John Merrell, Leicester Socialist Party
I am writing to praise Pete Mason’s excellent article: ‘Climate change: Can technology save us’. I have known Pete for over 40 years since he joined us in Leicester and had an almost immediate impact on our intervention in the local labour movement.
I would just take issue with the use of the phrases “save the planet” and “needs of the planet”. Whilst their use is quite widespread they are not based on scientific fact. A recent five-part BBC series titled ‘Earth’, presented by Chris Packham, now available on BBC iplayer, exemplified this scientific reality.
In Earth’s 4.5 billion years of evolution there have been several catastrophic events which exterminated almost all living species. Yet eventually, new species appeared. Packham stated: “The sum total of species in the present era amounts to less than 1% of the total number of species that have existed on Earth”.
Asteroid
We are one example. The asteroid that crash landed on Earth 66 million years ago, in what is now known as the Gulf of Mexico, had a cataclysmic impact on the environment and consequently wiped out 80% of animal species, including the dinosaurs. The rebirth many millions of years later, eventually led to the creation of mammals and ultimately, ourselves, a mere 200,000 years ago.
The outcome of climate change, if capitalism remains in power, will bring about another chapter of Earth’s evolution – without us.
I strongly recommend watching ‘Earth’ and then re-reading Pete’s article to provide the political understanding and socialist progamme that, if adopted worldwide, will replace capitalism and lead to the remaking of our habitable Earth.
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