On the Decline of Capitalist Civilization and the Construction of a New Form of Human Civilization from an Ecological Perspective

Western capitalist civilization has historically contributed to the progress and development of human civilization, but it possesses different characteristics from Eastern civilization. Since the development of modern capitalism, European and American capitalist civilization has gradually become synonymous with Western civilization. In its early stages, it indeed greatly promoted the development of productive forces and had a positive effect on the development of human society and the improvement of human welfare. However, with the passage of history, the insurmountable contradictions of capitalism have become increasingly prominent (the two world wars are a marker of this), leading to a succession of economic and social crises in European and American countries. In response to these crises, the capitalist system has continuously adjusted itself, but constrained by its inherent and increasingly acute contradiction between private ownership of the means of production and socialized large-scale production, the struggle between the global proletariat and the bourgeoisie has become ever more intense. Since the end of the Cold War and the global spread of neoliberalism, capitalist civilization has gradually lost its positive role in promoting the development of human society, becoming increasingly reactionary and irrational, concentratedly manifested in its frequent triggering of global crises. Among the many global crises, the ecological crisis is clear evidence that capitalist civilization is approaching collapse. In this regard, the author, from the perspective of the confrontation between the logic of capital and the logic of life, argues that Western capitalist civilization will inevitably be replaced by a new form of human civilization represented by China.

西方资本主义文明在历史上为人类文明发展进步作出了贡献，但与东方文明有不同特质。自近代资本主义发展以来，欧美资本主义文明逐渐成为西方文明的代名词，它在发展初期的确极大推动了生产力发展，对人类社会发展、人类福祉提升产生了积极作用。但是，随着历史发展，资本主义不可克服的矛盾越来越突出地表现出来（两次世界大战就是其标志），导致欧美各国经济社会危机层出不穷。为了应对这些危机，资本主义制度不断进行调适，但囿于自身固有且越来越尖锐的生产资料私有制与社会化大生产之间的矛盾，全球无产阶级与资产阶级的斗争变得越来越激烈。自冷战结束、新自由主义在全球泛滥以来，资本主义文明逐渐丧失其促进人类社会发展的正面作用，变得越来越反动和丧失理性，集中表现为频繁诱发全球性危机。在众多全球性危机中，生态危机更是资本主义文明接近崩溃的明证。对此，笔者从资本逻辑与生命逻辑相对抗的角度出发，论证西方资本主义文明必将为以中国为代表的人类文明新形态所取代。

I. The Loss of Neoliberal Legitimacy from the Perspective of Its Anti-Ecological Nature

一、从反生态性看新自由主义合法性丧失

Capitalism’s attitude toward nature has undergone a process of development and transformation. In its early stages, capitalism regarded nature as a means of production that could be used “for free.” The development of capitalism required the injection of immense natural forces, so capitalist countries first engaged in predatory exploitation of their own natural resources. When their domestic natural resources became relatively scarce, they turned to plundering other countries around the world—the development of Dutch capitalism from the 16th to the 17th century and its global expansion serve as an example. Specifically, due to its own relative scarcity of forest resources, the Netherlands imported timber from Northern and Eastern European countries, and after plundering one area, it moved on to continue plundering another.

资本主义对自然的态度经历了一个发展、转变过程。在发展初期，资本主义将自然看作可以“免费”使用的生产资料。资本主义的发展需要注入巨大的自然力，因此资本主义国家先对本国自然资源进行掠夺式开采，在本国自然资源相对匮乏时，就到世界上的其他国开展掠夺——荷兰资本主义在16世纪至17世纪的发展及其全球扩张就是例证。具体而言，由于本国的森林资源比较匮乏，荷兰便从北欧、东欧等国进口木材，并且从一地掠夺完就转到另一地继续掠夺。

As capitalism’s penetration of the entire social relations and structure deepened, the finiteness of natural resources and environmental carrying capacity manifested in the form of ecological and environmental crises. Consequently, natural elements began to attract the attention of the capitalist system, giving rise to “ecological modernization,” which advocates the scientific use of nature. Subsequently, the pace of capitalist globalization accelerated, and ecological and environmental crises became increasingly severe. The capitalist system was forced to respond, attempting, without altering the private ownership of the means of production under capitalism, to resolve the climate crisis through market mechanisms and various policy agreements, thereby achieving a transition to “green capitalism”—this trend is clearly visible in the history of capitalist development since the end of World War II. After World War II, capitalism developed rapidly, but ecological and environmental crises also erupted frequently. In the 1960s and 1970s, works such as *Silent Spring* and *The Limits to Growth* represented the emergence and development of environmental awareness among the public in Western developed countries. With the development of Western economic and social crises and the deepening of the stagflation crisis, Keynesianism gradually withdrew from the historical stage, and neoliberalism began to rise. Western capitalist countries then advocated using market mechanisms to solve environmental problems, that is, adopting the “green capitalism” development path of externalizing environmental costs. From then on, Western countries began to transfer large numbers of labor-intensive and environmentally polluting industries to other developing countries, euphemistically calling this “industrial upgrading.” In the global expansion of the capitalist system, “industrial upgrading” and the tiered transfer of low-end industries have been ongoing and have not ceased to this day. In this way, Western capitalist countries have achieved localized environmental improvement and ecological optimization. However, this has come at the cost of more countries and regions in the world being “infected” with the “virus” of capital. Therefore, we must recognize: capitalism has indeed brought about unprecedented growth in productive forces, but it has also brought about unprecedented destruction of the ecological environment by humanity—these two “unprecedenteds” are concomitant.

随着资本主义对整个社会关系和结构的渗透越来越深入，自然资源和环境承载力的有限性便以生态环境危机的形式呈现。于是，自然要素开始引起资本主义体系的关注，主张科学利用自然的“生态现代化”应运而生。之后，资本主义全球化步伐越来越快，生态环境危机也越来越严峻，资本主义体系不得不做出反应，妄图在不改变资本主义生产资料私有制的前提下，通过市场化机制和各种政策协约来解决气候危机，实现向“绿色资本主义”的转型——这一趋势在第二次世界大战结束以来的资本主义发展史中清晰可见。第二次世界大战后，资本主义迅速发展，但生态环境危机也频频爆发。20世纪六七十年代，《寂静的春天》《增长的极限》等著作代表了西方发达国家民众环保意识的萌生和发展。随着西方经济社会危机发展和滞胀危机的深化，凯恩斯主义逐渐退出历史舞台，新自由主义开始兴起，西方资本主义国家又主张以市场机制解决环境问题，即采纳将环境成本外部化的“绿色资本主义”发展路径。自此开始，西方国家开始将大批劳动密集型、环境污染性产业向其他发展中国家转移，美其名曰“产业升级”。在资本主义体系的全球扩张中，“产业升级”和低端产业的梯级转移一直在发生，至今也未停歇。由此，西方资本主义国家实现了局部地域性的环境改良和生态优化。但是，这却以世界上更多国家和地区“感染”资本的“病毒”为代价。因此，我们要看到：资本主义的确带来了生产力史无前例的增长，但也带来了人类对生态环境史无前例的破坏——这两个“史无前例”是相伴而生的。

From its very birth, capitalism has treated laborers and nature in an instrumental manner. For capitalism, the significance of laborers and natural resources lies in their exchange value; therefore, both appear in the capitalist market in the form of commodities. In the capitalist system, the production services of laborers and nature are subordinate to the production of profit, i.e., the accumulation of surplus value. As machine-based large-scale production replaced workshop handicraft production, the means of producing surplus value shifted from the production of absolute surplus value to the production of relative surplus value. Consequently, capital’s absorption of labor developed from formal absorption to real absorption. In the stage of formal absorption, for example in workshop handicrafts, the skill of individual workers had an impact on the entire production process, and workers possessed a certain degree of autonomy and subjectivity; in the stage of real absorption, for example in machine-based large-scale industrial production, workers become completely dependent on the multidimensional network of capitalist technology and social organization, thereby being thoroughly reified. Similarly, in its early stages, capitalism primarily sought “quantitative expansion” by plundering resources and energy around the world; by the stage of capitalist globalization, especially since capitalist countries implemented neoliberalism, natural resources have become even more marketized and commodified, completely reduced to subordinate elements of capitalist production. At the same time, capital actively engages in various artificial transformations of nature, such as inventing and creating “natural commodities” like genetically modified crops, ecological credits, ecological futures, and environmental derivatives for capital accumulation.

