David Targett
Dr. Kirsten Munro
Environmental Economics 3348
May 3, 2019
REVIEW ESSAY
The Ecological Rift
Capitalism’s War on the Earth
Written by John Bellamy Foster, Brett Clark, and Richard York
Foster, John Bellamy, et al. The Ecological Rift: Capitalism’s War on the Earth. Monthly Review Press, 2011
Goodstein, Eban S., and Stephen Polasky. Economics and the Environment. Wiley, 2017
Bullard, Robert D. Principles of Environmental Justice
Capitalism emerged as a form of economic organization during the 17th century. Individuals
began to accumulate capital and ultimately attain economic power and wealth. Everything was great,
that is, so we thought. The truth of the matter is that capitalism is an economic juggernaut that is
overexploiting the resources that nature provides to the human race, ultimately hindering the
environment’s ability to provide for the human race. The human race is inherently dependent on nature
and the environment as it provides the necessary energy and materials that allow life to flourish on this
planet. As put by the authors John Bellamy Foster, Brett Clark, and Richard York, capitalism “the
dominant economic paradigm is built on a value system that prizes capital accumulation in the short
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