Green movement forgets its politics

Organisations campaigning on climate change need to learn the lessons of the anti-slavery and anti-apartheid movements, says Ann Pettifor. By focusing on individuals rather than governments, initiatives such as the recent Energy Saving Day are bound to fail in their bid to reduce emissions, she argues.

Climate change is the issue of the day.

Scientists finally agree on the threat to the planet posed by rising temperatures. Books on the subject proliferate.


Campaigners, like those at Plane Stupid, do amazing things to bring it to public attention.

Big business frets too. The world’s giant investment funds join green groups in demanding drastic action.

Paul Hawken, author of Blessed Unrest – How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being, writes that “there are over one – maybe even two – million organisations (worldwide) working toward ecological sustainability and social justice”.

And yet… and yet… there is no real climate change movement. There is no organised effort leading society towards a legislative framework that would urgently drive down greenhouse gas emissions across the board, and begin to sequester carbon dioxide.

BBC