Just finished reading the very insightful and inspiring 'Green Alternatives to Globalisation' by Michael Woodin and Caroline Lucas. It was refreshing to read something that not only identifies the problem but also presents a well thought through and radical solution. I would recommend this book to anybody who is interested in green economics and equally to those who believe we can combat the threat of climate change via the existing institutions.
I really liked the POD (Programme of Obstruction and Deconstruction) which recognises the need to seek reform of existing institutions in the short term via global treaties etc but with a very clear eye on their eventual replacement with a new economic order. There is a parallel here with the Trotskyist left which often talks about a programme of transitional demands that seek to push the system towards collapse. However the POD strategy presented by Woodin and Lucas is a much more positive proposition that has the potential, in my opinion, to carry more people with it. Sure, part of the POD strategy would need to include a growing class consciousness so that the working class in the western world recognise that Globalisation is fuelled at their expense. Whilst it offers sweeteners in the form of cheap air travel, consumer goods etc it is the same system that dictates their jobs disappear to eastern Europe and the far east, the same system that sees their local neighbourhood become a clone of every other neighbourhood and the same system that demands ever greater flexibility of them in terms of working hours and family arrangements to accommodate that flexibility.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Battleship Antartica
Did anyone see the documentary last night about Greenpeace's attempt to stop the Japanese whale hunt last year? Very interesting given the twist of fire on the Japanese factory ship resulting in Greenpeace offering to tow them out of the quickly forming sea ice.
What interested me was the complaint form various crew members that Greenpeace has become more corporate in recent years with decisions being made on high and passed down to the activists, rather than the decisions being discussed and agreed on by the activists. I wonder whether this organisational trait is inevitable as groups mature? Is this what will happen to the Green party now it has decided to elect a leader?
What interested me was the complaint form various crew members that Greenpeace has become more corporate in recent years with decisions being made on high and passed down to the activists, rather than the decisions being discussed and agreed on by the activists. I wonder whether this organisational trait is inevitable as groups mature? Is this what will happen to the Green party now it has decided to elect a leader?
Thursday, December 27, 2007
More on Carbon Costing
Interesting letter in today's Guardian which suggests that the introduction of carbon costing will not affect planned airport expansion as the revised forecasts for air transport growth published in early December included the latest carbon cost. The letter then goes on to say that the price used in the recent forecast was based on £70 per tonne of Carbon (unchanged since 2003????) however the Stern report recommended a cost of £280 per tonne.
As i suspected all was not as it first seems. The costs used are not realistic if you take the Stern report (a government commissioned report so unlikely to be anything but conservative) as being an accurate piece of work. Appears we have another case of sounding Green but acting otherwise by this government.
The danger with all this, is that we are trying and value the planet and human life in monetary terms. I know this is necessary in the economic framework we work within but is bizarre when, as another corespondent notes, it is this very approach to valuing things that has got us into this mess.
As i suspected all was not as it first seems. The costs used are not realistic if you take the Stern report (a government commissioned report so unlikely to be anything but conservative) as being an accurate piece of work. Appears we have another case of sounding Green but acting otherwise by this government.
The danger with all this, is that we are trying and value the planet and human life in monetary terms. I know this is necessary in the economic framework we work within but is bizarre when, as another corespondent notes, it is this very approach to valuing things that has got us into this mess.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Yet more empty rhetoric i fear.
I see from the front of today's Guardian the government is to start pricing in the carbon cost of government projects such as road building and airport expansion. Sounds promising but i note that the article suggests this may make nuclear power more attractive. Ridiculous notion; as if carbon is the only danger to the planet and humanity. What about pricing in the disposal and management of the waste. I always ask any supporter of nuclear power, would you want the waste dumped in your local area...
Putting the detail of the proposal to one side, at face value this sounds like yet another wheeze by the government to sound green whilst not really delivering. In recent months there has been a lot of this. Remember Gordon Brown's almost evangelical speech on saving the planet only to be followed 2 days later by announcement that the Heathrow expansion will go ahead. Oh... but now it might not because they are going to cost the carbon. My prediction...we will still end up spending time protesting at Heathrow in the not too distant future as the government announce that they have costed the carbon and balanced against the market forces its a price worth paying.
