* Earth Day and the Leaders Summit that leads nowhere * Greta Thunberg says the leaders are spouting bull
(from Detroit/Seattle Workers Voice list, April 23, 2021) Earth Day 2021 and the international Leaders Summit on Climate =========================================================== by Joseph Green Earth Day, April 22, came as the world´s environmental crisis deepens. One hot year follows another; floods and droughts are more common; climate refugees are appearing in various parts of the world. Meanwhile the International Energy Agency has projected that 2021 will see carbon emissions rebound from the temporary fall last year due to the onset of the COVID pandemic. (1) The Biden administration is, however, optimistic. Trump had sought to make the US first in climate change denialism, withdrawing the US from the Paris Agreement on carbon emissions, as toothless and inadequate as that agreement was. Biden has rejoined the Paris Agreement, and has sponsored the two-day Leaders Summit on Climate, April 22-23. It is preparation for the annual UN climate conference, which will be in November. Biden and the news media are trumpeting one new environmental target after another, and heralding a new age of government-corporate cooperation to solve the climate crisis. (2) But we´ve heard it all before, and it´s what got us into the present crisis. Greta Thunberg put out a new video in time for the Leaders Summit, saying that the targets that are going to be announced are "bullshit", designed "to fool others" and even those themselves who make the targets, but the fact is that "we cannot fool nature and physics". (3) Why is there such playacting on climate issues? It´s because the bourgeoisie is divided into two wings: the insane climate denialists, and the establishment environmentalists, many of whom are Pollyannish promoters of how green the corporate interests are supposedly becoming. The Leaders Summit has put forward the rhetoric of the establishment environmentalists, but with so little reality to this rhetoric that climate denialist leaders took part. It brought together capitalist world leaders, heads of government and billionaires, but left out the militant environmental movement. It was a meeting of the leaders of those responsible for the environmental crisis. The climate crisis requires more than another round of toothless and inadequate targets. Don´t trust these leaders complaisant assurances. Indeed, make no mistake, already substantial damage is inevitable from global warming. We have already passed a number of climate tipping points, resulting in such things as the melting of glaciers, the growing shortages of fresh water, and the rising of sea level. If we are to really dispense with fossil fuels, this cannot be left to measures such as subsidies to industry, public-private partnerships, or carbon taxes. There is going to have to be comprehensive economic planning. There needs to be a massive change in infrastructure to deal with eliminating fossil fuels, and also to prepare for the environmental destruction that we will be facing. This requires changing farming as well as industry. It means stopping the poisoning of land, sea, and air with dangerous chemicals as well as cutting greenhouse emissions. This planning must also ensure the livelihood of the working people. It´s empty words when it is claimed that green jobs will solve unemployment and mass welfare. Of course new technology brings new jobs, and of course there will be new green jobs, but it has never been the case that technological change alone has solved unemployment. Electrification didn´t solve unemployment. Automation didn´t solve unemployment. The internet hasn´t solved unemployment. Neither will solar panels, wind turbines, and electric cars. Planning must take up jobs and mass livelihood as an independent goal, that is be ensured side by side with environmental goals. If plans are really to be met, they can´t be left to corporations, whose goal is their own profit, or to bourgeois leaders. The mass of workers and people must be involved in making and enforcing these plans -- checking what happens at each workplace and also having access to the real figures about what country-wide and world-wide emissions are. Right now, environmental plans aren´t transparent; governments and corporations make them as obscure as possible, and corporations are left to do self-reporting as to whether they meet mandated goals. The result is what Thunberg calls "creative carbon accounting", not real figures. If environmental goals are really to be enforced, there must be a constant exposure of the corporations that violate them. Establishment environmentalists regard it as a step forward when large oil companies and other polluters donate some money or invest a bit in solar panels or other green businesses. In fact, having the same corporate interests that pollute the world responsible for cleaning it is a recipe for utter disaster. We can´t let environmentalism be dominated by the establishment environmentalists. Let´s make every day a people´s Earth Day, at which working masses hold the feet of the capitalists to the fire and insist on measures to protect the environment and mass welfare. Otherwise we will find our feet held to the fire of ever-increasing global temperatures. For further articles about the environmental crisis and the different sections of the environment movement, see articles from the collection "The free market vs. the environment". (4) Notes ======= [1] Zaini Majeed, "Global CO2 Emissions To Rebound To Second-highest In History In 2021, Warns IEA", April 21, 2021, https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/rest-of-the-world-news/global-co2-emi ssions-to-rebound-to-second-highest-in-history-in-2021-warns-iea.html. [2] The White House, "FACT SHEET: President Biden´s Leaders Summit on Climate ", April 23, 2021, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/23/fact-s heet-president-bidens-leaders-summit-on-climate/. [3] Common Dreams staff, "Greta Thunberg Says Humanity Must Not Be Fooled by 'Bullsh*t' Climate Targets of World Leaders", April 22, 2021, has a link to a video with her statement. (https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/04/22/greta-thunberg-says-humanity -must-not-be-fooled-bullsht-climate-targets-world) The video and her similar letter differ very slightly in different sources. [4] www.communistvoice.org/00GlobalWarming.html. <> The emissions are still there, whether we choose to count them or not ========================================= >From Greta Thunberg's video, April 21, 2021 - emphasis added: Earth Day 2021, at the Leaders' Climate Summit, countries will present their new climate commitments, like net-zero emissions by 2050. They will call these hypothetical targets "ambitious." But when you compare our insufficient targets with the overall current best-available science, you clearly see that there's a gap. There are decades missing. Of course, we welcome all efforts to safeguard future and present living conditions. And these targets could be a great start **if it wasn't for the tiny fact that they are full of gaps and loopholes,** such as leaving out emissions from imported goods, international aviation and shipping, as well as the burning of biomass, using baseline manipulation,**excluding most feedback loops and tipping points**, and ignoring the crucial global aspect of **equity and historic emissions**, and making these targets completely reliant on future fantasy scale or barely existing carbon-capturing technologies. The point is, or as we say in Swedish, the sum of the cardamom, is that **we can keep cheating in order to pretend that these targets are in line with what is needed**, but while we can fool others, and even ourselves, **we cannot fool nature and physics. The emissions are still there, whether we choose to count them or not.** When leaders now present these very insufficient targets, **they admit that they are surrendering on the 1.5 degree target, surrendering on their promises on our future**. Still, as it is now, world leaders get away with it, since the gap of awareness is so immense. And this is the heart of the problem. We understand that the world is very complex, that many are trying their best, and this isn´t going to be easy. And of course these very inefficient targets are better than nothing. **But we cannot be satisfied with something just because it is better than nothing. We have to go further than that.** We must believe that we can do this because we can. I don´t know about you, but I sure am not willing to give up, not in a million years. We will keep on demanding and fighting for a safe future. Every fraction of a degree matters, and will always matter. You may call us naive for believing that change is possible. But at least we are not so naive that we believe things will be fixed by **companies and countries making vague, distant, hypothetical targets without any real pressure from the media and the general public.** The gap between what we are doing and what needs to be done is widening by the minute. And the gap between the urgency needed and the current level of awareness and attention is becoming more and more absurd. And the gap between our so-called climate targets and the overall, current best-available science should no longer be possible to ignore. There are several decades missing. This gap of awareness, action, and time is the biggest elephant that ever found itself in any room. And until we address this, we cannot achieve any real changes and no real solutions will be found. **Let´s call out their bullshit, and please mind the gap.** <> -- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#8198): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/8198 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/82328565/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
