Naomi Klein: I think that [the rightwing has] a better grasp on the political implications of the science, of what it means to how we need to change our economy and what the role of the public sphere is and the role of collective action is, better than some of those sort of big, slick, centrist green groups that are constantly trying to sell climate action as something entirely reconcilable with a booming capitalist economy. ... We can avert catastrophic climate change, and we can tackle inequality. And this is the reason why Germany has been so successful, is that because it’s decentralized—and this is the piece of the transformation we often don’t hear about, is that there have been 900 energy cooperatives created. Hundreds of cities and towns have decided to take back control over their energy grids from private operators that had privatized them in the 90s, so that they not only have renewable energy, but they keep the proceeds from that, they capture that, rather than having it go into the pockets of shareholders, and they use it to fund their services. So the money stays close to home. So, youre fighting austerity, you’re fighting inequality, and you’re fighting climate change at the same time. ... And I think it’s really significant that [NYC Climate Convergence/Peoples Climate March] is happening in post-Hurricane Sandy New York, because there’s the connection between the need, the imperative, to fight inequality, to have economic and racial injustice, and to fight climate change. The connections between these projects and these values were so clear in the midst and in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, because you saw how different the experience of the storm was if you were wealthy and had had private responses, or if you were relying on the state or if you were in public housing. It was an entirely different experience. And so, I think, for a lot of people in this city, these are not abstract issues. They live it. You know, they know it.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 19:07:58 +0000