资本主义甫一诞生就以工具化态度对待劳动者和自然界。对于资本主义而言，劳动者和自然资源存在的意义就在于具有交换价值，因此二者都以商品面目出现在资本主义市场中。在资本主义体系中，劳动者和自然界的生产服务、从属于利润的生产即剩余价值的积累，而随着机器大生产取代工场手工业生产，生产剩余价值的途径从绝对剩余价值生产转向相对剩余价值生产。由此，资本对劳动实现了从形式吸纳向实质吸纳的发展。在形式吸纳阶段，比如在工场手工业中，单个工人的技术对整个生产过程具有影响力，工人具有一定程度的自主性和主体性；到了实质吸纳阶段，比如机器大工业生产中，工人就完全依赖于资本主义技术和社会组织的多维网络，从而被彻底物化。与之类似，在发展初期，资本主义主要通过在世界各地掠夺资源能源来寻求“量的扩张”；发展到资本主义全球化阶段，尤其是自从资本主义国家实施新自由主义以来，自然资源就更加市场化、商品化，完全沦为资本主义生产的从属性要素，与此同时，资本还积极对自然开展各种各样的人为改造，如发明创造出转基因作物、生态信用、生态期货、环境衍生品等用于资本增殖的“自然商品”。

A major difference between neoliberalism and other forms of capitalism is its weakening of the role of the state. After the state withdraws from the field of environmental regulation, capital fully enters the ecological and environmental field and takes two steps to capitalize nature: the first step is to “propertize” and “privatize” natural things such as natural resources; the second step is to “commodify” and “marketize” natural resources, i.e., make them “tradable,” thereby extracting the exchange value of natural resources and enabling the owners of natural resources to obtain economic benefits. Since the 21st century, carbon emission rights have entered market trading, which has played a certain role in limiting overall carbon emissions in Western countries. However, we must clearly recognize that, on the one hand, carbon emissions trading is implemented on the basis of a certain level of development of productive forces and the living standards of the country’s own people; on the other hand, it is conditional on the global tiered transfer of polluting industries. The capitalist production system is characterized by global production, global consumption, and the global dumping and emission of pollutants, which means that the optimization of the ecological environment in one country not only does not equal the optimization of the global ecological environment, but inevitably comes at the cost of the deterioration of the ecological environment in another country. Therefore, in the long run, if the fundamental contradictions inherent in capitalism are not resolved and the economic growth model is not changed from the perspective of building a clean and beautiful world, then within the community of life on Earth, it is utterly impossible to imagine “maintaining one’s own purity in isolation.” Even if Western capitalist countries achieve environmental improvement in the short term, in the face of the global impact of ecological and environmental degradation, “when the nest is overturned, how can the eggs remain intact?” [1]1 “When the nest is overturned, how can the eggs remain intact?” (覆巢之下，安有完卵) is a Chinese idiom meaning that when the whole is destroyed, its parts cannot survive; it is used here to argue that no country can escape the consequences of global ecological crisis in isolation.

新自由主义不同于其他资本主义形态的一个主要做法是削弱国家作用。国家退出环境管制领域后，资本全面进入生态环境领域并采取了两个步骤将自然界资本化：第一步是将自然资源等自然界事物“产权化”“私有化”，第二步是将自然资源“商品化”“市场化”即使之“可交易”，这样就可以发掘出自然资源的交换价值，使自然资源的所有者获得经济利益。21世纪以来，碳排放权开始进入市场交易，这对西方国家整体上的碳排放起到了一定程度的限制作用。但是，我们必须清醒地看到，碳排放交易一方面是在生产力发展和本国人民生活水平达到一定发达程度的基础上实施的，另一方面又以污染产业的全球梯级转移为条件。资本主义生产体系具有全球生产、全球消费、全球污染物倾倒和排放等特征，这使得一国的生态环境优化不仅不等于世界生态环境的优化，而且必然以另一国的生态环境恶化为代价。因此，长远来看，如果不解决资本主义蕴含的基本矛盾、不以建设清洁美丽的世界的视角出发改变经济增长模式，那么，在地球生命共同体中，妄想“独善其身”根本不可能。即便西方资本主义国家在短期内实现了环境改良，但面对生态环境恶化的全球影响，“覆巢之下，安有完卵”？

Governments that pursue neoliberal policies increasingly conspire with financial capital, transnational capital, and other forces, supporting capital and responding to the demands of big capital while cutting public expenditures on public welfare, public utilities, education, healthcare, and social services. In the financial crisis since 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic beginning in 2020, the experiences of Western populations are clear evidence. On one hand, government inaction and the decline of public services have posed serious threats to human well-being; on the other hand, capital forces that “profit from crises,” “profit from disasters,” and “profit from pandemics” have grown increasingly powerful. Capital accumulates without restraint, while poverty inevitably deepens. When a mode of production and an economic-social system can no longer provide the vast majority of people with public goods such as a clean environment, ample necessities of life, and good welfare, it loses its legitimacy and justification for existence. However, in order to survive by dragging out its existence, neoliberalism does not hesitate to conspire with neo-fascism, frequently inciting populist and nationalist violence. In this sense, we can even consider the connection between neoliberalism and global violence: neoliberalism uses cultural narratives of gender, ethnicity, religion, and race to dissolve economic and political narratives, uses new social movements to dissolve class struggle, constantly stirs up trouble around the world, shifts the principal contradiction amid various disorders, and vainly attempts to reverse the trend of neoliberalism’s continuous decline toward extinction.

奉行新自由主义政策的政府日益与金融资本、跨国资本等势力合谋，支持资本、回应大资本的需求，削减公共福利、公用事业、教育医疗、社会服务等公共支出。在2008年以来的金融危机和自2020年开始的新冠疫情中，西方民众的遭遇便是明证。一方面政府不作为、公共事业下滑对人类福祉造成了严重威胁，另一方面“发危机财”“发灾难财”“发疫情财”的资本势力日益坐大。资本无法节制地积累着，同时贫困无可避免地深化着。当一种生产方式和经济社会制度不能为最广大人民提供清洁的环境、充沛的生活必需品、良好的福利等公共产品时，它就丧失了存在的正当性和合法性。但是，为了苟延残喘地生存下去，新自由主义不惜与新法西斯主义合谋，频繁诱发民粹主义、民族主义暴力。在此意义上，我们甚至可以思考新自由主义与全球暴力的关联：新自由主义以性别、民族、宗教、种族等文化叙事消解经济政治叙事，以新社会运动消解阶级斗争，在世界各地不断煽风点火，在种种乱象中转移主要矛盾，妄图扭转新自由主义不断走向衰亡的命运。

Since the 2008 international financial crisis, European and American countries have implemented “Green New Deals” to address the climate crisis and economic-social crises, but with little effect. In stark contrast, since the New Era, China’s ecological civilization construction has achieved remarkable results in a short period. The fundamental reason lies in China’s leadership by the Communist Party of China, the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, and a strong and effective national governance system and governance capacity. In this regard, Carlos Martinez keenly pointed out: “The 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change proposed stabilizing greenhouse gas emissions and preventing human-induced climate change. More than 30 years have passed, and there has been almost no progress at the global level. In fact, more than half of the carbon dioxide emissions from the industrial age have been generated during these 30 years. This is simply because the dominant economic system in the world is capitalism. When society is primarily organized around the pursuit of private profit rather than the long-term needs of humanity, the issue of saving the planet is never placed first. China’s economic development is carried out according to national plans rather than the disorder of the market, and its private profits are subordinated to social needs. China’s huge investments in developing renewable energy, improving energy efficiency, electric vehicles, afforestation, and waste recycling are all implemented according to strategic guidelines formulated by the government, invested by state-owned banks, and carried out by state-owned enterprises. Just as the social welfare of European socialist countries in the mid-20th century put enormous pressure on the capitalist ruling class, forcing them to make concessions to the working class—for example, in universal education, public housing, and healthcare systems—similarly, China’s environmental strategy in the 21st century has also put pressure on the capitalist ruling class, forcing them to stop destroying the planet and commit to climate justice. China

