Serious address to climate change: Internationalist, Socialist program —O’Connor

Climate Change
Catastrophe 

Beyond theater of distraction
Editing by Carolyn Bennett

Lower carbon emissions; restructure energy generation, industrial and agricultural production and urban and international transport. Raise world population’s living standards [Patrick O’Connor]

“The climate change crisis stands as a damning indictment of the capitalist system,” Patrick O’Connor writes in an article published today at World Socialist Web Site.

Distraction sans solutions

“Climate scientists have long warned about the severe dangers of global warming, yet successive international summits of world leaders—including Bali, Indonesia in 2007, Copenhagen, Denmark in 2009, and Cancun, Mexico in 2010—have ended in farce. No binding agreement on reducing emissions has proven possible, with every government competing against the other to gain geo-strategic advantage and boost the profits of its own major corporations.

“At the same time,” O’Connor continues, “private ownership of the means of production stands as an insurmountable obstacle to the rational utilization of available technologies to address global warming.

“The major transnational oil conglomerates and other corporate polluters actively sabotage the adoption of any environmentally beneficial measures regarded as a threat to their profits.”

Climate Change and
Poverty

Catastrophe demanding

Bold action

“The only realistic perspective for addressing the climate change crisis,” O’Connor says, “is one based on an internationalist and socialist program.

“Within a democratically planned world economy—oriented toward satisfying social need, rather than maximizing profit and the accumulation of private wealth—the world’s scientific and technological resources can be harnessed in a rational manner.

“To adequately lower carbon emissions, a sweeping restructuring of energy generation, industrial and agricultural production, and urban and international transport is required, while at the same time ensuring a substantial increase in the world population’s living standards.”

Sources and notes

“The Labor-Greens carbon tax hoax” (Patrick O’Connor), July 6, 2012, http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/jul2012/carb-j06.shtml

Patrick O’Connor is Socialist Equality Party candidate for the state seat of Melbourne (Australia) and a regular contributor to WSWS, writing extensively on international and Australian politics, including Canberra’s neo-colonial operations in the Asia-Pacific region. In 2010, O’Connor headed the SEP’s senate slate in Victoria; in October 2007, he was an SEP candidate in the federal seat of Grayndler and in the same year in March an SEP candidate in the New South Wales state seat of Marrickville. O’Connor, age 32, is a member of the SEP national committee. http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/jun2012/occo-j19.shtml

Images
http://www.globalpovertyproject.com/infobank/climate_change
http://lakeeconomy.blogspot.com/2009/11/report-climate-change-crisis.html

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