Anarcho-Syndicalism and Ecology

Posted on January 14, 2009, filed Under Worker Struggle.

By Scott R.

Working class communities [especially, communities of color] have historically been used as industrial dumping grounds by capitalists [e.g., Love Canal, etc.]. WORKER SELF-MANAGEMENT enables us to stop using our children’s futures as open sewers [or using up our children’s futures]. We can question the goods we produce and the bi-products [pollution, global warming, extinction] from their production. We can also address proper worker safety in production. Unlike Capitalists, We will not prostitute our health, or the health of people in our community, for productivity [work speed-ups] or profit or a cost-benefit analysis [e.g., that told us it is cheaper to be sued than poison people]. We also don’t shutter manufacturing plants and move our business to another country [leaving polluted industrial sites].

Conservation

(1) WORKER SELF-MANAGEMENT will do away with the poverty which drives people to homestead wild lands. As workers we need to set aside a substantial portion of the worlds wild lands and oceans for preservation [as “primitive areas”] to prevent further deterioration of the planets ecosystem(s). These are the oxygen producing areas of the planet as well as plant and animal breeding areas. We can start with existing national parks, forests and wildlife areas. Areas developed under capitalism should be restored [e.g., replanting of forests, filling in mining areas]. Any future resource development should be based on need.

NOTE: There was a time when a lifetime of tribal knowledge from village elders enabled large numbers of people to live in harmony with the Earth in places like the Amazon Basin and the Yucatan: those cultures disappeared. The World is full of historical examples of ecosystems which were overwhelmed by population growth. There is a limit to the number of primitive people any ecosystem can naturally support before it fails.

(2) “Sustainable development” is an oxymoron [a contradiction, a lie] under capitalism: we need to protect the worlds food-producing areas against suburbanization and urban sprawl. Putting land use controls in the hands of communities and WORKER SELF-MANAGEMENT of agribusiness will help preserve agricultural lands from development. We should develop more organic and sustainable farming and animal husbandry methods to keep from exhausting existing farmland or sickening livestock, and stop clearing forests to create more farmland. We should increase fish farming to replace over-fishing of the Worlds oceans.

(3) Urban areas are the only place capable of accommodating the worlds population growth. Under capitalism, they are already distressed in many respects; with the greatest extremes in developing countries. We need more clean air, water and food in their natural environment. Sanitation, transportation, and housing are overwhelmed in their built environment. Self-management of communities, and cooperation between communities, are needed to create a healthier urban environment. Urban areas will continue to absorb populations migrating from elsewhere [from places no longer livable, or, where they were forced to leave].

Energy

The increasing heat in “Sun Belt” regions and urban areas during Summer seasons due to global warming puts increasing numbers of elderly people at risk of heat sickness and death in the event of a power failure and loss of electricity. Historically, air conditioning and elevators are credited with enabling the current population of the “Sun Belt” in the U.S. which is naturally largely desert and swamps [wetlands].

Burning fossil fuels is causing global warming. Rising oceans and increases in extreme weather: hurricanes and tornados are part of the Earth’s natural air conditioning system—they will increase in number and severity as global temperatures increase. The Earth’s hydrosphere is changing; dropping more rainfall further from the equator and increasing inland flooding and flood damage/mudslides [in the Midwest U.S., Korea, China, Bangladesh, Italy, Central America]. Old levy systems will no longer be able to protect people. Hurricanes temporarily destroyed oil producing areas in the Gulf of Mexico in 2005 [now rebuilt].

Burning fossil fuels in motor vehicles is also the #1 cause of air pollution; which has exceeded unhealthful levels in most large cities [especially, in developing countries]. We need to also beware of, and avoid, any corn-based, biomass or other fuel which is also burned to produce energy. We need to stop building neighborhoods which discourage walking and require driving.

The World cannot depend on nuclear power as a water heater for its power plants until spent nuclear fuel and control rod can be reprocessed and recycled 100%. We are already overwhelmed by low level radioactive nuclear waste from x-ray machines and other testing devices [e.g., from the medical industry]: no one wants to volunteer their community as a waste depository for fear it will contaminate drinking water.

With public utilities self-managed by their workers, we will want more cleaner sources of electricity. Renewable energy is the best option: photovoltaic solar panels and windmills [wind turbine generators] are the best where adequate sun or wind exists to support them [e.g., we can mount them on existing residential and workplace rooftops]. The latest solar cells are inexpensive to make; comparable to other sources of energy. We also want to electrify mass transit and [where practical] motor vehicles.

Sanitation

WORKER SELF-MANAGEMENT enables us to examine the appropriateness [practicality] of what our workplaces produce in terms of handling/storage of the hazardous materials required and the waste products produced as a result. We need to look at reducing the number of chemicals we expose ourselves to daily in our food, water and air: What can we do without to make life healthier?

We should manufacture items to be more durable: do away with “planned obsolescence” [capitalists design products to wear out quickly so we have to buy another one]. We can also look into “pre-engineering” products so that they disassemble into recyclable components once they are worn out and no longer usable.

Solid waste is overwhelming many cities [especially in developing countries] and needs to be recycled. It is close to overwhelming others. Greenwaste can be composted along with food waste for use as fertilizer. Recycled plastics and metals should be used to manufacture new plastic and metal products. Solid waste should be collected/cleaned from neighborhoods in a timely manner to prevent rodent infestations and other health problems.

We need 100% recycling of wastewater [and stormwater, where possible] in order to extend the capacity of existing drinkable water sources. We also need to revisit water resources made undrinkable by pollution and try to clean them up. Arbitration will be required to determine which communities have property rights to water and how much water they are entitled to [currently, the arbitrators are called “watermasters”: they should be replaced with a panel of experts delegated by affected communities.]. Water use should be based on Human need and the prevention of overdrafting [faster than replenished] or contaminating of groundwater.

Common Sense

WORKER SELF-MANAGEMENT is good for our health, and the health of our environment because we are no longer expendable. We no longer have to rely on official capitalist “experts” to tell us what’s good for us and what’s not, because workers have expertise about their own workplaces. Fortunately, healthy environmental practices are based on ideas that should be common sense [including]:

(1) The Earth is a finite resource [composed of finite resources]: if you use up a finite resource, you won’t have any left. Finite resources should be recycled.

(2) Agriculture is a closed system: whatever you dump in your water or soil ends up in your crops. Whatever you feed your crops will end up in the livestock you feed your crops to.

(3) Pollution is poison(s): poison is a persistent agent [it has a long life before nature begins to break it down]. Radioactive poison lasts forever [or close enough]. Don’t poison yourself or others.

(4) The more complex a man-made system, the higher the probability of failure: Natural methods of doing things [like farming] are usually healthier than the chemical method. “KISS principle”=Keep It Simple, Stupid.

(5) The values of a society affect the inherent morality of which technologies are developed and how they are used: control is an illusion; especially in nature [chaos is natural].

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