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Troy Vettese, Drew Pendergrass: Half-Earth Socialism (Paperback, 2022, Verso) 4 stars

Over the next generation, humanity will confront a dystopian future of climate disaster and mass …

Lots of interesting stuff, but ultimately a bit unsatisfying?

4 stars

Half-Earth Socialism is bracketed by two pieces of, I don't know, science fiction, describing a mid-century earth that's a geoengineering dystopia, and then a half-earth socialist utopia. In between is a lot of really thought-provoking material about topics such as BECCS, nuclear power, and other forms of half-earth rewilding, together with a discussion of neoliberalism and the socialist calculation problem. There's some really interesting, if a little mind-bending, description of how society could function without money. Ultimately, though, I'm not sure I'm convinced by the model they describe, nor by the way we might get there and, can I confess, I wasn't thrilled at the mention of dormitories in the future utopia?