Author(s): Troy Vettese; Drew Pendergrass

Pop Science

Our fossil fuel driven society has run out of time. Only by rapidly giving up our reliance on carbon can we pay down the debt of fossil capital and buy a liveable future without a mass extinction or global warming. In this visionary and incisive manifesto, environmental scholars Troy Vettese and Drew Pendergrass outline the structural, economic, and social changes de-carbonization will require. Drawing from detailed environmental modeling of our planet's many possible futures, Vettese and Pendergrass argue that we will need to give half of the earth's land, now used for agricultural and meat production, back to nature rewilding half the earth. The only political program that can give us a livable half-earth, they argue, is socialism- a planned socialist society can constrict the destructive industries ravaging our world fossil fuels, cars, aviation, meat, and real estate while expanding renewable energy systems, organic agriculture, public transport, and health and education systems. Half-Earth Socialism argues that we can consciously and democratically direct human society's interaction with nature and in fact, we must, if we want any kind of livable future on this planet.