Writing coherently about something that is decidedly
incoherent is difficult.
Democracy stumbled recently as it took a low blow with the
repeal of the carbon pricing mechanism and so appears ill-equipped to untangle
the complexities of climate change.
Former Australian PM, Kevin Rudd, among others, including
many from the other side of the ideological divide, have declared climate
change as humanity’s greatest ever moral challenge.
That observation follows an even earlier comment from former
U.S. President, Jimmy Carter who said in 1971 that the energy crisis was “the
moral equivalent to war”. Climate change is about many things, but chief among
them is our frivolous use of energy.
Few, if any have argued for the abandonment of democracy, a
social governance process that has underpinned societies for more than two
centuries , but it was no less than Albert Einstein who said a problem cannot
be resolved by the thinking from which is arose.
The world now faces difficulties created and encouraged by
democracy and so applying the Einstein maxim that revered social governance process
should now be questioned.
Democracy allows for debate, difference of opinion, the rule
of law and within and around those attributes, tolerance.
That heady mix of values are now entrenched, most certainly
in developed countries and although they now have a foothold in many other
places, their import is as varied as the cultures which have embraced them.
Returning again to Mr Rudd’s 2007 observations, he noted then
that climate change was so vast that it was beyond politics.
His prescient comments apply to what presently exists –
climate change is unquestionably the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced
and democracy appears unequal to those challenges.
Beyond that, the magnitude of what is ahead appears to
escape the understanding of the Abbott-led government.
Yes, addressing the causes and mitigation of climate change
is something that is beyond politics and demands creative, innovative and
courageous ideas that appear to exceed the capacities of existing
egalitarianism.
Democracy as an ideal is to be celebrated, but it was
adherence to its fundamentals that gave rise to the Anthropocene – a
scientifically recognized era acknowledging the influence of man; an era of
industry, growth, conflict and profit that has disrupted the world’s climate.
Sadly, the climate change conversation has been politicized
creating a “them and us”, a “goodies and baddies”-type discussion, which is
simply wrong for no-one is correct or incorrect, no-one is either good or bad rather,
we’re all responsible and so together face the unintended consequences of the
natural expression of our species’ will to survive.
So where do we go from here?
Work hard to understand and reclaim democracy; support those
who epitomise its values and step away from those who don’t.
