Capitalism brings climate chaos – Fight for system change

Philip Stott 

Human society faces a multi-faceted and accelerating environmental crises. Global warming has been a largely accepted scientific fact for decades yet nothing fundamental is being done.

Rising temperatures are leading to a rapid melting of the polar ice caps and therefore rising sea levels. Capitalist production methods, particularly the mass use of plastics (projected to rise to 34 billion tonnes by 2050, nearly 100 times the present level, by which time it will account for 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions) are polluting the oceans and land, as well as contributing to the warming of the planet.

“Extreme” weather episodes including record heatwaves and flash-flooding are more common. The acidification of oceans is also a huge concern. So can the planet be saved, and if so how?

why is the Earth heating up?

Many climate scientists have concluded that the rise of carbon dioxide levels – known as a greenhouse gas because it acts to increase air temperature – have now become so great at 400 parts per million (ppm), that within 25 years the tipping point of 450 parts per million will be reached.

To avoid the worst effects of global warming, the carbon concentration must be kept to below 450 parts per million at least. A recent report found in 2016 the highest concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere in 800,000 years.

Carbon dioxide is produced in large quantities as a result of the burning of fossil fuels; oil, coal and gas. The rising levels of CO2 in the atmosphere results in the warming of the air and land. Why is this?

Light from the sun enters earth’s atmosphere as ultraviolet and visible light; some of this solar energy is then radiated back toward space as infrared energy, or heat. Because the atmosphere is made up off nitrogen (78%) and oxygen (21%) – gases made up of tightly bound molecules – they don’t absorb much heat.

But the greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, water vapour and methane, each have more loosely bound molecules and therefore absorb heat more effectively.

When the molecules in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases absorb and then re-emit this heat back toward Earth’s surface, the result is warming.

The greater the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the more the warming of the planet occurs. Taking land and ocean temperature measurements from 1850 to 2012, researchers have found that the average surface-air temperature globally has risen by 0.8 degrees Celsius since the beginning of the industrial age. That’s according to the fifth report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released in 2014.

This underlines the socialist view that unplanned and anarchic capitalist production, in particular the vast burning if fossil fuels, plays a key role in degrading the environment.

rising sea levels

Sea-level rise has gone up globally by 0.19 meters on average since 1901. According to the IPCC, the rate of sea-level rise since the middle of the 1800s has been higher than the rate during the previous two million years. To put that into context, by the year 2100 sea levels are expected have risen by between 1 and 2 metres.

The impact on countries like Bangladesh, and others who are on or just above sea level, would be devastating. Sea levels are rising for two reasons: thermal expansion caused by warming of the ocean (water expands as it warms) and the accelerated melting of land-based ice, such as glaciers and ice sheets.

The Arctic ice cap is melting at an unprecedented rate. It’s estimated that Arctic sea ice could disappear in the summer by 2050. This of course adds to rising sea levels.

In addition scientists, including at the IPCC, predict that 80% of the permafrost in the polar regions could have melted by then as well. The consequence of this potential disaster is important as trapped in the permafrost (permanently frozen areas) are large quantities of methane which will be released into the atmosphere.

While methane’s lifetime in the atmosphere is much shorter than carbon dioxide, it is 25 times more efficient at trapping heat radiation. If these predictions are accurate, the consequence would be an additional 0.5 to 0.9 Celsius increase in global temperatures.

In fact the 2014 report by the IPCC says that on ’present trends’ it will not be possible to prevent the global temperature rising by more than 2 Celsius, above which it could spiral out of control.

So, given the multitude of scientific evidence, what has been the response of global capitalist governments? Well, next to nothing in reality.

Despite the claims that followed the Paris talks on climate change in 2015, which then US president Obama claimed was a “turning point for the world”, nothing has changed.

Indeed Trump has withdrawn the US from even the toothless agreements signed in Paris. The fundamental problem with the Paris agreement is that it is completely voluntary.

If Trump hadn’t pulled out he could have simply ignored its commitments without fear of legally binding sanctions Indeed, even if all the voluntary commitments made in Paris were fulfilled, global temperatures would probably still rise by 3 Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

The only meaningful way to tackle environmental threats is to replace the capitalist dog-eat-dog system, where competition for profit between the main imperialist powers prevents any meaningful cooperation, and to replace it with a democratically run, publicly owned economy.

In such a society for the first time it will be possible to plan for the harmonious development of the economy alongside taking the serious measures that are needed to address the range of environmental threats facing us. So what would a socialist solution look like?

