FOLLOW
THE LEAD OF RED CHINA!
FOR
THE APPLICATION OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY TO THE CLIMATE EMERGENCY!
28-11-2015 – As the world
careens towards climate catastrophe, world leaders are meeting in Paris for the
COP21 talks, ostensibly to thrash out a plan to curb global carbon emission
levels far enough to ensure a safe climate. Today’s rallies around the country
have set themselves the goal of being the biggest ever. Perhaps they will be.
Even if they are, it would be folly to expect the leaders of the world’s most
powerful capitalist economies to be committed to anything other than amassing
yet more private profits for the world’s most powerful corporations, many of which
make huge profits from selling fossil fuels.
There is an exception to the
rule, however. The People’s Republic of China (PRC), the world’s largest
country and most powerful socialist state, is making the most genuine attempt
to seriously reduce carbon emissions. Of the countries which have submitted a
target to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC),
China’s are by far the most ambitious. China has pledged to reduce carbon
emissions per unit of GDP by 60-65% below 2005 levels.[1] In addition, China has
also pledged to peak emissions by 2030, and aim to achieve this even earlier.
Further, China will aim to achieve 20% of its energy share clean (zero carbon
sources) by 2030, as well as increase forest cover in the country by 4.5
billion cubic meters compared to 2005 levels.[2] Australia and the US have
made no such moves.
How is China able to take
climate change seriously? The key is that it is not capitalism that rules the
Chinese economy. China’s economy in large part is still state owned, as a
legacy of its socialist revolution which established the PRC in 1949. The economy
is planned, and can be largely controlled by the government. Unlike Australia
and the US, the Chinese government can to a large degree, direct its economy,
and direct investment in certain sectors such as zero carbon energy. Nothing
like this exists in the capitalist West. They are subordinate to the privately
owned corporations, whom, one might argue, effectively form part of the
government.
Moreover, Red China has
another ace up its sleeve. It is not afraid to implement zero carbon nuclear
power. The People’s Climate March doesn’t appear to have any demands, but buried
in the fine print is a plea for a transition to 100% renewable energy. We don’t
agree. And neither do 75 of the world’s leading academic experts on climate
change. In an “Open Letter to Environmentalists on Nuclear Energy”, the authors
argue that all zero carbon electricity sources will need to be used if we are
to have a chance at ending the burning of fossil fuels. The signatories “….provide strong evidence for the need to
accept a substantial role for advanced nuclear power systems with complete fuel
recycling – as part of a range of sustainable energy technologies that also
includes appropriate use of renewables, energy storage and energy efficiency.” [3] They emphasise that while renewable
energy can play a role, we cannot afford to rigidly stick to renewable energy
sources only, because they might be the favourites of large sections of the
environmentalist movement. There are any number of practical problems with a
transition to 100% renewable energy. One is how to store energy from wind and
solar at times when there are periods with low wind and little or no sunlight. Storing
energy for a day is certainly possible, but storing energy for several weeks at
a time is another story entirely. Another issue is the capacity factor. That
is, the amount of energy produced in comparison to the amount of energy the
system is capable of producing. Zero carbon nuclear power can have a capacity
factor of up to 91%, whereas wind and solar can, at best, only make less than
half this capacity.[4]
The discussion of which combination of zero-carbon energy sources has the best
chance of real success is important, and one which all concerned about global
warming need to be across. To this end, we recommend people start reading and
investigating the material on websites such as www.bravenewclimate.com and
www.decarbonisesa.com.
Despite advocating awareness
about the virtues of wind, solar, hydro and nuclear power, and their practical
applications, we have no illusions that any combination of zero-carbon energy
sources can be successfully implemented while capital rules the economy.
China’s key advantage in undertaking the advances it has made is that in an
economy which is collectively owned and planned, there is no overall imperative
to make private profits. China’s gigantic state owned corporations can run at
very low profit margins, sometimes less than 1%, because they are gains of the 1949 revolution. China’s Communist
Party leadership, despite oversights in other areas, can direct these state
owned corporations to serve social goals – such as providing employment, or,
helping to solve environmental problems. There are some limitations to this,
both political and practical, but the fact is this is still light years ahead of
anything conceivable in the recession ravaged capitalist West. In addition,
China’s booming state run economy means China can pour billions of dollars into
scientific and industrial research, which means China actually leads the world
in a number of areas of scientific endeavour. Compare this to the perilous lack
of funding for research and development in Australia, with the looming
privatisation of the CSIRO.
A socialist state, or
anything approaching it, however, is the last thing on the minds of some of the
groups which dominate the environmental movement, and which have largely
organised the “People’s Climate March”. For example, the group Avaaz can trace
its funding back to George Soros’ “Open Society” group of NGOs, which have been
a part of numerous “colour revolutions” at the behest of the US Empire around
the globe.[5] Here, the group GetUp! has
its exorbitant funding linked to the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and pro-ALP
Union leaderships such as that of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU).[6] Similarly, the Australian
Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC) has as one of its major donors the
multi-millionaire Robert Purves, chair of the Orwellian titled “Sustainable
Business Australia”.[7]
Some left parties have also
uncritically endorsed today’s march. The Socialist Alliance, publishers of the
newspaper Green Left Weekly, (GLW)
have GLW’s name posted alongside counterrevolutionary groups such as Avaaz,
GetUp!, and anti-communist Tibetan “solidarity” groups on the list of
endorsees![8] Such groups no doubt
endorse the “from here on in, we’re all in” slogan. It scarcely needs
emphasising that if working people are lumped “all in” with openly pro-capitalist forces, the movement will be
defeated before it begins. Mobilising alongside those who aim to profit from “sustainable energy”
inevitably subordinates the overall politics to such forces. There needs to be
a climate emergency movement, but one which is pro-worker, one which rejects
“energy austerity” or using less power – especially for less-industrialised
countries, and one which is for the full application of science and technology
to the vital issue of decarbonising the planet.
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MARXIST-LENINIST GROUP (MLG)
PO BOX 66
NUNDAH QLD 4012
www.ML-Group.blogspot.com.au
[1] http://www.nortonrosefulbright.com/knowledge/publications/130545/australia-is-latest-country-to-submit-climate-targets-to-un
[2] http://www.6pumpcourt.co.uk/2015/07/china-increases-its-ambition-for-cop21-but-will-it-be-enough/
[3] http://bravenewclimate.com/2014/12/15/an-open-letter-to-environmentalists-on-nuclear-energy/
[4] http://www.citylab.com/weather/2015/07/the-environmentalist-case-against-100-renewable-energy-plans/398906/
[5] http://www.globalresearch.ca/avaaz-the-lobbyist-that-masquerades-as-online-activism/5314829
[6] http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/02/04/getup-and-its-strange-but-well-heeled-bedfellows/?wpmp_tp=0
[7] https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2011/september/1316399650/guy-pearse/climate-movement
[8] http://www.peoplesclimate.org.au/endorse
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