Ecology

Ecology

Climate breakdown and capitalism 

In his book Biology as Ideology, famous American biologist Richard Lewontin tackles some of the ideological prejudices of science, using his dialectical lens already well-developed in his previous book, The Dialectical Biologist. Here we recall one of the examples from his writing, lessons from which are easily applied to many […]

Ecology International Politics

COP28

The 28th edition of the United Nation’s Climate Change Conference (COP 28) took place in United Arab Emirates this December. Controversially presided by the head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, COP 28 once again showed its modest range of action, wrapped in passive political language. On the fringe […]

Ecology

Climate, Degrowth and Ardnacrusha

In a speech delivered in November 1920, Lenin exclaimed the famous line: “Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country.” In the sentences that followed, Lenin goes on to explain how such a plan has to be long-term, lasting at least a decade, with an army of […]

Ecology Politics

Troubled Waters

Last month, I watched a crowd gather in Amsterdam for a rally in support of climate justice. With 70,000 people in attendance it was the largest of its kind in the country. Although it started peacefully, the pleasant atmosphere turned into one of conflict when Peace Prize winner Sahar Shirzad […]

Ecology

Climate crisis

The dystopia that awaits our children, and their children The ladder has been well and truly pulled up on younger generations—and not just that, but the earth around them has been set on fire. Not everyone shares equal blame for this; and not every state shares equal blame. It is […]

Ecology

Climate activism without the working class?

On 13 July, An Taisce hosted Kevin Anderson’s talk “A Velvet or Violent Climate Revolution: Which Will We Choose?” in the Tailors’ Hall, Dublin. Anderson was introduced as a climate scientist “telling it as it is”—a tagline reinforced by his opening slide, in which he warned the audience that his […]

Ecology

“Climate Leninism”

On 21 June the French government dissolved the environmental group Les Soulèvements de la Terre. The immediate cause cited in the decision was a clash of the activists with the police while resisting the construction of a reservoir in the west of the country. The group was dissolved as a […]