We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Monday, September 5, 2016

G20 reaffirms climate commitments – but dodges deadlines

Click here to access article by Karl Mathiesen from Climate Home. 

Once more we see the representatives of ruling classes in the nations of the G20, who use capitalist methods and are committed to economic growth rather than economic justice, cannot agree on any commitments to deadlines to reduce their burning of fossil fuels. This, at least, is an honest admission that ecological sustainability and capitalism are incompatible. Their reaffirmations on climate commitments are only to assuage those in the public who are concerned about the accelerating degradation of the biosphere and the growing symptoms of climate destabilization.
Leaders of the world’s biggest economies reaffirmed their commitment to tackling climate change as the G20 summit came to a close in Hangzhou on Monday night.

What they did not agree on were hoped-for deadlines to ratify the Paris climate agreement and phase out fossil fuel subsidies.
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