ON MY MIND With
A FRIEND of mine persuaded me to capture a bit of carbon for COP26 by planting a tree. I chose a fig tree, which presently lies dormant in a container in Felixstowe. When it arrives, as in the time of Solomon, I will live safely under its branches along with my vine, which unfortunately this year had a nasty bout of Plasmopara Viticola, otherwise known as mildew.
Hopefully the tree will not be delivered by a climate denier in a diesel van spewing out groundlevel ozone or in a planet-cooking rhinoceros of a gas-guzzling SUV. But it will always be a struggle to persuade individuals to do their bit when global industries, companies and governments are the key players in climate change.
When my son lost his house in California to the annual fire storm, the crisis was gradually dawning on a country then led by a confused Trump who criticised the “prophets of doom” at Davos in January. In the UK the Chancellor’s Budget last week astonishingly halved the domestic air passenger duty, announced billions to be spent on road building and continued to freeze fuel duty. It is not rocket science to work out that this will encourage people to fly more often and use their cars more as opposed to public transport.
When Friends of the Earth said that the Budget did little to show that the government recognises the enormity of the climate crisis, we can at least turn to the Welsh Government which last week published its ‘Net Zero Wales’, a plan containing more than 120 government policies and proposals.
However, my favourite writer on environmental aspects, Naomi Klein, has for decades said that the issue is not dealing with the logistics of climate change but rather challenging an individualistic, elitist ideology that champions free markets and the centrality of profit. It needs a holistic vision for social justice and economic transformation.
When Mark Drakeford talked about living our lives differently and taking collective action for a greener Wales, the corollary is the greatest test of moral character the country has ever faced.
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