Posts
"To halt the demise of the planet, you can’t rely on the same people who cause it. Never works."
I
am posting this for discussion and interest. I have no idea about
Ilargi and where he stands on abrupt climate change but for
clarification I have had reason to have a contretemps with his
off-sider at the Automatic Earth, Nicole
Foss
See also HERE
CON21
Raul
Ilargi Meijer
12
December, 2015
French
Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius just announced, in Paris, a “legally
binding agreement” that no-one has agreed the financing for. We can
hear a couple thousand lawyers across the globe snicker. But it’s
all the COP21 ‘oh-so-important’ climate conference managed to
come up with. No surprises there. They couldn’t make the 2ºC
former goal stick, so they go for 1.5ºC this time. All on red,
double or nothing. Because who really cares among the leadership,
just as long as the ‘targets’ are far enough away that they can’t
be held accountable.
I’ve
been writing the following through the past days, and wondering if I
should post it, because I know so many readers of the Automatic Earth
have so much emotion invested in these things, and they’re good and
fine emotions. But some things must still be said regardless of
consequences. Precisely because of that kind of reaction. No contract
is legally binding if there’s no agreement on payment. Nobody has a
legal claim on your home without it being specified that, if, when
and how they’re going to pay for it.
I
understand some people may get offended by some of the things I have
to say about this – though not all for the same reasons either-,
but please try and understand that and why the entire CON21
conference has offended me. After watching the horse and pony show
just now, I thought I’d let ‘er rip:
I
don’t know what makes me lose faith in mankind faster, the way we
destroy our habitat through wanton random killing of everything
alive, plants, animals and people, through pollution and climate
change and blood-thirsty sheer stupidity, or if it is the way these
things are being ‘protested’.
I’m
certainly not a climate denier or anything like that, though I do
think there are questions people gloss over very easily. And one of
those questions has to be that of priorities. Is there anyone who has
thought over whether the COP21 stage in Paris is the right one to
target in protest, whatever shape it takes? Is there anyone who
doesn’t think the ‘leaders’ are laughing out loud in -plush,
fine wine and gourmet filled- private about the protests?
Protesters
and other well-intended folk, from what I can see, are falling into
the trap set for them: they are the frame to the picture in a
political photo-op. They allow the ‘leaders’ to emanate the
image that yes, there are protests and disagreements as everyone
would expect, but that’s just a sign that people’s interests are
properly presented, so all’s well.
COP21
is not a major event, that’s only what politicians and media make
of it. In reality, it’s a mere showcase in which the
protesters have been co-opted. They’re not in the director’s
chair, they’re not even actors, they’re just extras.
I
fully agree, and more than fully sympathize, with the notion of
saving this planet before it’s too late. But I wouldn’t want to
rely on a bunch of sociopaths to make it happen. There are children
drowning every single day in the sea between Turkey and Greece, and
the very same world leaders who are gathered in Paris are letting
that happen. They have for a long time, without lifting a finger. And
they’ve done worse -if that is possible-.
The
only thing standing between the refugees and even greater and more
lethal carnage are a wide, even confusingly so, array of volunteers,
and the people of the Greek coastguard, who by now must be so
traumatized from picking up little wide-eyed lifeless bodies from the
water and the beaches, they’ll live the rest of their lives through
sleepless nightmares.
Neither
Obama nor Merkel nor Hollande will have those same nightmares. And
let’s be honest, will you? You weren’t even there. And still, you
guys are targeting a conference in Paris on climate change that
features the exact same leaders that let babies drown with
impunity.Drowned babies, climate change and warfare, these things
all come from the same source. And you’re appealing to that
very same source to stop climate change.
What
on earth makes you think the leaders you appeal to would care about
the climate when they can’t be bothered for a minute with people,
and the conditions they live in, if they’re lucky enough to live at
all? Why are you not instead protesting the preventable drownings of
innocent children? Or is it that you think the climate is more
important than human life? That perhaps one is a bigger issue than
the other?
Moreover,
the very same leaders that you for some reason expect to save the
planet -which they won’t- don’t just let babies drown, they also,
in the lands the refugees are fleeing, kill children and their
parents on a daily basis with bombs and drones. Dozens, hundreds, if
not thousands, every single day. That’s how much they care for a
‘healthy’ planet (how about we discuss what that actually is?).
And
in the hallways of the CON21 conference they’ve been actively
discussing plans to do more of the same, more killing, more war. Save
the world, bombs away! That’s their view of the planet. And they’re
supposed to save ‘the climate’?
There
are a number of reasons why the CON21 conference will not move us one
inch towards saving this planet. One of the biggest is outlined in
just a few quoted words from a senior member of India’s delegation
-nothing new, but a useful reminder.
India would reject a deal to combat climate change that includes a pledge for the world to wean itself off fossil fuels this century, a senior official said, underlying the difficulties countries face in agreeing how to slow global warming.
India, the world’s third largest carbon emitter, is dependent on coal for most of its energy needs, and despite a pledge to expand solar and wind power has said its economy is too small and its people too poor to end use of the fossil fuel anytime soon. “It’s problematic for us to make that commitment at this point in time. It’s certainly a stumbling block (to a deal),” Ajay Mathur, a senior member of India’s negotiating team for Paris, told Reuters in an interview this week.
“The entire prosperity of the world has been built on cheap energy. And suddenly we are being forced into higher cost energy. That’s grossly unfair,” he said.
