The four-letter word: hope.

Another blog-post about socialism and the environment.

The Scottish Greens have said they expect their largest-ever conference when they gather in Edinburgh. They have reported a surge in party membership since the independence referendum.  Membership has more than trebled to 6,300.

Capitalism now threatens the continued existence of the world. The profit motive of capitalism is the driving factor and social mechanism of its malfunctioning. It is the social philosophy of class warfare. Given centuries of accumulated capacity to defend itself, the most likely outcome is that capitalism ends itself. With global wars and rapidly accumulating climate crisis, this end is not likely to be socially constructive.

The link of greenhouse gas emissions to industrial production, to capitalist production, is unequivocal. The motivation for capitalists to treat the world as their very own garbage dump is simple: it raises profits. This can be seen in the corporate profit equation: Revenue minus Costs = Profits, R – C = P. Here it is evident that reducing costs raises profits. Capitalists can either pay to prevent pollution, compensate those affected by it or they can ignore it. The first two ‘options’ are costs that reduce profits. The latter, simply ignoring pollution, doesn’t eliminate its costs, it shifts them from the capitalist to those affected by it. In the case of environmental destruction like global warming, dead and dying oceans and widespread toxic contamination, these costs are borne far and wide. Viewed in this light the profit motive makes it the political economy of catastrophe. Capitalist profits are directly linked to the capacity to force other people to bear the costs of production.

Governments and many of the mainstream environment lobby have sold out to big corporate interests who profit from dirty energy and false market-based climate change ‘solutions.’ Government and business have shown themselves incapable of responding to the climate crisis. Government and Big Business are taking actions that will result in damage from the corporate trade agreements that are designed to create massive profits for transnational corporations. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TAFTA) will drive an increase in fracking and off-shore oil drilling in the US for export to Europe. In addition, these agreements undermine the ability of communities to protect themselves because they give transnational corporations the legal power to sue governments if laws interfere with the profits corporations expect to make. (Adapted from here)

The New York Declaration on Forests was signed  by some 150 parties at a United Nations-organised climate summit. Outlining pledges and goals for both the public and private sectors, for the first time the declaration set a global “deadline” for deforestation: to “At least halve the rate of loss of natural forest globally by 2020 and strive to end natural forest loss by 2030.” The accord was formally backed by 40 multinational companies and financial firms, and seeks to “help meet” private-sector goals of halting deforestation linked to commodities by the end of the decade. Separately, the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), consisting of 400 large companies with global sales of three trillion dollars, has pledged to remove deforestation from its supply chains by 2020.

 Since the agreement’s unveiling, some groups have voiced stark concerns, particularly around the declaration’s extended time-line and weak enforcement mechanisms. Indeed, the agreement is legally binding on neither states nor companies. “The 2030 time-line would allow deforestation to continue for a decade and a half. By then the declaration could be self-fulfilling, as there might not be much forest left to save,” said Susanne Breitkopf, a senior political advisor with Greenpeace, “Equally, private companies shouldn’t be allowed to continue deforesting and sourcing from deforestation until 2020 – they should stop destructive practices and human rights violations immediately.”

Greenpeace points out that the agreement is weaker than certain existing deforestation accords, and thus could even dampen forward momentum. “Most governments long ago signed up to the Convention on Biological Diversity,” she says, referring to the 1992 treaty. “That agreement obliges them to halt biodiversity loss and manage forests sustainably by 2020. Now, the New York Declaration threatens to undermine previous commitments.”

“The declaration seems to make those who have the capacities for massive destruction of community forests to think that they have up to 2020 to continue destruction unchecked, and unencumbered. This is dangerous. Some of these companies have the capabilities to wipe out forests the size of Cross River State of Nigeria in one year. Collectively, they have the capacity to wipe out valuable community forest areas up to the size of India in a few years.” the Rainforest Resource and Development Centre said in a statement. According to U.N. statistics, some 13 million hectares of forest are disappearing, on average, each year. Deforestation is fuelled by large-scale agricultural production to supply commodities to other countries. According to findings published last month by Forest Trends, a watchdog group here, at least half of global deforestation is taking place illegally and in support of commercial agriculture – particularly to supply overseas markets. Overall, some 40 percent of all globally traded palm oil and 14 percent of all beef likely comes from illegally cleared lands, Forest Trends estimates.

This is a cynical political ploy, a forest protection greenwash figleaf designed to placate the concerns of people. Any agreement labeled "voluntary" is doomed.  Governments are agreeing that it's perfectly OK for interested corporations to keep on destroying forests until they're basically all destroyed, and then they must STOP! As a corollary, it's okay to go on polluting the atmosphere and the oceans until the time they are open sewers and completely dead wastelands, and then such practices must definitely STOP! What's good for capitalism is total destruction of everything that lives.

Protest marches possess a feel good factor. We take pleasure in each others’ company. They invigourate, they excite and they give us a sense of hope. Sadly, more often than not, that hope ends when the streets empty and people return to their daily routines. We don’t need more marches.  We need the truly radical political awakening of opposition to the capitalist system and we need it now. They won’t fear us until we give them a reason to. The fate of the planet depends on us. Corporate trade is a huge global battle, but there are hundreds of battles we must fight at the local level as well. Understanding that all our issues are connected is essential. We are all stronger if we can all work on the issues about which we are passionate but when we plan specific activities, if we cast a wide net and join together, it moves all of our work forward. Instead of waiting for political leaders and international bodies, we must take action ourselves. This is already happening to a certain extent around many issues and in many places where new approaches are being tried. It’s important to understand that when we do this work we are connected to a world socialist movement and for us to share what we are learning with each other. We build community power as we take our future in our own hands, educate ourselves and connect with each other. Working together moves us quickly forward, not just as one community but as a global community acting locally. Coordinated action sends a clear message to corporations and to the government that we will not compromise our aim nor engage in collaboration with our class enemies.

Resistance alone will fail. People need to build a new system outside of the current capitalist system. If we act together we can do this.  We will build connections to each other, to our global community and to the Earth. We will create a society that is healthier for ourselves and for future generations. The power is in our hands when we link them in solidarity and refuse to leave anybody behind. This is our path forward and there are ways for everyone to travel on it.

We are all in this together. We are one human family and in a globalised world no region is an island unto itself. We need to learn the meaning of enough against an over-consuming society of capital accumulation  and we must learn how to share or it is the end of being. Money and stock-markets don’t sustain or feed you. Healthy ecosystems and fellow workers do. We must now all work to change our current economic system, which is the source of the problem. We must construct an economy based on human need rather than capitalist greed. The foundation of this new economy must be an understanding that our most basic human need is a safe and healthy environment. To ensure that our economy works for the benefit of all it must be fully democratic, rather than run by and for a wealthy minority.