Monbiot - We Can't Win This While Humanity Comes in Second.

 

George Monbiot takes stock of the struggle to avert climate catastrophe and finds little cause for optimism. To the contrary, he writes that our political caste has thrown all of us under the corporate bus.

The human tragedy is that there is no connection between what we know and what we do. Almost everyone is now at least vaguely aware that we face the greatest catastrophe our species has ever confronted. Yet scarcely anyone alters their behaviour in response: above all, their driving, flying and consumption of meat and dairy.

...Astonishingly, it is still government policy to “maximise economic recovery” of oil and gas from the UK’s continental shelf. According to the government’s energy white paper, promoting their extraction ensures that “the UK remains an attractive destination for global capital”, which is “the best way to secure an orderly and successful transition away from traditional fossil fuels”. It’s hard to imagine a more perverse argument. But when you pursue incompatible aims, the first casualty is logic.

...as climate scientists have long explained, there is no realistic prospect of preventing more than 1.5C of global heating unless all new fossil fuel development is stopped. In fact, existing projects need to be retired. Nor can we achieve the government’s official aim of net zero emissions by 2050. This target, incidentally, in another sign of the gulf between knowing and doing, bears no relationship to the temperature goals in the Paris agreement. It urgently needs to be replaced with a more stringent measure, but no one in power is prepared to discuss it.

...Unless we leave fossil fuels in the ground, any commitment to stop climate breakdown is merely gestural. ...This is one of the reasons why governments hate and shun what climate science tells them. If they took it seriously, they would tailor policy to scientific advice. But such constraints on political choice are perceived as intolerable.

The Investor-State Dispute Trap or How Governments Sold Us Down the River. 

A UK oil company is currently suing the Italian government for the loss of its “future anticipated profits”after Italy banned new oil drilling in coastal waters. Italy used to be a signatory to the Energy Charter Treaty, which allows companies to demand compensation if it stops future projects. The treaty’s sunset clause permits such lawsuits after nations are no longer party to it, so Italy can be sued even though it left the agreement in 2016. This is one of many examples of “investor-state dispute settlement”, that makes effective action against climate breakdown almost impossible. It represents an outrageous curtailment of political choice, with which governments like ours are entirely comfortable. I’m not sure how we can escape such agreements, but government lawyers should be all over this issue, looking for a way out. Otherwise, future corporate profits remain officially more important than life on Earth.

...No government, even the most progressive, is yet prepared to contemplate the transformation we need: a global programme that places the survival of humanity and the rest of life on Earth above all other issues. We need not just new policy, but a new ethics. We need to close the gap between knowing and doing. But this conversation has scarcely begun.

This election gives us an ideal opportunity to consider how each contending party would put life, our lives, ahead of corporate servitude. The Liberals - F.  The Tories - F. The NDP - F. The Greens? Until they get their act together, another F. As far as they're concerned, the lot of 'em, Canada's hands are tied, i.e. their hands are tied. There's nothing that can be done. We have the vote - yes, yes, yes. But it's only once very couple of years and, after that, we're just fish in a barrel.  

We pick a winner and then it's back to business as usual. There will be no shortage of grand pronouncements, talk of carbon pricing and such, but that will be gestural bullshit and nothing more. Their hands are tied is what we'll get when we complain.  

Their hands are tied because they negotiated trade deals that put us in a trap, that undermined our sovereignty and rendered our governments the handmaidens of corporate power. Perhaps that's why we get such low-grade leaders in this country. Why would A-list talent want the job?  Who wants to be a glorified elevator operator?