mercredi, novembre 13, 2024

The Comb Lab letter : Taking action: too steep a climb ?

Ever since our first monthly newsletter – January 2021 – we’ve been making the case for taking into account the endless interaction and feedback of climate change and biodiversity loss on all areas of life in contemporary societies, particularly our own. Clearly, the need to change our social model has gone from an option to an imperative. Easily said. But what’s next?

Let’s face it, beyond the economic and political ups and downs, we’re all inclined to let ourselves be lulled into a sense of ‘sufficient social stability’. Apparent stability, but convincing enough to maintain the underlying myth of the perpetuation of economic growth and short-term profit. And this at a time when virtually no-one disputes any longer that we live in a finite world.

Despite the brutality of meteorological phenomena – destructive floods, drastic droughts, persistent heatwaves, late frosts, etc. – themselves the consequences of climate change, biodiversity loss and forest destruction, economic and political decision-makers are putting off the implementation of regulatory measures to mitigate global warming, protect biodiversity and conserve the world’s forests.

A major session on agricultural issues was held in Brussels on 14 October. Some MEPs criticised the biased way in which the day was organised, with a number of stakeholders not being heard. As is often the case, the application of binding texts on climate change is left to the ‘national discretion’ of the member states. This is a way of moving in the direction of the essential transition without undermining the interests of national majorities opposed to the ecological and environmental transition. This is a far cry from the systemic interplay and feedback effects of climate change on industry, agriculture and society in general.

For example, does not the reduced willingness to implement the European Green Pact after the new balance in the European Parliament following the elections in June 2024 mean that illegal drilling, illegal timber imports and other breaches of standards and regulations are more or less immune from punishment ? This is tantamount to accepting, with eyes wide open, the continued destruction of the environment ,that is, the stable and satisfactory living conditions of all life. Apart from their criminal and delinquent dimensions, these actions are just plain stupid. The human species, as the last to arrive after plants and animals, is totally dependent on the food chain. Humans are therefore automatically the first victims of any malfunction in this chain. Flaubert wrote: ‘Foolishness consists in wanting to reach conclusions’. And, in the 15th century, Machiavelli pointed out that: ‘Great men call shame the fact of losing and not the fact of deceiving in order to win’. But winning what? An additional election mandate?

Ultimately, isn’t the question more about the contemporary ways in which power is exercised than about the players themselves? Marie de Gandt’s book gives us an indication of how power is exercised. The informational context encourages public opinion to think that a straightforward decision is almost set in stone and then implemented. It is precisely this ‘straightforwardness’ that Marie de Gandt’s book exposes.i The interventions of some, the refusals of others, the search for appropriate formulas, create an inevitable gap between the political will of the first intention and the final version of the speech. Therein lie deceptions and plasticity of assessment.

In this context, we think that the Agencies that the State is setting up in the regions for the ecological transition and the energy transition are a great asset. However major and absolutely essential these two sectors of the transition may be, their effects can only be incomplete as long as they remain isolated from their cross-feedback on farming and breeding methods, isolated from the most elementary fairness in the distribution of food. All these fundamental and urgent transitions that will bring discomfort to our daily lives are merely dormant volcanoes as long as efforts to bring about convergence between social justice and environmental justice are not undertaken in any way other than through blind, brutal and even bellicose power struggles. Whether we like it or not, this question of convergent justice is the foundation on which sectoral transitions can express all their qualities.

And we come back to the ways in which power is exercised. Put another way, undertaking the ecological transition, the energy transition, the agricultural transition, shortening value chains, securing universal access to decent food, harmonising social justice and environmental justice in a virtuous dynamic – all these factors of resilience in the face of climate change once again raise the question of the democratic exercise of power and, in particular, the place of civil society in decision-making processes.

i Marie de Gandt Sous la plume, Petite exploration du pouvoir politique Robert Laffont 2013.

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