Half-Earth Socialism - Troy Vettese and Drew Pendergrass

Hi everyone! Our next book will be Half-Earth Socialism by Troy Vettese and Drew Pendergrass. We’ve been talking a lot about finding a leftist vision of the future in response to the pressures of the climate crisis and this book does just that presenting both a road map and also philosophical outline of what this future could look like! Our next meeting will be 3rd July for the online session and 4th July for the IRL session at Housmans Books. 

REVIEW 

‘Half Earth Socialism’ by Drew Pendergrass and Troy Vettese proposes a radical solution to the climate crisis. Green half of the earth to reverse biodiversity loss and use the other half of the planet to live sustainability under socialism.

The authors argue that we don’t have time to waste on false solutions like filling the atmosphere with particles to block out the sun and unworkable tech schemes when we know what works — a rapid transition to renewable energy, better economic and urban planning, rewilding, degrowth in wealthy nations, dietary, agricultural and other consumption changes, as well as the learning and adoption of indigenous knowledge and practices. 

Pendergrass and Vettesse imagine a future with better education systems which teach the masses about their labour in the broader economy, their relationship to nature and other practical knowledge. They believe that the only way we can try to solve our increasingly complex reality is to involve everyone.

I thought that this was a truly ambitious book that not only looked at the past, identifying what it views as the three main strands of environmental thought and criticising failed nature-related historical projects (like the destruction of the Aral Sea by the USSR in Uzbekistan and Biosphere 2), but it also offered tangible solutions to what lies ahead. 

I was pleasantly surprised by the use of fiction to imagine a world that narrowly escaped climate catastrophe in 2047 — it emphasises that the climate crisis is not only a material crisis but also one of imagination. Dreaming big, staying hopeful and shooting for the stars is what will save us. Otherwise, what else do we have left?