So, there's an element of truth to this. Capitalist expansion and ecological neglect has been horrible for the planet and resulted in numerous health and environmental debacles.

But the track record of the Communists isn't great on this front either. Blame Deng, blame Khruschev, blame Marx himself, but they all need to go through periods of industrial expansion - often at a rapid pace - which means dumping externalities out of expediency rather than calculating out the cost of development over much longer time horizons.

The policies are still coming from humans, working through enormous bureaucracies with imperfect information and selfish incentives. The need to improve the perceived quality of life in the moment can often exert pressure beyond that of long-term socio-economic consequences of a given policy.

Socialists and Communists can be more responsive than their Capitalist peers. But they aren't required to be. You still need leaders willing to operate on generational and inter-generational timelines, when they likely won't be alive to enjoy the bounty they've been asked to create.