[DeepDive-LA] Greetings and an article Elizabeth Peredo

[Michel Bauwens]

dear Elizabeth, we could publish this on the p2p blog as well if you want,

Michel


On Thu, May 1, 2014 at 4:19 PM, Elizabeth Peredo <elyperedo en gmail.com>wrote:

> Dear Silke and friends.  I want to share an article on climate change and
> reflections forme the cominos perspective. Please spread it out.
> Warm regards,
> Elizabeth
>
> *Climate change: a challenge that goes beyond politics*
>
> *Elizabeth Peredo Beltran**
>
>
>
> It has rained incessantly in the Bolivian Amazon and in the Valleys. The
> waters that have flooded our territory since January, are thought to be the
> result of the worst rains in 40 years.  More than 60,000 families have been
> affected – meaning that at least 350,000 people have had to leave their
> homes.  They have lost almost everything they own: their animals, their
> crops, their daily lives. UNICEF has reported that 60,000 Bolivian children
> have been affected.  900 schools have had to suspend activities for almost
> a month due to high risk.  Over fifty people have died and some of their
> bodies have still not been recovered. And we cannot yet tell what the
> magnitude of the impact on health, food and the ability of communities to
> rebuild their lives will be as the floodwaters recede and the extent of the
> destruction is slowly revealed. One small example of how poverty triggers
> the vulnerability of communities comes from the situation of the indigenous
> people in the TIPNIS communities-.
>
>
>
> Though reports speak of huge losses of corn, rice, potatoes, soybeans,
> vegetables and livestock – with estimates of over 250,000 head of cattle
> missing –it remains to be seen in the next few months what the economic
> impact of floods will be for these peoples themselves, and what the impact
> will be at both regional and national levels.
>
>
>
> In the face of the dramatic situation presented by this disaster both
> authorities and civilians across the whole country have mobilized to
> collect food, medicines and everything necessary to bring help to the
> affected communities.  Above and beyond these good intentions to come
> together to provide aid for those affected by the floods in the Amazon
> region and in the Bolivian valleys, we were however far from being capable
> of confronting the dimension of such a disaster. Rainfalls are also far
> from being recognized as not an occasional event but rather as climate
> events that will repeat more frequently in the future.
>
>
>
> Not far from this region, droughts are hitting hard: in both the
> Chiquitanía region and the Chaco regions of Santa Cruz and Tarija there
> have been losses of thousands of hectares of crops, which is resulting in a
> silent forced migration to the cities. Just some months back the Bolivian
> Defence Ministry reported 247,000 hectares of land affected by the lack of
> rain, by snow or by fire. Meanwhile the loss of our glaciers is a sorrow to
> which we are becoming accustomed.
>
>
>
> Climate change is not just a scientific issue, nor is it just something
> which is of exclusive interest to UN negotiations, nor it is a warning for
> the future: it is already present in our times, in our territories, and it
> comes with violence. Climate change affects people’s lives and it is
> already claiming many victims.
>
>
>
> We share this grief with millions of people across the planet who are
> suffering the sameconsequences.  6,200 dead, with more than 11 million
> people affected by super typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines just a few
> months back. A million people without electricity after snowstorms caused
> by the late winter polar vortex in the U.S.A. Thousands of people affected
> in the UK in what was considered the worst flooding in 200 years. Thousands
> of hectares of forest burned annually in Australia by the alarming drought
> and heat. Thousands affected in Central America, Argentina, Brazil,
> Colombia, Uruguay, Paraguay and other countries. 25 million souls driven
> into uncertainty by water shortages, the result of droughts and heat waves
> in California. A deadly landslide with more than one hundred people missing
> in Washington State (USA), the result of heavy rains. Millions of humans
> and ecosystems at risk in various parts of the world... News that nobody
> wants to hear, but which we will inevitably be forced to confront in our
> own lifetimes, even though the news appears first as cold statistics in the
> press.
>
>
>
> We need to connect the dots to realise that climate change is a phenomenon
> that challenges us to overcome short-term visions and the empty rhetoric of
> "Mother Earth", devoid of concrete actions. Climate change is a consequence
> of the violent exploitation of nature, of endless economic growth systems
> based on fossil fuel consumption, understood as an irreplaceable condition
> for human "welfare". This obsolete idea has been inculcated into our lives
> on a social, a psychological and on a cultural level.
>
>
>
> What can we do to finally to take on board that the emissions from burning
> fossil fuels, of large scale cattle exploitation and of deforestation
> emissions -both in the North and in the South- are destroying our
> atmosphere? Where are the effective means of caring for the Common Goods
> kidnapped by corporations and the global addiction to unlimited growth? How
> long do we have to wait till the polluters begin to stop poisoning us and
