End Global Warming - End Business-As-Usual

Capitalism threatens mankind with a lethal and unpredictable mixture of global warming droughts and floods, sea level changes loss of forests and crops, all combining to precipitate recurring cycles of famine and conflict. This is the devastating scenario of the breakdown of our ecological system. The planet only supports life because of the delicate and harmonious relationship between eco-systems and carbon dioxide. Fossil fuels – oil, coal and gas – for energy in modem times, together with the destruction of much of the world’s rainforests, has enormously disturbed the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere. But today this fine balance is being disturbed and on a massive scale. Anarchic capitalism and the rapacious greed of today’s corporations now threaten humanity with possible extinction.

 The Socialist Party has never opposed the spectacular successes science has contributed to society. But under capitalism it has been used and developed in an irrational and unplanned manner which has resulted in many catastrophes. Capitalism has proved incapable of using the capacity of modern technology to ease the nightmare conditions of those whose conditions of life are characterised by malnutrition, illiteracy, disease, squalid surroundings, high infant mortality and low life expectancy. While advances in science and technology have made possible the development of the microprocessors, computers, mobile phones and robots, the real ‘energy crisis’ is for the people still dependent upon charcoal as fuel for cooking. For them, it can only be obtained by encroaching upon the forests. Denuded of tree cover, the top soil quickly becomes washed away creating deserts.

 It is a searing indictment of the short sighted and disastrous policies of Big Business. The wanton destruction of the environment has now reached calamitous proportions. The Greenhouse Effect is inevitable in a society dominated by blind market forces. The inherent contradictions, antagonisms and the competition of interests makes capitalism absolutely incapable of developing and introducing adequate safeguards against climate change. Corporations cannot afford to be overly concerned with stopping global warming. The existence of every corporation is based on its ability to make more profits than a rival company. Businesses will not dig deeply into their profits to take any real steps toward stopping climate changes. Business is not about to cut its profits for anybody. Business has not cut its profits to provide full employment or to avoid wars. There’s no reason to expect them to do such a thing in order to end global warming. This is also true to a large extent of the government. lt’s very difficult to tell the politicians from the businessmen. Marx summed it up well:

“The executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the affairs of the bourgeoisie.”

People no longer hold any confidence in the business-controlled government’s ability to “control” business.  Capitalism is a voracious system. Can we end it before it destroys us?

 The Socialist Party see through the superficial and deceptive token gestures of the politicians. In a socialist world, all types of energy production would be considered on the basis of safety, efficiency and environmental concern.