In response to Croc:

I think advertisments and media (which are very much part of captitalism/consumerism) makes people constantly want things they don't need:

Regular holidays at the other side of the earth, food/drinks they certainly don't need, designer clothes, shoes... Constantly new "must-have" electronic gadgets, a new car every three years...

Producing all these products and shipping them to market takes a terrible toll on the planet.

While we are fretting about not having the latest handbag or gadget... people elsewhere on the planet are starving, animals are becoming extinct, the polar caps are melting and the rain forests are being chopped down.

I am certainly not advocating a communist revolution to fix the worlds environmental problems though. I am just saying that if the general political aim was to build a fair society (rather to become rich and consume a lot..) then there probably wouldn't wouldn't be as much ecological damage.

And I am not saying that technological progress is bad; just that it ought to be made to benefit society as a whole instead of the small percentage who can afford it. Also that it should be used in moderation, stopping ridiculous excesses.

I agree that the socialist states had (have) environmental issues. But they were of a different nature, perhaps not quite as serious on a global scale. Plus, we've already said here that 'communism' as in Eastern Europe was derailed from the ideal. People said it was just "state capitalism" although I don't quite know what that was supposed to mean exactly.