Ecosocialism and Climate Change

passed by the National Convention 10/25/2025

The Earth's climate is experiencing destabilization, and our planet's ability to sustain life as we know it is in crisis. Socialists must join others in leading efforts to reduce human activities causing climate change to ecologically sustainable levels. Over 99% percent of studies agree that climate change is real and human-induced, and the consensus is that we must limit and stabilize global temperatures at the 1.5 degree Celsius target to prevent dangerous impacts to humans, flora, and fauna. The consequences of our actions and inactions regarding the destruction of our environment for ourselves and future generations mandate a naturalistic social responsibility inherent to humanist values.

WHEREAS human-generated greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel combustion are a leading cause of climate change, and

WHEREAS a transit system based on the automobile is a disaster waiting to happen. Cars waste resources and are a primary cause of climate change, and

WHEREAS deforestation and wildfire suppression are making forests more vulnerable to fires and reducing the ability of forests to sequester and store carbon, and

WHEREAS industrial animal production for food is inefficient in terms of land and water usage and often harms the environment because of animal waste, chemical runoff, and the creation of bacterial resistance to antibiotics, and

WHEREAS glaciers melting at heightened rates have been and are resulting in rising sea levels, threatening coastal populations and ocean ecology, and

WHEREAS global warming has contributed directly and indirectly to the loss of biodiversity and the destruction of critical biomes, and

WHEREAS the corollaries of these same changes are shifts in precipitation, resulting in droughts around the globe, and the increase in other extreme weather events, such as tsunamis and hurricanes, leading to food insecurity and famine, and decreased access to natural resources, including potable water, and WHEREAS climate change impacts everyone, disproportionately affecting already vulnerable populations, exacerbating unemployment, displacement, and homelessness, and WHEREAS drastic global climate change is a challenge facing all populations around the world;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the SOCIALIST PARTY USA, in the pursuit of climate justice,

AFFIRMS its support for the continued development and wide proliferation of renewable sources of energy and fuel, particularly wind and solar, and

AFFIRMS its support for moving from the idea that mobility is based on the individual to a system based on mass transit; people need to be moved from cars and planes to trains and buses, and

AFFIRMS its support of sustainable land use, forest conservation, and reforestation, and

AFFIRMS its support of the rights of indigenous peoples, who inhabit some of the world's most intact and biodiverse forests, to maintain their natural habitat in its original condition, and

AFFIRMS where direct restrictions are not employed, its support for a price on climate damaging substances and practices through pollution or use taxes and other disincentives, and

AFFIRMS its support for international funds for climate change mitigation and adaptation in developing countries, and

AFFIRMS its support for a cessation of fossil fuel extraction, particularly in ecologically and culturally important areas, and

AFFIRMS that access to clean air and clean and affordable water is necessary and important, and that governments act to protect these ecosystem resources, and

AFFIRMS its support for a coordinated global effort to manage and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As Socialists, we recognize we have a collective responsibility to create and maintain sustainable methods of living. As Socialists, we acknowledge that the damage done to our environment has been caused by human action and constitutes an existential threat to humanity and all remaining species of life. As Socialists, we understand that only coordinated human action can save us from the climate crisis we have created. Therefore, be it further resolved that the SOCIALIST PARTY USA urgently calls upon all of humanity to take personal and collective action to save our planet.