Mae DesTroismaisons
World Regional Geography
October 17, 2013
Professor Harlan Morehouse
On the evening of October 9, I attended a talk in Lafayette 210 called “What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know About Capitalism.” The speaker was former UVM Plant and Soil Science professor Fred Magdoff, who is the author of a book of the same title. The talk was sponsored by System Change Not Climate Change: The Ecosocialist Coalition and endorsed by The Monthly Review and the International Socialist Organization. The purpose of Magdoff’s presentation was to inform the audience about issues (mainly environmental) that come along with capitalism, and how we should be using a system that is motivated not by profit, but rather, by the needs of the people.
***
A student named Alex from UVM Socialists introduced Magdoff after giving a short speech of his own, which was extremely effective in getting the audience riled up about some of the social and environmental problems of capitalism (e.g. fracking, mountain top removal, asthma rates, cheap energy, and cheap labor) and how socialism seeks to solve some of them. Alex’s opening speech was certainly relevant, as his examples were applicable to the ideas presented by the featured speaker. By the time Magdoff was behind the podium, the entire audience was enthused and attentive. As the author of a book (or perhaps multiple books) on the subject, and as a former PSS professor at the University of Vermont, Fred Magdoff was a very credible choice for a guest speaker on the topic of capitalism and the environment.
The central point of Magdoff’s presentation was that the United States should switch from our current profit-driven political and economic system (capitalism) to a need-driven (non-capitalist) system that could be called socialism, and is described as follows:
Several conclusions were arrived at during this presentation. The first one was that in capitalism, “there is no such thing as enough, and there is no such thing as too much.” (That quote was my favorite thing that Magdoff said during his speech.) Since natural resources are limited, this is not a practical way to live. The second conclusion was that there are too many people in the world, the wealthiest ten percent of which use sixty percent of the resources. This led to the third conclusion, which was that poor people are not the problem—rich people are! By the time Magdoff finished speaking, the presentation felt complete, though some audience members did have remaining questions that were left unanswered in the speech. Luckily, there was a period of time allotted for a post-speech question and answer session and discussion.
***
I left after the presentation feeling a little angry about our current political and economic system, yet motivated to change it. I even bought a newspaper, The Socialist Worker, for one dollar from Alex (the introductory speaker) before leaving. In addition to the newspapers, there were a variety of books and pamphlets arranged on a table for audience members to look at and/or purchase at the end of the event. Included among these materials was Fred Magdoff’s book, What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know About Capitalism, as well as a few different issues of The Monthly Review, which is an independent socialist magazine. Unfortunately, I was not able to stay for long after the presentation, so I did not get a good look at the visual aids.
Students comprised the majority of the audience, but there were also faculty/staff in attendance and there might also have been some Burlington area community members present. The speaker seemed aware of this make-up, and I would guess that it was what he expected because his speech was well tailored for the group that came to see him. We all laughed at his jokes about BP, but we also took the points he was making with them. Personally, I found the speech quite interesting, for although I cannot label myself as a socialist, I can say that my political ideologies absolutely are anti-capitalist, so this was right up my alley. I would highly recommend that GEOG 050 students (and everyone) to go to a similar talk.
World Regional Geography
October 17, 2013
Professor Harlan Morehouse
On the evening of October 9, I attended a talk in Lafayette 210 called “What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know About Capitalism.” The speaker was former UVM Plant and Soil Science professor Fred Magdoff, who is the author of a book of the same title. The talk was sponsored by System Change Not Climate Change: The Ecosocialist Coalition and endorsed by The Monthly Review and the International Socialist Organization. The purpose of Magdoff’s presentation was to inform the audience about issues (mainly environmental) that come along with capitalism, and how we should be using a system that is motivated not by profit, but rather, by the needs of the people.
***
A student named Alex from UVM Socialists introduced Magdoff after giving a short speech of his own, which was extremely effective in getting the audience riled up about some of the social and environmental problems of capitalism (e.g. fracking, mountain top removal, asthma rates, cheap energy, and cheap labor) and how socialism seeks to solve some of them. Alex’s opening speech was certainly relevant, as his examples were applicable to the ideas presented by the featured speaker. By the time Magdoff was behind the podium, the entire audience was enthused and attentive. As the author of a book (or perhaps multiple books) on the subject, and as a former PSS professor at the University of Vermont, Fred Magdoff was a very credible choice for a guest speaker on the topic of capitalism and the environment.
The central point of Magdoff’s presentation was that the United States should switch from our current profit-driven political and economic system (capitalism) to a need-driven (non-capitalist) system that could be called socialism, and is described as follows:
- In the new system, there is democratic economic and political control. Currently, neither economics, nor politics, is controlled democratically.
- The purpose of the new system is to meet the basic human needs of all people, whereas the purpose of capitalism is to make money. A healthy environment is considered a basic human need in the new system.
- Sustainability is a top priority of the new system, which takes ecological approaches to virtually everything.
Several conclusions were arrived at during this presentation. The first one was that in capitalism, “there is no such thing as enough, and there is no such thing as too much.” (That quote was my favorite thing that Magdoff said during his speech.) Since natural resources are limited, this is not a practical way to live. The second conclusion was that there are too many people in the world, the wealthiest ten percent of which use sixty percent of the resources. This led to the third conclusion, which was that poor people are not the problem—rich people are! By the time Magdoff finished speaking, the presentation felt complete, though some audience members did have remaining questions that were left unanswered in the speech. Luckily, there was a period of time allotted for a post-speech question and answer session and discussion.
***
I left after the presentation feeling a little angry about our current political and economic system, yet motivated to change it. I even bought a newspaper, The Socialist Worker, for one dollar from Alex (the introductory speaker) before leaving. In addition to the newspapers, there were a variety of books and pamphlets arranged on a table for audience members to look at and/or purchase at the end of the event. Included among these materials was Fred Magdoff’s book, What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know About Capitalism, as well as a few different issues of The Monthly Review, which is an independent socialist magazine. Unfortunately, I was not able to stay for long after the presentation, so I did not get a good look at the visual aids.
Students comprised the majority of the audience, but there were also faculty/staff in attendance and there might also have been some Burlington area community members present. The speaker seemed aware of this make-up, and I would guess that it was what he expected because his speech was well tailored for the group that came to see him. We all laughed at his jokes about BP, but we also took the points he was making with them. Personally, I found the speech quite interesting, for although I cannot label myself as a socialist, I can say that my political ideologies absolutely are anti-capitalist, so this was right up my alley. I would highly recommend that GEOG 050 students (and everyone) to go to a similar talk.