DSP conference talk: Individual Versus Social Solutions to Global Warming (mentions Eco-Committee)

(A talk to the DSP Climate Change Social Change Conference held in Sydney from April 11 to 13. Thanks to Inhabitable Earth for the text. The subheads were added by Climate and Capitalism.)

by Terry Townsend,
Managing Editor, Links

I’m sure everybody here is aware of the basic facts of global warming and the likely consequences if rapid and serious action is not taken. There is virtually unanimous agreement among scientists and activists, and increasingly among millions of ordinary people, about the degree of the problem and the time frame we have to make fundamental changes to address it.

The main “solutions” being offered by the capitalist class, its politicians and the corporate-dominated mass media — and endorsed by some key peak environmental organizations — are consciously designed to shift the responsibility for, and the major costs of, addressing global warming away from the most polluting corporations and to preserve the basic structure and mechanisms of Western capitalist economies. They are also designed to delay the necessary political, economic and social changes for as long as possible, and to keep them to the minimum that are compatible (in their assessment) with both the survival of capitalist society and ameliorating the worst of climate change.

Green washing – Raising Awareness or Breeding Complacency?

ARCHIVED ARTICLE FROM MY “ANTI-CONSUMERIST”, ANARCHIST DAYS.
My politics have since changed, so I really do apologise if bits of this end up sounding obnoxiously elitist, even right-wing at some points. For instance, I no longer hold the view that encouraging workers to spy on their neighbours in the name of residential water saving  is acceptable at all, when the largest water waster is industry.Uranium mines should be forced to clean up their act, instead of being given government subsidies for wasting hundreds of thousands of litres of water a day.
The basic point of this article remains, however – Ordinary working people should not have to pay for basic human necessities, or climate change itself, when those at the top continue to reap their insane profits at the expense of the future of the planet.

Green washing – Raising Awareness or Breeding Complacency?
Jimmy Yan

A polemic against Earth Hour written for the Glen Waverley Secondary Eco-Committee Blog

As the ominous March 28 approaches, teachers, students and (vice) principals could be seen walking around the campus wearing black t-shirts displaying an image of the planet earth cut out into the number “60”. Yes, the much-anticipated Earth Hour Day has come and passed and the actual Earth Hour is approaching but unfortunately for the few supporters, the sense of euphoria within the school wasn’t as high as expected, with many students who otherwise would have become active in environmental issues left feeling even more powerless as spectators of another clichéd PR stunt. Instead of being overly hostile to Earth Hour, this critique of the event will be from an environmentalist perspective. Instead of outright lambasting Earth Hour or attacking those who support it, I hope to provide some constructive feedback for both the Earth Hour supporters and the eco-committee. Furthermore, the views expressed below are mine only, and not necessarily of the Eco-Committee.