The worldwide environmental destruction brought about by the explosive advance of global capitalism has plunged the planet into crisis. The
Agricultural production conducted by capital with the aim of making the most money in the least amount of time leads to heedless monocrop farming (the cultivation of the same crops in the same soil year after year). It takes time, though, for soil to replenish the nutrients consumed by crops. Capitalism might accelerate, but natural cycles remain constant. A rift is thus exposed between the temporality of capital and that of nature, the end result of which, in this case, is soil exhaustion. The land’s fertility withers, and harvests dwindle. Marx also discussed forestry as another example illustrating the same process. It takes decades to grow trees, but capitalism can’t wait that long for forests to renew themselves. Instead, cap i tal ists cut down entire forests in search of profit with no concern for natural cycles of regeneration. As technology advances, the pace of deforestation only quickens, resulting in the penetration and destruction of even the most remote wildernesses. Accordingly, the wastelands left behind capitalism grow only more vast. Capital takes no responsibility for the exhaustion of the soil or the destruction of the forests. Unable to sync itself with the temporality of nature, capital simply takes what it can to transform into commodities and sell with no concern for the future. Après moi, le déluge!—this is the slogan of the capitalist. While urban lifestyles become richer, as they are ground zero for commodity consumption, the price of this wealth is paid by the rural areas that suffer from issues like soil depletion and the destruction of the landscape. As a result, the quality of life of those that work and live in these rural areas deteriorates. But as Marx notes in the previous quote, even workers in the urban centers “blessed” with commodities are forced by capital to toil for long hours at the expense of their physical health and well-being. Ultimately, Marx clarifies, capitalism diminishes societal wealth for every one.
23 July 2026
