In this first segment of a series on ecology and materialism, John Bellamy Foster explains how Marx, who was not a natural scientist, learned from chemists, physicists, biologists, and the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus. Marx then garnered a unique theoretical approach that identifies the causes of the societal and ecological crises we face today. Lynn Fries interviews John Bellamy Foster on GPEnewsdocs.

In Part 2, John Bellamy Foster debunks the misconception that socialism and materialism had no role in the development of ecological analysis. His research shows that socialist transformation involves the transformation of human relations with nature, and that the modern ecological movement grew out of Marx’s analysis of the dialectics of society and nature. And there again, the Epicurean strand carries right through. Lynn Fries interviews John Bellamy Foster on GPEnewsdocs.

In part three, filmmaker and journalist Paul Jay turns to the film that brought this conversation full circle: How to Stop a Nuclear War. Jay traces the bomb\'s origins to a lie — the U.S. and Britain knew by 1944 there was no German nuclear program, yet built one anyway to secure postwar hegemony. He argues the Cold War was never really about defense; it was a protection racket that justified permanent militarization, purged the American left, and convinced generations that annihilation was the price of safety. Jay makes the case that nuclear winter research has been buried for decades because acknowledging it would mean admitting there is no such thing as a winnable nuclear war — only a lucrative one.