Capital against nature: accumulation by dispossession and externalization in the Mar Menor

Abstract

This chapter examines the ecological and social crisis unfolding in the Mar Menor, a coastal lagoon in Spain’s Murcia Region, largely stemming from intensive agricultural practices and the agro-extractivist sector. The intricate relationship between neoliberal capitalism, territory, and the Mar Menor crisis is explored, drawing on Jason W. Moore’s theory of the Four Cheaps. This theory emphasizes the exploitation of labor-power, food, raw materials, and energy as foundational to capitalist accumulation. Kohei Saito’s ecosocialist framework is introduced to bridge the economy-ecology divide and foster a more symbiotic relationship between society, nature, and the territorial dynamics at play. Saito highlights capitalism’s triple externalization: environmental costs, social costs, and temporal factors. Additionally, inspired by cultural critic Mark Fisher, a fourth form of externalization is proposed: internalization, associated with the impacts of externalization on the mental health of individuals. This perspective would link pollution and resource depletion to heightened stress and anxiety, privatizing costs onto affected individuals. Ultimately, this chapter underscores the Mar Menor’s status as a “sacrifice zone”. This situation illustrates how the capitalist logic of accumulation promotes excessive resource exploitation, externalizing costs and generating negative impacts on the ecosystem and local communities. It reveals environmental injustice and the prioritization of private profit over community well-being.