SOCIALISTS FOR A SANE SOCIETY

The survival of the natural world upon which humanity depends hangs in the balance, according to the new chair of the global scientific body for biodiversity, Ana María Hernández.

She said she did not know if society could make the major changes needed to stop the annihilation of wildlife, which some scientists thought was the start of a mass extinction. It would be very difficult to shift society out of its current “comfort zone” of business-as-usual, but she thought the much higher environmental awareness among young people was a reason for great optimism.

Hernández is chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), which in May published the most thorough planetary health check ever undertaken. It concluded that human society was in jeopardy from the accelerating decline of the Earth’s natural life-support systems, with a million species at risk of extinction.

“If I look at my generation, the people who are running the companies and countries and society in general, I don’t know if we are going to be able at this point in time to make extreme transformative changes, because we love to do the things we way we always do things,” Hernandez said. “We are in our comfort zone and it is very difficult to change. If we do not, then I am afraid the next 50 years are going to be very dramatic for us. But if I look at young people, I am optimistic. They are people who have grown up with environmental concern,” she said. “I think we are going to have this transformation from the old society to a new environmental society in this 50 years. But if we cannot change business-as-usual we are going to be in trouble.”

She said people should use their votes for change: “People often do not vote because they know the proposals of the politicians, but because the person is charismatic or famous. Voters must understand the environmental proposals of the candidates.”

The destruction of nature by the razing of forests, over-hunting and fishing, pollution and the climate emergency has slashed wildlife populations by 60% since 1970 and plant extinctions are running at a “frightening” rate, according to scientists. The web of life that provides the food, clean air and water on which society ultimately depends is being dismantled by unsustainable methods of production and wasteful lifestyles, say conservationists.

Endangering the soil and the water, as always, the moneyed interests come first, and the people last, putting our children and future generations at risk. The cleanup of polluted waters, the reclamation of wetlands, and the restoration of the natural environment generally will have to wait for the advent of socialism. That is the only sane, logical and practical way to eliminate all such unnatural disasters because it is the only way to take control of the economy away from impervious and brutish ruling classes and place it under the direct control of society as a whole. Because of capitalism and the insane motivation on the part of the capitalists to keep initial investment to a minimum to make the most profit, especially near-term profit, we are exposed to environmentalist harm. To understand why regulation hasn't worked, it must be understood that the environmental crisis is caused in the nature of the capitalist economic system. The problem is that, under capitalism, the majority of people have no power to make decisions about production. Under the capitalist system, production decisions are made by the small, wealthy minority that owns and controls the industries and services -- the capitalist class. And the capitalists who make up that class make their decisions to serve, first and foremost, one goal -- that of maximising profit for themselves. That is where the environmental crisis begins.

Socially harmful decisions are made because, in one way or another, they serve the profit interests of the capitalist class. Capitalist-class rule over the economy also explains why government regulation is so ineffective: under capitalism, government itself is essentially a tool of the capitalist class. Politicians may be elected "democratically," but because they are financed, supported and decisively influenced by the economic power of the capitalist class, democratic forms are reduced to a farce. The capitalist class and its government will never be able to solve the environmental crisis. They and their system are the problem. It is up to the producing class to end this climate crisis. The action workers must take is to realise their political power and integrated into ONE MOVEMENT with the goal of building a new society with completely different motives for production -- human needs and wants instead of profit -- and to organise their own political party to challenge the political power of the capitalists, express their mandate for change at the ballot box and dismantle the state altogether. The new society they must aim for must be one in which society itself, not a wealthy few, would own the industries and services, and the workers themselves would control them democratically through their own organisations. Such a society -- a socialist industrial democracy -- is what is needed to solve the environmental crisis. By placing the economic decision-making power in the hands of the people, by eliminating capitalist control and the profit motive in favour of a system in which workers produce to meet their own needs and wants, the necessary resources and labour could be devoted to stop pollution at its source and better clean up the damage already done.