Workers of the Earth: Labour, Ecology and Reproduction in the Age of Climate Change

Capitalism is destroying our planet, but like most social progress in the last two centuries, ecological justice can only be achieved through working-class struggle.

In Workers of the Earth, Stefania Barca uncovers the environmental history and political ecology of labour to shed new light on the potentiality of workers as ecological subjects. Taking an ecofeminist approach, this ground-breaking book makes a unique contribution to the emerging field of environmental labour studies, expanding the category of labour to include waged and unwaged, industrial and meta-industrial workers.

Going beyond conventional categories of ‘production’ and ‘reproduction’ as separate spheres of human experience, Barca offers a fresh perspective on the place of labour in today’s global climate struggle, reminding us that the fight against climate change is a fight against capitalism.

What People Are Saying

“In a time of planetary crisis, ecofeminist political ecologist Stefania Barca offers a brilliant analysis of how the diverse strands of 21st century Left politics can deepen their mutual understanding and move forward in a unified struggle for Life on Earth." Ariel Salleh, author of Ecofeminism as Politics

"A vital contribution to making sense of the planetary proletariat and socialism in the web of life." Jason W. Moore, author of Capitalism in the Web of Life

"Stefania Barca's innovative reconceptualization of the relationship between labor and the environment provides an indispensable theoretical basis for creating a better place for all living beings on this planet." Kohei Saito, author of Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto

"Stefania Barca has given us the book that agents of a socially and ecologically just transformation need, connecting women workers in paid and unpaid care work, subsistence workers, indigenous workers, industrial workers, workers caring for human and non-human beings in her insightful analyses that allows Environmental Labour Studies to overcome the compartmentalisation of labour." Nora Räthzel, Umeå University

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