Here are three recent examples:
UK GOVERNMENT:
The Tory government continues to depress me (understatement). Mr Johnson’s recent ‘resignation’ shenanigans (with ministers and MPs being offered various ‘incentives’ in order to back him) followed by the farce of the leadership ‘contest’ – with similar inducements and tax-cutting promises (when, of course, I would advocate higher taxes in order to properly fund the NHS, mental health, education, environmental measures etc) – while, at the same time noting such incidental matters as ‘the Tories can do whatever they want because they’ve got a huge majority’ (and a rubbish electoral system); an ineffective Opposition Party; and rumours that Mr Johnson will use his departure to announce the ‘elevation’ of several dozen Tory-backing individuals to the House of Lords (in many cases, rewards for being ‘generous donors’ to the Tory Party). I could write at length on this matter but, of course, my voice doesn’t count.
It’s all about vested interests, power politics, lobbying and greed.
BIG OIL v THE WORLD (Documentary, BBC iPlayer, 2022):
Arguably, this is the most important, depressing story of our time – about what the fossil fuel industry knew about climate change more than FOUR DECADES ago. Scientists who worked for the biggest oil company in the world, Exxon, revealing the warnings they sounded in the 1970s and early 1980s about how fossil fuels would cause climate change – with potentially catastrophic effects. Drawing on thousands of newly discovered documents, the film goes on to chart in revelatory and forensic detail how the oil industry went on to mount a campaign to sow doubt about the science of climate change, the consequences of which we are living through today. And then, how the 2010s became another lost decade in the fight against climate change – as the move to natural gas delayed a transition to more renewable sources of energy – with ‘fracking’ (technique for extracting gas and oil from shale rock) being promoted by powerful corporations as a cleaner energy source, but subsequently realising natural gas (releasing large quantities of methane into the atmosphere) could be even worse for climate change than coal and oil. Meanwhile, in the UK, last week’s newspapers reported that Shell and Centrica had posted profits totalling £11bn as households struggle with bills… and that British Gas had reinstated dividends for its shareholders after operating profits of £1.3bn; and that Shell had reported a £10bn profit between April and June; and that BP reported its biggest quarterly profit for 14 years.
ISABELLA TREE’S BOOK WILDING:
The modern farmer was supposed to rationalise, intensify, diversify… get rid of small fields and hedgerows in the interests of getting the best use out of massive prairie-style machines and industrial farming techniques in order to maximise profits. Well, this inspiring book describes an attempt to renew the ecosystem, after decades of intensive agriculture of some 1,400 hectares owned by Tree’s husband Charlie Burrell at Knepp in West Sussex. The project, which began in 2001, is perhaps unique in England, and the results have been spectacular. In what has become a glorious ‘mess’, the animals live out in the open all year round and give birth unassisted by humans. Formerly common plants – but also rare ones – have returned in profusion, together with insects, bats and other organisms. Scrubland, wetland and other habitats are gradually rewiring themselves as herbicides and pesticides disappear. The increase in the variety and abundance of birds has been particularly astonishing. At a time when we’re ‘hammering the environment’, it’s a compelling and hugely encouraging, hopeful account about restoring what we have lost.
It DOESN’T all have to be about vested interests… power politics, lobbying and greed.
Somehow, we need to introduce an urgent sense of hope and fairness into the way we run this country. Sadly, at the present time, it seems all about self-interest, powerful corporations and banks, lobbyists… and a government on the side of the privileged and the well-off and where disrespectful/dishonest actions and attitudes go unpunished. Climate Change and Global Warming should be at the very HEART of our government’s agenda… but, at present, it pays only lip-service to an issue that threatens the very future of the planet.
Hamilton Nolan, writing in today’s ‘Guardian’, sums it up thus: “Capitalism is not designed to look several generations down the road. It is not designed to sacrifice for the greater good. It is designed to maximize profits. To pump every last barrel of oil on Earth, sell it, take the money and build a luxurious space ship to leave the planet that has been destroyed by burning all of that gas is a perfectly rational course of action according to the logic of capitalism. As long as there is a trillion dollars a year to be made, the fossil fuel industry will take the money. It is enough money to build a nice villa far, far away from the wars and droughts and floods and wildfires that fossil fuels are causing”.
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