Caracol DSA

Title: Ecosocialism Within Ecological Limits: Expanding the Green New Deal

Sponsor: Sämu B. (he/they), Boston DSA

Co-Sponsors: Alexandria S. (she/her), At-Large

Coilean M. (he/ele/él), Metro DC DSA

Reasoning of Resolution:

WHEREAS, capitalism has brought humanity to the brink of annihilation by creating the conditions for a sixth mass extinction and catastrophic climate change; and,

WHEREAS, the continued rise of GHG concentrations has been fueled by the need  of global capitalism for increased profits through a cycle of endless, unsustainable economic growth; and,

WHEREAS, economic growth measured by the current standard of gross domestic product (GDP) fails to account for use-value in its calculations, labelling all production as growth, including harmful, toxic, exploitative and wasteful production processes and products; and,

WHEREAS, GDP fails to account for various elements that are important for societal well-being; instead, there are many sectors that will need to grow as we transition to ecosocialism, including but not limited to: healthcare, education, public transportation, public park spaces, renewable energy; and housing.

WHEREAS, science argues that our planet has finite resources that cannot sustain the standard of 3% economic growth per year needed to maintain a standard of profit that will satiate the greed of the global capitalist class; and,

WHEREAS, the primary way DSA and YDSA have thus far engaged with this existential threat has been through the framework of the Green New Deal, which has served as a locus of popular mobilization against the neoliberal status quo, yet; and,

WHEREAS, the Green New Deal has been stalled indefinitely by the undemocratic structures of the United States government, including the Senate and Presidency, proving the necessity of agitating for working class control of climate policy and a revolutionary transformation of society; and,

WHEREAS, the conditions where the Green New Deal Campaign Commission (GNDCC) developed the Building For Power campaign have significantly changed, through the newly elected republican supermajority at the federal level, eviscerating environmental policy and enforcement mechanisms that reduced environmental impact, albeit to a limited extent; and,

WHEREAS, at the 2024 YDSA Convention, R16.1 Ecosocialism Beyond the Green New Deal overwhelmingly passed by 93% in favor, amending YDSA’s platform to include defining socialism as “democratization of all of society in order to end oppression, exploitation, and domination of people and the planet” and to fight for an economy “democratically planned to meet human needs within ecological limits”; and urging DSA writ large to adopt analogous measures; and,

WHEREAS, the movement for a Green New Deal represents a significant step in fighting the ecological crisis, yet because the ecological crisis is rooted in the fundamental tendency of capitalism towards infinite economic growth on a finite planet, an ecosocialist program must also fight for a society beyond the logic of capitalism; and,

WHEREAS, the Green New Deal, furthermore, is an opportunity to fight for a broader, transformative ecosocialist program which connects us to radicalizing young and working people throughout the course of struggle; and,

WHEREAS, overcoming the ecological crisis will require reducing material and energy throughput in the Global North countries whose economies are the engine of climate catastrophe and mass extinction at the expense of the entire world, which will in turn require the restructuring of society to meet human needs without endless economic growth, a process known as degrowth, and,

WHEREAS, revolutionizing society at the scale and scope necessary to begin rationally governing the relationship between humanity and nature, i.e., to guarantee the survival of the human species, is an immense, long-term project which necessitates a political strategy that fights for and expands the Green New Deal; and,

WHEREAS, given the gravity of the crisis we face, and our belief that DSA is and should strive to continue to be the vanguard of the socialist movement, it is our responsibility as an organization to intervene decisively in the ongoing debate around both long-term and short-term ecosocialist strategy;

Action of Resolution:

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, DSA’s platform shall be amended as follows: (additions in red italics)

Capitalism has created an existential crisis for humanity through endless extraction, exploitation, and destruction of our planet. By c Chasing short-term profits and endless economic growth, without regard for the immediate and long-term impacts, climate change is yet another challenge humans will have to overcome in the 21st century. produces catastrophic climate change. The dynamic of exploitation for profit drives a system of endless accumulation, or growth, of capital wealth. Accompanying The changing climate is a part of a planetary crisis constituted by several major trends: the sixth mass extinction and biodiversity loss, reversible and irreversible destruction of life-support ecosystems, plastic and toxin accumulation in all biomass and organisms, habitat destruction due to mining and industrial agriculture, and dispossession of Indigenous land protectors from their sovereign territories, among others. in biodiversity that is historic at a geological level. Instead of pursuing a rational strategy based in ecological science to tackle the climate and ecological breakdown, the capitalist class ignores the IPCC’s call to action to halve emissions by 2030. As global greenhouse gas concentrations exceed 419 parts per million (ppm), the global capitalist class, led by the United States of America, has used it this crisis to further already-existing massive wealth inequality, suppress democracy, make jobs precarious, foster racialized and gendered violence, militarize borders, and start endless wars. The members of global society people of the Global South and other frontline communities in the Global North are made most vulnerable by imperialism and colonialism, a cycle fueled by the capitalist class’s pursuit of endless profit and growth for the capitalist class through the exploitation of labor and extraction of natural resources from their communities. Frontline communities are hit hardest and first, and the frontlines of while the climate crisis quickly rapidly expandings to threaten the whole working class of the United States of America. Economic elites defer their timelines of action to 2050 or later, well past the time they we have to deal with consequences of their failures—but faster decarbonization and reduction of material throughput will give all of us the greatest chance of avoiding more catastrophic climate tipping points. This means that DSA affirms what scientists have already observed: biophysical, planetary limits to economic growth exist. DSA is fighting for a social order that works for people and our planet, not profit. We’re fighting for a Green New Deal–within ecological limits–that shifts power to the working class, ends the domination of massive corporations over our lives, repairs our infrastructure, and regenerates living systems.

Our goal is a truly just transition to a sustainable worldwide economy that embraces humanity’s ecological limits, rejecting economic growth assessment that is not based on use value through societal and ecological needs care, that secures human flourishing for many generations to come. Our demands:

• Decarbonize the economy within a decade.
  • Mobilize all carbon-intensive sectors of the US economy to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions at the source as fast as technically possible, and shift from endless fossil-fueled growth to regenerative systems that abide by our ecological limits.
  • Build consensus throughout the Global North for decarbonization targets that greatly outpace those of less industrialized Global South countries, which have contributed the least to and will suffer the most from global warming, while highly industrialized societies have the greatest capacity to rapidly transform to zero-carbon systems.
  • Reject greenwashing campaigns relying on false solutions in the form of growth-enabling technologies, including forms of carbon capture and storage (CCS) such as direct air capture (DACCS) and bioenergy carbon capture and storage (BECCS). 
• Demilitarize, decolonize, and strive for a future of international solidarity and cooperation toward global climate justice.
  • Ensure that the domestic Green New Deal agenda does not negatively impact the working class in other countries, deepen colonial relations between Global North and South, or further the dispossession and exploitation of Indigenous people, but is instead consistent with and supports principles of global justice and liberation;
  • Enact policies and join in treaties to stop the global ecological crises. United States treaty commitments must account for our historical responsibility for the largest total and per capita greenhouse gas emissions, which will drive climate change for generations to come.
  • Establish decent living energy (DLE), the minimum amount of energy needed to live, and decent living standards (DLS), the material requisites of a good life.  …