This
means the ‘poorer’ countries, -by no means just India; China has
155 more coal plants in the pipeline despite their pollution levels
moving ‘beyond index’-, the poorer counties won’t volunteer to
lower their emissions unless richer nations lower theirs even a lot
more. US per capita emissions are over 10 times higher than India’s,
those of the EU six times. Ergo: Step 1: lower US emissions by 90%.
It also means that richer nations won’t do this, because it would
kill their economies.
Which,
in case you haven’t noticed, are already doing very poorly, much
worse than the media -let alone politicians- will tell you. In fact,
the chances that the richer countries will ‘recover’ from the
effects of their debt binge are about on par with those of renewable
energy sources becoming cheaper than fossil fuels -barring subsidies.
If only because producing them depends entirely on those same fossil
fuels. All the rest of what you hear is just con.
The
people of India obviously know it, and you might as well. It’s
going to cost many trillions of dollars to replace even a halfway
substantial part of our fossil energy use with renewables, and we
already don’t have that kind of money today. We will have much less
tomorrow.
Besides,
despite all the talk of Big Oil turning into Big Energy, Shell et al
are not energy companies, they’re oil -and gas- companies, and
they’ll defend their (near) monopolies tooth and claw. Especially
now that their market caps are sinking like so many stones. They have
no money left to invest in anything, let alone an industry that’s
not theirs. They lost some $250 billion in ‘value’ this week
alone. They’re getting killed.
In
the same vein, China can’t close more than a token few of its most
polluting plants. China’s getting killed economically. And for all
nations and corporations there’s one principle that trumps all:
competitive advantage. If going ‘green’ means losing that, or
even some of it, forget it. We won’t volunteer to go green if it
makes us less rich.
And
who do you think represents big oil -and the bankers that finance
them- more than anyone else? Right, your same leaders again, who make
you pay for the by now very extensive and expensive security details
that keep them from having to face you. Just like they’re planning
to make you pay dearly for the illusion of a world running on
renewables.
Because that’s
where the profit is: in the illusion.
Whatever
makes most money is what will drive people’s, corporations’, and
nations’ actions going forward. Saving energy and/or substituting
energy sources is not what makes most money, and it will therefore
not happen. Not on any meaningful scale, that is.
There
will be attempts to force people to pay through the nose to soothe
their consciences -which will be very profitable for those on the
receiving end-, but people’s ability to pay for this is shrinking
fast, so that won’t go anywhere.
The
only thing that could help save this planet is for all westerners to
reduce their energy use by 90%+, but, though it is theoretically and
technically feasible, it won’t happen because the majority of us
won’t give up even a part of our wealth, and the powers that be in
today’s economies refuse to see their profits (re: power) and those
of their backers go up in -ever hotter- air.
The
current economic model depends on our profligate use of energy. A
new economic model, then, you say? Good luck with that. The current
one has left all political power with those who profit most from it.
And besides, that’s a whole other problem, and a whole
other issue to protest.
If
you’re serious about wanting to save the planet, and I have no
doubt you are, then I think you need to refocus. COP21 is not
your thing, it’s not your stage. It’s your leaders’ stage, and
your leaders are not your friends. They don’t even
represent you either. The decisions that you want made will not be
made there.
There
will be lofty declarations loaded with targets for 2030, 2050 and
2100, and none of it will have any real value. Because none of the
‘leaders’ will be around to be held accountable when any of those
dates will come to pass.
An
imploding global economy may be your best shot at lowering emissions.
But then again, it will lead to people burning anything they can get
their hands on just to keep warm. Not a pretty prospect either. To be
successful, we would need to abandon our current political and
economic organizational structures, national governments and ‘up’,
which select for the sociopaths that gather behind their heavy
security details to decide on your future while gloating with glee in
their power positions.
Better
still, we should make it impossible for any single one of them to
ever be elected to any important position ever again. For now,
though, our political systems don’t select for those who care most
for the world, or its children. We select for those who promise us
the most wealth. And we’re willing to turn a blind eye to very many
things to acquire that wealth and hold on to it.
The
entire conference is just an exercise in “feel good”, on all
sides. Is there anyone out there who really thinks the likes of Bill
Gates and Richard Branson will do anything at all to stop this world
from burning to the ground? You have any idea what their ecological
footprints are?
Sometimes
I think it’s the very ignorance of the protesting side that dooms
this planet. There’s a huge profit-seeking sociopathic part of the
equation, which has caused the problems in the first place, and
there’s no serious counterweight in иsight.
Having
these oversized walking talking ego’s sign petitions and
declarations they know they will never have to live up to is
completely useless. Branson will still fly his planes, Gates will
keep running his ultra-cooled server parks, and Obama and Merkel will
make sure their economies churn out growth ahead of anything else.
Every single country still demands growth. Whatever gains you make in
terms of lower emissions will be nullified by that growth.
And
in the hallways, ‘smart’ entrepreneurs stand ready to pocket a
‘smart’ profit from the alleged switch to clean energy. At the
cost of you, the taxpayer. And you believe them, because you want to,
and because it makes you feel good. And you don’t have the
knowledge available to dispute their claims (hint: try
thermodynamics).
You’re
seeking the cooperation of people who let babies drown and who
incessantly bomb the countries these babies and their families were
seeking to escape.
I’m
sorry, I know a lot of you have a lot of emotion invested in this,
and it’s a good emotion, and you’re thinking this conference is
really important and all, and our ‘last chance’ to save the
planet. But you’ve been had, it’s as simple as that. And
co-opted. And conned.
And
it’s not the first time, either. All these conferences go the same
way. To halt the demise of the planet, you can’t rely on the same
people who cause it. Never works.
