The Fireworks

By: Richard Smith

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Hardcover | 20 July 2020

At a Glance

Hardcover
320 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
23.0 x 15.0 x 2.24

Hardcover

$209.75

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As the world hurtles towards environmental oblivion, China is leading the charge. The country's CO2 emissions are more than double those of the US yet its GDP is just two-thirds as large. China leads the world in solar and wind energy generation but it's building new coal-fired power plants even faster than renewables. The country's lakes, rivers and aquifers are severely polluted. Twenty percent of China's farmland has been declared too toxic to farm. Yet this 'socialist' government still prioritizes growth over the environment. Why is China's environmental crisis so much worse than 'normal' capitalism most everywhere else, and why can't China's fiercely authoritarian government suppress pollution from its own industries?

Richard Smith argues China's economy is driven by extra-economic nationalist-industrialist imperatives which are more powerful than the maximization of profit. Yet both Western capitalism and China's 'communist-capitalism' are racing each other to apocalypse. He contends that nothing short of drastic industrial shutdowns and retrenchments, especially in China and the US, will suffice to slash emissions enough to save the planet - but implementing such policies without precipitating economic collapse will require a transition to ecosocialism.

This book brings together environmental science, political science, economics and sociology in a uniquely comprehensive analysis that will change the debate from market meliorism to the need for radical system change.

Industry Reviews

'Tracing China's environmental collapse to the Communist strategy of growth at all cost, this book deepens our understanding of China's massive impact on human sustainability. A bold, independent and necessary voice!'

-- Ching Kwan Lee, Professor of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles

'In this brilliant and strikingly original book, which has no equivalent in the existing literature on China, Richard Smith argues that the present hybrid bureaucratic-collectivist capitalist Chinese economy, driven by 'blind growth' and consumerism, is as unsustainable and ecocidal as its Western capitalist rivals. For both, the time for half measures has passed: only ecosocialism can save the planet, i.e. humanity, from environmental collapse.'

-- Michael Loewy, author of 'Ecosocialism: A Radical Alternative to the Capitalist Catastrophe' (Haymarket, 2010)

'Compassionate and powerful, Richard Smith envisions a new Chinese Dream through achieving a harmonious coexistence between human and nature. The book argues for a 21st Century ecosocialist democracy by calling for a "better mode of life" in China and the world.'

-- Jenny Chan, Assistant Professor, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

'A work of real insight. Richard Smith penetrates the defences of a fiercely autocratic regime to reveal how China's predatory development strategy is imperilling not just itself but our entire planet.'

-- William F. Laurance, Distinguished Research Professor, Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science, James Cook University, Australia and Singapore

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