Climate activism and fighting against the rise of authoritarianism are clearly both important right now. How do I, or any of us, allocate our time and our energy between these two?
We need to take a stand against the authoritarianism of the Trump regime on all fronts — their cruelty to immigrants; their ignoring of the Constitution and the courts; their increasing military rule; their brutal and foolish foreign policy; their harassment of those who oppose them; their targeting of vulnerable populations; and their determination to undermine voting rights and the possibility of fair elections. We must oppose them on every front.
However, when the entire world is facing an existential climate crisis that threatens to make the earth virtually uninhabitable by humans and other species, we cannot simply put climate aside while we resist Trump and the MAGA forces. They are going all out to limit the growth of renewable energy and to subvert any initiative that might help address the deadly global climate crisis. They have decided to support the fossil fuel industry in letting the earth burn while they amass greater wealth and power at the expense of the welfare of life on this planet.
I don’t believe we can win on authoritarianism if we don’t take on the fossil fuel industry. The fossil fuel industry is not simply benefiting from authoritarianism; it is a major driver of the destruction of democracy in the United States and in other parts of the world.
As the effects of global warming — droughts, floods, fires, sea-level rise, etc. — have become more severe, the global population is becoming more insistent that governments act to address the climate crisis. This has intensified the need of the fossil fuel industry to have authoritarian governments that will do the bidding of the industry — governments they can control with their wealth and power, governments that are inherently corrupt, governments that will put the industry’s profits through expanded use of fossil fuels ahead of the needs and wishes of the people. The industry has put the full weight of its wealth, political power, and domination behind creating and maintaining the current authoritarian government in the U.S.
To put it another way, we cannot have a well-functioning democracy as long as we have a huge, powerful, wealthy fossil fuel industry completely dedicated to preventing the government from acting on behalf of the welfare of the people and the planet.
We do not simply need to better control and regulate the fossil fuel industry. In order to have a planet able to sustain human life and other species, the entire world must stop burning fossil fuels altogether. This means we must first diminish, and then completely dismantle, the fossil fuel industry. We must within the next few decades completely eliminate one of the wealthiest, most powerful industries in the history of the world.
This may seem to be an impossible task. However, there is no viable alternative. Therefore, we must go all out to do what must be done. We must unify and dedicate ourselves to doing this absurdly difficult, but necessary task. Our love for all people, for the planet, and for the people of the future leaves us no other option.
How? We will need to keep figuring this out together. Below, is the best outline I can come up with now. These are all actions to take with other people, not as individuals.
(While we may choose to reduce our own carbon footprints, those efforts will never be sufficient to solve the problem and we should not prioritize them over the systemic actions listed below.)
First, we develop an analysis (along the lines of the above) that describes the situation accurately and share it widely. I believe that with a good analysis and ample funding for PR campaigns to educate the public, we can win the minds of a large majority of the people.
Second, we oppose the industry in every way we can devise — blocking their building of pipelines and export terminals, their access to new drilling, and all legislation and regulations that support the use of fossil fuels. We tax their wealth and profits at ever-increasing high rates.
Third, we do everything we can to promote the adoption of renewable energy, focusing on changes that will affect many people. If we are blocked at the federal level, we focus on state and local governments — everything from building codes to public transportation. The campaign to replace fossil fuels with clean renewable energy is not secondary to fighting fascism, it is at the center of the fight. It’s not the only thing we need to do to defeat authoritarianism, but it is central.
Fourth, we organize more and more people to participate in these campaigns, knowing that it may take years of building support to win on some of these issues.
Fifth, we support each other, link with others who may be different from ourselves, and help each other release our pent-up frustrations, griefs, and despair through listening exchanges and caring. We build a vision of a society that works for everyone. We center our love for this beautiful planet, people, and other species, and for future generations.
Russ Vernon-Jones lives in Amherst and is a member of the Steering Committee of Climate Action Now (CAN). The views expressed here are his own. He blogs regularly on climate justice at http://www.russvernonjones.org and can be reached there.