2008年国际金融危机以来，欧美国家为应对气候危机和经济社会危机实行“绿色新政”，但收效甚微。与之形成鲜明对比，新时代以来，中国的生态文明建设在短期内取得显著成效。根本原因在于，中国有着中国共产党的领导、中国特色社会主义制度以及坚强有效的国家治理体系和治理能力。对此，卡洛斯·马丁内斯（Carlos Martinez）敏锐指出：“1992年联合国气候变化框架公约就提出来稳定温室气体排放、防止人为引起的气候变化，30多年过去了，全球层面上几乎没有什么进展，甚至工业时代二氧化碳排放的一半多都是在这30年间产生的。这仅仅是因为在世界上占统治地位的经济制度是资本主义，当社会首要的是围绕着私人利润的追求、而不是人类的长期需要而组织起来的时候，拯救星球的问题就从来不会被置于首位，而中国的经济发展是根据国家规划而不是市场的无序来进行的，其私人利润服从于社会需要，中国在发展可再生能源、提高能源效率、电动车、植树造林、垃圾循环利用等方面的巨大投资都是根据政府制定的战略指导方针、由国有银行来投资、由国有企业来实施的。20世纪中期欧洲社会主义国家的社会福利对资本主义统治阶级造成巨大的压力，迫使他们对工人阶级做出让步，比如在普及教育、公益住房、医疗保健制度等方面，与之类似，21世纪中国的环境战略对于资本主义统治阶级也造成了压力，将迫使他们停止破坏星球并致力于气候正义。中国现在是对抗气候崩溃的无可争议的领导者，其领导效应也在全球层面产生了回响，这对于我们的人类物种和我们的星球来说，意义深远。”

II. Viewing the Western Capitalist Civilization as Already on Its Last Legs from the Antagonism between the Logic of Capital and the Logic of Life

二、从资本逻辑与生命逻辑的对抗看西方资本主义文明已在末途

Since the 21st century, signs that Western capitalist civilization, represented by the United States, is on its last legs have frequently appeared. The 2008 global financial crisis, which began with the US subprime mortgage crisis and later evolved into a financial and economic crisis sweeping the globe, severely damaged the world economy, causing a sharp rise in unemployment and a decline in people's living standards. Consequently, the US and the West encountered a rare economic and social crisis, highlighting the shortcomings of their national governance capabilities. In the face of the crisis, China turned the tide, transforming the crisis into an opportunity by actively developing environmental protection, new energy, sustainable agriculture, social security, and other undertakings. This not only enabled China to weather the impact of the crisis smoothly but also made a tremendous contribution to the recovery of the world economy. From 2007 to 2008, the global financial crisis originating in the United States exposed comprehensive economic and social crises such as the US economy shifting from real to virtual sectors and financial bubble formation, sounding the clarion call for the complete collapse of neoliberalism. When capitalism developed to the stage of financial capitalism, the exploitation of people by industrial capitalism deepened through credit cards and consumerism to exploit people's future lives (i.e., people's future time). When it developed to the stage of digital capitalism, the exploitation of people by industrial capitalism deepened through information and the internet to exploit people's spiritual lives (i.e., people's inner lives). In short, capital is like a "snake game," constantly encroaching on one "virgin territory" after another until

21世纪以来，以美国为代表的西方资本主义文明走向末途的征兆频现。2008年全球金融危机始于美国次贷危机，后来演变为席卷全球的金融经济危机，重创全球经济，造成失业率激增和民众生活水平下降。由此，美西方遭遇罕见经济社会危机，国家治理能力短板凸显。面对危机，中国力挽狂澜，化危机为先机，积极发展环保、新能源、可持续农业、社会保障等事业，不仅使自身平稳渡过危机冲击，而且为世界经济复苏作出巨大贡献。2007年至2008年，肇始于美国的全球金融危机暴露了美国经济脱实向虚、金融泡沫化等全面的经济社会危机，吹响了新自由主义全面崩溃的号角。当发展到金融资本主义阶段，工业资本主义对人的剥削就通过信用卡、消费主义等深入发展到对人的未来生命（即人的未来时间）进行剥削。发展到数字资本主义阶段，工业资本主义对人的剥削又通过信息、网络深入发展到对人的精神生命（即人的内在生命）进行剥削。总之，资本就像“贪吃蛇”一样，不断蚕食一个个“处女地”，直到不得不“首尾相食”。对新冠疫情的失败应对，充分暴露出美西方的民主危机、国家治理危机以及资产阶级政府的合法化危机，加之近几年美国对中国发起贸易战、退出巴黎协定之后又重返，一切均指向一个事实：苏联解体、东欧剧变以来新自由主义秩序，经过席卷全球的喧嚣并被证明是失败的和灾难性的之后，已经步入穷途末路。美国公然践踏国际规则、挑战国际秩序，对中国采取种种打压挑衅行为，完全是图穷匕见、拼死一搏，体现了其能量消失殆尽前的最后疯狂。

Western capitalist civilization is already on its last legs; the decline of its global hegemony is merely the surface phenomenon, and what truly plays a role is the inherent contradiction of capitalism. The generation of surplus value depends on the living labor of the worker, but capitalism ceaselessly crushes, squeezes, and encroaches upon the biological life of the worker, causing the worker's living labor to be constantly eroded until it withers, and then it seeks out the next victim. Capital constantly breaks through its external boundaries and internal boundaries, spatial boundaries and temporal boundaries, living like a virus by sucking on life. Living by means of the "external" yet ceaselessly transforming the "external" into the "internal," thriving on diversity yet ceaselessly turning diversity into uniformity—this is the paradox of the logic of capital, and also its inherent trait. Therefore, capital possesses self-devouring nature: breaking all boundaries until it destroys itself. Marx acutely pointed out the contradiction of the logic of capital: "The real barrier of capitalist production is capital itself. It is that capital and its self-expansion appear as the starting and the closing point, as the motive and the purpose of production; that production is only production for capital, and not the reverse, the means of production are not mere means for a constant expansion of the living process of the society of producers. The preservation and expansion of capital-value, which rests on the expropriation and pauperization of the great mass of producers, can move only within certain limits. These limits are in constant conflict with the methods of production which capital must employ for its own purpose and which drive towards an unlimited increase of production, production for the sake of production, an unconditional development of the social productive forces of labour. The means—the unconditional development of the social productive forces—comes into constant conflict with the limited end, the expansion of the existing capital. Hence, if the capitalist mode of production is a historical means for developing the material forces of production and for creating a world market corresponding to them, it is at the same time a constant contradiction between this its historical task and the social relations of production corresponding to it." "Capitalist production, therefore, develops technology, and the combining together of various processes into a social whole, only by sapping the original sources of all wealth—the soil and the labourer." To realize its own self-expansion, the logic of capital must constantly break through all boundaries or limits; however, the Earth's ecosystem has a carrying capacity limit, and the vitality of the laborer has a limit. Thus, there is an insurmountable contradiction between capital, which pursues the infinite, and finite life. The capitalist system is a self-devouring structure; when it has exploited to the extreme the laborers who produce surplus value and the means of production (including natural resources and the carrying capacity of the natural environment), it also destroys the foundation for its own continued existence. Therefore, the assertion that "the limit of capital is capital itself" itself possesses ecological implications.

