planet, from the New Jersey suburb to the farming village in Bangladesh, will have to reexamine the value of these highly touted but environmentally destructive commodities once socialism is established worldwide. I am sure that reasoning human beings can think critically about their value and choose long-term sustainability instead.
Louis Proyect Marxism list: www.marxmail.org
