This
Friday, school students across the world will leave classes to
participate in climate strikes, asking that adults join in with them
and that those politicians in power take action to counter the
effects of global warming. They face a rapidly closing window of
opportunity. Rather than “tinkering” with individual reforms and
policies like a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade system, we need
wholesale structural change. What is a palatable palliative for the
corporations is insufficient to change the course on the trajectory
we are on.
Greta
Thunberg and the climate strikers demand that politicians face facts.
We hope that those participating in today's worldwide
Strike4Climate also begin to accept some facts that they may be unaware
of.
Naomi
Klein writes, “The hard truth is that the answer to the question
‘What can I, as an individual, do to stop climate change?’ is:
nothing.”
We
are not going to achieve the levels of emission reductions that we
need through voluntary lifestyle changes.
It’s
apparent to everyone today that the world is going through an
environmental crisis. Climate change is already impacting our
lives. As it gets worse, we will be affected by more floods,
forest-fires and droughts. Climate change is a result of an
economic system — capitalism — in which profit-making takes
precedence over the real needs of communities and their surroundings
regardless of what the science tells us we should do. Capitalism is
an economic system profoundly and irrevocably at odds with a
sustainable planet, as it requires ever-increasing amounts material
and energy to keep expanding. Capitalism of necessity exploits
the land and the people and sacrifices the interests of both on the
altar of profit. The contradiction between the environment and
lust for profits is one that capitalism will be unable to overcome. A
socialist society would not be bounded by the illogic of capitalism
and would pursue clean energy because profits wouldn't be on the
line. Nature and society, however, need not be seen as always in
opposition but could co-develop with one another.
Changes
in individual consumer behaviour and introduction to better
technology can buy time but are insufficient to save the planet as
long as “capitalism allows companies to continue polluting. The
entire production system must be transformed; we must change the way
society decides to allocate resources in the interdependent web of
the world economy. Securing an environmentally sustainable production
system will require fundamental political and social change on every
scale and in every sphere. Human and environmental needs can be
brought into sustainable balance only if production takes account of
all environmental consequences. A sustainable economy requires a
system in which production is owned by all and democratically planned
and controlled by well-informed people.
If
humanity is to have any chance of re-entering a sustainable
relationship with nature, we need to stop the rot at its source:
capitalism and class society must be gotten rid of. The
current exploitative system must be replaced by one in which humans
are not divorced from nature, but become the conscious aspect of
nature. Doing that requires a revolution: we must get rid not
only of the exploitation of nature, but also the exploitation of one
human being by another. In order to prevent a future ecological
nightmare and preserve our planet for generations to come; a
sustainable society in which the working class empowers itself—a
socialist society—is vitally necessary. Capitalism’s insatiable
reliance on ever-expanding profits cannot be sustained on our finite
planet. Capitalism engages in production to produce profit. This is
the primary motive and the satisfaction of human needs is secondary
to this. Because of the internal workings of the system there is a
need for continual growth. Capitalism must grow or die. Our rulers
are not in control of the system, they only respond to its demand for
cheap raw materials and any means of keeping monetary costs down and
profits up. This is the real reason why years of climate conferences
have failed to halt the destruction of the planet. Our rulers measure
their success by economic growth rates. The only way to halt the
trashing of our planet is to end the capitalist system of
production. The entire system of capitalist production needs to
be ended before we can have any hope of reversing the dreadful damage
capitalism has inflicted on the planet. The production for profit,
and the system of wage labour which supports it, need to be replaced
with social production. The productive forces need to become common
property for the satisfaction of human needs. All attempts to
reform capitalism and make our rulers see the error of their ways are
a waste of effort. The choice today is engaging in the struggle for a
socialist planet or seeing the ruin of civilisation.
The
watchword for such a society will be:
“From
each according to their ability to each according to their needs.”
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