Richard Smith

Richard Smith is a founding member of System Change Not Climate Change and author of Green Capitalism: The God That Failed (2016) and China’s Engine of Environmental Collapse (2020)

Trump-Biden

Three Ecosocialists Reflect on the November Election

Personally, I’ve never bought the leftist “principled” rejection of “lesser evilism.” Why would we want the greater evil?

September 25, 2020

Overpopulation is a Problem, but Capitalist Overdevelopment is a Bigger Problem

So overpopulation is a real problem. But if we don’t overthrow capitalism, Mother Nature is going to solve the overpopulation problem in a hurry, but in a most unpleasant manner. That’s why I don’t concern myself much with the population problem. I don’t mean to ignore it. But I think its very much a secondary driver compared to capitalism.

December 13, 2017

Climate Crisis and Managed Deindustrialization: Debating Alternatives to Ecological Collapse

The problem is, we live in an economy built on perpetual growth but we live on a finite planet with limited resources and sinks. To date, all efforts to “green” capitalism have foundered on this fundamental contradiction: maximizing profit and saving the planet are inherently in conflict and cannot be systematically aligned even if, here and there, they might coincide for a moment. That’s because under capitalism, CEOs and corporate boards are not responsible to society, they’re responsible to private shareholders.

December 4, 2017