The environment
Working class environmentalism
Submitted on 7 July, 2008 - 08:50
I’m not a great one for polls, given the skewed questions and the dodgy sociological categories, but among the general gloom in recent polls on the environment, one finding stood out.
- PaulHampton's blog
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Good for the environment? Good for us?
Submitted on 1 July, 2008 - 09:34
The activist left, being heavily concentrated in city-centre areas with relatively copious public transport, may be liable to underestimate the impact of fuel price rises.
Even in Britain, probably the majority of the working class live in outlying areas of cities and in small towns: they have no choice but to drive a car to get to work. About two-thirds of all journeys to work in Britain are made by car.
Marxism at Work: Climate Change
Submitted on 29 June, 2008 - 09:54
Burning fossil fuels and pumping CO2 into the atmosphere is changing our planet. Current projections see temperatures rising by 3°C by mid-century. Sounds insignificant?
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Opposing Heathrow expansion
Submitted on 6 June, 2008 - 10:51
Over three thousand people opposed to Heathrow expansion marched on Saturday 31 May from Hatton Cross to Sipson, the village which would be destroyed were a third runway to be built.
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AWL leaflet for Heathrow Expansion Protest
Submitted on 30 May, 2008 - 18:24
The AWL opposes the expansion of Heathrow and other UK airports as part of our working class socialist strategy for preventing dangerous climate change.
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Climate change and the student movement: an activist conference
Submitted on 20 May, 2008 - 12:14
Brighton
Sponsored by University of Sussex SU. With speakers and workshops from groups including Student Climate Project, People and Planet, Liberty, Campaign against Climate Change, Climate Camp, Workers' Climate Action and many more...
£8 including crashpad accommodation.
For more information see here.
Say no to Heathrow Expansion
Submitted on 9 May, 2008 - 12:02
Hatton Cross tube station (Piccadilly line)
Demonstration against Heathrow expansion - www.make-a-noise.org
Why socialists should oppose airport expansion
Submitted on 25 April, 2008 - 06:56
If new runways at Heathrow, Stansted, Edinburgh and Birmingham airports are built, they will generate more greenhouse gas emissions, which will further contribute to global warming. We should oppose the expansion of Heathrow and other UK airports as part of our working class socialist strategy for preventing dangerous climate change.
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Nuclear energy and metabolic rifts
Submitted on 24 April, 2008 - 19:33
Solidarity’s current debate about the future of the nuclear industry appears to be an argument at cross purposes. Martin Thomas, Les Hearn and others have argued that nuclear is not as dangerous or as lethal as some other energy sources like coal. If only we had a planned economy under workers’ control without a £70 billion Trident replacement project in the pipeline, then nuclear would be a good idea.
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"Fossil Fools Day" organised by Rising Tide
Submitted on 21 March, 2008 - 10:03
All across the country
25) The significance of Morris’ socialist ecology
Submitted on 12 March, 2008 - 14:12
The opinions of William Morris on what we now call ecology are important in any assessment of him as a political thinker in his own time.
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24) Morris on lifestyle politics
Submitted on 12 March, 2008 - 14:10
Morris was a political activist, and although his personal life was informed by his socialist politics, he did not see lifestyle or consumer behaviour as a substitute for political action.
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23) Morris on housing and living conditions
Submitted on 12 March, 2008 - 14:09
Morris was more coherent when commenting more concretely on housing under socialism. In The Housing of the Poor, an article published in Justice, (19 July 1884), he wrote:
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22) Morris on town and country
Submitted on 12 March, 2008 - 14:08
Morris apparently disliked urban living before he became a socialist, and he appears to have carried over this attitude into his socialist activity. In an early article in Justice, entitled Why Not?
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21) Morris on transport
Submitted on 12 March, 2008 - 14:07
On transport, Morris was even more a prisoner of his time.
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20) Morris on energy
Submitted on 12 March, 2008 - 14:06
Morris had less to say of contemporary relevance on energy, which is hardly surprising since renewables were barely even dreamt of when he was politically active.
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19) Morris on machinery and workplace safety
Submitted on 12 March, 2008 - 14:05
One of the great myths about Morris is that he was hostile to technology.
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18) Morris on work under socialism
Submitted on 12 March, 2008 - 14:04
Another of Morris’ contributions to Marxism was his positive conception of work under socialism. Not for Morris - as for his contemporary Paul Lafargue – the right to be lazy.
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17) Morris on the working class as the agent of socialist ecology
Submitted on 12 March, 2008 - 14:03
Perhaps Morris’ most significant breakthrough was to identify working class action and the socialist movement more generally as the essential social agents in protecting the environment.
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16) Morris on the causes of ecological degradation
Submitted on 12 March, 2008 - 14:02
Morris held to a materialist appreciation of the connection between human productive activity and the ruination of the environment.
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15) Morris on the nature – society nexus
Submitted on 12 March, 2008 - 14:00
Morris had read Marx’s Capital in French by 1884 – an authorised English edition was still to be properly translated at this time.
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14) Morris infused his socialism with ecology
Submitted on 12 March, 2008 - 13:59
Sometime in 1882, William Morris decided he was no longer a radical and began to associate himself explicitly with socialism.
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13) Morris on poetry, art and nature
Submitted on 12 March, 2008 - 13:58
Morris made his name as an artist and as a poet, and his commitment to conservation was expressed through his work.
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12) Morris – from conservationism to socialist ecology
Submitted on 12 March, 2008 - 13:56
William Morris was one of the outstanding Marxists in the period after Marx’s death.
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Climate change, middle class activism and the media
Submitted on 7 March, 2008 - 19:50
Louise Gold spoke to Graham Thompson from Plane Stupid, whose recent action on the rooftop of the Houses of Parliament was widely reported.
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Letter: Nuclear -a blind alley on climate change
Submitted on 7 March, 2008 - 19:28
I welcome Les Hearn’s participation in our nuclear debate, particularly as I remember reading about climate change in his science column in Socialist Organiser as long ago as 1988-89. However he completely evades the central problems with nuclear (Solidarity 3/127, 21 February 2008).
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Model trade-union motion on climate change
Submitted on 3 March, 2008 - 10:45
This is drafted as a motion for national union conferences, but can be adapted for local union branches and Trades Councils.
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Climate change: document for AWL conference 2008
Submitted on 26 February, 2008 - 16:04
§1. Climate change is a fact of life on earth in the early 21st century and in all likelihood will remain a significant ecological and social question for the foreseeable future. It has substantial consequences for working class politics. The AWL has a significant role to play in drawing out the political implications of dangerous climate change and taking part in the fight to prevent it.
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Good turnout for union climate conference
Submitted on 22 February, 2008 - 14:47
Around 300 trade unionists and environmental activists attended the Campaign against Climate Change (CCC) trade union conference on 9 February.
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Letters: Honest accounting on nuclear
Submitted on 22 February, 2008 - 12:32
Is this Solidarity or Green World that I’m reading? According to Stuart Jordan (24 Jan), whatever the answer to climate change is, it’s not nuclear power! Nuclear plants are always late and over budget, unlike anything else.
Apparently, uranium would run out in 10 years, a fact that had escaped the companies that are keen to build and run new power stations. So why is Gordon Brown keen on nuclear? Because his brother is a “lobbyist” for EDF!
Of course!

