Half-Earth Socialism

A plan to save the earth and bring the good life to all. Over the next generation, humanity will confront a dystopian future of climate disaster and mass extinction. Yet the only ‘solutions’ on offer are toothless cap-and-trade programmes, catastrophic geoengineering schemes, and privatized conservation, which will do nothing to reverse the damage suffered by the biosphere. Indeed, these mainstream approaches assume that hyper-consumerism in the Global North can continue unabated. It can’t. What we can do, environmental scholars Troy Vettese and Drew Pendergrass argue, is strive for a society able to ensure high living standards while stabilizing the environment: Half-Earth socialism. This means: • Rewilding half the earth to absorb carbon emissions and restore biodiversity • A rapid transition to renewable energy, paired with drastic cuts in consumption by the world’s wealthiest • Global veganism to cut down on energy and land use • Worldwide socialist planning to efficiently and equitably manage production • The involvement of everyone—even you!