The agreement reached at the COP21 Paris climate change talks is certainly a great improvement on anything that has gone before (One paragraph at a time: how the deal was done to save the planet,14 December). Whether it is enough to save the planet (to be more precise, save the human race from catastrophe; the planet will look after itself) is questionable. Apart from the question of actual implementation of even the agreed measures (themselves expected to achieve only a 2.7C limit) there are many factors not taken into account. Barack Obama says the deal will create “more jobs and economic growth”. But growth, and even “green growth”,is precisely the problem. We live on a finite planet with finite resources which we are already exploiting to the limit and beyond. The aim must be to achieve a regular-state economy, with resources fairly shared, and but that is incompatible with capitalism’s growth imperative.
A glaring omission is the effect of the many armed conflicts currently ongoing,The money allocated to tackling climate change is still dwarfed by that devoted to the means of death and destruction, currently $1.75tn annually. These conflicts themselves contribute to climate change: the US military is the biggest single corporate user of fossil fuels, and a large proportion by high-flying jets,where the warming effect is variously estimated as from 1.7 to 4.0 times that at ground level. They inhibit (restrain; prohibit; retard or prevent) attempts to deal with people’s genuine problems, the effects of global warming among many others. Mass migration, and from a variety of causes including clash and climate change,is another major problem that is ignored in the Paris agreement. There is still a very long way to disappear to ensure the future of the human race.
Frank Jackson
Former co-chair, World Disarmament CampaignContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com