Doug Henwood wrote: > Yeah, we can't do anything about climate change until the revolution. > So I guess that means we're doomed. > > Doug > _______________________________________________
Excuse me, Doug. If you had bothered to read the articles I linked to, you would notice that I argue that we must do something prior to the revolution, and that I put forward a program for that. Indeed, I argue that it's precisely the advocates of neo-liberal measures, such as the carbon trading and the carbon tax, who are afraid of the measures that are needed now, and regard them as a "carbon dictatorship". In the introduction to my article denouncing cap and trade, I write that: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ . But the environmental crisis is upon us now, while capitalism still exists. Major steps will have to be taken soon, while the present capitalist ruling classes are still in power. As the failure of carbon emission markets to solve the problem becomes evident, they may take steps to implement carbon taxes; and as the failure of carbon taxes becomes evident, they will have to move to some type of regulation of production. True, the capitalists will likely wait until their hands are forced by a series of spectacular environmental disasters, and by then the situation will be quite desperate. But the time is coming closer when the capitalists will have to abandon neo- liberal orthodoxy, and move towards a regulated capitalism. . But this will not mean that the capitalist governments will have become socialist. Neo-liberal market fundamentalism is not the only form of capitalism: capitalism has always oscillated back and forth between periods of greater and lesser regulation, and even now different capitalist countries have varying amounts of regulation and social programs. The planning that the capitalist governments introduce will be done by capitalist agencies, and indeed the world economy will be subject to imperialist agencies and the strongest imperialist powers. Capitalist planning will seek to have the masses pay for the continued profits of the corporations in the name of planning, just as now it makes the masses pay in the name of the free market. It will be up to the masses to fight to ensure that not only does the planning truly address the environmental problems, but that the well-being of the masses is protected. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the course of the article, I go into the record of cap and trade, which has been a fiasco in Europe, and elaborate what is really needed. Of course, we need measures that actually do something positive, and are not mere pretense. If we support measures that are a mere pretense, on the grounds that a pretense is better than doing nothing, than we will deserve the revenge that the environment will exact upon us. -- Joseph Green _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
