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Air pollution destroys more lives and homes
Ellen Kenyon Peers
Have you noticed the buds on the trees? The sweet smell of cherry blossom in the air? The rush of colour in the fields? If so, you're not the only one to notice a worrying trend of ever-earlier spring blooms due to increasingly mild winters.
One week into January, part of London had already breached its hourly emissions cap 19 times. Guidelines allow no more than 18 such breaches in a year! It'll take more than a diesel-electric 'Boris bus' to fix this mess.
King's College London reckons nearly 9,500 people die prematurely every year due to London's filthy air.
Climate change has hit us hard, with seemingly endless flooding in the North, made worse by insufficient defences. Three 'named storms' have wrought havoc across the UK and Ireland in as many weeks destroying homes and businesses.
In spite of political fallout, this was a dream come true for some Tories. Former Treasury minister Mark Hoban will earn £150,000 a year as chair of Flood Re, the government's phony flood prevention scheme. Additionally it's only open to homeowners, an increasingly diminishing percentage of the population.
The government's long-term strategy is to "cut emissions as cost-effectively as possible" - which appears to translate as 'not at all'.
Remedy
But there is a remedy for market misery. Nationalise energy and transport under the democratic control of workers and customers. Mass investment in green technology and infrastructure, to create jobs and cut emissions. Only socialism can lay the foundations for a greener future.
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The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.
- The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
- When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.
Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.
We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to donate to our Fighting Fund.
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