Western Eco-socialism And Its Inspiration For Eco-civilization Construction In China

Since the 20th century, with the continuous and worldwide expansion of the modernized industry, such abominable situations as overuse of natural resources, environment pollution and extinction of species have come into shape. Global ecological crisis and environment pollution has captured the attention of people all over the world. Therefore, a scientific understanding of the relationship between human beings and Mother Nature and the protection of environment on which humanity rely for existence should be urgently dealt with. It is just under such circumstances that eco-socialism came into being. Taking the study of our living environment as its objective, eco-socialism is centered on the ecological effects to be achieved, pursuing a harmonious development between human being and nature. The study of eco-socialism is of great theoretical and practical significance, since it offers us a new perspective to examine the problems concerning the superiority of socialism over capitalism.To be sure, eco-socialism cannot be equated with scientific socialism; however, with enough attention paid to the historical destiny of humanity and continuous efforts to build a sustainable social development, eco-socialism attains a considerable success in advancing theories and carrying out practices with regard to the getting rid of the existing ecological crisis. Eco-socialism provides an environmental-friendly alternative for us to choose in constructing China's Eco-civilization and harmonious socialist society, thus playing an essential role in building eco-civilization. This paper consists of three parts.The first part is a brief introduction to the foundation and development of eco-socialism. The author analyses the social and historical conditions behind its foundation and elaborates on the origin and development of its theories, arguing that as a newly-emerging western ideological trend, there must be some profound historical driving force and theoretical background behind the germination, foundation and development of eco-socialism. The author states that the development of eco-socialism has undergone three phases during only a few decades, from immaturity to maturity, from imperfection to imperfection, and from a marginal status to a center one.The second part puts forward an illustration on the basic views of eco-socialism, followed by some comments on them. The author first explains that eco-socialism emphasizes on a harmonious relationship between human beings and nature, pointing out that the origin of eco-crisis is the capitalist system. The author believes that while criticizing capitalism, eco-socialism ponders over the prospect of socialism and envisions the mode of future socialism from a unique angle. Then, on the basis of a theoretical analysis of major schools of ecologism, the author locates their one-sidedness and inaccuracy and states that their criticism of the socialist system has far from surpassed Marxism's insightful understanding of the capitalist society. And the ecologists' proposal of putting ecological protection above all is particularly impractical and unrealistic.The third part is eco-socialism's inspiration for eco-civilization construction in China. The author holds that eco-socialism reflects on the contemporary value of socialism on the basis of a careful examination of the inherent contradictions of capitalism and global environment challenge, that it proposes a green forum for development for humanity to live harmoniously with nature and at the same time puts forward certain strategies bursting with vitality. The author is firmly convicted that under the guidance of the Scientific Outlook on development, eco-socialism is a positive source of reference in correctly understanding our environmental problems and improving our natural environment, and in building a harmonious socialist society. This paper concludes by listing 8 specific fields to which we should direct our efforts in enhancing China's construction of eco-civilization:improving the leadership in environmental protection and construction; enhancing the realization of the importance of ecological environment development; establishing ecological consciousness; advocating the concept of moderate consumption; increasing the influence of technical support; carrying out ecological environment protection and treatment according to law; perfecting the mechanism to guarantee a desirable input in ecological environment protection; and promoting public participation.