西方资本主义文明已在末途，其全球霸权的衰落只是表象，真正起作用的是资本主义的固有矛盾。剩余价值的产生有赖于工人的活劳动，但资本主义不停碾压、挤占、蚕食工人的生物生命，使工人的活劳动不断被侵蚀以致枯萎，然后再去寻找下一个受害者。资本不断突破其外在疆界和内在疆界、空间疆界和时间疆界，像病毒一样靠吸食生命而活。靠“外部”而活但又不停化“外部”为“内部”，靠多样性而繁荣但又不停将多样性变为单一性，这是资本逻辑的悖论，也是它与生俱来的特质。因此，资本具有自噬性：打破一切界限，直到自我毁灭。马克思敏锐地指明了资本逻辑的矛盾：“资本主义生产的真正限制是资本自身，这就是说：资本及其自行增殖，表现为生产的起点和终点，表现为生产的动机和目的；生产只是为资本而生产，而不是反过来生产资料只是生产者社会的生活过程不断扩大的手段。以广大生产者群众的被剥夺和贫穷化为基础的资本价值的保存和增殖，只能在一定的限制以内运动，这些限制不断与资本为它自身的目的而必须使用的并旨在无限制地增加生产，为生产而生产，无条件地发展劳动社会生产力的生产方法相矛盾。手段——社会生产力的无条件的发展——不断地和现有资本的增殖这个有限的目的发生冲突。因此，如果说资本主义生产方式是发展物质生产力并且创造同这种生产力相适应的世界市场的历史手段，那么，这种生产方式同时也是它的这个历史任务和同它相适应的社会生产关系之间的经常的矛盾。”“资本主义生产发展了社会生产过程的技术和结合，只是由于它同时破坏了一切财富的源泉——土地和工人。”资本逻辑为了实现自身增殖要不断突破一切界限或极限，但是，地球的生态系统有承载极限、劳动者的生命力有极限。由此，追求无限的资本与有限的生命之间就有着不可克服的矛盾。资本主义体系是一个自噬结构，当把生产剩余价值的劳动者与生产资料（包括自然资源、自然环境承载力）剥削到极致时，它也就毁灭了让自己持存下去的基础，因此，“资本的界限只是资本自身”的论断本身就具有生态学意蕴。

The source of the internal contradiction of capitalism lies in the separation of labor from the means of production (manifested as wage labor and capital), which transforms the production of use value (in pre-capitalist modes of production) into the production of commodities, the production of exchange value, and the production of surplus value (in the capitalist mode of production), making the pursuit of capital's self-expansion the sole purpose of capitalist production. Exchange value requires the measurability of labor value; therefore, abstract labor occupies a dominant position in the capitalist mode of production. The rule of capitalism is the rule of abstraction; "fetishism" is the manifestation of this abstraction. Classical political economy lacked the analysis of the form of value; hence, it regarded the production of abstract value as a natural, universal, and eternal existence, thereby constituting an objective form of thought. However, classical political economy did not recognize that the production of abstract value is merely a specific, historical existence of the capitalist mode of production. Capitalist society is a society where "the abstract rules the concrete" and "the idea rules matter"; capital's production of abstract time and space makes abstraction a characteristic of capital. Therefore, the social relations of capitalism are a "community of things," that is, a false community, opposed to the Marxist "association of free individuals," that is, the true community.

资本主义内在矛盾的源头在于劳动与生产资料（体现为雇佣劳动与资本）的分离，这使得（前资本主义生产方式中的）使用价值生产转变成（资本主义生产方式中的）商品生产、交换价值生产、剩余价值生产，追求资本增殖成为资本主义生产唯一目的。交换价值要求劳动价值的可计量，因此，抽象劳动就在资本主义生产方式中占据了统治地位。资本主义的统治是抽象性统治，“拜物教”就是这种抽象性的表现。对价值形式的分析是古典政治经济学缺少的，由此，它认为抽象价值的生产是一种自然、普遍、永恒的存在，进而构成一种具有客观性的思维形式。但是，古典政治经济学没有认识到，抽象价值生产只是资本主义生产方式所特有的、历史性的存在。资本主义社会是一个“抽象统治具体”“理念统治物质”的社会，资本对于抽象时空的生产使得抽象性成为资本的特质。因此，资本主义的社会关系是“物的共同体”即虚假共同体，与马克思主义的“自由人联合体”即真正共同体对立。

Therefore, the logic of capital has only short-term and immediate economic interests, and not the long-term interests of the entire human species, such as species survival interests and ecological interests. However, we cannot directly assume that capitalists represent economic interests while the working masses represent species interests. In capitalist society, the conditions for becoming the working class include: first, having no means of production; second, living by selling labor power; third, working hours exceeding wage hours; fourth, living by relying on the market. Consequently, within the capitalist relations of production, the working masses can only prioritize their own survival. In capitalist society, the economy is the "universal light" [2]2 "Universal light" (普照的光) is a metaphor used by Marx in the *Grundrisse* to describe how a dominant mode of production colors and determines all other relations in a given society.; everything is ruled by the logic of capital. Constrained by basic conditions of survival such as necessities, education, and healthcare, workers are naturally also alienated—as individuals, the worker's wish is to get rich, and the ideal is to become a capitalist, not class liberation and human liberation. Although the antagonism in capitalist society is directly manifested as the opposition between the working class and the capitalist class, behind it lies the confrontation between the logic of capital and the logic of life. Only by changing the entire institutional framework, so that labor is combined with the means of production—that is, the ownership of the means of production belongs to the whole society—can the production and reproduction of immediate life be carried out. Since human social needs are to a certain extent constructed by society and culture, only then can the needs of workers be liberated from the market or direct economic interests. For the working masses to unite as a class force, the guidance of scientific theory and the leadership of a vanguard party of the proletariat are indispensable. For the current climate movements in Western capitalist countries, ideological propaganda such as "austerity" and "green" cannot fundamentally change anything; what is more promising and more effective is for the working masses to unite, under the leadership of a Marxist party, to carry out large-scale class struggle, transform the entire relations of production, and implement public ownership where labor is directly combined with the means of production. Only by overthrowing the capitalist system can the logic of life prevail over the logic of capital, can naturalism equal humanism, and can the victory of public interest (which embodies individuality within commonality) over private interest (purely selfish individuality), socialization over privatization, and sustainable rational development over unsustainable irrational development be achieved. Therefore, realizing the decarbonization transformation of the entire society and fundamentally resolving the climate crisis and the human survival crisis must be premised on a revolution in the ownership of the means of production. The free and comprehensive development of the individual's personality is embedded in this healthy and sustainable commonality; in other words, only by realizing the genuine public ownership and socialization of the means of production can people establish and develop a strong public (common) sector, thereby establishing the foundation, premise, and guarantee for human well-being (the right to survival, the right to health, and the right to development).

因此，资本逻辑只有短期和眼前的经济利益，而没有整个人类物种的持存利益、生态利益等长远利益。但是，我们不能直接认为，资本家代表经济利益，工人群众则代表物种利益。在资本主义社会，成为工人阶级的要件包括：第一，没有生产资料；第二，靠出卖劳动力为生；第三，工作时间超过工资时间；第四，依靠市场而活。因此，在资本主义生产关系中，工人群众只能首要关注自我生存。在资本主义社会中，经济是“普照的光”，一切都受到资本逻辑统治，工人由于受到生活必需品、教育、医疗等生存基础条件的制约，自然是也会被异化——作为个体，工人的愿望是发家致富，理想是成为资本家，而不是阶级解放和人类解放。资本主义社会的对抗虽然直接表现为工人阶级与资本家阶级的对立，但背后却是资本逻辑与生命逻辑的对抗。只有改变整个制度框架，使劳动与生产资料相结合，即生产资料所有权归全社会所有，才能进行直接生活的生产与再生产。人的社会需要在一定程度上被社会和文化所建构，因此只有在这时，工人的需求才能从市场或直接的经济利益中解放出来。工人群众要统一为阶级力量，离不开科学理论的指导与无产阶级先锋队政党的领导。对于当前西方资本主义国家的气候运动而言，“节约”“绿色”等意识形态宣传不能从根本上改变什么，更有前途、更有实际效果的毋宁是工人群众团结起来，在马克思主义政党领导下进行大规模的阶级斗争，变革整个生产关系，实行劳动与生产资料直接结合的公有制。只有推翻资本主义制度，才能让生命逻辑压倒资本逻辑，才能让自然主义等于人道主义，才能实现寓个体性于公共性之中的公共利益对于私人利益（纯粹自私的个体性）、社会化对于私有化、可持续的理性发展对于不可持续的非理性发展的胜利。因此，实现全社会的脱碳转型、从根本解决气候危机和人类生存危机，要以生产资料所有权的革命为前提。人的自由全面的个性发展寓于这种健康可持续的公共性，换言之，只有实现了真正的生产资料公有化、社会化，人们才能建立和发展强大的公共（公用）部门，从而为人类的福祉（生存权、健康权、发展权）建立基础、前提和保障。

