Guest essay by Eric Worrall
President Biden is losing ground? Iconic 92-year-old activist Noam Chomsky has accused Biden of putting politics before climate action, though Chomsky seems to suggest Biden’s inaction has been somewhat redeemed by Congress, thanks to Bernie Sanders and other politicians. young activist.
Noam Chomsky: Ending Climate Change “Must Come From Popular Action,” Not Politician
AN INTERVIEW WITH NOAM CHOMSKY
11.19.2021…
About climate change
BM
Change of subject: What do you see as the biggest obstacle to tackling the climate crisis?
NC
There are two major obstacles. Of course, one is fossil fuel companies. Second are the governments of the world, including Europe and the United States. We just saw that very dramatically over the summer. On August 9, 2021, IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] grant its final analysis of the climate situation. That’s a very dire warning – much more so than before.
Basically, the message is, “We have two choices.” We can start now to cut fossil fuel use, [and] do it systematically every year, until we get rid of them by mid-century. That is a choice. The other choice is the cataclysm. The end of organized human life on earth. Not instantaneously – we’ll just hit the unchangeable cut-off point, and it’ll turn out to be catastrophic. Those are options.
How did the major powers react? A day after the IPCC report, Joe Biden made an appeal against the OPEC group [Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries] to increase production. Europe started by calling on all manufacturers, including Russia, to increase production. Get a raise manufacture. This is a response to an IPPC warning that we must start reducing now.
It was for political reasons, for the profit of the oil companies. [The] The political reason is that they want to lower the price. It’s better for them. [For] Joe Biden, if gas prices are high, it will hurt your election prospects. [If] you read the big business press right now, [there’s] a great discussion going on: What is the best way to increase production? Is it through US shale oil – the mining industry – or through OPEC? But how do we best increase production? That is business journalism. Turn over the oil and gas magazines. [They are] euphoria: “We just found new areas to explore. Demand is increasing. Great.”
Go to the United States Congress. The Biden program – under pressure from young activists, the Bernie Sanders movements, etc. – is actually a huge improvement over any program before it, on paper. It’s not great, but it’s much better than anything else. Rub, [previous] Negotiations in Congress on the “conciliation bill,” initiated by Bernie Sanders, fell far short of Sanders’ proposals. It was a very valuable bill. It somewhat reverses the massive attack on population in the neoliberal era.
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Read more: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/11/noam-chomsky-climate-change-afghanistan-anarchism-china
It’s a fascinating motivator. Chomsky seems to like Bernie Sanders more than Biden, but I’m sure Chomsky likes Biden more than a Republican President.
Still, Chomsky believes Biden has shown a willingness to take climate action under the bus as soon as it becomes politically fraught.
Chomsky must know that there’s no reason for Biden to change course, as long as he can count on the reluctant support of iconic activists like Chomsky and his followers. Time will tell how long Chomsky and his friends will endure what must be for them is an unlikely compromise.
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