Radically new politics needed to save planet from ecological devastation
By Derek Rosin
One of the key strengths of the world’s ruling circles is the belief that the current system and its political set-up, namely, globalized capitalism and its attendant power structures, provide us with the only viable way to run the planet.
To be considered “legitimate” or “realistic”, any solution to the many problems we face cannot come from outside this system; it must somehow fit with and even strengthen the framework already established. Terrorism? Launch new terroristic wars. Economic crisis caused by financial speculation? Bailout the speculators and promote new speculative bubbles. Problem and solution, so on and so forth.
We also see this when we look at climate change, and government inaction around it. Governments have essentially taken the Homer Simpson approach to climate change: Having seen capitalism spew pollution and fry the planet, their solution seems to be to leave capitalism in place, hide under some blankets, and hope that everything will work itself out.
Climate change is real. Global temperatures have already risen 0.7 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times and there is overwhelming consensus among scientists that this will increase to at least 1.5 degrees this century. Scientists in the field of climate science also agree that the creation of human-made greenhouse gases must be substantially cut to avoid even greater temperature increases and the devastating effects on our environment this would cause.
Sometimes it’s good to state the obvious to remind ourselves of some basic truths: Human beings are part of the environment. Our relationship with the biosphere, of which we are a component part, is the basis of our material existence and the foundation for the society, culture, and life which rests on this.
Already we can see the catastrophic effects global warming is having on the current equilibrium. In some regions, rising temperatures turn plains into desert and threaten food supplies. In other places, new rain patterns cause flooding that displace millions of people. Sea-level rises eat away at cropland and threaten the very destruction of some island cultures. Warmer temperatures move malaria-infected mosquitoes to higher altitudes and threaten whole new populations of people.
But, as is typical to this system, the much-hyped Copenhagen summit to tackle climate change was a complete failure. The UN-sponsored conference set no greenhouse gas emissions targets nor brought forward any agreements or concrete measures to slow or reverse global temperature increases.
And, how could it be otherwise? The United Nations does not represent the people of the world; it represents the governments of the world. We cannot expect the governments that defend capitalism to fight the profit-driven system that causes climate change. If it continues to be profitable to churn out carbon dioxide and let the planet burn, that is what this system will allow to happen.
The only potentially positive outcome of the Copenhagen Conference is that maybe we can lose some of the naïveté and trust we have in the current political set-up that falsely claims to have the people’s best interests at heart. As John Sauven, director of Greenpeace UK said, “It is now evident that beating global warming will require a radically different model of politics than the one on display here in Copenhagen.”
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