Because capitalism and its market system degrades the environment, a sustainable programme can only be made a reality by nationalising the main industries that dominate our economy.

This requires a new way of organising production and society. Democratic planning is not only a viable alternative to the ’hidden hand’ of the capitalist market system, it has huge inherent advantages for saving energy.

For example, it would avoid duplication of resources, planned obsolescence and the energy-wasteful booms and slumps inherent in capitalism.

socialist plan

As Socialist Party member Pete Dickenson concludes in his book on the environment, Planning Green Growth: “A long-term programme of investment in renewable energy sources must be a priority, leading to the progressive replacement of oil, gas, coal-fired and nuclear power stations.

Workers in these industries will need to be retrained and re-skilled for the different technologies involved in wind, wave and solar power generation. At the same time, research and development in new techniques for energy generation will need to be massively stepped up, as will work to improve the capability and efficiency of presently available renewable energy sources.

The extra experts needed to do this work can be assigned from the arms industry, a sector which will be rapidly run down. Significant resources will still need to be deployed to clearing up the mess already existing, in particular, workers in the nuclear industry will have their hands full in organising de-commissioning of nuclear plant and devising ways to safely store or neutralise toxic waste.

Environmentally friendly consumption habits can be promoted by giving subsidies to key areas, such as public transport and the use of re-cycleable materials. Eco-taxes, which hit the poorest hardest, in general should not be used, unless directed at certain items of energy intensive luxury consumption.

Enterprises should be subject to a strict regime of compliance with environmental standards.  To implement this programme needs an integrated environmental plan that can only be effective if the energy industries are nationalised with democratic workers’ control and management.

The research and development investment required for ecological transformation can also only be effective if it is part of an integrated plan, linked to other aspects such as energy production and consumer subsidies.

Since the issues of environmental sustainability involve virtually all aspects of production of goods and services, an integrated energy plan must be part of an overall plan, which can only be based on taking over the commanding heights of the economy, meaning in practice nationalising the top 150 monopolies.

If this is done the anarchy and waste built into the capitalist system can be eliminated and a rational socialist alternative can begin the task of saving the planet from its present path towards devastation.”

Robyn Smith, Aberdeen 

Climate change has devastating effects not only for the environment but for society, the economy and entire livelihoods too.

The consequences hit the working classes the hardest. Global rises in temperature have resulted in the deaths of numerous homeless and impoverished people across the world who are unable to find shelter out of the baking sun.

These people have no escape from the heat as society does not welcome them into cool public spaces and to worsen the matter many live in built up urban areas where the heat is intensified.

For low income families the rise in temperature presents a difficulty as air conditioning systems are too expensive hence leaving little option but to turn to basic and less effective measures.

However, even basic fans can still increase energy charges which many families simply cannot afford. If the droughts we are already seeing continue to worsen, large areas of land will be unsuitable for crop growth and as a result communities will have little option but to leave.

Such instances have the potential to cause conflicts over water sources and will likely lead to an increase in refugees who have been forced away from their homes as the land becomes inhospitable.

In the last 40 years alone, 33% of the earth’s arable land has been lost and if action is not taken this will simply worsen. The effects of this decline in arable land are already being faced by farmers in south-eastern Australia, who due to severe droughts have been unable to grow grain for livestock.

Droughts have led to grain prices increasing resulting in farmers being unable to adequately feed livestock, and then as a result further losses are made as farmers do not have healthy cattle to produce an income.

These cases are not rare and without immediate action to tackle the environmental catastrophe they will quickly spread across the globe putting the livelihood of countless others at risk.

Socialist Party Scotland calls for:

• Rapid conversion to the use of renewable energy sources: wind, wave and solar power.
• Workers in the oil, gas and nuclear industries will be guaranteed jobs and reskilling with no loss of pay as part of the transition to sustainable energy.
• A big expansion of public transport facilities, with fare subsides; to encourage quick switches from private transportation. Development of the rail system, so that short and medium haul air travel can be reduced and then replaced  
• Conversion of the car industry to renewable sources of power. Electric and hydrogen powered vehicles are on the market now, but need to be affordable and an infrastructure has to be constructed so their use is possible  
• A massive programme of energy saving measures implemented, including new homes to be made carbon neutral  
• Step up research on green energy, for example on how to make long distance energy transmission more efficient  
• Public ownership of the energy generating and transport industries; and the top banks and companies that dominate the economy  
• A democratic socialist plan of production based on the interests of the overwhelming majority of people, and in a way that safeguards the environment.