The
European Union set up an Emissions Trading Scheme as a market solution to deal
with pollution. Pollution is of course, overwhelmingly generated by big
business (‘market’) activities. Now the scheme has turned around to bite them.As a result
of the crisis, polluting companies have found themselves strapped for cash. So
they’ve cashed in their carbon credits for short term readies.
We are told that there is not enough food for everyone, that
there are too many human beings on the planet and therefore we must all reduce
consumption – a handy idea in the hands of the bourgeois propagandists. The
real facts and figures reveal that the world produces enough food. So where
does the problem lie?
Unite’s Graham Tran
comments, “There was recently a case where a young man was given a 24 month
prison sentence for spraying graffiti on train carriages. When Shell was
prosecuted following the deaths of two workers on Brent Bravo, they pleaded
guilty and got a fine of £90,000. That is the equivalent of the profit they
make in 45 minutes. A two year sentence for spraying paint on trains – 45
minutes for killing two men.”
Many of those living in Aberdeen and
the surrounding area were woken up by the sound of helicopters flying over
their houses, flying to the largest offshore oil piping disaster that the world
has ever seen. The crew of the Piper Alpha platform consisted of 230 men. Only
63 were to make it out of the Piper that night. This article is a tribute to
those who never managed to get out due to the negligence of their employers.
The press have carried a number of stories over recent weeks about the
discovery of planets outside of our solar system. But what is the
reality behind these "new earths"? Are we about to "boldly go where no
one has gone before" or is it a bit more complicated than that?
In Britain and
internationally supermarket chains have come to dominate the food distribution
market. The tendency to monopolisation is evident. But with it go many
practices that literally endanger our health, and with it also working
conditions, wages, the environment and so on. The only answer is to take them
over, remove the profit motive and run them in the interests of all working
people.
The environmental statistics have been pouring in, and the prognosis
for the planet looks dire: global warming is accelerating, leaving
environmental destruction in its wake. Already we are witnessing some
of its devastating consequences and there are trends
which, if allowed to proceed unchecked, will culminate in humans
huddled around the two poles in search of respite from the heat.
Britain, like all the other capitalist countries, is
dependent on burning fossil fuels as our basic energy source. It is obvious
that fossil fuels must run out one day. It is also well known that carbon
emissions from burning fossil fuels contribute to climate change. One
‘solution’ put forward to this is to grow your own biofuel.
The way
the computer industry functions today is a perfect illustration of all the
faults and massive inefficiencies of capitalism, where the primary goal is not
serving the interests of society. Developing, improving and distributing
software takes place only where big profits can be made. This stands in sharp
contrast to free software, where human knowledge and the produce of human
labour is used to the advantage all of society.
In the course of human history new discoveries,
particularly in the fields of science and medicine, have challenged established
thought. This is now happening again with stem cell research. What could lead
to curing many diseases that up to now have been fatal is coming under a
barrage of criticism because of religious and reactionary prejudices.
A recent six week investigation by the Financial Times found widespread profiteering and fraud in carbon trading, the main mechanism for greenhouse gas reduction proposed by the Kyoto treaty. Many schemes will produce only limited reductions in greenhouse gases and will have little or no effect on global warming.
The environmental
problems
we face are creations
of the capitalist system.
The problem is that
there is no planning on and no concern for environmental issues in an unplanned
economy. Short-term ‘rational' decisions produced
environmental disaster in the longer term. Socialism is
the only way we can protect the environment.