Marxists and radical environmentalists have argued that the never ending drive for expanded accumulation and production is the fundamental reason that capitalism can never solve the environmental crisis, and in effect can only make the crisis more severe. Promoters of green capitalism also focus on the growth cycle of capitalism, but argue that new environmental technologies can out compete and be more profitable than the destructive means of production now in use. Both arguments overlook the effects of economic crisis as another element in our confrontation with environmental calamities, and yet, crisis plays an important role in the improbability of capitalism building a sustainable society.
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J. R. Harris (2013) studied this question.
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