The Green Socialist (An essay by Joanne Telfer)

1) Introduction -Why Green Socialist ?

Thirty years ago, the Labour Movement contained a large and vocal lobby in favour of transforming society and shifting the emphasis from Tory/Liberal, free-market principles, towards a more egalitarian and rational system. Whilst the achievement of these aims hung in the balance, a compromise in the form of the “mixed economy” prevailed. Meanwhile, evidence began to accumulate which suggested that some of the effects of the Industrial Revolution, were increasingly contributing to major environmental detriments. Beyond the obvious symptoms of smog and polluted rivers, when DDT was detected in Antarctica, the global dimensions started to emerge.

These concerns were largely ignored by socialists who were embroiled in class struggles. Instead, they became the agenda of Green parties. Green parties, by and large, conceive of solutions within the context of Market Capitalism. However, there is ample evidence to demonstrate that Capitalism is very much part of the problem and making it part of the solution, flies in the face of the whole ethos of individual wealth accumulation. In writing this article, our contention is that the only good “green” is a “red” one ! The concept of class struggle, remains central to socialist thinking but we now need to see this within the additional concepts of the Environment. Radical changes drive evolution and we might be on the list for future extinction ! Thus we must become “green socialists”.

2) Waste

Waste and its disposal, clearly presents a "green" problem. However, it is also a socio-economic problem which receives lip service from the political managers of capitalism. The market economy has no long-term strategic plan for safe disposal of an accelerating quantity of waste which is being constantly encouraged by all the trappings of fuel-injected consumerism. In-built redundancy, aggressive marketing, unnecessary packaging, minimal recycling and a system of poorly regulated chaos.

Landfill disposal is not a sustainable option. Re-use and recycling procedures are under-funded and generally left to the whims of market economics. Attempts to regulate this process are always a compromise between the needs of profit and the need to protect the Environment. Compromise is not good enough, especially when discarded computers and fridges end up illegally and large scale in China, poisoning the process workers and releasing dioxins, indiscriminately. And when one of the highest growth industry in this sector is fly-tipping.

Recycling and reuse may not be lucrative but is socially worthwhile. Extraction of poisonous compounds is certainly possible but the market has demonstrated severe weakness as a tool in the quest to deal with this problem. A children's playpark has recently been closed in Stornoway, following the discovery of high levels of lead in the top-soil.

In particular, socialists would surely would want to find ways of fettering the massive problem of in-built redundancy and excessive packaging. The advertiser's spin which helps to generate a waste problem which is quite out of proportion to human needs or human happiness.

The apologists understand that landfill is unsustainable. They point in the direction of recycling and offer commendable innovations such as anaerobic digesters. These solutions are grossly under-funded. The key solution, is a shift from consumer capitalism, to democratic strategic resource planning. The only "green" solution, is a green-socialist solution.

3) Bio-diversity

To the credit of the UN, this issue is being addressed worldwide. The interdependence of all organisms within the global environmental, is now being appreciated and the unprecedented rate of extinctions within modern times, is now being taken seriously. However, the UN is not a vehicle of world socialism. It is a conservative compromise between free market environmental destruction and rational response to this process. In dealing with this problem, there is every reason to believe that socialists can learn to develop concrete proposals which make the independant "green agenda" redundant. Environmentalism and capitalism have no grounds for compromise.

Loss of biodiversity, not only impoverishes our human enjoyment of the aesthetic qualities in the natural world, it threatens also our existence. The availability of clean water and fertile land for food production, depends upon a highly diverse biological web which is inter-dependant. The trend under capitalism, is to release growing quantities of commercially concentrated, poisonous substances into our environment, whilst attempting to regulate this growing insult, against a background of continuous resource shift from public to private sectors.

Whereas biodiversity loss is strongly linked with free market policy in the developing world, the industrialised world, has more experience in some of the unnecessary effects of industrialisation. Biodiversity action plans, are universally relevant but the main problem is under funding, over-reliance on the voluntary sector and yet again, a misuse of surplus wealth. People are employed in the delivery of services which temporarily enhance the pleasure of a rich minority and cater for every whim, whilst others are asked to save the planet in their spare time !

The need for a joined up approach could not be more obvious. Consumer capitalism at worst, results in excessive land-fill, concentration of poisons and loss of biodiversity. At best, it presents excessive challenges towards recycling solutions. Quintessentially, it replaces utilitarian considerations with the rude concept of "money". Money is a concept by which humans compete over resources. It is quite unhelpful in the context of protecting biodiversity.

4) GLOBAL WARMING

By far the most immediate environmental concern, is an accumulating weight of evidence which demonstrates that the mean surface temperature of our planet is rising, that this is not a periodic effect or a natural phenomenon, that this is linked to an accumulation of atmospheric carbon-dioxide and that this is strongly correlated with human activity.

In the absence of some powerful mitigating strategies, this process represents an unprecedented challenge to human civilization. A rise in global temperature does not herald the prospect of people sunning themselves on Highland beaches. In fact there seems to be a real possibility that the increased melting of ice, observed in Arctic regions, could cause the Gulf Stream to shut down, making Scotland much colder.

Carbon dioxide produces a "greenhouse" effect, trapping more heat within the atmosphere. This in turn makes for a more energetic weather system and extreme events therefore more likely. All the evidence suggests that in addition to more extreme weather events, a rise in sea level will combine with an expansion of desert regions, to produce mass migration and precipitate military conflicts on an increasing scale..

