climate Justice: economy in focus

Acting against Climate chance can't be done without a clear roadmap for climate justice. This is not a tivial ambition, because the struggle for distribituve justice (Wp has more about it) has been in the twentieth century a matter of the national state. But now we have to look on a transnational focus and that in a situation, the globalization process is slowing down, now even faster because of the covid-19 crisis. In some ways the Covid-19 crisis is already fostering environmental considerations, one example would be the slow down of the Oil-production (Guardian has backgrounds). But this only sign of a worldwide economic depression, with no substantial changes in the course of the economy, this is not 'degrowth'! (the correspondent blog-post explains the concept with backgrounds). This economic depreesion is indeed worisome: the gigantic Covid-19 rescue package from the US government could lead to more injustice in the US. (see the report on Democracy now, for this). Matt Stoller, research director of the American economics liberty project could have a point here, but would could be done to promote climate justice? Bloomberg opinion is arguing Dumping Capitalism Won’t Save the Planet (Noah Smith) and is pledging for eco-industrialism. There are obviously other views on this: John Molyneux is arguing in the blog-post "Socialism is the only realtic solution to climate change", in the blog climatecapitalism that an essential change is inevitable. I personally also think that fundamental economical changes are necessary, but how to organize such changes? In the Covid-19 pandemic several societies change radically seeing them under health-pressure, in some cases the government providing basic financial security (Guardian Australia). But how long will these changes last? And, what happens to world if mankind would disrupt the capitalistic economy? Capitalism is not without success: Green energy is now cheapter, as Ramez Naam argues, but the transformation is far from done. But transnationals changes are indispensable, without them climate justice, which means a sustainable transition in economy can't happen. This diagram from based in general of the work of the World Inequality Database and this diagram (pdf-download) it is used in the book of Thomas Piketty (2020, see reference). It clearly shows the problem, if only the US would go to more equality, without the other countries. And because of the Covid-19 pandemic it seems very unlikely that the US is getting a more equal society, right the opposite is likely to happen, which leads to the obvious conclusion that the ongoing crisis not only dangerous for the live of some many people, it is also not a crisis helping to address the problems of climate change. There two reasons for this: This crisis is not helping with (climate) justice and the answer on the complex problem of climate change has to come in a systematic way. I think only organizations would be able to address this, in the way that only organizations are able to address the problems of the Covid-19 pandemic.                        


Reference:
Piketty, Thomas (2020), Capital and ideology, Harvard University Press, URL for all Graphs (in English, opens a new window)