Windblown Seeds of Disaster
We have often talked about on DSOT the high percentage of people who want the government to take action on the climate crisis. These kinds of stats are obviously encouraging as they show a general awareness of the problems facing us in the climate crisis and a desire for some sort of intervention by our collective will, the government. It could rightly be pointed out, however, that while on the surface there is widespread desire for action, there are disagreements on what exactly our governments should do about the climate crisis. The increasingly frequent weather catastrophes, and growing global instability make clear to most that climate change is creating an increasingly hostile world, so it’s obvious action is needed from our leaders and institutions. The size and shape of such a response, however, is still very much up for debate in the public square. Exclusionary politics that promote wall building will produce very different outcomes from cooperative politics focused on inclusive community resiliency.
The consequences of our choices here will be vast. As just one example, UNICEF recently published a study reporting over 43 million children have been displaced due to war and climate catastrophe in just 6 years. When displacement occurs it is often permanent, with children growing up entirely in a displaced status. The study also calculated that future displacement of children and adults would increase significantly, by nearly 50%, with each further degree Celsius of temperature rise. The lives to 10s of millions of children hang in the balance of our climate response.
In light of this growing catastrophe, UNICEF is calling on politicians and political leaders to “leave no child behind” with a list of policies. As we’ve discussed time and again, however, we will need more than just good policy for a good cause to see change occur. Policy tells us which direction to travel, but it’s economic organizing that gives us the power to enact those demands and institutionalize them. We need an economic cudgel, wielded on behalf of the people. So join us each Tuesday and growing solidarity as we work to make sure that not one more child is unnecessarily displaced, don't shop on Tuesday!
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