Many environmentalists criticize the consumerism of wealthy countries, believing that the consumerist lifestyle of the rich and middle classes in affluent nations is the source of carbon emissions. However, this is not the essence of the problem. Production determines consumption; the mode of production determines the mode of consumption and lifestyle. It is the capitalist mode of production that determines its imperialist lifestyle. The infinity of the logic of capital confronts the finitude of the logic of life; everything is subsumed under the "universal light" [3]3 "Universal light" (普照的光) is a metaphor used by Marx in the Grundrisse to describe how capital dominates and reshapes all aspects of society in the capitalist mode of production. of the logic of capital, and capitalists are no exception. The bourgeoisie is the embodiment of the logic of capital, but it itself is also a tool for capital to extract profit. In fact, once the logic of capital is formed, it possesses its own will and life, like the red dancing shoes in Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale: whoever puts them on can only dance until death, utterly unable to stop. As long as an individual capitalist is subsumed by the logic of capital, they will inevitably be consumed by it as well. In reality, cases of individual capitalists dying from overwork or suffering from mental disorders are not uncommon. Therefore, under the capitalist mode of production, the alienation of people is universal; having money does not mean having happiness. Because capital possesses an endogenous abstract driving force that constantly seeks its own self-expansion, it will break through all boundaries of (carbon-based) life (whether capitalist or worker), using the abstract to rule the concrete. For example, people's spiritual life should be active, fulfilling, and joyful, but under the manipulation of capital, it becomes passive, empty, and exhausting. People can only engage in genuine production when they are free from material needs; spiritual production is truly human production.

许多环保人士抨击富裕国家的消费主义，认为富国的富人和中产阶级的消费主义生活方式是产生碳排放的源头。但是，这并不问题的实质。生产决定消费，生产方式决定消费方式和生活方式，是资本主义生产方式决定了其帝国式的生活方式。资本逻辑的无限性对抗生命逻辑的有限性，一切都被资本逻辑这个“普照的光”所统摄，资本家也不例外。资产阶级是资本逻辑的化身，但其自身也是资本赚取利润的工具。事实上，资本逻辑一旦形成，就会具有自身的意志和生命，就像安徒生童话中的红舞鞋，穿上它的人只能跳舞至死，根本停不下来。资本家个体只要被资本逻辑所统摄，必定也会被其消耗殆尽。现实中，资本家个体过劳死或患上精神障碍并不罕见，因此，在资本主义生产方式下，人的异化是普遍存在的，并不是有了钱就有了幸福。由于具有不断追求自身增殖的内生抽象驱动力，资本会突破（碳基）生命（资本家也好、工人也罢）的一切界限，以抽象统治具体，比如，人的精神生活本应是主动、充实、愉悦的，但是资本操纵下的精神生活却成为被动、空虚、疲惫的。人只有在没有物质需要的情况下，才能进行真正的生产；精神生产是真正属人的生产。

With the development of science and technology and the rapid leap in productive forces, the material means of production and livelihood in human society have become increasingly abundant. On the one hand, this has brought about the false prosperity of consumerism; on the other hand, it has led to the extreme instrumentalization and extreme alienation of both humanity and nature. The capitalist relations of production "have become too narrow to contain the wealth they themselves create," [4]4 Quotation from Marx, Capital, Vol. 3, Chapter 15, referring to the contradiction between the growth of productive forces and the confines of capitalist relations of production. and "the productive forces at society's disposal no longer serve to promote the development of bourgeois civilization and bourgeois relations of production; on the contrary, they have become too powerful for these relations, and are hampered by them." [5]5 Quotation from Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto, Chapter 1, describing the historical obsolescence of bourgeois relations of production. The overall progress of human society, the free and comprehensive development of individuals, and the preservation of the preconditions for human existence (the carrying capacity of nature) all urgently call for socialist public ownership to replace capitalist private ownership. As the Western left-wing scholar John Molyneux stated, "There is a larger change underway—a change of civilization. Western White Civilization (WWC) has three characteristics: first, the capitalist exploitation of the planet and its people; second, the endless manufacture of war; and third, a mentality of double standards and arrogant superiority. But WWC is obsolete; our task is to ensure its demise is as swift and peaceful as possible. It is time to end the exploitation of humanity and the planet." [6]6 John Molyneux, a British Trotskyist theorist and activist, known for his work on Marxist theory and ecology.

随着科技发展和生产力飞速跃迁，人类社会物质生产生活资料愈加充沛。这一方面带来了消费主义的虚假繁荣，另一方面导致 了人与自然的极端工具化与极端异化。资本主义生产关系“已经太狭窄了，再容纳不了它本身所造成的财富了”，“社会所拥有的生产力已经不能再促进资产阶级文明和资产阶级所有制关系的发展；相反，生产力已经强大到这种关系所不能适应的地步，它已经受到这种关系的阻碍”。人类社会的整体进步、人的自由而全面的发展、人类生存前提条件（自然界的可承载性）的持存，都迫切呼唤社会主义公有制代替资本主义私有制。正如西方左翼学者约翰·莫利纽克斯（John Molyneux）所言，“存在着一种进行中的更大的变革——文明的变革。白人西方文明（WWC）有三个特点：一是对人民的星球的资本主义剥削，二是没完没了的制造战争，三是双重标准和傲慢自大的精神特质。但WWC已经过时了，我们的任务是确保它的消逝尽可能地快速和和平。是时候终结对人类和星球的剥削了”。

III. Observing the Rise of a New Form of Human Civilization from the Achievements of Ecological Civilization in the New Era of China

三、从新时代中国生态文明建设成就看人类文明新形态兴起

The ecological and environmental crisis appears to be a problem of the natural world, but its root cause lies in human activities. How humans engage in production and daily life, what modes of production, lifestyles, and social systems they adopt, and how they organize social life—all of these directly affect the state of the natural world. The state of the natural world, in turn, directly reacts back on human social life. Therefore, humanity and nature are a community of life.

生态环境危机看似自然界问题，实质根源于人类活动。人类如何从事生产生活活动、采取什么样的生产生活方式和社会制度、如何组织社会生活等，都会直接影响自然界的状况。自然界的状况又直接反作用于人类社会生活。因此，人与自然是生命共同体。

After more than a century of capitalist modernization, global productive forces have achieved tremendous development. However, global ecological and environmental destruction has also affected the healthy cycle of the biosphere, leading to serious problems such as climate anomalies, frequent natural disasters, and intensified global environmental pollution, threatening the survival of people in all countries. During a certain period in our country, under the influence of the one-sided pursuit of GDP growth, serious ecological and environmental problems also accumulated. The people's demands for reducing pollution, protecting the environment, and improving ecology have significantly increased. Seeking happiness for the people and rejuvenation for the nation is the original aspiration and founding mission of the Communist Party of China. To meet the people's aspirations for a better life and improve their quality of life, the ecological and environmental problem has become a major practical issue that urgently needs to be solved by the Chinese Communists. At the same time, ecological civilization construction is also an important arena for demonstrating the superiority of the socialist system over the capitalist system, playing a significant role in China's participation in international competition, enhancing its international discourse power, and establishing a positive image as a major country. The reason is that the ecological environment is the most intuitive impression a region or country gives to people. In this regard, Xi Jinping said: "If ecological civilization construction is done well, it will be a plus for socialism with Chinese characteristics; if not, it will become an excuse for forces with ulterior motives to attack us." [7]7 Xi Jinping, speech on ecological civilization construction, circa 2018–2019, emphasizing the political stakes of environmental governance.

