The other night Greta Thunberg was asked what differences she saw between the climate movement in Europe and the US and how she didn’t choke is beyond me. The simple fact is that environmental awareness not really a thing here. Most Americans simply don’t think about it much, nor are they encouraged to. It’s a relatively new political issue and the overwhelming nature of it has made it ripe for exploitation and scaremongering. The American conversation about climate change is a warning for all about how easily action can derailed by the forces of capitalism and political money. In Ireland, at least we were some bit prepared – we had the Green Schools and the green wheelie bin, and the ban on free plastic bags made many think about the amount of disposable plastic they were using. Partly as a result of those initiatives, the debate in Ireland has not been about the existence of climate change but how to address it (spoiler: listen to the Greens, especially if you farm)
God forgive me but I thought Americans (yeah, all 327 million of them) were doing it on purpose; I thought the casual grabbing of eighteen napkins and the refusal to separate rubbish was some act of defiance. And then a very dear friend of mine from Texas who shall not be named told me that the first time she saw a clothesline was in Birmingham. Birmingham, England that is – not Birmingham, AL. Can you think of a place where there’d be better drying than Texas? Dryers her entire life except for the smalls hung on indoor racks. Another friend told me clotheslines weren’t permitted in her old estate because they were considered unsightly. There are a million other examples of how little the environment impinges on the popular conscience. In 2017 Chicago had a recycling rate of 9%[1]. I still get funny looks when I hand in my reusable coffee cup and Starbucks in Loyola University won’t serve me coffee in it, nor will Amtrak despite it having a sealed lid. At a play the other night, the food was served in about 400 individual plastic pots, rather than three large bowls and serving spoons – and this was among theater folk, traditionally the most socially conscious in any given society! A receipt for a pack of soothers is nearly a foot long. Plastic bags are still in use. Because of massive portions, food is either taken home in unrecyclable Styrofoam boxes or thrown out. SUVs rule the road. Environmental awareness is just ‘not really a thing’ here you see.
Now, of course, my recyclable mug isn’t going to keep the polar ice caps from melting. Government action is needed for that. But in the United States there’s little hope of that right now when the debate is stuck on whether or not climate change is real and urgent, rather than how to tackle it. Activists are up against no small enemy. Selling stuff is the core value of capitalism and the free market, and environmental activism gets in the way of that. Amazon doesn’t want you to think about the 165 billion packages shipped in the US each year, with the cardboard used roughly equating to more than 1 billion trees[2]. The oil industry doesn’t want you parking up the car and cycling instead. Secondly, political fundraising is big business here and the politicians under the thumb of wealthy donors from the oil and manufacturing industries know which side their bread is buttered on. They don’t want to lose votes in a swing state like Pennsylvania by getting rid of coal. Far easier to call Greta Thunberg or Alexandria Occasio Cortez names than address the horrific levels of lead in the water in some of America’s poorest areas like Newark, NJ and Flint, MI. The overwhelming nature of climate change and its relevant newness as a political issue allowed people to take sides. It became a Democratic issue – Al Gore was the first presidential candidate to make environmental protection a signature issue back in 2000 – and sceptics and deniers quickly found safe haven in the arms of the Republican Party and Fox News and later, this president. To be fair, many don’t choose to deny climate change out of badness but out of fear and we’ve all chosen denial over the blinding truth at some point in our lives; the busted ankle we kept walking on, or the credit card debt ran up. However, the debate may not always be stuck here, it’ll have to move forward at some stage. It’s no harm to remember marriage equality faced similar opposition and disinterest and that still got through so it’s by no means a hopeless situation.
Climate change is divisive in Ireland too, but at least we largely agree it’s real. Our problem is that Fine Gael and Fianna Fail won’t take the action necessary because they’re afraid of alienating farmers (just like they were afraid of the pro-life vote for years). It’s time our rural TDs proved their mettle by putting forward ideas instead of just bitching about the EU. Ireland is one of the worst climate performers within Europe, the third highest per capita greenhouse emissions of any EU country and those emissions are rising[3]. To remedy this, we need to get farmers on board. The Green Party can no longer be seen as the enemy of the farmer, but a friend. The Green Party is trying to sustain Irish farming and life in rural Ireland so the next generation can come home and live in those areas and run those farms. As one environmentalist contributor wrote for Journal.ie last spring,
Their [the Green Party’s] agriculture policy aims to create viable on-farm livelihoods, support intergenerational farming and achieve better prices by emphasising quality over quantity. They would like to see farmers diversify their activities to create resilience and they support additional payments to farmers who improve environmental outcomes. In broader terms, they want to stabilise our climate, protect our waterways and air quality and ensure our soils remains productive. These are ambitions that most farmers could get behind.[4]
Ray Foley, journal.ie (5 June 2019)
He goes on to say that Saoirse McHugh’s considerable vote and the election of Green councillors in rural areas like North Clare (Roisin Garvey), Offaly (Pippa Hackett) and Connemara (Alastair McKinstry) show, getting the farming community on board is achievable. We need to build on those candidates’ efforts by doing what we did to get abortion and marriage equality over the line; listening to concerns, addressing them, finding what we agree on and teasing out what we don’t. Voters in 2019 sent out a powerful message that if the main parties won’t get to grips with this crisis, then their votes will go to those who will. We all need to get out there and ensure a similar result when the next election comes around.
We cannot let the debate get to where it is in America where the new ideas like the Green New Deal – a seven-page discussion document and not Mein Kampf 2 as many would have it – are hijacked by fearmongers and opportunists. Our votes are our weaponry. We can be the change we want to see and compost, reuse coffee cups and ban straws but these are not rescue actions in themselves; they’re small steps that generate awareness and ultimately lead to the ballot box. We need our leaders to prioritise a liveable future for today’s youth. Only we can make them do it.
[1] U.S. Public Interest Research Group, The State of Recycling in Illinois, November 2018.
[2] Forbes Magazine, ‘What A Waste: Online Retail’s Big Packaging Problem’, Jul 29, 2018.
[3] Mothers of Invention podcast, series 1, episode 1.
[4] Ray Foley, ‘Farmers should support the Green Party – and secretly some of them probably do’ Journal.ie, 5 June 2019
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