An Apocalyptic Future
By Ted Glick
Znet
14 January, 2004
I 've
been in and around the environmental movement since the first Earth
Day in 1970, which I attended while living in Philadelphia, Pa. For
many years I've been following news reports and articles about the dangers
of global warming. In 2002, during my Green Party U.S. Senate campaign
in New Jersey, this was one of my top issues. Among other things, we
distributed over 100,000 copies of a campaign brochure which prominently
featured this position: "Move towards energy independence, reverse
global warming and create jobs through a crash program to get energy
from the sun, the wind and other renewable fuels."
But the truth of
the matter is that, while I've done what I could in the context of my
primary political and life commitments, I've seen this as one of a number
of major issues, like racism, corporate exploitation, sexism, war, health
care, workers' rights, etc. I haven't felt that it needed any special
priority.
As the new year
begins, however, that has changed. My major new year's resolution is
to become more directly involved in helping to build a massive and activist
movement as quickly as possible on the issue of global warming or, to
be more accurate, catastrophic climate disruption.
This is not just
another issue. It is an absolutely central one. There is widespread
agreement in the world scientific community that unless we dramatically
shift from the use of fossil fuels to the use of clean and renewable
energy, we are facing a truly apocalyptic future. Among the likely consequences:
-The Hadley Center,
a major climate research laboratory in Britain, recently said that,
"by 2040, most of the world's forests will begin to die."
(1) -The near-disappearance of arctic sea ice. "It is 40% thinner
than it was forty years ago." (2) -"Climate change would probably
exacerbate hunger and poverty around the world. . . People who are highly
dependent on farming, fishing or forestry will see their livelihoods
destroyed." (3) -We will see heat waves worse than the one last
summer in Europe that killed upwards of 35,000 people. -Hurricanes,
tornadoes and other severe storms will become more frequent and deadlier.
May, 2003 brought 562 tornadoes to the United States, 163 tornadoes
higher than the previous monthly high of 399, set in 1992. -"Results
of a major study showed yesterday that more than a million species will
become extinct as a result of global warming over the next 50 years."
(4) -"New research in Australia suggests that the amount of water
reaching the rivers will decline up to four times as fast as the percentage
reduction of rainfall in dry areas. This, alongside the disappearance
of the glaciers, spells the end of irrigated agriculture." (5)
-The melting of the glaciers and arctic sea ice could lead to a shutting
down of the Gulf Stream, "which bathes the UK and northwest Europe
in warm water carried northwards from the Caribbean" (6) And because
the Gulf Stream is the "engine" powering what is called the
"Great Ocean Conveyor. . . a twisting, swirling current that wends
through all the world's oceans," (7) "the possibility exists
that a disruption of the Atlantic currents could have implications far
beyond a colder UK and northwest Europe, perhaps bringing dramatic climatic
changes to the entire planet." (8)
This is much more
than "another important issue." It is hard to describe it
as anything other than the major issue of our day. Can you get more
basic than the survival of life on earth as we know it?
We won't be able
to move from a world of massive inequality, racism, war and poverty
to a world of economic and social justice unless we who are pro-justice
activists-ALL of us, not just those who are part of the environmental
movement--prioritize this and move quickly to build a powerful, visible,
broadly-based and unified movement in the United States to make this
an issue the rulers and their parties must respond to. And 2004 is very
much the year to do it. Such a campaign is a natural for those of us
who understand how tied in the Bushites are to the oil and coal companies
and who are working to mobilize the largest and broadest vote for democracy,
peace and justice in November.
The American people
are with us on this issue. "A survey in 1999 found that 62% of
the public favored renewable energy over conventional sources. . .The
Sierra Club in a similar survey showed 80% supporting change."
(9) We need a sophisticated, multi-tactical, emergency campaign to save
life on earth, one which involves everything from door to door campaigning
to full-page ads in major newspapers to a massive march on Washington
in the fall to persistent pressure on Congresspeople, including non-violent
sit-ins at their offices if necessary. Such a campaign could begin to
turn that public opinion into concrete legislation to shift our tax
money from the subsidizing of oil, coal and nuclear into a crash program
to move rapidly towards the use of clean and renewable energy sources
and to conserve energy through the retrofitting and weatherization of
all our homes and buildings.
Such a program is
also a massive jobs program. It provides a strong argument against the
plans for on-going war and empire building in pursuit of control of
oil in the Middle East
It is "anti-terrorism"
program in that it can move us towards "energy independence"
and out of the Middle East. It can also help lay the basis for an international
plan to transfer clean energy to poor countries. "Virtually all
developing countries would love to go solar; virtually none can afford
it. [A $300 billion a year] fund could come from a small tax on international
currency transactions, which total $1.5 trillion every day. A tax of
a quarter-penny-per-dollar on those transactions would yield about $300
billion a year for windfarms in India, solar assemblies in El Salvador,
fuel cell factories in South Africa, and vast solar-powered hydrogen
farms in the Middle East." (10)
Perhaps Earth Day
this April could become the public launching point for such a campaign,
rather than an opportunity for polluting corporations to "swallow
the ecological crisis and regurgitate it as a PR opportunity,"
in the words of Vermont environmental activist Doyle Canning.
We need to act as
if the possibility of a decent future for our children and their descendants
is dependent upon what we do this year and the next few years. Because
it is.
Ted Glick is the
National Coordinator of the Independent Progressive Politics Network
(www.ippn.org), although these ideas are solely his own. He can be reached
at [email protected] or P.O. Box 1132, Bloomfield, N.J. 07003.
1) Ross Gelbspan,
interviewed in the February, 2003 Z Magazine 2) Bill McKibben, "Some
Like It Hot," in the July 5, 2001 N.Y. Review of Books 3) The United
Nations Environment Programme 4) Steve Connor, "U.S. Climate Policy
Bigger Threat to World Than Terrorism," January 9, 2004, The Independent
5) George Monbiot, "With Eyes Wide Shut," in the August 12,
2003 Guardian 6) Bill McGuire, "Will Global Warming Trigger a New
Ice Age?," November 13, 2003 Guardian 7) Brad Lemley, "The
New Ice Age," September, 2002 Discover 8) Bill McGuire, "Will
Global Warming Trigger a New Ice Age?," November 13, 2003, the
Guardian 9) Sidney J. Gluck, "The Necessity for a New Energy Policy"
10) Ross Gelbspan, "Rewiring The World's Energy," December
21, 2003, the Boston Globe