Link to this page: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/510/3415
The Socialist 14 November 2007
Green activists seek solutions
LAST WEEK 700 people, mainly environmental activists, met to build support for the 8 December Climate Change demonstration. The speakers included campaigner and environmental writer George Monbiot and speakers from Greenpeace International, the Climate Change Campaign and an organiser from last summer's Climate Camp at Heathrow.
Pete Dickenson
All exposed the role of multinational firms like Shell in degrading the environment and highlighted the catastrophe looming over us due to global warming.
Sophie from the Climate Camp showed how after Hurricane Katrina, the poor, those most affected by climate change, got the least government help. She also thought the Kyoto process to reduce greenhouse gases had degenerated into a money-making opportunity for speculators.
George Monbiot said that new data claims the situation is worse than previously thought, quoting evidence from the scientific journal Geo-physical Research Papers which suggested we must now reduce carbon emissions by 100%, not the 60% figure he had previously used and the figure quoted by the government.
A Labour insider had told him they knew their information was outdated for four years but kept quiet because the employers' organisation – the Confederation of British Industry – would have objected to any policy change.
He also put the position (long advocated in the socialist), that rather than cutting consumption to preserve the environment, we must look to substituting polluting technologies with sustainable ones.
Monbiot explicitly blamed the capitalist system for environmental problems due to its need for continuous growth. He called privatisation unhelpful for solving ecological problems and advocated, albeit limited, nationalisation of the energy sector.
However, he thought replacing capitalism would be a long-term undertaking, whereas action needs to be taken now to tackle global warming, so some other approach is needed in the short run.
He said he supported internationally applied, mandatory enforceable ceilings on carbon emissions. If this was George Monbiot's alternative, the big question is how, in the framework of a rapacious antagonistic market system, such ceilings could be enforced when the much more market-friendly Kyoto process proves impotent.
Nevertheless, Monbiot clearly understands the urgency of the situation and seems to be searching for a new way forward.
In this issue
800 attend rally to discuss 'Which way forward for the left in Britain?'
Socialist Party Marxist analysis
World economy: Bosses' crisis, workers pay
Editorial: Shattering confidence in world economy
International socialist news
Release Nigerian students now!
Royal Mail
Royal Mail's deal: Not good enough - Vote NO!
Campaigners say: No Post Office closures!
Socialist Party news and analysis
Green activists seek solutions
Review: Handsworth Revolution - Steel Pulse (1978)
Workplace news and analysis
Birmingham council workers fight pay cuts
Cadbury's closure: Workers vote for action
Socialist Party NHS campaign
NHS: Step up the struggle against privatisation
Tales from the council chamber
the socialist newspaper
Why you should read, write for and sell the socialist
International socialist news and analysis
USA: Enthusiastic response to socialist policies
Egypt's workers flex their industrial muscle
Belgium: Fighting attacks on education
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