In January 2005, the Western Isles experienced the worst storms in living memory and whilst this is not in its self, evidence of global warming, it is certainly a sample of that which is predicted. The first small steps have been taken to acknowledge this problem and to start to deal with it. The Kyoto agreement however, is not a tailored solution. It is more of a reluctant contradiction between environmental concerns and the drive of global capitalism towards more and more wealth accumulation.

The intransigence of president Bush towards global warming, should not be taken at face value. A reluctance to address the problem may be well founded, when considered from the mindset of someone who would defend capitalism at all costs. Certainly there is no guarentee that American military dominance can be maintained without control of world oil reserves.

Another dimension to this problem is the rapid growth of industry in China and India. Climatologists use computer modeling to predict future scenarios and one such approach is the FAIR model. This allows for countries such as China and India, to develop their economies but on the basis that carbon emissions in the west, are reduced, even more drastically.

Economic development in the east, is largely based on burning coal, producing not just more atmospheric CO2 but SO2 with its acid rain, aerosols and particulates. The last two components will help to recreate the dirty conditions of the western industrial revolution. It will help to mask the greenhouse effect, so that when measures are taken to clean up as we did, an additional greenhouse effect will emerge over a relatively short time.

If any readers remain unconvinced, then they should consider further evidence from polar regions. In Antarctica, massive sections of ice are being observed to be breaking away. In the Arctic, polar bears are retreating south and are now facing extinction. Human populations are witnessing changes in the ice and in their local ecology. Scottish farmers are noticing shifts in seasonal cycles that are unprecedented when compared with traditions that have spanned a millennium. In India recently, record temperatures in excess of 50 degrees centigrade, have been recorded and there have been riots over water rights.

Climate change is initially manifested in wilder weather, more storms and more floods but there is worse to come. A more energetic atmosphere also changes precipitation rates. In other words some places become wetter and some places become dryer. For example whilst Inverness suffers more frequent floods, in another part of the world such as North Africa, droughts prevail and deserts grow. More and more people become displaced and lose their livelihood, if not their lives. As polar regions melt, sea levels rise and when large ice blocks break away, sea levels rise suddenly. Predictions suggest that in the long term, large areas of low lying land will succumb to the sea, perhaps suddenly and catastrophically.

5) RENEWABLE ENERGY

This is the obvious answer to reducing CO2 emissions. Wisely Highland and Islands socialists have set more ambitious targets than Blair. If this problem is severely aggravated by Global Capitalism, which it is and Kyoto is a weak compromise, which it is, then a socialist approach must be bolder. A green socialist is greener than a mere green because we are prepared to confront global capitalism.

New Labour's attempts to fulfill Kyoto obligations, are severely hampered by their insistence on delivering renewable energy projects via the market. This is an opportunity for socialists to expose the weaknesses of the market approach, not an opportunity to man the barricades alongside NIMBY opposition.

All over Scotland, anti-windfarm protest groups are emerging, collaborating and disseminating misinformation. The worst aspect of this windfarm opposition network, is that they are turning to anyone with a phD or Celebrity status who is prepared to deny the existence of anthropgenic climate change, irrespective of whether the academic background is relevant. Sometimes they invoke the infamous leipzic declaration, which has been thoroughly discredited.

Today it is wind farms but tomorrow it could be wave or tidal generation. This is a consequence of a gross failure on the part of New Labour, to get the warning across about global warming, their insistence on market delivery and the focus of private corporations on profit. Surely a socialist government would get this project underway, much more effectively. We would insist upon public ownership, strategic planning and we would win hearts and minds by promoting awareness and balancing overall objectives, with community aspirations.

This map shows the geographical distribution of optimum off-shore resources. When locations are being compared, it is essential to match the chosen technology to the best ptential locations. Claret areas are wind, black areas are tidal potential and striped areas represent wavepower potential. You can see that the north of Scotland is ringed with rich resource potential for renewable energy. Therefore why cut corners by creating new over-land transmission structure ? Surely this is the narrow, chaotic, market approach. Undersea transmission is not prohibitively expensive and if there existed a coherent strategy, surely it would make sense in dealing with immediate transmission issues, to consider the long term implications of harvesting all of this potential and plan accordingly. You can also see from this map that the South west of England has its own renewable potential and that therefore the renewable development in Scotland should be orientated towards a reduction of fossil fuel dependance in Scotland, rather than a short-term objective of supplying additional power to the Home Counties. Off-shore wind resources exceed all other alternatives, considerably. Tidal power for example is only relevant for major estuaries. Whilst wave power potential, at least equals on-shore wind, the biggest resource is off-shore. Local wave generators are best combined with other projects such as causeways, where the power generated helps towards the cost of better transport links.

6) CONCLUSION

The scientific and political community, is waking up towards a realization that human activity is causing severe environmental problems. Far from effectively addressing these problems, global capitalism is either trying to ignore the issues or at best is attempting a weak compromise. There is now unique opportunity for socialists to present alternatives. This does not invalidate our focus on class struggle but suggests that we also view the dimensions of survival as part our agenda. Capitalism is clearly leading us towards an environmental crisis in addition to its own in-built economic contradictions. If we can assimilate this new perspective we become green socialists and will retrieve any ground lost to "green" parties who only understand half of the story.

Joanne Telfer

(Joanne Telfer studied environmental science with the Open University and graduated with honours in Dec 2004)