Ecological Materialism and Ecological Civilization

The immediate aim of ecological civilization is to improve the relationship between society and nature," declare Chen Yiwen and Wang Congcong in their insightful investigation of the ecological materialism fundamental to the eco-civilizational project. China's vision of an ecological civilization, they note, is "grounded in a specific material foundation…neither a romantic antimodernism nor a simplistic degrowth stance." However, to achieve its aims, China must "demonstrate a greater capacity than capitalist societies to regulate and harness" capital while developing "ecologically rational modes of production and living, and new strategies of modernization.