DWARS in Debate: the Climate Crisis

Will all countries please leave the building, this is not a drill.

On 2 May 2019, the UK became the first country in the world to announce a climate crisis due to mounting pressure from activists. ‘Good news!’ I thought. At least, the existence of a climate crisis is obviously not good news, but the fact that it is now recognised is. Indeed, generally speaking, the urgency of the situation is not recognised. Our house is on fire, we smell the smoke and feel the heat. But instead of sounding the alarm, we remain calm.

The house is on fire

This reminded me of an episode of Galileo, which showed a social experiment about peer pressure. All people except the subject were instructed beforehand not to react to the fire alarm, smoke and any suggestions for action from the subject. The experiment showed that the subject fell for peer pressure and stayed put despite the clear signals of fire.

Right now, the world's population is also staying quiet while a climate crisis is going on. Greta Thunberg recounted during her speech in Strasbourg last week what politicians tell her when she asks why a climate crisis is not declared. She asked why politicians do not acknowledge that the house is on fire. Politicians answer her that panic rarely leads to anything good. Gretha said she agreed: unnecessary panic should be avoided. However, when your house is on fire, a certain amount of panic is a necessary evolutionary trait that helps us survive.

Time is ticking...

This ‘panic’ can be heard in the truant voices of the protesting youth. This is the generation that is going to experience the consequences of climate change, and the last generation that can do something about it. As they seek to address this crisis, Rutte replies to them ‘that they cannot possibly ask for more, because the Netherlands is already doing so much’. This is obviously not true and with the current climate policy we are not going to make it. 

While time is ticking to save the climate and we should be doing our best to fulfil the Paris climate agreement commitments, we are instead spending our time arguing with people like Rutte. Worse, with the rise of Forum of Democracy, it even appears that we need to convince not only that more should be done, but even THAT something should be done. Of course, awareness of the problem is important. However, given the time constraints of the problem, the discussion on whether we should invest in saving the climate should be something of the past.

Pull the alarm!

We, as prosperous European countries, have six to 12 years to reduce our emissions to practically zero. Less developed countries have longer to do this, because they need the chance to build infrastructure that we have long since had. We must meet this target if we want to keep global warming to no more than two degrees. In this, a country like the Netherlands has an exemplary role to play. After all, how can we expect less developed countries, which have many more big problems to tackle, to start worrying about the climate if we don't even do that?

Six to 12 years, that's the time we have. That means I don't have the time to complete my studies before speaking out on this. That means a 12-year-old child is not going to reach voting age in time to voice his opinion on this. It means that the discussion about whether something should be done can no longer be held for a long time. Indeed, this is precious time that needs to be used.

The UK recognised this crisis partly due to time constraints. In declaring this crisis, the UK has set a net-zero GHG target, in which GHG stands for greenhouse gases. With this, the country aims to set an example for other developed countries. This has all been brought about by ‘the increasing pressure of activism’. While this sounds like Greenpeace or some other major organisation has put pressure on the government, it has been shown by CarbonBrief that this ‘pressure’ came from Greta Thunberg and the school protests. So that's how much influence it can have to speak out about this.

The declaration of the climate crisis in the UK due to pressure from climate activists, is good news. Acknowledging the crisis helps raise awareness of the seriousness of the situation. The house is on fire and the FVD'er and VVD'er do not react to the smoke pouring into the room through the bottom of the door. It is time to pull the fire alarm so that everyone becomes aware of the alarming situation and looks for the fire extinguisher. The UK has already done it, now the Netherlands needs to be convinced.

If you want to speak out about this too, you can join the Earth Strike on 11 May: https://dwars.org/groningen/agenda/earth-strike-protest-2/