A further example of Gordon Brown’s lack of transformative thinking when he considers climate change and the environment ‘middle class stuff’. Yet climate change will have a disastrous impact on the poorest in this globalised world.
According to Jonathan Neale, in his speech last night, it would cost the government £50 million to retool the Vestas factory…’Chicken feed’ (to quote Boris Johnson). Considering the trillions that was squandered to bail out the banks globally. As Chris Baugh argued, the amount of money lost through tax fraud is astounding… Or as he did quote Dennis Healy who said, ‘the difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion is the thickness of a prison wall’!
But the thing is we can’t be complacent when it comes to the environment. The clock is ticking and it’s ticking to a global catastrophe. Indeed Neale is correct when he questions why NL hasn’t produced educative materials for the whole of society, the gap between the scientists and the government response (or lack of it) is ever widening. And based on guess work and geological investigation it doesn’t look very good for this planet if we carry on with the current consumption levels…..
NL can invest in clean and renewable technologies, reducing carbon emissions. It could invest in socially useful production which is for the good of the whole of society not the few, it would lead to significant job creation in construction, transport, social housing and so on (see the Lucas Plan).
And as Naomi Klein succinctly argues: During boom times, it’s profitable to preach laissez faire, because an absentee government allows speculative bubbles to inflate. When those bubbles burst, the ideology becomes a hindrance, and it goes dormant while big government rides to the rescue. But rest assured: the ideology will come roaring back when the bailouts are done. The massive debts the public is accumulating to bail out the speculators will then become part of a global budget crisis that will be the rationalization for deep cuts to social programs, and for a renewed push to privatize what is left of the public sector. We will also be told that our hopes for a green future are, sadly, too costly.
And that’s the crux of the problem, we face an uphill struggle because neoliberalism is the obstacle, this particular ideology of the global bourgeoisie has been the most resilient and viciously rampant. An ideology that they want to continue. Faced with the prospect of seeing New York submerged under water (and a very big possibility!) or creating a sustainable green global society by ditching neoliberalism I am sure the neoliberal pirate would sacrifice New York for the greater good of capitalism!
However if the will is there the way is there as well. Make sure that housing old and new is energy efficient. Transport based around walking, cycling, buses and trains. Proper investment in offshore wind power and storage of renewable energy through hydrogen for fuel cells. Development of micro-generation. Discarding of all the junk that is produced and moved around the world so that we can be persuaded that we really want and need it.
Another link: Climate Change and Trade Unions
Posted by harpymarx 
Posted by harpymarx 
Posted by harpymarx 