> prevent worse consequences? When and how will there be compensation for the
> damage? (almost 71.5% of global emissions are from developed countries
> where only 17.3% of the world population reside). What can we do to avoid
> the likelihood that the so-called "development" of the global South will
> repeat that same destructive patterns (disguised by the promises of
> progress and of happiness)?
>
>
>
> Unfortunately, and not only in Bolivia, this theme has become distorted.
> It became an issue of political and economic interest, rather than simply
> being recognised as a matter of life or death, a challenge for survival.
>
>
>
> The *Fifth IPCC* *(AR5)* report has established in an unequivocal way
> that climate change is caused by human activity and that it is causing
> climate chaos everywhere. This report has warned that climate change
> presents enormous risks related to the access to water, food and
> livelihood. Some scientists and activists have been highly critical of this
> report for being - when all is said and done - conservative in nature,
> especially when it comes to expressing the urgency of the matter. They note
> that climate change is occurring faster than the IPCC scenarios had
> indicated, and that the Arctic ice-melt –and its consequent methane release
> (one of the greatest global threats) - has been underestimated due to
> pressure mounted by the rich nations and by the oil lobby. Other voices are
> questioning the possibility that the IPCC report has opened up
> opportunities for false solutions like “geo engineering� and unproven
> technologies, instead of insisting in a stronger way on the restriction of
> the use of fossil fuels.
>
>
>
> *Denialism around the world*
>
>
>
> In the context of this global emergency, surprisingly, a
> political/ideological current called "denialism" has emerged.  Denialists
> claim that these phenomena do not correspond to the saturation of the
> atmosphere as a direct result of human action, rather they claim that it is
> simply due to the planet’s "natural cycles". Denialists, as if we have need
> of such a service, have devoted their activism to denial of scientific
> reports. They have become a strong global current that accompanies the
> rhythms of economical development and investment, blaming environmentalists
> for creating unnecessary uncertainty. Their position is in essence linked
> with the corporate oil lobby, large corporations and private capital
> dedicated to the continued exploration for -and exploitation of- fossil
> fuels. Their political/industry alliances are indestructible.
>
>
>
> Bill McKibben, activist founder of 350.org has claimed that if oil
> reserves recognised by the world stock markets were exploited, this would
> consume five times the remaining atmospheric carbon budget. A calamity!
> Meanwhile, denialism among U.S. republican representatives commands an
> impressive lobby so that the US doesn’t even contribute to the
> Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) nor the UN platform on
> Economic and Social issues (ECOSOC), even more: they promote the
> "persecution" of their country’s scientists who assert that anthropogenic
> climate change is a reality. James Hansen, one of the NASA scientists, is
> one of their favourite targets.
>
>
>
> Denialism does have definite concrete political realities as describe
> above, but the term also describes an attitude in society, a broad social
> space of indifference to both global and climate change. This attitude
> holds significant way in civil society because people find it very
> difficult to change their lives in order to prevent global disaster. They
> prefer to close their eyes to the future. In the field of social psychology
> this is called "cognitive dissonance". Clive Hamilton, Professor at the
> Australian Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, has concluded
> that denialism is an expression of the failure of humanity to confront this
> crisis of global dimensions.
>
>
>
> Another form of "denialism", - although they don’t much like it mentioned
> – is that which comes from governments and from other circles of power and
> decision-making who disregard the urgent need for action despite the
> information is available to them. Through their decisions they deny the
> urgent need to change the current model of development, the energy grid,
> and the management of the response to the crisis of global climate change.
> The alarming information provided by science is available to governments
> first hand.
>
>
>
> Just remember the Philippine climate change negotiator to the UNFCCC who
> moved a global audience during the climate talks in Poland 2013, demanding *"an
> end to this madness"*, after super-typhoon Haiyan devastated part of his
> country. Though negotiators responded to his words with minutes of silence
> and expressions of solidarity, negotiations continued as if nothing had
> happened. Business continued "as usual", and the production and consumption
> of fossil fuels throughout the world continued "as usual". Convention
> agreements fall paradoxically by the wayside; the dictates of the
> capitalist system are at once stronger and more binding than the
> multilateral agreements. Negotiators seem to speak in unison: *“We can
> vouch for what we have accomplished in the negotiations, but not for the
> policies in our own countries*�. The big decisions - those linked to the
