Floods, fires, droughts, and rising temperatures are all on the increase in frequency and intensity. The terms unprecedented and record breaking are now so often used that they are becoming routine. Climate change is generating climate refugees from island nations in the South Pacific to small coastal communities in Alaska and Louisiana. They won't be the last places to go under water. Elizabeth Kolbert, the Pulitzer-prize winning New Yorker writer says large parts of Miami are in danger of being submerged. As many as 200 million people could be displaced by 2050 because of climate change. And watch out for the heat. The Middle East has had recent scorchers of 129 Fahrenheit, that is 54 Centigrade. And India and Pakistan were almost just as hot. Our planet is in distress. Can Eco-Socialism provide a sustainable way out of our collective quandary?

Chris Williams is a longtime environmental activist, professor of physics and chemistry at Pace University, and chair of the science department at Packer Collegiate Institute. He is the author of Ecology and Socialism.