[P2P-F] Fwd: Greetings and an article Elizabeth Peredo

Fri May 2 02:34:57 CEST 2014

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Elizabeth Peredo <elyperedo at gmail.com>
Date: Thu, May 1, 2014 at 4:19 PM
Subject: Greetings and an article Elizabeth Peredo
To: "CommonsDeutschland ." <silke.helfrich at gmx.de>, Commons Deep Dive in
Latin America - 2012 <commons-deepdive-la at lists.ourproject.org>, David
Bollier <david at bollier.org>, Michel Bauwens <michel at p2pfoundation.net>,
Michael AlvarezKalverkamp <Michael.AlvarezKalverkamp at cl.boell.org>

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 ..*

P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net  - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net

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