Why We Need People Power in the Face of Government Inaction On Climate Change

By Mike Hembury — SOAPBOX

It has often been said that these days it’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.

Looking at the bitter farce of the 25th United Nations Climate Change conference (COP25) climate gathering in Madrid and the collective failure of world governments to come up with anything remotely resembling a solution to the ongoing climate catastrophe, the impending end of the world, or at least of human civilization, is cast in a stark new light.

If there ever was a case of the capitalist class rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic, this must be it.

At the time of writing, COP25 has just ended with an appeal to governments to bring proposals to next year’s meeting, effectively just kicking the can down the road.

But most of the negotiations were taken up discussing the widely discredited carbon trading mechanisms, seen by many as merely a way of enabling a “business-as-usual” approach in the face of the climate crisis.

And even whilst that was happening, states such as the USA, Australia and Russia were busy sabotaging the process and making sure that final statements contained absolutely nothing that could possibly harm the interests of their…