Defending the Environment Is Revolutionary
By Margarita
The ecological crisis that’s been developing for decades is now being experienced as natural disasters, health emergencies, mass migration, disrupted food production, and struggles over environmental justice. Looking at the impacts of critical environmental problems helps illuminate the path toward a better future for humanity and the planet:
Global Warming / Climate Change: The planet is warming rapidly, with the last decade being the warmest on record. Fossil fuel production and use has elevated so-called “greenhouse gases,” with carbon dioxide levels more than 50 percent higher than pre-industrial times. As a result, the Earth’s glaciers are melting, and sea levels are rising, threatening coastal cities. The oceans have absorbed most of the excess heat, especially warming the upper layers and disrupting sea life
(see climate.gov and NASA Science.gov).
Global warming is leading to extreme temperatures, droughts, floods, wildfires, and intensified storms, exemplified by the recent Los Angeles fires, Texas floods, Arizona heat, and worsening hurricanes. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reports that weather, climate and water-related disasters increased fivefold over 50 years (1970-2019). Each year, “natural disasters force an average of 21.5 million people from their homes around the world, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees” (see PBS report). “Over the next 30 years, 143 million people are likely to be uprooted by rising seas, drought, searing temperatures, and other climate-related events. ” Washington, D.C. – March 28, 2022: Across the U.S., there were 250 Youth Climate Strike events
/ Photo – Gristte catastrophes.” These impacts are already irreversible for current generations.
Species Extinction / Biodiversity:
About 1 million species may become extinct in the coming decades, due to human activities like habitat destruction, pollution, climate change, overexploitation, and the introduction of invasive species. This is being called the Sixth Mass Extinction. When agriculture, urban sprawl, and mining destroy natural habitats, it pushes animals into smaller areas or closer to human settlements. Their search for food, water, and shelter leads to increased human-wildlife conflict and “zoonotic spillover” (the transmission of diseases from wild animals to humans). This is causing profound impacts on food security, health, and overall quality of life.
The loss of species also means the loss of the chance to learn important lessons from nature. Humans have long used plants as a source of solutions for medical issues, such as willow bark for pain (aspirin’s precursor), foxglove for heart issues (digitalis), poppy seeds for pain relief (morphine, codeine), and quinine from cinchona bark for malaria. Studying nature’s designs, processes, and strategies to solve human problems (biomimicry) has resulted in many innovations like Velcro (burrs), efficient turbine blades (whale fins), and cool buildings (termite mounds), all inspired by nature’s genius for efficiency and sustainability.
Air and Water Pollution:
The environmental issues that people are most familiar with are air and water pollution. Some of it is centered on workplaces: coal dust leading to black lung for miners, pesticides sickening farm labor, firefighters exposed to carcinogens, and manicurists exposed to volatile chemical compounds. Some of it affects where people live: lead poisoning in the drinking water in Flint, Michigan; industrial air pollution in Cancer Alley, Louisiana; the childhood asthma epidemic in California’s Central Valley. Many of these areas are where low-income people and people of color live.
In addition, fully 64 percent of U.S. antibiotic sales by weight are sold for use in animals, to be excreted into the environment and piled up in “lagoons.” The consequence is that resistant bacteria develop extremely quickly and become pervasive throughout the environment. This negatively affects not only workers on farms and in slaughterhouses, but surrounding communities and, in the end, all of us.
Microplastics, tiny plastic fragments, contaminate oceans globally, entering the food chain and air, and have been found in human blood, organs (brain, placenta, lungs, testes), urine, and breast milk. Emerging research links this accumulation to inflammation, cell damage, reproductive issues and increased risks of heart disease, stroke, and certain cancers.
Natural Resource Depletion:
Industrial agribusiness is the dominant food production model that is rapidly depleting natural resources, degrading soil health, and introducing harmful chemical residues into the environment and human diet. The use of fertilizers and pesticides has led to a vicious cycle of soil sterilization, decreased nutrient density, and increased environmental and health risks, such as carcinogens in food.
The Dust Bowl (1930s) was an example of depletion from unsustainable farming, where deep plowing and the removal of native grasses for wheat left topsoil vulnerable to drought-fueled wind erosion, creating massive dust storms. The so-called Green Revolution (mid-20th century) was supposed to increase food production within the capitalist framework, using high-yield seeds, fertilizers, and irrigation, but instead worsened new resource issues like groundwater depletion, soil nutrient imbalance, and reliance on fossil fuels for pesticides/fertilizers.
Nuclear Power:
Nuclear power comes with very real environmental dangers from radioactivity. Uncontrolled nuclear power plant accidents have happened, such as Three Mile Island (United States 1979), Chornobyl (Soviet Union, 1986), and Fukushima (Japan, 2011). More recently, during the Russia-Ukraine war, there have been significant nuclear safety risks, primarily at the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), Europe’s largest. And of course, there’s the threat of all-out nuclear war.
Nuclear waste, primarily spent fuel, is temporarily stored at reactor sites in deep pools of water (for cooling) and then transferred to concrete and steel dry casks. The long-term danger lies in its intense radioactivity, which remains hazardous for thousands of years, requiring secure, permanent geological disposal; this risks environmental contamination if storage fails, especially near coasts or water sources.
