Saturday, October 12, 2019

Our Planet and the Socialist Movement

A report has been prepared for the Committee on Climate Change, which advises ministers how to cut the UK's carbon footprint. It says an upheaval in our the UK government must tell the public small, easy changes will not be enough to tackle climate change. It says an upheaval in our lifestyles is the only way to meet targets. We must eat less meat and dairy, swap cars for bikes, take fewer flights, and ditch gas boilers at home. It says subsidies for fossil fuels have to go and taxes on low-carbon technologies must be cut. It also urges the government to consider introducing a carbon tax, increasing the prices of carbon-intensive products and activities. It is necessary, the report says, if Britain is to achieve its Net Zero ambitions.
Chris Stark, the Chief Executive of the Committee on Climate Change, explains the government's plan for cutting emissions is "not nearly at the level of ambition required". 
Food currently accounts for 30% of a household's carbon footprint in high-income countries like the UK. The report says we need to make a significant shift towards lower-carbon foods, particularly towards more plant-based diets. Producing food from animals uses more resources than food from plants. Some animals,also produce and burp up methane - a powerful greenhouse gas. The Committee on Climate Change's official recommendation to government is that a 20% cut in red meat and dairy is needed. It suggests this could be done by cutting farm subsidies - more than 70% of which go to livestock.
Home heating accounts for 21% of a household's carbon footprint and it will be costly to bring it down. With 30 million homes and 30 years to decarbonise, he argues, "simple arithmetic" suggests we need to "decarbonise" one million homes every year, starting now.
Transport currently accounts for 34% of a household's carbon footprint. The report calls for a major programme of investment in the rail and bus network, with lower ticket prices and investment in safer cycling. It says what's needed is a "modal shift" to public transport, walking and cycling and believes the public can be encouraged to do this, in part, because of the health benefits it would bring. It calls for an "Air Miles Levy" to discourage what it calls "excessive flying".  The idea is to penalise frequent flyers, while not raising prices for people taking an annual holiday. It says air miles and frequent flier reward schemes have to go.
The Socialist Party understands that the capitalist mode of production cannot halt the impending climate catastrophe, no matter what amount of carbon trading and carbon taxes and green” technologies are introduced. It is the socialist transformation of society which is absolutely necessary for survival. The struggles to halt environmental destruction and capitalism itself must be waged simultaneously. Capitalism presents millions of workers with the impossible choice: Your job or your life. The task ahead is to build a socialist vision across national borders to see and seek a common future that will be in their own interests and those of their children. The Socialist Party's goal is to overcome capitalism and unleash the creativity that prioritizes meeting human needs sustainably and equitably. Deeply entrenched within the existing capitalist system which we can all recognize is the understanding that sustainability is simply incompatible with the most basic imperative of capitalist production. That imperative is growth — meaning expanding the marking for the production for profit, whether or not it enhances or degrades human lives, the viability of life on Earth, or anything else. 
The problem is not that people are irrational and destined to over-populate and pollute the planet: in other words, that the environmental crisis is caused by mankind. The idea that the Earth already or will be soon has too many people is completely bogus. These ideas are anti-people in their essence and frequently pro-racist. The only solution to our problems lies in uniting the overwhelming majority of the people so as to overthrow the handful of capitalists who are definitely “polluting” the whole world. Our message to everyone everywhere is that the climate crisis will impact our jobs, health, children and communities and our answer is simple: join us. It’s a struggle for sanity and the survival of civilisation. If we don’t overcome capitalism, we’ll all wind up as climate refugees with nowhere to go.
It’s as if nature itself is in rebellion against the capitalist mode of production and posing the question to us of which side we want to be on. The machine of global capitalism, its disparities in wealth and its militarism, are responsible for our ravaged planet.

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