经过一个多世纪的资本主义现代化，全球生产力取得了极大发展，但全球生态环境破坏也影响了生物圈的良性健康循环，导致地球气候异常、自然灾害频发、全球环境污染加剧等严重问题，威胁着世界各国人民的生存。我国一个时期以来在片面追求国内生产总值增长思路的影响下，也积累了严重的生态环境问题，人民群众对于减缓污染、保护环境、改良生态的诉求显著增强。为人民谋幸福、为民族谋复兴是中国共产党的初心使命。为了满足人民群众对美好生活的向往，提高人民群众生活质量，生态环境问题已成为亟须中国共产党人解决的重大现实问题。与此同时，生态文明建设也是体现社会主义制度对资本主义制度优越性的重要场域，在我国参与国际竞争、提升国际话语权、建立正面积极大国形象等方面发挥着重要作用。原因在于，生态环境是一个地区或国家给人最直观的感受。对此，习近平说：“生态文明建设做好了，对中国特色社会主义是加分项，反之就会成为别有用心的势力攻击我们的借口。”

The new form of human civilization created by Chinese-path modernization is a new form of socialist civilization, transcending both the capitalist form of civilization and the traditional socialist development model. This is mainly reflected in the following four aspects:

中国式现代化创造的人类文明新形态是社会主义文明新形态，超越了资本主义文明形态和传统社会主义发展模式，主要体现在以下四方面：

First, our country's ownership of the means of production is based on public ownership as the mainstay, with multiple forms of ownership developing together. This effectively balances fairness and efficiency, allowing the people-centered development philosophy and common prosperity for all people to transcend the logic of capital and the capitalist polarization where a tiny minority possesses the vast majority of property. Second, our country adheres to the concept of systematic and coordinated development, using the coordinated development of the economy, society, politics, culture, and ecology, along with the free and comprehensive development of people, to transcend the capitalist one-sided and distorted development view—namely, "economism" and the alienated development of people. Third, our country implements a development model where economic development and ecological improvement occur simultaneously in time and space, overcoming the typical capitalist development model of "develop first, clean up later." "Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" [8]8 "Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" (绿水青山就是金山银山) is a famous slogan of Xi Jinping, first articulated in 2005 during his tenure in Zhejiang Province, encapsulating the idea that ecological protection is compatible with economic development. elaborates on the relationship between economic development and ecological environmental protection, reveals the principle that protecting the ecological environment means protecting productive forces and improving the ecological environment means developing productive forces, and points out a new path for achieving synergy between development and protection. "Lucid waters and lush mountains" are not only natural and ecological wealth but also social and economic wealth. Protecting the ecological environment means protecting natural value and increasing natural capital, means protecting the potential and staying power of economic and social development, and enabling lucid waters and lush mountains to continuously deliver ecological and economic-social benefits. To fundamentally solve the ecological and environmental problem, it is necessary to implement the development concepts of innovation, coordination, green, openness, and sharing; green development is an important component of the new development concepts. Ecology and economy are not two separate fields but an organic unity—this concept can only become a reality under the socialist system. "Practice shows that ecological environmental protection and economic development are a dialectical unity, complementing each other. Building an ecological civilization and promoting green, low-carbon, circular development can not only meet the people's growing needs for a beautiful ecological environment but also promote higher-quality, more efficient, fairer, more sustainable, and safer development, forging a path of civilized development featuring increased production, higher living standards, and healthy ecosystems." [9]9 Quotation from Xi Jinping, speech at the National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection, 2018. "Our country's modernization is the modernization of harmony between humanity and nature, focusing on simultaneously advancing material civilization and ecological civilization." [10]10 Quotation from Xi Jinping, speech on Chinese-path modernization, circa 2020–2021, linking ecological civilization to the broader modernization agenda. Fourth, our country promotes the Belt and Road Initiative based on the principle of "extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits" to steer the world toward a path of peaceful and green development, overcoming the capitalist model of brutal aggression and plunder globally, which is selfish and only beneficial to its own country. The concept of a community with a shared future for mankind proposed by our country has been widely accepted by the international community.

第一，我国生产资料所有制是公有制为主体、多种所有制经济共同发展，这有效平衡了公平与效率，让以人民为中心的发展思想和全体人民共同富裕超越资本逻辑和极少数人占有绝大多数财产的资本主义两极分化。第二，我国坚持系统协调发展理念，以经济、社会、政治、文化、生态协调发展和人的自由而全面发展超越了资本主义的片面畸形发展观即“唯经济论”和人的异化发展。第三，我国实行经济发展和生态改良同时空进行的发展模式，克服了在资本主义发展过程中较典型的“先发展后治理”的经济社会发展模式。“绿水青山就是金山银山”，这阐述了经济发展和生态环境保护的关系，揭示了保护生态环境就是保护生产力、改善生态环境就是发展生产力的道理，指明了实现发展和保护协同共生的新路径。“绿水青山”既是自然财富、生态财富，也是社会财富、经济财富。保护生态环境就是保护自然价值和增值自然资本，就是保护经济社会发展潜力和后劲，使绿水青山持续发挥生态效益和经济社会效益。要从根本上解决生态环境问题，必须贯彻创新、协调、绿色、开放、共享的发展理念，绿色发展属于新发展理念的重要内容。生态与经济不是两个彼此独立的领域，而是有机统一体——这一理念只有在社会主义制度下才能变为现实。“实践表明，生态环境保护和经济发展是辩证统一、相辅相成的，建设生态文明、推动绿色低碳循环发展，不仅可以满足人民日益增长的优美生态环境需要，而且可以推动实现更高质量、更有效率、更加公平、更可持续、更为安全的发展，走出一条生产发展、生活富裕、生态良好的文明发展道路。” “我国现代化是人与自然和谐共生的现代化，注重同步推进物质文明建设和生态文明建设。”第四，我国以坚持“共商共建共享”原则的“一带一路”倡议推动全球走向和平绿色发展之路，克服资本主义对全球进行野蛮侵略掠夺、只对本国发展有利的自私自利模式。我国提出的人类命运共同体理念，被国际社会广泛接受。

Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, our Party has profoundly answered the major theoretical and practical questions of “why to build an ecological civilization,” “what kind of ecological civilization to build,” and “how to build an ecological civilization,” putting forward a series of new concepts, new ideas, and new strategies. In advancing ecological civilization in the New Era, the principles that must be upheld include: the principle of harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature; the principle that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets; the principle that a good ecological environment is the most inclusive public good for people’s wellbeing; the principle that mountains, waters, forests, farmlands, lakes, and grasslands constitute a community of life; the principle of protecting the ecological environment with the strictest systems and the most rigorous rule of law; and the principle of jointly pursuing global ecological civilization. The report to the 18th National Congress of the CPC explicitly incorporated ecological civilization into the overall plan for the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, pointing out that ecological civilization is an important component of the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan and the Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy, and emphasizing the need to strive to build a beautiful China. On April 10, 2013, during an inspection tour in Hainan Province, Xi Jinping stated: “Protecting the ecological environment means protecting productive forces, and improving the ecological environment means developing productive forces. A good ecological environment is the fairest public product and the most inclusive public good for people’s wellbeing.” Ecological issues, linked to economic development, improvement of people’s lives, the health of the masses, and a better life, have become one of the key considerations for the Party Central Committee in leading the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Xi Jinping pointed out: “The success or failure of ecological environmental protection ultimately depends on the economic structure and the mode of economic development.” “We must adhere to protecting the environment in the course of development and developing the economy while protecting the environment, achieving coordination between economic and social development and population, resources, and the environment.” On November 28, 2016, in an instruction on doing a good job in ecological civilization construction, Xi Jinping stated: “We must earnestly implement the new development philosophy, establish a strong awareness that ‘lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets,’ and strive to move toward a new era of socialist ecological civilization.”

