Unions, community organizations, nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations are realizing that they need to take action, if only to keep the wealthy and major corporations from evading their responsibilities and burdening workers with all the costs and impacts of change.
The Bush administration’s denial of human-caused climate change and ignoring of scientific fact are increasingly at odds with easily observable reality. These issues and problems will play an increasing role in politics and elections in the U.S., including in the 2008 presidential election campaign. Public opinion has already shifted, and that is forcing candidates to address climate change. Some (mainly the Republicans) continue to deny or minimize the problems and the costs we are already paying. Others want to place the greatest burden on individuals. Only a few point out the real problems and real causes.
Call to action
The final call from the NGO conference strongly recommends (among other actions) that:
“a. all governments and civil society foster an ethical, moral foundation for ongoing sustainable development in our interdependent world, making the well-being of all of humankind our priority,
b. all educational institutions and media organizations more effectively educate about the issue of climate change with special emphasis on youth,
c. governmental authorities consider penalties for excessive consumption and pollution as a method of financing climate change improvements, as well as financial incentives to foster climate-friendly technologies so that fossil fuel and nuclear-based technologies can be phased out,
d. governments recognize that war is damaging to the climate,
e. all governments ratify UN conventions on climate change, the Kyoto protocol and other relevant climate conventions.”
This UN NGO conference was but one part of the global efforts — there will be more UN conferences including one in Bali in December, and other ongoing international negotiations. Missing at the table will be the direct voices of workers, farmers, poor people and children. It is part of our job to make those voices heard, and to demand immediate action before the costs of change rise even further.
Individual responsibility includes engaging in political action to force the political system to pass laws and tax the corporations to pay for the required changes. Struggles in the public sphere will determine how much global warming there will be, who pays the price of change and whether the industrial, agricultural and social transformations humanity needs actually happen.
Marc Brodine (marcbrodine @inlandnet.com) attended the UN NGO Climate Change Conference, Sept. 5-7, in New York. Brodine is chair of the Washington State Communist Party and co-authored the second edition of the CPUSA environmental program, “People and Nature Before Profits.” From People's Weekly World newspaper (www.pww.org).
The Bush administration’s denial of human-caused climate change and ignoring of scientific fact are increasingly at odds with easily observable reality. These issues and problems will play an increasing role in politics and elections in the U.S., including in the 2008 presidential election campaign. Public opinion has already shifted, and that is forcing candidates to address climate change. Some (mainly the Republicans) continue to deny or minimize the problems and the costs we are already paying. Others want to place the greatest burden on individuals. Only a few point out the real problems and real causes.
Call to action
The final call from the NGO conference strongly recommends (among other actions) that:
b. all educational institutions and media organizations more effectively educate about the issue of climate change with special emphasis on youth,
c. governmental authorities consider penalties for excessive consumption and pollution as a method of financing climate change improvements, as well as financial incentives to foster climate-friendly technologies so that fossil fuel and nuclear-based technologies can be phased out,
d. governments recognize that war is damaging to the climate,
e. all governments ratify UN conventions on climate change, the Kyoto protocol and other relevant climate conventions.”
This UN NGO conference was but one part of the global efforts — there will be more UN conferences including one in Bali in December, and other ongoing international negotiations. Missing at the table will be the direct voices of workers, farmers, poor people and children. It is part of our job to make those voices heard, and to demand immediate action before the costs of change rise even further.
Individual responsibility includes engaging in political action to force the political system to pass laws and tax the corporations to pay for the required changes. Struggles in the public sphere will determine how much global warming there will be, who pays the price of change and whether the industrial, agricultural and social transformations humanity needs actually happen.
Marc Brodine (marcbrodine @inlandnet.com) attended the UN NGO Climate Change Conference, Sept. 5-7, in New York. Brodine is chair of the Washington State Communist Party and co-authored the second edition of the CPUSA environmental program, “People and Nature Before Profits.” From People's Weekly World newspaper (www.pww.org).
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