Environmentalism in China
Environmentalism in China consists of philosophical concepts and the movement within China with the goals of preserving its environment and addressing environmental issues. Within the governing Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the concepts of ecological Marxism, eco-socialism, and ecological civilization are key elements of national environmental policy. These terms can be defined differently by various thinkers. Ecological Marxism is defined as the thought that capitalism accumulation has led to the eventual collapse of the environment through commodifying aspects of nature. Eco-socialism is like ecological Marxism but differs in the fact that it infuses traditional socialism with the environmental movement. Ecological civilization is the current term used by the Chinese government to explain their new environmental policy, yet whether it is considered radical or conservative is determined by who is analyzing the policy. While all these theories share similar foundations and views of the future, they are all theoretically different and view the methods to obtain their future differently. These theories have made an impact on China and the CCP in general on how they implement environmental protection and the language they use to describe the policies. Theoretical overview Ecological Marxism in China Ecological Marxism emerged in 1979 in the book Western Marxism: An Introduction, Classical and Contemporary sources by Ben Agger. Though it has been discussed since then by a wide array of thinkers, there is no set definition of the term, but more a collection of varying ideas. The term is based on the idea that the effects of capitalist accumulation and growth on the environment will lead to eventual collapse and that commodifying nature is unmanageable. The term ecological Marxism can be misleading since many can believe it will have a lot of scientific influences. Rather, ecology in this theory is referring to movements and ideas about nature and how capitalism relates to it. It discusses the failure of capitalists in understanding of nature and seeing its sources as inexhaustible and the relentless pollution and degradation of these natural resources. James O'Connor explains that ecological Marxism is "the drive for the endless accumulation of capital—and the state apparatuses that support that drive—leads to the undermining of the very processes that enable the reproduction of capital." Capitalism is inherently anti-ecological because it rests upon the destruction of the surrounding environment for the sake of accumulation. This accumulation rests upon having an outlet of unethical actions, such as dumping, and pollution with no end in sight. Since capitalism sees its future as endless growth, the surrounding environment itself must create an endless access to extract resources and dump waste. Furthermore, the resources that allow capitalism to produce more are treated as commodities, yet these aren't real commodities. Described as 'fictitious commodities', nature cannot be given a money value and this absence of exchange value creates a violent appropriation of resources by the state and capitalists. In China, ecological Marxism is being used as a guide to create a new ecological civilization. Yet while this theory may provide a basis for a