Fundamentally
there are three elements to the climate change debate, elements of
dissimilar weight and influence: first there are the governments and
the economy to which they are bound; second is business and the
corporations, including the media; and third are the citizens.
There
is deliberately no mention here of the planet, the environment,
changing weather patterns or natural catastrophes as the planet
itself is in no imminent danger. The Earth will continue to survive
in one form or another. Humans are not destroying the planet, merely
hastening its change and their own demise if they destroy and poison
the environment that supports human and other animal species.
Perhaps
it is more pertinent and pressing to address the question, why is so
much said about global warming and climate change? See this year’s
IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) reports, Al Gore’s
highly publicised film and world tour, George Monbiot’s book. Yet
at the same time, why is so little done to implement a halt, a
reversal, a slowing of the trend?
Governments
A
look at the first element: governments and the economy are connected
by an umbilical cord with the sustenance free flowing, but starve one
and you starve the other, although which is the mother and which is
the offspring is impossible to tell. Which kind of government is
immaterial. This is a truism and not cynicism. China or the US –
both with vast economies and influential governments; tiny Monaco and
Oman; totalitarian, appointed, partial or universal suffrage, all run
to the same rules of capitalism.
According
to Neil deMause in the US media report Extra! (August 2007), “Tony Blair’s
government has long been an outspoken advocate of cutting carbon
emissions to forestall climate change”, with no comment on
subsequent (non)action. The Bush administration is well known for
withdrawal from the Kyoto Agreement and for weak Environmental
Protection Agency reports. The overriding mission of governments and
politicians is to stay in place, to remain in control of the agenda,
enriching themselves and their cronies and furthering their ambitions
for the future.
Business
The
second element is business. We live in a homogenised, corporate
world, run entirely on capitalist principles. Simply put, everything
has to turn a profit at each stage of the line, otherwise it is
worthless, expendable. Raw materials, service, investment, packaging,
transportation, advertising, marketing, point of sale, with labour at
every step, all need their profit in order for a transaction to be
viable. Media, run on these same lines, have to toe the line by
necessity, not choice, so it is illogical to expect independent,
impartial coverage of any topic which may expose inconvenient truths
and embarrass important clients. Climate change deniers and sceptics
are hired by industry, foundations and government think tanks in
order to denounce or reduce the impact of scientific reports of
global warming, i.e. to put a positive spin on a negative subject.
The Chicago Tribune had their chief business correspondent
report on “investments in companies likely to benefit from new,
stricter environmental laws”.
...continued
on page 9