Monbiot: Blair is just a lot of hot air

March 5, 2007
From George Monbiot (will appear in The Guardian also).

George might complain about the British Government and their inbuilt (?) failures to reach their target reductions, however our Australian Government has set NO target reductions. They keep going on about "free market will lead the way" and commit us to nothing but a hatred of the Indians and Chinese because they are building a Coal fired power station every week. The response of the Indians and the Chinese is that we in the West - USA, Europe and Australia, have got the whole world into the Global Warming mess we are in and we should lead the way out. (John) Howard (Australian PM) asks what the point in us killing our coal industry when we release nothing like the pollution that China (or the USA for that matter as the world's number one polluter) does. The point is that we would be taking the lead. One who leads is a leader. One who doesn't is a follower. When it comes time for the Australian Federal election later this year, I know I want to have a leader up at the helm.

And what about the Free Market.

I don't believe the free market can achieve what needs to be done, alone and without legislation and regulations (which piss people off and they end up voting the current party out). It isn't in a capitalist enterprise's interests to do so. Take this example.

On this island, there is one remaining stand of 100 hectares of forest made up of old growth (original) trees. Due to the rarity of these, the price for them felled is now ten times what it was ten years ago when there was a million hectares. Unfelled and left standing it has little economic value. Humans are so stupid that they will keep their logging practices up. Current Economics as was identified by Richard (?) Stern in the Stern report, does not take into account future generations. And anyway, if my suggestion was not the case, then why are so many rare animals hunted to extinction, and why have we not stopped some significant practices such as the logging of old growth forests? Free market suggests people within the market will make the correct choices. I argue that a capitalist market says that the only choices are the ones that make someone more money. We need to change our market - to be driven by things other than money. What about love? That is what religion is meant to be about. Its ironic then that one country with one of the largest installed religious bases is the USA. The USA is also the king of capitalism to the point where their economy is more important than anything else in the world, such that they will start a war in order to protect that system (war is great for business). Capitalism is greater than love (in eyes of zealot capitalists).

What about this one which is a real life situation. My partner channel surfs so we get inflicted by the ads which seem to occupy more and more time these days. I record what I want to watch so can skip over them with only a small amount of crap transferring to my psyche. Car ads, f@cking car ads. You would think in a world so consumed by the threat of climate change that one thing we would do is making major changes to the cars we well. But oh no, under our capitalist system, they are still manufacturing BIG cars and they are still selling them. So of course they are still advertising them. Am I crazy or is the world frickin' organised in the most stupid of ways?

I'm off the track a bit here. Over to George Monbiot ...

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