World leaders continue to show the necessity for the development of ecosocialism at the local level. Faced with capitalist ecocide, ecosocialism demands ecological balance. As noted by Anti*Capitalist Resistance, environmental issues are not luxury concerns, because the same people polluting the planet are the people oppressing the working class. The fight against capitalism’s waste and inequity must begin locally and spread internationally.
One example of an international shortcoming is the November 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (also known as COP30, the 30th meeting of the Conference of the Parties, in Belém, Brazil) ending without an agreement on phasing out fossil fuels. This is not surprising, considering COP30 had around 1,600 attendees who were fossil fuel lobbyists, outnumbering every national delegation other than Brazil. This is in addition to the voices of petrostate attendees like Russia and Saudi Arabia and the absence of the United States, one of the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gas, which did not send a delegation. A group of U.S. leaders did attend in an unofficial capacity, however, and they discussed how U.S. cities and states are addressing the climate crisis.
Although absent from COP30 and with leadership that increasingly rejects climate science, the U.S. is experiencing the devastating effects of climate change. Across all regions of the United States, people are experiencing warming temperatures and extreme weather conditions, including flooding, wildfires, and hurricanes. Low-income areas and communities of color disproportionately feel these effects.
But there are economic costs, too, as the first half of 2025 was the costliest on record for major disasters in the U.S., totaling over $100 billion. The United States will continue to face direct and compounding challenges as average surface temperatures continue to rise.
For the above reasons and many others, the journey to national (and, eventually, worldwide) ecosocialism must begin locally. Localities, particularly cities like Chicago, have the potential to successfully implement ecosocialist goals. These goals include efficient and universally accessible public transportation, local food sovereignty, and the elimination of fossil fuels.
The work the Fix the CTA campaign has been doing will strengthen Chicago’s public transportation system. If Zohran Mamdani achieves his goal of free public buses in New York City, such an accomplishment can serve as a model for Chicago and other municipalities. New York City’s congestion pricing should also be a model for municipalities, as the corollary for free and efficient public transportation is the reduction of private vehicles.
Despite inequities and reliance on multinational corporations, Chicago can accomplish local food sovereignty through, among other things, greater support for local growers and kitchens.
New York’s Build Public Renewables Act, which authorizes state-owned clean energy projects, is an example of favorable decarbonization that resulted from years of organizing by DSA. Although New York is unique in that it has the nation’s largest public energy provider, passage of the Build Public Renewables Act shows that grassroots organizing works. People in every jurisdiction can organize for clean energy sources like solar power.
On a daily basis, people in every jurisdiction can recycle and use other sustainability efforts to minimize our own ecological footprint. Reusing items also serves the dual purpose of minimizing the flow of money from corporations to dangerous regimes.
Of course, the final boss of ecosocialism is capitalism as a whole. Ecological balance is inconsistent with capitalism’s profit maximization that commodifies both people and nature. In that vein, ecosocialism requires a widespread and revolutionary social transformation and collectivization of the means of production. But the roots for ecosocialism are planted at home.