> economic system, to the energy matrices, and to capitalist production, that
> permanent engine of depredation - are kept in place by regional governments
> at the territorial and local levels.
>
>
>
> *Bolivia and the challenge of climate change*
>
>
>
> The recent floods in Bolivia have brought us one step closer to these big
> questions.  To a greater or lesser extent, our understanding is framed by
> the controversies that are taking place across the globe. We observe the
> impacts of the climate crisis: polarisation, crisis, demands, the taking up
> of positions and proposals that go beyond the scope of the climate
> negotiations.
>
>
>
> In Bolivia this has also brought about controversy. This is mediated by
> national and regional political tensions. Thus the people from the Amazon
> villages wonder: *“What do we do now? What will sustain our families? Are
> we less important than cattle?�* The tensions unleashed by the floods
> demonstrate how far we are from responses on the scale that is required.
> Distancing oneself from that which the government says, from local
> government demands, from Brazilian silence (motivated by the possible
> causal effects of recently constructed mega-dams), from the political
> declarations… what really matters is the construction of a society which is
> resilient to these global changes, and, therefore, a society able to build
> a new world based on solidarity and empathy.
>
>
>
> There are some lessons that I venture to pinpoint from the dramas that we
> have lived through in the recent floods in our country:
>
>
>
> - We do not need heroes, nor do we need the usual political battles.
> Rather, we require a long-term view that takes into account climate change
> and other global changes, seeing the incorporation of cross-cutting
> measures as critical at every level of public administration and of public
> life. Nurturing Nature and the Human Rights of the population, especially
> the poorest people, should be high priorities.
>
>
>
> - While negotiations on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
> (UNFCC) are now the only multilateral scenario for global commitments
> (though they are near to collapse due to their own inefficiency), today
> local priorities are more important than ever. This is where we can see
> whether or not we are making progress in stopping this catastrophe and
> changing the world to care for and regenerate life fabrics that are still
> alive.
>
>
>
> - Resilience must be considered in a multi-dimensional way, from what it
> means to meet the challenge of sustainable energy and to restore harmony,
> to the development of technical skills in agriculture, water management,
> human settlements, etc. Resilience also means ensuring a healthy social
> tissue, strengthening solidarity, respect and mutual recognition.
>
>
>
> - Resilience means also developing a more complex viewpoint that redefines
> “development" for these times of global changes. To face properly climate
> change, states must take seriously the fossil fuels use menace. They have
> to think how to stop and change “fossilized� economies and societies.
>
>
>
> - The care and restoration of Nature should become an obsession for all
> –particularly for governments – learning from the capability of the people
> (amply expressed in those days of rain) to give solidarity. Learning from
> Mother Earth itself and from its diversity, from the local knowledge of
> each people and town from the positive progress of mankind.
>
>
>
> We need to neutralize "denialism" as a collective attitude; it is not an
> unalterable condition. It is simply because people are unable to change
> their depredatory habits, because the channels for proactive and
> restorative activity are blocked by the systems of political power, by
> energy systems and by the markets that surround us.
>
>
>
> There is a growing global consciousness which is looking for ways to
> activate itself; It is trying to pave the ways to do so and to enable
> people to build resilient communities not just using technologies and
> systems, but also in more intimate fabrics - solidarity, love, compassion
> –which strengthen the possibilities for healthy interactions, and feed the
> desire to heal Nature, nourishing empathy and sentiments for others.
>
>
>
> Climate change is challenging humanity. It demands a huge effort from all
> of us to restore and heal the planet. This requires discipline,
> rebelliousness and creativity in order to confront a truly global emergency
> with substantial implications for life and civilization. It is an emergency
> that by whatever political calculation – from wherever it comes - is
> simply... unacceptable.
>
>
>
> La Paz, Bolivia
>
>
>
> April, 2014
>
>
>
> *Elizabeth Peredo Beltrán** is a Bolivian Social Psychologist, researcher
> and author. She is one of the promoters of the Blue October Campaign for
> water as a Common in her country, Elizabeth belongs the APMM (Mountain
> People’s Association). She is a member of Food and Water Watch’ board of
> directors in Washington DC and is the Executive Director of the cultural
> Solon Foundation in Bolivia.*
>
>
>
> *Translation and edition in English: Thanks to Tony Phillips and Monica
> Stopplemann*
>
>
>
>
>



-- 
*Please note an intrusion wiped out my inbox on February 8; I have no
record of previous communication, proposals, etc ..*

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