党的十八大以来，我们党深刻回答了“为什么建设生态文明”“建设什么样的生态文明”“怎样建设生态文明”的重大理论和实践问题，提出了一系列新理念新思想新战略。在新时代推进生态文明建设，必须坚持的原则包括：人与自然和谐共生的原则、绿水青山就是金山银山的原则、良好生态环境是最普惠的民生福祉的原则、山水林田湖草是生命共同体原则、用最严格制度最严密法治保护生态环境原则、共谋全球生态文明建设原则。党的十八大报告明确把生态文明建设列入中国特色社会主义事业总体布局，指出生态文明建设是“五位一体”总体布局和“四个全面”战略布局的重要内容，强调要努力建设美丽中国。2013年4月10日，习近平在海南省考察工作时提出：“保护生态环境就是保护生产力，改善生态环境就是发展生产力。良好的生态环境是最公平的公共产品，是最普惠的民生福祉。”生态问题与经济发展、人民生活改善、人民群众身体健康、美好生活联系在一起，已经成为党中央领导建设中国特色社会主义事业重点考虑的内容之一。习近平指出：“生态环境保护的成败，归根结底取决于经济结构和经济发展方式。”“要坚持在发展中保护、在保护中发展，实现经济社会发展与人口、资源、环境相协调”。2016年11月28日，习近平在关于做好生态文明建设工作的批示中提出：“要切实贯彻新发展理念，树立‘绿水青山就是金山银山’的强烈意识，努力走向社会主义生态文明新时代。”

The “New Era” is rich in connotation, and a very important part of it is the new era of socialist ecological civilization. The construction of socialist ecological civilization must follow the path of institutionalization and rule of law. In this regard, the Party and government have not only established the “four beams and eight pillars” [11]11 “Four beams and eight pillars” (四梁八柱) is a Chinese idiom referring to the main supporting framework of a structure; here it metaphorically denotes the fundamental institutional framework of the ecological civilization system. of the ecological civilization system but have also used this as a legal basis to strengthen the implementation of environmental supervision, seriously investigate and punish illegal and disciplinary acts in ecological and environmental protection, and implement the responsibility system for leading cadres in ecological civilization construction. In the cadre assessment system, the ecological environment has become an important indicator, which directly reflects the top-level design of the Party Central Committee for socialist ecological civilization construction. The ecological environment is a systemic issue concerning the overall situation; fragmented and piecemeal actions are of no avail. Our country is a socialist country, with public ownership occupying the dominant position; this is the economic foundation for our ecological civilization construction. The Communist Party of China is the leading core. Under the guidance of the people-centered development philosophy, the Party Central Committee takes the lead in conducting ecological and environmental supervision, carrying out overall planning, systematic design, unified command, and management, placing the heavy responsibility of ecological environmental protection and improvement on Party committees and governments at all levels, and ensuring that the central authorities’ decisions and deployments are implemented consistently. It is precisely for this reason that since the New Era, our country’s ecological environmental protection has been able to undergo historic, transformative, and comprehensive changes, enabling China to achieve “bluer skies, greener mountains, and cleaner waters,” and continuously enhancing the people’s sense of happiness.

“新时代”内涵丰富，其中十分重要的就是社会主义生态文明的新时代。社会主义生态文明建设要走制度化、法治化道路。对此，党和政府不仅建立了生态文明体制的“四梁八柱”，更以此为法制依据，加强落实环境督查，严肃查处生态环境违法违纪行为，落实领导干部生态文明建设责任制。在干部考核制度中，生态环境成为重要指标，这直接体现了党中央对社会主义生态文明建设的顶层设计。生态环境是事关总体的系统性问题，各自为政、碎片化的行动于事无补。我国是社会主义国家，公有制占主体地位，这是我们进行生态文明建设的经济基础。中国共产党是领导核心，在以人民为中心的发展理念指导下，党中央领头进行生态环境督查，进行总体布局、系统谋划、统一指挥和管理，把生态环境保护和改善的重任压到各级党委和政府，保证中央决策部署一贯到底。正因如此，新时代以来我国生态环境保护才能发生历史性、转折性、全局性变化，中华大地才能实现“天更蓝、山更绿、水更清”，人民群众的幸福感才能得到不断提升。

On May 18, 2018, at the National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection, Xi Jinping further elevated ecological and environmental issues to the level of political and social issues, pointing out: “The ecological environment is a major political issue concerning the Party’s mission and purpose, and also a major social issue concerning people’s livelihood.” As the principal contradiction in our society has transformed into the contradiction between the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development, the broad masses of the people eagerly hope to accelerate the improvement of ecological and environmental quality. The people’s hearts are the greatest politics; therefore, continuously meeting the people’s growing needs for a beautiful ecological environment constitutes an important political issue. In this regard, Xi Jinping pointed out: “Developing the economy is for people’s livelihood, and protecting the ecological environment is also for people’s livelihood.” The increase in global climate change and natural environmental problems has caused great negative impacts on human production and life, and actively responding to climate change has become a major practical issue that all countries in the world urgently need to address. Against this background, China actively participates in and leads the global response to climate change. As Xi Jinping pointed out, China “has incorporated achieving peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality into the overall layout of ecological civilization construction, taking the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development as the guide, and the green and low-carbon development of energy as the key, to accelerate the formation of an industrial structure, mode of production, lifestyle, and spatial pattern that conserves resources and protects the environment, and unswervingly follow the path of ecological priority, green and low-carbon high-quality development.”

2018年5月18日，在全国生态环境保护大会上，习近平进一步将生态环境问题提升至政治和社会问题的高度，指出：“生态环境是关系党的使命宗旨的重大政治问题，也是关系民生的重大社会问题。”随着我国社会主要矛盾转变为人民日益增长的美好生活需要和不平衡不充分的发展之间的矛盾，广大人民群众热切期盼加快提高生态环境质量。人心是最大的政治，不断满足人民日益增长的优美生态环境需要因此构成重要政治问题。对此，习近平指出：“发展经济是为了民生，保护生态环境同样也是为了民生。”全球气候变化和自然环境问题增多对人类生产生活造成极大负面影响，积极应对气候变化成为世界各国亟须解决的重大现实问题。在这一背景下，中国积极参与和引领应对全球气候变化，正如习近平指出，中国“把碳达峰、碳中和纳入生态文明建设整体布局，以经济社会发展全面绿色转型为引领，以能源绿色低碳发展为关键，加快形成节约资源和保护环境的产业结构、生产方式、生活方式、空间格局，坚定不移走生态优先、绿色低碳的高质量发展道路。”

In the practice of ecological civilization construction, our country fully leverages the political advantages of the Party’s leadership and the socialist system’s ability to concentrate resources on major tasks, strengthens top-level design, builds a modernization featuring harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature, sets dual carbon goals [12]12 “Dual carbon goals” (双碳目标) refers to China’s announced targets to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060., improves and perfects the system of ecological governance supervision institutions, coordinates regional collaborative development and integrated governance, holds the red line of ecological security, strengthens the publicity and education of ecological civilization concepts, adheres to the integrated governance of mountains, waters, lakes, forests, grasslands, and deserts, and simultaneously carries out ecological governance and improvement in both urban and rural areas. In this regard, Xi Jinping pointed out: “Ecology is a unified natural system, an organic chain of interdependence and close connection.” “We must seek new ways of governance from the perspective of systems engineering and the overall situation, and can no longer treat the head when the head aches and the foot when the foot hurts, each managing their own affairs and hindering each other. Instead, we must take overall consideration, implement holistic measures, adopt multiple approaches simultaneously, and carry out ecological civilization construction in all areas, all regions, and all processes.”

