Benutzereinstellungen

Kommende Veranstaltungen

International | Environment

Keine kommenden Veranstaltungen veröffentlicht

The State of Climate Change

category international | environment | opinion / analysis author Friday October 02, 2015 17:18author by Bongani Maponyane - ZACFauthor email zacf at riseup dot net Report this post to the editors

The planet is warming. This is not new to the earth’s history, which is billions of years old. But why the controversy regarding this fact? Does it lie in the association between climate change and the man-made contributing factors to this change? Is it because of the reality of the impact of the industrial age; the very foundations on which modern capitalism and empire has been built? Many within these industries spend billions on promoting the idea that climate change is a naturally-occurring phenomenon. But scientists around the world show convincingly that man-made fossil-fuel economies (economies built on the use of oil and coal, which release massive amounts of pollution and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, creating the greenhouse effect and global warming) have contributed, over a short period of time, to rapidly accelerating the usual naturally-occurring effect. The impact has been, amongst other things, rising sea levels, increased drought and destructive weather patterns. However, this knowledge has been met by a strong response from capitalists – and the politicians they fund – to throw doubt on the role and culpability of the industries that are causing the most damage (and have made them very rich and powerful.) They continue to fund “alternative” research and media propaganda to do so.
climate_capitalism.jpg

Monitoring the problem

In the early 1980s the international Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) created a scientific team to accumulate accurate geological and meteorological evidence on weather and air-quality patterns. Their studies showed that the oceans were warming, ice caps vital to regulating the earth’s climate were shrinking and sea levels were rising as a result. In fact in the period 1961-2003 saw the average sea level rise of between 0.5-1.8m annually. In conjunction, they also reported the rapid deforestation of the Amazon rainforests in South America and a dramatic increase in greenhouse gas emissions, particularly by highly industrialised and industrializing countries, causing accelerated and unnatural warming of the planet. Some of these hazardous materials include methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrous oxide (NO2).

Thus, what was occurring was not natural, but caused human activity for the benefit of the wealthy and powerful who controlled these industries. However, these are not the people who experience the worst effects of global warming. Their sole focus is how to profit even more from the labour of others, and how to continue to exploit the earth’s resources for their own, private benefit. They continue to do so through industries such as mining, oil, chemicals, timber and farming.

The Global Impact of Climate Change

The IPCC’s 5th assessment report detailing the extent of industrial impact paints a damning picture of how human-created industries have contributed to climate change. Much of the damage is traced to the biggest companies, e.g. Shell, BP, and the richest nations like (but not only) the US and China, all controlled by a very powerful ruling class in business and the state. South Africa, relative to the size of its economies, is a serious polluter and contributor to the problems our ecology faces, in particular its nationalized industries like Eskom and its tremendous need for coal-burning to run its operations.

Melting ice caps and rising sea levels continue to endanger, or push certain land and aquatic species to extinction, e.g. the polar bear. Also, alterations to the global climate have seen increased occurrences of tropical cyclones since the 1970s. These will also cause, over time, the migration of millions of people from many cities and islands affected by these rising levels and changing weather patterns. This will create crises of historical proportion, a problem exacerbated by negative and violent attitudes towards immigrants and economies not created to dealing with people’s needs.

A NewClear Solution, or a Nuclear Problem?

There is much debate about nuclear energy internationally, with those opposed to it pointing the tragedies of Chernobyl and the more recent Fukushima plant disaster. and the potentially cataclysmic effect on global ecology it could have. Proponents speak to nuclear’s ability to allow the world’s economy to shed fossil fuel dependence and the longevity of nuclear power provision to humankind.

We cannot divorce the debate from a class analysis, regardless of its good or bad points. Nuclear projects are facing the risk of lack of funding from international donors. Banks seem unwilling to bear the risk of financing such projects. As such, policy-makers are devising schemes to extract the necessary funds from tax-payers via “cost pass-through” or loans guarantees by offering nuclear vendors fixed price terms [1]. What this means today is that nuclear energy development is not a viable option for developing countries increasing the need for fossil fuels in these countries for their industrial projects.

Conclusion

Much of the facts of human-created global warming and the threats it poses to us all cannot be ignored forever. Sections of the international ruling class have opened the eyes and profit-making minds to it. However, their solutions amount to nothing more than a “green capitalism” that will not fundamentally alter the conditions of poverty and oppression that most people face globally. It will also take a long time before the owners of fossil fuel industries (both private and state owners) steer away from these historic industries, particularly when these industries are cornerstones of economies around the world. It seems there is just too much money to be made now to worry about the future 50 years from now.


Notes:

[1] from a report by Professor Steven Thomas of the University of Greenwich in The Economist, July 2014.

Verwandter Link: http://zabalaza.net
This page can be viewed in
English Italiano Deutsch

International | Environment | en

Thu 28 Mar, 16:29

browse text browse image

g8siracusa_1.jpg imageSyracuse G8 on Environment 18:51 Thu 23 Apr by Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici 0 comments

The FdCA is participating in the anti-G8 demonstration in Syracuse on 23rd April. This statement was issued and will be distributed as a leaflet at the demonstration. [italiano] [Ελληνικά]

imageCapitalism Is the Disaster Mar 23 by Pink Panther 4 comments

An article examining the underlying link between disasters.

imageThe burning issue Sep 14 by MACG 1 comments

The unions in Australia today are a shadow of their former selves, led by cowards whose main job is to police their members to ensure that unions aren't fined out of business by the vicious anti-union laws. This needs to be turned around completely before workers will consider fighting for a Just Transition – but also for workers to defend working conditions, maintain health and safety and be adequately compensated for the inflation that is now ripping through the economy and devastating real wages. And to do that, we need to take on the union bureaucracy and beat them.

imageCapitalism can’t stop Climate Change Jan 04 by Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group 3 comments

Not every step that is necessary is suitable for solving at the level of the individual workplace. Cities need a massive expansion of public transport and improvement of facilities for active transport modes like walking and cycling. Mobilising public transport workers alone, however, would be insufficient to achieve the power necessary to get the system expanded to the degree required. These questions, and some others, would have to be resolved at the society-wide level by the labour movement as a whole.

imageCapitalism is destroying the climate Nov 03 by MACG 2 comments

What is necessary is to create workplace climate groups that link up with the School Strike for Climate. These groups will discuss the way the climate crisis affects their industries, the responsibility of their bosses for aggravating climate change and what possible solutions could be. They would develop the School Strike for Climate into a Workers’ Strike for Climate. In the process, workers would need to become capable of acting independently of the union officials and of defeating them when these officials try to dampen down action.

imageStrike for a sustainable climate Nov 13 by Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group (MACG) 0 comments

The general strike for a Just Transition will be the beginning, but not the end of the matter. We will open up a debate about the dimensions and shape of the Just Transition. As the struggle progresses, more workers will come to realise that the only Just Transition is a transition away from capitalism. Two facts will drive this. First more people will see the existing capitalist class is so invested in fossil fuels that it has to be swept aside for humanity to achieve sustainability. The understanding will also emerge that eternal growth is the ideology of the cancer cell. Only by abolishing capitalism can we disconnect living standards from resource consumption and adopt a circular zero waste economy.

more >>

imageSyracuse G8 on Environment Apr 23 FdCA 0 comments

The FdCA is participating in the anti-G8 demonstration in Syracuse on 23rd April. This statement was issued and will be distributed as a leaflet at the demonstration. [italiano] [Ελληνικά]

© 2005-2024 Anarkismo.net. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Anarkismo.net. [ Disclaimer | Privacy ]