Climate crisis

Just five years ago, not a day would go by without global warming making
the headlines. The American politician Al Gore’s documentary film about
climate change, An Inconvenient Truth, was seen by hundreds of
thousands in cinemas across the world. The Conservative Party rebranded
themselves as the champions of the environment, nailing their ecological
colours to the mast and urging people to ‘vote Blue to go Green’. Even
the arch-reactionary American president George W. Bush was forced to
concede that, maybe, the environment was worth thinking about.

The "red mud" surge in Hungary several days ago, which destroyed houses, ruined land, cost a number of lives and has poluted the Danube – with a second surge being threatened – has shocked people not only in Hungary but throughout Europe and beyond. How did it happen – and who is to blame? The bosses media outlets are being in the main somewhat vague on this – our reporter in Hungary goes behind the scenes.

Much is said in the news about the disastrous situation that now
exists in the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the Deepwater Horizon
explosion. An ecological disaster of gigantic proportions has been
created by the profit motive, which is what drives the BP executives.
However, were the company to be thoroughly unionised, with workers’
representatives controlling every level of safety, this disaster could
have been averted.

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico highlights the
real state of US capitalism today. While making a lot of noise, Obama
is not prepared to take on the oil companies in any serious meaningful
way. What he is doing is passing the buck to the US working class.

The huge spillage of oil in the Gulf of Mexico was an accident
waiting to happen, as this brief comment from an ex-oil worker points
out. It shows quite clearly that our environment cannot be left in the
hands of a greedy, money-grabbing coterie of capitalists who own and
control the means of production.

It’s been close to a month since the Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig
exploded and sank into the Gulf of Mexico, just 45 miles south of the
already beleaguered gulf coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi. The
ensuing oil spill may well surpass that which followed the wreck of the
Exxon Valdez, which poured over 11 million gallons of oil into Alaska’s
Prince William Sound in the spring of 1989.

What would such a transitional programme look like for the environment? What set of demands should socialists make regarding the climate change? In this article, we attempt to outline such a programme.

For many people, the idea of a revolutionary change in society seems like a pipe-dream that will never be possible in their lifetime. In this respect, Trotsky developed the idea of the “Transitional Programme”:  a set of demands that could take society from our current situation under capitalism, towards our final goal of international socialism. What would such a transitional programme look like for the environment? What set of demands should socialists make regarding the climate change?

‘Ethical consumption’ and other capitalist ‘solutions’ to the climate crisis are a blind alley. We need a socialist alternative.

In the previous few months, we have attempted to show how capitalist ‘solutions’ to climate change, such as market-based methods like carbon trading, are not able to combat the environmental problems facing humanity and our planet. Similarly, international treaties that attempt to operate within the confines of capitalism are also doomed to failure, as was seen in Copenhagen last year.  Capitalism cannot solve these problems – capitalism is the problem.

The dramatic collapse of the talks at
the Climate Summit in Copenhagen serves to highlight one thing: the
capitalist governments of the world cannot solve burning issues, such
as damage to the environment provoked by the anarchy of the market. The
thirst for profit is in direct contradiction to the interests of the
working people of the world. Social revolution on a global scale is the
only real answer to the problem.