Putting the detail of the proposal to one side, at face value this sounds like yet another wheeze by the government to sound green whilst not really delivering. In recent months there has been a lot of this. Remember Gordon Brown's almost evangelical speech on saving the planet only to be followed 2 days later by announcement that the Heathrow expansion will go ahead. Oh... but now it might not because they are going to cost the carbon. My prediction...we will still end up spending time protesting at Heathrow in the not too distant future as the government announce that they have costed the carbon and balanced against the market forces its a price worth paying.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
A new beginning
Hello,
I'm new to this and not quite sure why I'm doing it... but following a conversation last night with some friends thought it may be a useful way of pulling together my thoughts on matters red (i.e. socialist) and green.
Why a new beginning? Well I've just resigned from the Labour Party after 20 years. I initially decided to leave in July but have been mulling it over ever since. However the act was completed on Tuesday. Many issues could have been reasons to resign in the last 3/4 years but i have resisted to raging impulses. These impulses are usually initiated after listening to yet another New Labour minister sounding like a Tory from the 80's on the Today programme. The final act was not however an impulse, it has been germinating for many months and has been drip fed by my growing concern for matters environmental and the capacity or rather incapacity of the Labour Party to adequately respond to the impending crisis, locked as they are, within the framework of the present economic orthodoxy.
It seems to me that free market capitalism which measures success by wealth acquisition and economic growth requires ever increasing consumption to fuel that growth. If we are serious about reducing Climate Change and therefore our impact on the planet then surely we have to campaign for a change of economic system.
This should be the salvation for the British left, we have the one issue that should make socialism a logical solution for most right thinking people. However outside of the Labour Party the British left is riven with factional fights and battles that are too old and irrelevant. The recent events within Respect typify this.
I have been inspired in recent months by the writing and speeches of Derek Wall and Caroline Lucas from the Green Party. I had always perceived the Greens to be one dimensional, a bit new age and generally very nice but not a serious political force. However on closer inspection of their policies and the analysis underpinning them they are a party with a radical view across the range of policy areas. I will therefore be joining the Green Party to help campaign for getting Green councillors elected in the 2nd city. I will also be trying to make links between the Green Party in Birmingham and the wider Labour movement.
This blog will be a place for me to reflect on the next stage of my political life, to comment on issues and hopefully stimulate some discussion and debate.
I'm new to this and not quite sure why I'm doing it... but following a conversation last night with some friends thought it may be a useful way of pulling together my thoughts on matters red (i.e. socialist) and green.
Why a new beginning? Well I've just resigned from the Labour Party after 20 years. I initially decided to leave in July but have been mulling it over ever since. However the act was completed on Tuesday. Many issues could have been reasons to resign in the last 3/4 years but i have resisted to raging impulses. These impulses are usually initiated after listening to yet another New Labour minister sounding like a Tory from the 80's on the Today programme. The final act was not however an impulse, it has been germinating for many months and has been drip fed by my growing concern for matters environmental and the capacity or rather incapacity of the Labour Party to adequately respond to the impending crisis, locked as they are, within the framework of the present economic orthodoxy.
It seems to me that free market capitalism which measures success by wealth acquisition and economic growth requires ever increasing consumption to fuel that growth. If we are serious about reducing Climate Change and therefore our impact on the planet then surely we have to campaign for a change of economic system.
This should be the salvation for the British left, we have the one issue that should make socialism a logical solution for most right thinking people. However outside of the Labour Party the British left is riven with factional fights and battles that are too old and irrelevant. The recent events within Respect typify this.
I have been inspired in recent months by the writing and speeches of Derek Wall and Caroline Lucas from the Green Party. I had always perceived the Greens to be one dimensional, a bit new age and generally very nice but not a serious political force. However on closer inspection of their policies and the analysis underpinning them they are a party with a radical view across the range of policy areas. I will therefore be joining the Green Party to help campaign for getting Green councillors elected in the 2nd city. I will also be trying to make links between the Green Party in Birmingham and the wider Labour movement.
This blog will be a place for me to reflect on the next stage of my political life, to comment on issues and hopefully stimulate some discussion and debate.
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