The Paris COP21 talks have now gotten underway but can they succeed? The World Socialist Movement answers No.
Capitalism is both the cause of climate change crisis and the
obstacle to its solution. Socialists stand for the survival of humanity and we
oppose an economic system based upon the relentless drive for profits because
it threatens all life on the planet. Decisions about production, distribution
and consumption must be made by those who have no interest in enriching a tiny
minority of the world’s population at everyone else’s expense. The scale of the
threat posed by global warming, and the short time in which we have to take
action to prevent the catastrophic consequences, makes the issue of climate
change the most urgent question facing humanity. Very radical measures need to
be taken immediately. What is required - the rapid, far-reaching reorganisation
of industry, transport, consumption, and the massive shift to clean renewable
energy - is simply not possible under capitalism. And every day brings more
evidence that strengthens that conclusion. The planet-wide crisis has gathered
pace and the scientific warnings have multiplied. While it is clearly obvious
something has to be done, the politicians and their corporate masters opt for
inadequate, voluntary, gradual measures that will cost big business as little
as possible to implement. Internationally and nationally a sense of urgency is
lacking. Political will is lacking to halt further environmental degradation
even though technology and knowledge are available to do so. We can see this being
played out again and again. Political leaders “fiddle while Rome burns”.
For capitalists, profit is an end in itself. It does not
matter to them whether the commodities they produce satisfy fundamental human
needs — such as food, clothing, shelter — or are devoted to pointless or
ostentatious consumption, or are even destructive to human beings and the
planet. A dollar is a dollar is a dollar. A multi-billion-dollar capitalist
industry called advertising constantly plays with our brains to convince us
that happiness comes only through buying more and more “stuff”, to keep up with
endless wasteful fads, fashions, upgrades, new models all with built-in
obsolescence. Capitalism as a system thrives on the promotion of the worst
aspects of human behaviour; self-obsession and self-interest; greed and
hoarding; the dog-eat-dog mentality. Just imagine the vast amounts of wasteful
production of pointless commodities produced solely for sale that could be
eliminated without the cynical manipulation of people’s behavior by the marketing
industries. Needless and wasteful consumption would plummet.
Capitalism, an economic and political system based on the
never-ending expansion of production of commodities for sale, is incompatible
with the basic ecological cycles of the planet. Earth cannot sustain this
system’s plundering and poisoning without humanity sooner or later experiencing
a complete ecological catastrophe.
A great change in our stewardship of the Earth and the life
on it is required if vast human misery is to be avoided. Genuine democratic
socialist planning will allow priorities to be set on the production of certain
items and limit or eliminate others. The over-packaging of products could end,
saving entire forests and plastic will no longer fill the rubbish dumps. Planned
obsolescence would end and products would be built to last for a long time and
be repairable, and when they were due for replacement they would be recyclable.
Such basic measures would save massive amounts of materials and energy, all
along the production chain.
Socialism is a society that is organised first and foremost
to work together to produce enough to comfortably ensure people’s physical and
mental wellbeing and social security — abundant food, clothing, housing,
furniture and appliances, cultural pursuits, and lifelong education and
training, and healthcare — and in which technological advances benefit
everybody without costing the environment.
People face a stark choice - capitalism or survival.
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