Before getting Covid last week I met with some members of the Green New Deal Group to discuss strategy.
The sad conclusion was that no one has yet done anything to act on the recommendations that we made in 2008. What is more, our analysis that we faced energy, food and economic crises remains exactly as we said back then, except everything is worse. So we needed to keep on keeping on.
Why? Because of this:
Yesterday the climate crisis became real for some people in the UK. In terms of the heat it did so for a great many more.
We need a Green New Deal. As a group, we never expected to create the idea that is essential to the transformation of our society into one that might be sustainable, but inadvertently we did and gave that transformation a name.
When will the political parties listen?
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My view is that increasingly our politicians have succumbed to the notion that the country is in debt and that the debt bogeyman is going to send us to the IMF.
It does not matter how bad things get, the debt mythology (mythology only insofar that they do not understand MMT or how the pound is created and introduced into the economy by the sovereign apparatus that is apparently under their control – the role of tax too) will curtail anything that needs to be done and condemn us all to death.
Anyone sticking their head above the parapet on a Green New Deal ticket will unfortunately will have it blown off by the media and opposition politicians winding us up about taxes and increased costs – all reinforcing the destructive orthodoxy we’ve come to expect.
Instead we will be blamed for OUR decisions, reminded of caveat emptor when our houses are flooded; that our children’s fate is uncertain because we chose to have them; that we are like the polar bears in the North Pole – ‘just unlucky’ (thank you Sarah Palin).
In the meantime, the liars – for example – those who lie about their vehicles’ emissions – will make as much money as they can. You will still see beautifully filmed SUVs cavorting on empty roads enticing you to buy one whilst our countryside goes up in flames. And global warming deniers will still come up under the notion of ‘free speech’.
A Green New Deal is to me an act of self defence.
Politicians need to stop listening to the worm-tongues who have been making donations to their parties. Otherwise people will start to work out that their best option for self-defence is to get rid of the politicians who are – to me at least – the real actual obstacle in all of this.
Sunak was reported in the Guardian as opposing on-shore wind farms in England (one supposes as part of the current tory-vulture beauty contest).
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jul/20/rishi-sunak-accused-economic-illiteracy-pledge-block-onshore-windfarms
One of the reasons given was the impact on rural communities – which I can understand.
Of course, single wind turbines feeding into a community would be a different matter – but that ain’t on Sunak’s radar – he favours the big battalions – off-shore wind – understandable given his background in finance.
As I mentioned in another post, I have been monitoring RES developments in the Eu and Uk for more than 14 years. Noticeable by its absence is any strategy that the tories stick to. Cam-moron professed to have one – then dumped it. May was too busy with Brexit & Mendacious Fatberg was too busy partying and lying. The current trajectory seems to be small modular nuclear reactors (ex-submarine reactors) with Rolls Royce having done a good sales job on Tory-vulture ministers. Doubtless, even now they (RR) will be cuddling up to Stramer & Liebore. A consistent energy efficiency prorgamme is noticeable by its total absence – made odder given that Rockwool has a very large factory making insulation products – in South Wales – which it would like to expand. But on reflection, this is not odd at all – tory-vultures are all-mouth and no-trousers – nothing they say is to be believed with respect to economics, making the country a better place etc etc.
One last thing, Peter Walker, who wrote the G’ article made the statement: “Offshore wind would be prioritised (by Sunak) as well; this tends to be more expensive than onshore developments and takes longer to build.” Costs for on and off-shore are converging, under AR4 off-shore was bid in at £37.5/MWh – on-shore is something like £30/MWh ish. Furthermore, BEIS is committed to reduce the time for permitting for off-shore down to 1 year. Building GW-class off-shore farm takes 1 year (there are plenty of examples). In the case of on-shore – I have been told to count on at least 2 years for planning – just for one wind turbine (for a community) – with vast numbers of hoops to jump through.
None of the above is serious – by any standards. But to be honest – having sat outside the Uk for more than half of my life – I have watched the country become more & more less serious – with the Mendacious-Fatberg event only the most recent in a 37 year long saga of consistent failure, by the tory-vultures and Liebore alike.