Can “the commons” save us from ourselves?

To think about politics at the moment is to conjure a world under stress. It is not just that we confront a range of problems particular to our moment in the Anthropocene — everything from potentially catastrophic climate change to obscene levels of inequality — but that the institutions we have established to deal with such problems, including liberal democracy itself, seem incapable of responding in a meaningful way. There is a palpable sense that “we” have lost our way.

The stirrings of something better? School students
 at the #ClimateStrike rally at Sydney Town Hall in March.

But even as news headlines are dominated by the latest Trump outrage or the ongoing stupidity of the Brexit process — Trump and Brexit being emblematic of all the failures that confront us — I wonder if we can’t discern the stirrings of something better beginning to take shape.

They are apparent in the rising number of books, articles, documentaries and lectures that are invoking concepts such as “the commons”; that are urging us to rethink the place of work in our lives; that are offering alternative methods of distributing wealth, from cooperative ownership to a universal basic income; and that are theorising new approaches to politics, including concepts such as citizen juries and even the ambitious approaches embodied in the so-called Green New Deal.

Read the Inside Story book review by Tim Dunlop - “Can “the commons” save us from ourselves?”

Community action on climate change to be explored

Darren Cheeseman.

Ways in which Victorian communities are responding to climate change will be the focus of a new parliamentary inquiry, with the Victorian Legislative Assembly’s Environment and Planning Committee inviting public submissions.

The Committee wants to hear from community members and organisations on actions they are taking to mitigate the severity of climate change and to adapt to its current and future impacts.“Community action is a key component of efforts to tackle climate change around the world and we’re keen to find out about the best examples of actions being taken right here in Victoria,” Committee Chair Darren Cheeseman said.

Read the release from the Environment and Planning Standing Committee in the Legislative Assembly - “Community action on climate change to be explored.”

Language is the Latest Weapon Against the Climate Emergency.”

The language of our impending environmental disaster is changing. In a note to staff, the Guardian on Friday announced it was responding to increasing concern about climate change by calling it the “climate emergency” instead.

Using language to combat a climate crisis.

The email, as tweeted by BuzzFeed reporter Mark Di Stefano, reads: “Use climate emergency, crisis, or breakdown instead of climate change. Use global heating instead of global warming… Use climate science denier or climate denier instead of climate skeptic.” The memo states that the aim is to “accurately reflect the phenomena they describe,” and points out that the term climate change “sounds rather passive and gentle when what scientists are talking about is a catastrophe for humanity.”

It’s a good point — the word “change” hardly captures the self-imposed extinction of humankind, akin to calling an airstrike a “land-changer.” But not everyone agrees. One person on Twitter replied sarcastically: “THIS is what will finally convince people. Lol.” If by “people” they’re referring to those actively promoting denial, then fair enough. But when it comes to non-dogmatic skeptics, the change in language might actually help. And believe me, newspapers like the Guardian take language very seriously.

Read the story from OneZero by Erica Buist - “Language is the Latest Weapon Against the Climate Emergency.”

Truce in sight on climate wars but what price peace for the PM?

Craig Kelly was careful when responding to the latest inducement being offered to the states to secure the National Energy Guarantee. Understandable after his disastrous "let bygones be bygones" apologia for Donald Trump's Russia appeasement.

Liberal MP Craig Kelly has been an outspoken critic of emission reductions.

But the conservative backbencher, as one of the party room's most vocal coal spruikers, could disguise his grievance over the Turnbull cabinet's creeping environmentalism, only so well.

Asked during his regular Sky News spot about the "olive branch" now being extended by Energy and Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg to the states - an offer of a five-year review of the emissions reduction target (rather than locking it in for 10),  Kelly was initially circumspect. "Well I'd imagine if you had a [target] review, you could also downscale it as well." Clearly this was said more in hope than belief.

Read the analysis by Mark Kenny from The Age - “Truce in sight on climate wars but what price peace for the PM?”

The biggest mistake we've made on climate change

Every time I go to the Byron Bay Writers’ Festival I’m asked the same question: since there’s no policy issue more important than responding to global warming, and we’re doing so little about it, why do I ever write about anything else?

Illustration: Dionne Gain

I give the obvious answer. Though I readily agree that climate change is the most pressing economic problem we face, if I banged on about nothing but global warming three times a week, our readers would soon lose interest.

But even as I make my excuses, my Salvo-trained conscience tells me they’re not good enough. Even if I can’t write about it every week, I should raise it more often than I do.

I’m still combing through the budget’s fine print, but I’ve yet to remark that its thousands of pages make almost no mention of climate change.

Read the comment by Ross Gittins from today’s Age - “The biggest mistake we've made on climate change.”