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Z. Li
other words, productivity also consists of two parts—social productivity and natural
productivity. As Marx pointed out, on all levels of social development, social material
production not only includes man’s productive activities, but also the productivity of
nature itself (Collected Works of Marx and Engels, Vol. 26, published by the People’s
Publishing House in 1972, Page 500). In short, natural productivity is also a kind of
productivity.
Marx, the founder of Marxist theories, had full scientific basis to regard natural
productivity as a kind of productivity. Social material production and re-production
both stem from the combination of social material productivity and natural material productivity, without the latter there is no social production or reproduction to
speak of. The process of social material production and reproduction also includes
the process of natural material production and reproduction. Even when man isn’t
laboring, the physical, chemical, and biological processes of natural material production are still at play. Other than the social material production process, material products generated from natural material production have the same value as man-made
products in meeting human needs.
It is a pity that this important Marxist view didn’t receive enough attention for a
long time. The traditional mainstream economics only admits the value of products
deriving from human labor, but not the value of ecological products and services
provided by the naturel world, or ecosystem, to sustain human life and production. It
only admits the social material production and productivity, not the natural material
production and productivity. Influenced by this economics theory, man, on the one
hand, regards the various natural resources we draw from earth’s ecosystem as priceless and infinite. On the other hand, they think the natural environment’ capability
of self-adjustment and self-purification is unlimited and its capability and capacity
of bearing and accommodating the wastes generated from human life and production is unlimited. Therefore, man has continuously increased its plundering of natural
resources and has discharged wastes into the environment without restraint, which has
led to a series of environmental problems such as resource depletion, environmental
pollution and ecological degradation, even global environmental crisis.
It was amid the aggravating global environmental crisis that General Secretary Xi
Jinping has timely put forth the scientific view of “protecting and improving the environment is protecting and increasing productivity.” It has not only brought new hope
of protecting and improving the ecological environment and curbing global environmental crisis while promoting economic and social development, but also opened
our eyes to the Marxist truth that “natural productivity is also a kind of productivity”
by revealing that “environmental productivity is also a kind of productivity.”
From the perspective of modern ecology, what Marx called the “productivity of
nature itself” means the “productivity of natural ecosystem,” or “ecological productivity” in short—this is a common sense today with the maturity of ecological theories. The term “ecosystem” or “ecology” didn’t appear in Marx’s works because
the science of ecology wasn’t invented back then. The “ecological environment”
mentioned by General Secretary Xi Jinping, the combination of ecology and environment, encompasses all external conditions on the earth surface that man relies on
Z. Li
other words, productivity also consists of two parts—social productivity and natural
productivity. As Marx pointed out, on all levels of social development, social material
production not only includes man’s productive activities, but also the productivity of
nature itself (Collected Works of Marx and Engels, Vol. 26, published by the People’s
Publishing House in 1972, Page 500). In short, natural productivity is also a kind of
productivity.
Marx, the founder of Marxist theories, had full scientific basis to regard natural
productivity as a kind of productivity. Social material production and re-production
both stem from the combination of social material productivity and natural material productivity, without the latter there is no social production or reproduction to
speak of. The process of social material production and reproduction also includes
the process of natural material production and reproduction. Even when man isn’t
laboring, the physical, chemical, and biological processes of natural material production are still at play. Other than the social material production process, material products generated from natural material production have the same value as man-made
products in meeting human needs.
It is a pity that this important Marxist view didn’t receive enough attention for a
long time. The traditional mainstream economics only admits the value of products
deriving from human labor, but not the value of ecological products and services
provided by the naturel world, or ecosystem, to sustain human life and production. It
only admits the social material production and productivity, not the natural material
production and productivity. Influenced by this economics theory, man, on the one
hand, regards the various natural resources we draw from earth’s ecosystem as priceless and infinite. On the other hand, they think the natural environment’ capability
of self-adjustment and self-purification is unlimited and its capability and capacity
of bearing and accommodating the wastes generated from human life and production is unlimited. Therefore, man has continuously increased its plundering of natural
resources and has discharged wastes into the environment without restraint, which has
led to a series of environmental problems such as resource depletion, environmental
pollution and ecological degradation, even global environmental crisis.
It was amid the aggravating global environmental crisis that General Secretary Xi
Jinping has timely put forth the scientific view of “protecting and improving the environment is protecting and increasing productivity.” It has not only brought new hope
of protecting and improving the ecological environment and curbing global environmental crisis while promoting economic and social development, but also opened
our eyes to the Marxist truth that “natural productivity is also a kind of productivity”
by revealing that “environmental productivity is also a kind of productivity.”
From the perspective of modern ecology, what Marx called the “productivity of
nature itself” means the “productivity of natural ecosystem,” or “ecological productivity” in short—this is a common sense today with the maturity of ecological theories. The term “ecosystem” or “ecology” didn’t appear in Marx’s works because
the science of ecology wasn’t invented back then. The “ecological environment”
mentioned by General Secretary Xi Jinping, the combination of ecology and environment, encompasses all external conditions on the earth surface that man relies on