在生态文明建设实践中，我国充分发挥党的领导和社会主义制度集中力量办大事的政治优势，加强顶层设计，建设人与自然和谐共生的现代化，制定双碳目标，完善健全生态治理监管制度体系，统筹区域协同发展治理一体化，守住生态安全红线，加强生态文明理念宣传教育，坚持山水湖河林草沙一体化治理、城市乡村生态治理和改良同时进行。对此，习近平指出：“生态是统一的自然系统，是相互依存、紧密联系的有机链条。”“要从系统工程和全局角度寻求新的治理之道，不能再是头痛医头、脚痛医脚，各管一摊、相互掣肘，而必须统筹兼顾、整体施策、多措并举，全方位、全地域、全过程开展生态文明建设。”

Since the New Era, under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, our country has achieved remarkable results in green development. The green spatial pattern has been basically formed, the industrial structure has been continuously adjusted and optimized, green production methods have been widely promoted, green lifestyles have gradually become fashionable, and the systems and mechanisms for green development have been gradually improved. In 2021, our country’s forest coverage rate reached 24.02%, and the forest stock volume reached 194.93 billion cubic meters. The forest coverage rate and forest stock volume have maintained “double growth” for more than 30 consecutive years, making China the country with the largest increase in forest resources and the largest area of artificial afforestation in the world. Our country has also taken the lead globally in achieving “zero growth” in land degradation, and “double reduction” in the area of desertified land and sandified land, playing a significant positive role in the global goal of achieving zero growth in land degradation by 2030. Since 2000, our country has always been the main force in global “greening,” with about one-quarter of the global increase in green area coming from China. As of the end of 2021, the proportion of clean energy consumption in our country rose from 14.5% in 2012 to 25.5%, and the proportion of coal consumption fell from 68.5% in 2012 to 56.0%; the installed capacity of renewable energy power generation exceeded 1 billion kilowatts, accounting for 44.8% of the total installed power generation capacity, of which the installed capacities of hydropower, wind power, and photovoltaic power generation all exceeded 300 million kilowatts, ranking first in the world. In addition, our country has always been an important participant, contributor, and leader in global ecological civilization construction, actively participating in global climate governance, promoting the joint construction of a green Belt and Road Initiative, signing more than 50 cooperation documents on ecological environmental protection with relevant countries and international organizations, jointly launching the “Belt and Road” Green Development Partnership Initiative with 31 co-building countries, and jointly establishing the “Belt and Road” Energy Partnership with 32 co-building countries.

新时代以来，在习近平生态文明思想指导下，我国绿色发展取得显著成就，绿色空间格局基本形成，产业结构持续调整优化，绿色生产方式广泛推行，绿色生活方式渐成时尚，绿色发展体制机制逐步完善。2021年，我国森林覆盖率达24.02%，森林蓄积量达194.93亿立方米，森林覆盖率和森林蓄积量连续30多年保持“双增长”，是全球森林资源增长最多和人工造林面积最大的国家。我国还在世界范围内率先实现了土地退化“零增长”，荒漠化土地和沙化土地面积“双减少”，对全球实现2030年土地退化零增长目标发挥了重大积极作用。2000年以来，我国始终是全球“增绿”主力军，全球新增绿化面积中约1/4来自中国。截至2021年年底，我国清洁能源消费比重由2012年的14.5%升至25.5%，煤炭消费比重由2012年的68.5%降至56.0%；可再生能源发电装机突破10亿千瓦，占总发电装机容量的44.8%，其中水电、风电、光伏发电装机均超3亿千瓦，均居世界第一。此外，我国始终是全球生态文明建设的重要参与者、贡献者和引领者，积极参与全球气候治理，推进共建绿色“一带一路”，与有关国家及国际组织签署50多份生态环境保护合作文件，与31个共建国家共同发起“一带一路”绿色发展伙伴关系倡议，与32个共建国家共同建立“一带一路”能源合作伙伴关系。

Our country has transcended the path of Western capitalist countries, which only seek partial environmental improvement in their own countries, by jointly pursuing the path of global ecological civilization construction. In stark contrast to our country’s approach, Western capitalist countries have transferred pollution globally, causing multiple adverse consequences such as climate change and global ecological crises. Outside the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Western capitalist countries have joined forces to promote the construction of a carbon tariff mechanism, yet they cannot escape the intention of “expanding their low-carbon advantages, seizing important positions in the global green industrial chain, and reaping ‘low-carbon dividends’ through the formulation of international climate rules.”

我国以共谋全球生态文明建设之路超越了西方资本主义国家只谋求本国局部环境改良之路。与我国做法形成鲜明对比，西方资本主义国家将污染全球转移，造成气候变化、全球生态危机等多重恶果。在《联合国气候变化框架公约》之外，西方资本主义国家联手推动碳关税机制建设，却难逃“扩大其低碳优势，抢占全球绿色产业链重要地位，通过国际气候规则的制定来收割‘低碳红利’”的居心。

Xi Jinping pointed out: “Addressing climate change requires all countries in the world to work together and make joint efforts; no country can stand aloof or be immune from it.” [13] The Belt and Road Initiative enables the concept and practice of ecological civilization to benefit the people of all countries, assisting countries along the Belt and Road in achieving green and low-carbon transformation. China has cooperated with many developing countries on

习近平指出：“应对气候变化需要世界各国同舟共济、共同努力，任何一国都无法置身事外、独善其身。”“一带一路”倡议让生态文明的理念和实践造福各国人民，助力“一带一路”沿线国家实现绿色低碳转型。中国与许多发展中国家在绿色发展项目上有合作，包括赞比亚、南非、肯尼亚、阿根廷和古巴等。从中非共和国的萨凯光伏发电厂、肯尼亚的加里萨太阳能发电厂，到埃塞俄比亚的阿伊萨风力发电厂、赞比亚的卡富埃峡谷水力发电站，中国正在非洲实施许许多多的清洁能源、绿色发展项目，支援非洲国家和人民应对气候变化的挑战。对此，卡洛斯·马丁内斯敏锐指出：“美国人口占全球人口的4%，其历史碳排放却占全球碳排放总量的25%，其人均碳排放是印度、印尼、巴西的8倍，是中国的1倍。美国每年的军费支出（8000多亿美元）是其减缓气候变化方面的支出（300多亿美元）的几十倍。尽管中国仍是发展中国家，但却是中国而不是发达的西方国家在全球气候和环境问题上起到关键的领导作用。中国与亚非拉的许多国家在绿色发展项目上有合作，中国正在非洲实施许许多多的清洁能源、绿色发展项目，支持非洲应对气候变化的挑战。中国迅速成为全球第一可再生能源大国，在风能和太阳能设备、制造、电动车生产、电动电池、水电、核电、地热、电网输配电、绿色氢能等领域中国都居于世界领先地位，即，中国在任何一个零排放技术领域都是世界领先的。中国在风电、绿色公共交通、植树造林等方面的成就举世瞩目。”

The anti-ecological nature of contemporary capitalist civilization is merely a manifestation of the increasingly acute basic contradiction of capitalism. Western capitalist civilization faces a comprehensive crisis spanning economic, social, political, and ecological domains, and these crises are becoming more pronounced under the accelerated development of the technological revolution. Therefore, it can be argued that Western capitalist civilization is already on its last legs, while the new form of human civilization created by Chinese-path modernization is on the rise.

当代资本主义文明的反生态性只是资本主义基本矛盾日益尖锐的表现。西方资本主义文明面临来自经济、社会、政治、生态等领域的全面危机，并且这些危机在科技革命加速度发展下愈加凸显。因此，可以认为，西方资本主义文明已在末途，中国式现代化创造的人类文明新形态正在兴起。

(Author: Zhang Jian, Professor at the University of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Researcher at the Academy of Marxism, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

（作者：张剑，中国社会科学院大学教授，中国社会科学院马克思主义研究院研究员）

Online editor: Jin Qiu

网络编辑：金秋