War and Militarism:
Researchers at Brown University report that “Wars and military operations contribute significantly to climate change. Military jets and vehicles consume petroleum-based fuels at an extremely high rate, and the vehicles used in the war zones produce tons of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, and sulfur dioxide in addition to CO2.
Residents of war zones and soldiers suffer many negative health consequences of war’s environmental wreckage. Bombs and other munitions contain toxic substances, including heavy metals, white phosphorus, depleted uranium, and dioxin, that, in addition to causing horrific injuries, contaminate soil, water, and vegetation in the aftermath of fighting. And of course, the trillions spent on war and militarism suck up resources that should be used for the well-being of humanity and the earth (click here for more).
CAPITALIST ‘SOLUTIONS’
Greenwashing:
As more people become conscious of environmental issues, corporate PR departments use deceptive measurements or outright falsification to look like they are “green,” with little or no effect on the climate crisis or other environmental problems. For example, Volkswagen has admitted cheating on emissions tests by installing a device with software that could reduce emissions level scores, as its marketing campaigns touted the low-emissions and eco-friendly features of its vehicles. Meanwhile, plastic water bottle companies like Poland Spring, Evian, and Deer Park featured “nature” on the labels of their bottles, though they are designed for single-use that adds to the massive global plastic waste crisis.
Green Capitalism:
Market-based “solutions” use commodification of nature, such as putting a price on the carbon-sequestration value of a whale or forest, turning ecosystems into assets rather than protecting them. With carbon offsets, companies purchase credits from projects like reforestation to justify continued emissions, rather than reducing them. Research shows these projects often fail to deliver real climate benefits, functioning more as a “license to pollute.” Mechanisms like the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) have been criticized for nominal or minimal emissions reductions over many years.
Renewable energy:
With capitalism’s growth imperative, even if renewable energy is successfully brought online, the overall use of energy increases. While renewables are rapidly expanding, they are largely meeting new demand rather than immediately replacing the entire existing fossil fuel infrastructure. The transition to renewable energy also requires a massive increase in mining for critical minerals – such as lithium, copper, cobalt, and rare earth elements – which are essential for solar panels, wind turbines, and battery storage. Global ecological damage is wreaked by mining lithium in South America, copper in Michigan, and cobalt in the Congo.
GRASS ROOTS RESISTANCE MOVEMENTS
Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement (MST) is a major social movement that has evolved into a leading environmental force through popular agrarian reform, prioritizing sustainable agroecology over industrial farming. With over 350,000 families settled, the MST advocates for land redistribution and is the largest organic rice producer in Latin America.
Pipeline resistance in Canada, spearheaded by Indigenous communities and environmental allies, is building strong, networked communities focused on halting projects like the Coastal GasLink and Trans Mountain pipelines. Resistance strategies include legal battles, checkpoints, and mass demonstrations to defend lands, protect water, and fight climate change. (Amnesty International)
An active community of resistance arose to fight the creation of Cop City outside of Atlanta, Georgia, which became the largest police training facility/mock city in the United States. Local abolitionists mobilized to block construction by occupying the forest at a base of resistance known as Weelaunee People’s Park, a name in the language of the original people there, the Muskogee. Supporters from around the world joined them. “Whether risking one’s life in a tree-sit as police fire pepper spray at you, or organizing distribution of native food trees for community food sovereignty, or building bridges across movements, revolutionaries in Atlanta are a part of a mass movement across the world where people envision and work towards a world beyond private property.” (Rally July 2023)
THE ROLE OF REVOLUTIONARIES
The job of revolutionaries is to facilitate the revolution, as a midwife facilitates a birth, setting the best possible conditions for a successful outcome. This means making connections between fronts of struggle and building unity and solidarity among the working class. It means pointing out the impossibility of resolving the climate crisis in the context of private property. It means stressing the urgency of the moment. The task is enormous, but with careful evaluation of conditions as they evolve, we can determine step by step what needs to be done.
How can we effectively bring environmental issues into the overall movement? Meaningful interim steps and effective tactics can be developed, based on what people are feeling right now from disasters and local pollution. There is a dialectic between small intense struggles and the big picture. The connections must be made with other fronts of struggle on how the transformation of society is necessary for all issues.
For example, what is the role of artificial intelligence (A.I.) and other technological development? A.I. poses significant environmental burdens: a large carbon footprint from energy-intensive data centers, water usage for cooling, and electronic waste from hardware. On the other hand, A.I. can be used for optimizing energy use, improving waste management, monitoring deforestation, predicting natural disasters, and accelerating the development of sustainable materials.
As we fight for a decent standard of living for the global working class, we have to be clear that what we all need are necessities for our survival, not what capitalist growth wants us to buy for its survival. Sustainability in production is key to maintaining stability in our relationship with the earth. Another dialectic is the role of centralization vs. decentralization in fighting for a livable planet and the role of governance in a post-capitalist society. International centralization is necessary for the coordination of knowledge, resources and planning of sustainable production. Decentralization is essential for unleashing creativity based on local resources and the development of democracy and community.
Revolutionary systemic change and the abolition of private property would eliminate the profit motive and the capitalist need to grow and expand. It would allow for reprioritization – putting full resources for the essentials: addressing environmental concerns while ensuring a decent standard of living for all and correcting inequality.
Published on June 3, 2026.
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