Human construct stands between us and mitigating climate change

A human construct is what stands between us and moving toward mitigating human-induced climate change.

Humanity is surrounded
by an economy that was
once our servant, but
 now is now our master.

Humans, bit by bit, piece by piece have built an economy that now straddles the globe and while it was at first our servant, it has now, through the apparent fault of no-one, become our master.

The economy has been elevated to God-like status and to suggest anything likely to unseat it, borders on blasphemy and brings accusations of ignorance, naivety and even stupidity, arguing that such foolishness is a misunderstanding of what it is that gives humanity sustenance.

Such allegations arise from an addiction to the paradigm in which the world economy is embedded and with most governments, whether they be liberal democracies, communistic, despotic regimes, religion-based democratic facades or something of any other flavour, bowing before the might of money, to suggest something different is not only decried, but considered grossly irresponsible.

Humanity, or at least some of it, has been fortunate to escape from the daily trepidations of the hunter and gatherer life; something that has been achieved through the construction of an economy which has, in many ways served us well, but at the same time has ignored the subtle beauties of life; beauties that are sadly irrelevant to the simplistic brutalities of the economy.

Growth, a code word for exploitation, has seen man excavate the world’s ancient sunlight, and in the past two or three centuries use the fossil fuels we discovered with a rude rush of exuberance to see all the available environmental sinks on the earth filled to over-capacity, disrupting the earth’s atmosphere to create disarray in the world’s climate to manifest weather patterns with which humans are unfamiliar.

That unfamiliarity is of such a dimension that the future of humanity, along with most other species with which it shares the planet, is problematic.

The time for action is already a few decades past and certain weather related difficulties cannot be avoided, but it is time to bury our concerns about the world economy and change our rhetoric to align it with ideals that are about equality, philanthropy, altruism, sharing, kindness and an understanding of the other to ensure that life on earth can endure.

The world’s economy has evolved in such a way that the distribution of wealth is disturbingly wrong in that about 15 per cent of the population controls 80 per cent of the wealth and nearly half the population less than two per cent.

The economy has served a few on earth well, disadvantaged more and if we are unable to rein it in and return it to again being the servant, as opposed to a master, then climate change will continue its march to a rather gloomy conclusion.

 

The world needs more than thoughts and words

The thoughts of a friend and the words of a writer suggest more Australians should be aware that we live in the political slums of mediocrity.

Anthony Giddens
 book, "The
Politics of
Climate Change".

Shepparton’s Alan English just recently said, “The present political noise over asylum people is a great distraction from (the) lack of policy on essential services, not to mention climate change which is being put in the too hard basket.”

Alan did not mention “the political slums of mediocrity” and nor did Anthony Giddens in his book “The Politics of Climate Change”, but both were suggesting we inhabit something of political shantytown in which the poverty of considered thought is rife.

Alan, who is among those who gather Beneath the Wisteria each month in Shepparton, is another concerned about the quality of discussion among our politicians and often writes to our local representatives airing his disquiet.

The arrival of Alan’s note coincided with the reading Giddens’ observations about the inadequacies of present day pugnacious politics in addressing the most overwhelmingly difficult problem the world community has ever faced – climate change.

Writing in his book, “The Politics of Climate Change”, the British sociologist, who has been a prolific writer, said: “One should remember that global warming is no ordinary risk. It is an awesome prospect to acknowledge that, as collective humanity, we are on the verge of altering the world’s climate, perhaps in a profound manner.”

Giddens argues that the complexity and implications of climate change exceed anything we might consider normal and so any worthwhile response supplants the usual political paradigm.

Any success we might have in countering the evolving climatic changes that will bring an array of extreme weather events, hinges on us stepping beyond our usual confrontational and point-scoring politics to reach a concordant style through which humanity can muster its resources to address a climate that is quickly slipping beyond that which is adequate for human survival.

Giddens talks about the need for societal planning at a state level, aware that such is an anathema to many, but feels a workable solution depends upon us intellectually, emotionally and physically crossing ideological boundaries.

“Responding to climate change will prompt and require innovation in government itself and in the relation between the state, the markets and civil society,” Giddens wrote.

He writes: ‘It is normal and acceptable for political parties to claim that they, rather than their opponents, are the one to turn to for firm action on global warming.

“Yet beyond a certain area, and beyond the rhetoric of immediate party politics, there has to be agreement that the issue is so important that the usual party conflicts are largely suspended or muted”.

Rather than thoughts and words we need innovative society-wide alliances free of political pretence.