Our Leaders Solution To Climate Change Is To Pretend Like They Have Solved The Problem
On May 20, 2023, the G7 concluded its regular summit. This loose pact of countries, a competitor to BRICS and other such geopolitical alignments, put out a statement, the "Hiroshima' Communiqué. Alongside supporting the War in Ukraine and other such goals, the statement claimed these countries were committed to "phasing out coal," claiming the G7 would move toward: "…the goal of accelerating the phase-out of domestic unabated coal power generation in a manner consistent with keeping a limit of 1.5°C temperature rise."
At first glance, this legalese seems good, great even. However, there is a catch. Not only is no end date given for this phase-out, but it says nothing about the fossil fuel methane and other "natural" gases, which have increasingly become more and more abundantly used as the United States' reliance on coal has started to wane. As Harjeet Singh, Head of Global Political Strategy, Climate Action Network International, said recently of the Communiqué more broadly:
“The G7, among the richest nations in the world, have once again proved to be poor leaders on tackling climate change. Paying lip service on the need to keep global warming below 1.5°C while at the same time continuing to invest in gas shows a bizarre political disconnect from science and a complete disregard of the climate emergency..”
It has been increasingly clear from the leaders of the world that even as the effects of climate change become more pronounced and the knives of people sharpen, their solution is to propose half-measures that do not solve the problem— to pad out the time until their lifespans end or their bunkers are built.
From the US to Russia to China, our leaders don't give a damn
We need to recognize that things are dire. We will potentially reach a global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius (at least temporarily) this decade. If we continue along this path and refuse to make radical changes on a systemic (not individual) level, we will face a world of increasing famines, sea rises, and a series of…
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