This book attempts to defend some of the central theses of Marxism – those that make up the theory of historical materialism – against criticisms that have been levelled at it by environmentalists, and to show that historical materialism, suitably interpreted, can provide an explanatory and normative framework for thinking about and developing political responses to the environmental problems that afflict and threaten contemporary societies. The book may therefore be said to involve a confrontation between Marxism and environmentalism, but like any brief summary this formulation is in need of qualification.

To start with, it is an oversimplification to speak of Marxism as a single theory. It is hardly necessary to comment on the diverse range of interpretations that have been applied to the writings of Marx and his collaborator Engels. The nature of that collaboration has also been the source of much dispute, leading to denials of a unitary standpoint in their joint corpus. And within Marx's own works divisions have been discerned between his earlier and later works. The question therefore arises of which version of Marxism it is that is to be placed in confrontation with environmentalism, and consequently it will be one of the main tasks of this book to consider what interpretations are available and which emerge most favourably from that confrontation.

Similarly, it may be observed that environmentalism has many different strands.