'the green new deal' is this ecological and social panacea to left libs in the UK and US. it completely fails to address one of the core contradictions of capitalism, this exponential growth and exponential production is in and of itself an anti ecological thing that will still destroy the environment regardless of how much you build solar arrays and electric cars. it's based off of the idealisation of the concessions won by workers without any material analysis of WHY there were workers movements that needed to be paid off with better conditions, and WHY we are in the mess we are in now with regards to the environment. like all utopian ideas to fix our current situation without any radical transformation or breakdown of the mode of production and consumption, it completely fails to see that those ARE the ultimate forces that brought about the current compounding crises; even as opportunism or 'the lesser evil' it is not lesser it is more of the same with a pat on the back for progress that vents the demands for ecological action and better lives and conditions for the working class.
what it is, is class colaborationism. the capitalists get huge demand for new 'green' products and projects to make massive sales on, and workers get new jobs with slightly better conditions and pay. the most ecological car is the one you already own, the logistics and production in making parts for new cars and the resource extraction for those cars is itself a bad thing, and should be limited; you cannot compare a car already in front of you to the hypothetical building of new greener cars en masse as being at the same level, the same is true of all 'green products' making new shit is worse than reusing what already exists for longer over the frivolity of throw away mass consumption. this is not radical, this is a venting of class consciousness that inherently is anti ecological and seeks to merely perpetuate the status quo of the decaying stages of late capitalism just to eke out a few more years of sales while beating down the real demands for actual change and solutions.
precipitous drop in the standard of living
can we stop evangilising it this way. standard of living is liberal tripe that obscures fundamental rights we're trying to secure.
no iphone but also no starving people & dying of preventable diseases & guaranteed shelter is only a decline in 'standards' in a capitalist mode of thinking.
edit: lemme just be clear im arguing against using the term stamdards of living im in agreement
Also some people already can't afford to replace stuff like that and to have a constant flow of treats
right, like that's one of the key things here. it is ecologically DESTRUCTIVE to mass produce 'green' products, because you need to extract and refine those resources, ship them, and so on, which all pile up the amount of pollution created by that product. you have to factor all of that in when looking at these 'green' solutions, because it shows they are not solutions but merely just a way to give government contracts and funds to private companies
As someone who works for one of the national labs and the contractors that would stand to benefit from the Green New deal and the climate change provisions in the infrastructure plan, this is 100% true.
it’s just incremental make work shit. I mean it’s faintly positive in relation to what already exists but it’s another case of capitalism gobbling up any sort of meaningful change with cronyism and private sector bureaucracy.
___Like Macha cookies and Macha ice cream? Because I'm fucking down for that LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Matcha is so fucking good why is it so good I cannot turn it down
It is pretty clearly the peak of corporate "green washed mindset". The "response" to climate change is being planned and managed by the same corporate state that is responsible for it. It's the best example rn of how reformism doesn't work. It just allows the system to morph into its next form, while fooling people that its progressive
And yet, it's still too pie in the sky to ever happen in American politics. It's such a garbage country it threatens all life on Earth.
Yeah libs focus on climate change to the exclusion of all other environmental crises. Habitat destruction and overconsumption (among others) are being completely ignored despite being roughly on the same order as climate change (e.g. existential).
the simplest actual solution would be a cap of carbon emission per worker, want to emit more? give more people jobs and watch your profit go into the negative, want to buy stuff that emits a shit ton? it eats into your allowance as a worker so you're not useful as a pmc compared to actual working class. Now we do have the problem of the fucked upness of america so some tweaks would have to be made because of cars and the like, and it will never be done, but put that rule in place worldwide and you empower the poorest, while respecting the emission restrictions and finally keelhauling capitalists
This is a horrible idea imo because it puts the responsibility on individuals and not on the giant corporate/states that are responsible for this. Also the rules of this carbon cap will be determined by the very same corrupt corporate states, who would no doubt use it to emisserate and oppress the masses.
unlimited caps for the wealthy, tiny caps for the rest of us. enjoy 2 hours a day of electricity and no we won't provide you with mass transit.
Exactly. This is 100% the kind of shit im worried libs and lefties are going to fully embrace if it is pitched to them as "doing their part". All the while the ruling class will be stacking money and consolidating power, while you can't leave yr apt cuz it will cost 5 demerits, like in Philip k dicks Ubik or something
yeah it should be equal, but it's still, at this point, the only way to *limit climate change, it can be collectivized, eg china, but strict emission caps will have to be put in place with no exception, which is usually the problem with organization cap since they got so much more power
it would give them leverage though, with the aim of empowering collective bargain, since companies would have to use workers' credits, the personal responsibility here is actually good since it forces all orgs into a fait accompli that they have no power over, and the fact that they'd be equal for everyone should lower the risks of corruption, but it's not gonna happen anyways
as i stated below, besides plannification (we can always dream but china's the only place where it's realistic), to do it at org levels in the west would only result in lobbying and exceptions for the companies that matter, while putting a cap per people working (not consuming mind you though it would factor into the cap per worker) would empower unions and put companies on the back foot
