Which direction do you fancy?
(at risk of offense to those that worked stalwartly at ends that haven’t borne fruit-where-expected, as revealed by Copenhagen)
The failure of Copenhagen’s COP15 climate talks may be that much-needed dose of what could embolden and broaden the climate movement here in the States: a sobering piece of disillusionment to fan the flames, and an alarm to bring folks who placed too many eggs in a basket of lobbying out from the meeting halls and into the streets. Our “leaders” have not listened, they have abandoned even the pretense of morality.
Obama’s iridescent HOPE packaging has by now faded for much of the world abroad, if not already at home in the States. That this world is upside-down is becoming more apparent every minute. At the Copenhagen talks Friday, from an administration headed by a Nobel Peace Prize winner who is freshly escalating war, we saw an offensive and paltry $100 billion bargaining chip thrown on the table in what economist Naomi Klein called a “naked form of [climate] blackmail.” Fail to accept a status-quo (read: meaningless) climate agreement, it says, and you’ll lose support and recognition from the monetary-military superpowers. Divide and conquer. (
video)
The unmet needs of the vast majority of humankind, and the self-evident need of the natural world’s preservation show us that we cannot have have an appropriate response to climate change without thunderous social change. Anything else is pathologically insane. The numbers are on the wall, but we don’t need them anymore, so says the hour.
The US and co-conspirator governments have said their piece and pinned a new illegitimacy on their chests, showing us they’re quite prepared to fortify their apathy, if not denial, of the shared plight that would (of course) impact them lastly. They have shown also that they are prepared to squelch dissent, even when dissent is non-violent.
The Danes proudly eschew restraint from their policing of the COP15 climate talks. Beatings, mass arrests, and wiretapping a'plenty.
So what now? Let’s accept the onrushing climate catastrophe as a most transcendent and powerful gift. Let’s make it a vessel for all of the blood and sweat of our struggles for equality, freedom, economy, environment. And let’s hold it high and proud when we recognize that from where we sit NOW:
-militarism relates to climate, because it will protect dwindling resources for the use of the few
-capitalism relates to climate, especially when it spurs onward profiteering markets of carbon and trafficking in indigenous lands to offset climate sins.
-science and venture capital relate to climate: these forces collaborate to undermine logic. untested, epic and dangerous technologies are being unveiled experimentally without oversight or assessment mechanisms, often propelled by an entrepreneurial chance at “saving the world wealth” ( ETC report from COP15: http://www.etcgroup.org/en/node/4966 ) that idea of a fix-all does is a fine deflector of the need to change our economic/social structures imminently.
-racism relates to climate: not a far leap from a prescription of genocide when policy affirms that sinking nations aren’t worth saving through a categorical rejection of the validity of climate debt
With their inaction, they endorse a staggering new spin on their old house favorite of subsidized inequity. Without drastic change we plunge pell-mell into a world where unavoidable famine, drought, submersion, and climate-related death continues to ravage many, and only heightens in impact and intensity. Alongside, the rift widens exponentially between haves and have-nots, North and South. This means recognizing that we have to up our own ante, turn over the tables on our own status quo. Now, more than ever, the butchery of corporate capitalism is evinced- with the world on the chopping block, and if
we don’t pull out ALL the stops then we’re implicated.
We can’t let the business model to go unabated. We can’t let them meet, can’t let them confer, can’t let them scheme, can’t let them continue. The winds are for us in the task of de-marginalizing activism, we can just call it survival. It’s true, there are many episodes behind us and in front of us where we may seem weak, disjointed, and a non-threat to this oppression. Undeniably, we have an uphill road. Let’s thank this COP15 milemarker for reminding us just what coercion and violence is. The continued and undeniable failure of our governments have given us the luxury of not even needing to choose, the guillotine’s plain as day. It’s time to ratchet it up a notch, and make more trouble till it spreads like a fever. Where else can we go? What else would we do?
Think of avalanches, landslides, and explosions- these all start very small and shift a lot of mass very quickly. We must save our pessimism for better times.
The out-of-touch politicians have demonstrated their intent to deliver us a 3.5 degree Hell.
Let’s return them the favor and give them some Hell of our own.
The movement for climate justice is rumbling now, soon it will be roaring: the world demands it.
The road forward is underfoot- let’s put the heat on for climate justice!
Righteous anger, engage.
Common people are going to have to sort these problems out;
and to accomplish that, we’re going to have to rise up, to take power.
We need to collectively re-make this world;
and to accomplish that, we’ll need to motivate and mobilize a lot more people — including ourselves, in some cases.
What are we waiting for?
Let’s do this.
Join us in the climate justice movement
AND/OR
Join us in the pursuit of practical, community-level solutions.
Those two focuses are complementary.
Radical-confrontational climate justice approaches aren’t for everyone. But people also can help tackle these problems through community networks — to support local gardening, local bicycling, and other community resilience. The Transition network (and “Transition Towns” projects) mainly are what I have in mind here — in terms of community-scale solutions.
At the climate justice end of the continuum, look up the Mobilization for Climate Justice, Climate Justice Action, and Camp for Climate Action activism.
word up brother, i look forward to organizing the next phase of the climate justice movement with you.
Right on!. . .
But we must also remember that there are shills among us (masquerading as environmentalists) who lobbied for and got much of the disaster to which the world is being delivered.
Look at the Nature Conservancy, Natural Resources Defense Council, the EDF, World Resources INstitute who, as part of the pro-polluter United States Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), lobbied for 450-550 ppm targets!
If these green$ continue unopposed to provide cover for sell-out politicians (terrible domestic climate legislation/waxman-markey, boxer-kerry (and terrible u.s. policy at the international level)) and polluting corporations, no amount of action on the street will be able to penetrate the spin they and their huge budgets can generate.
That’s why people targeted the NRDC up in New York where their headquarters are:
http://www.actforclimatejustice.org/tools-resources/mcj-take-on-corportate-polluters-and-corporate-environmental-organizations/
And that’s why Dr. Hanson actually participated in exposing these greenwash groups by joining the demo/action:
K.
You wrote: what’s (at risk of offense to those that worked stalwartly at ends that haven’t borne fruit-where-expected, as revealed by Copenhagen)
The failure of Copenhagen’s COP15 climate talks may be that much-needed dose of what could embolden and broaden the climate movement here in the States: a sobering piece of disillusionment to fan the flames, and an alarm to bring folks who placed too many eggs in a basket of lobbying out from the meeting halls and into the streets.
Right on! But, I think that you forgot this: http://www.beyondtalk.net/