Antinuclear

Governments are sold out to big corporate interests who profit from dirty energy and false market-based climate change ‘solutions.’ Climate justice advocates must stop the government from doing more damage while creating new systems that allow us to stop participating in the dirty energy economy. A great power of social justice movements is noncompliance, but to not comply we need to be able to live in ways that are consistent with climate justice.

Thus, the climate justice movement needs to proceed on two paths at the same time. One is to stop government and big business from worsening the climate crisis. The other is to create new systems so people can disengage from the climate-catastrophe economy. Government and business have shown themselves incapable of responding to the climate crisis, making the second track particularly important.

The climate justice movement is already doing many of the things that need to be done. The purposes of this climate justice strategy is to build on those efforts, create synergy between our actions, make them more powerful and show people there is a plan for success.

Stop Making Climate Problems Worse

Government and big business are taking actions that need to be stopped by the climate movement. Tremendous damage will come from the corporate trade agreements that are designed to create massive profits for transnational corporations, especially from dirty energy.

Leaked chapters of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) show that its environmental standards are even worse than agreements negotiated by President George W. Bush and are unenforceable. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TAFTA) will drive an increase in fracking and off-shore oil drilling in the US for export to Europe. In addition, these agreements undermine the ability of communities to protect themselves because they give transnational corporations the legal power to sue governments if laws interfere with the profits corporations expect to make.

We can stop these trade agreements. For the past several years, a growing movement of movements which includes food safety, health, environmental, worker rights, anti-imperialist and Internet freedom advocates among others has successfully prevented the passage of fast tracktrade promotion authority for President Obama. Fast track would allow the President to sign trade agreements with minimal Congressional review. Fast tracks failure in Congress has weakened US negotiators so smaller countries are empowered to stand up to US trade negotiators who are pushing an extreme corporate agenda. If the climate justice movement makes stopping corporate trade agreements a priority, it will be the tipping point that will stop passage of these harmful agreements.

If we succeed in stopping corporate trade, it will be a tremendous victory over transnational corporate power. We can build on this victory to transform trade so that it serves people and the planet rather than the profits of global polluters. We will be building our power and taking power away from corporate interests.

Corporate trade is a huge global battle, but there are hundreds of battles we must fight at the local level as well. These include the expansion of tar sands mining, the increased use of trains to transport oil and coal, new pipeline infrastructure, off-shore oil exploration and drilling, mountain-top removal for coal, hydrofracking for methane gas, and excavation for uranium as well as the development of new nuclear power plants.

A comment is needed on that last point; some in the climate justice movement have remained silent or have even supported nuclear energy. Nuclear energy is too expensive and takes too long to come on-line. Nuclear power creates pollution nightmares from the excavation of uraniumthrough processing and the radioactive waste that is produced. The limited time and money we have to make necessary changes is better used to increase efficiency and develop clean, sustainable energy. The climate justice movement must recognize that nuclear power is a false, unnecessary ‘solution’ and work for a carbon-free, nuclear-free energy economy.

Another important issue that has not gotten enough attention is theUS military’s role in the emission of greenhouse gases. Carbon emissions from the military, the largest institutional carbon polluter on the planet, are not counted when the US’ emissions are calculated by international bodies. The climate justice movement needs to speak out against war, not only because of its inherent evil, but also because it is very destructive to the planet.

Understanding that our issues are connected is essential for achieving climate justice. Imperialism and the global neoliberal economy are related to climate justice and vice versa. When climate justice advocates join efforts to oppose expansion of wars and stop rigged corporate trade and when those who work for peace and fair economies stand with climate justice advocates, we are all stronger. We can all work on the issues about which we are passionate but when we plan specific activities, if we cast a wide net and join together, it moves all of our work forward.

Creating The World We Want To See…….