Don't be resurrected

chanakyakripa

Don't be resurrected. Such alabel should be affixed to the gates of the oil and automobile industries andairlines. Governments must provide financial support to company workerswhile reshaping the economy to offer new jobs in different sectors. Andthey should only support those sectors that will help to ensure the survival ofhumanity and the whole of biodiversity.They should buy the polluting industries and adapt them to cleantechnologies or do what they preach, but they never really do: let the marketdecide. In other words, allow these companies to fail.This is our second big chance to do things differently. It could beour last. The first, in 2008, was solemnly wasted. Huge amounts ofpublic money were spent on rebuilding the old and filthy economy, whileensuring that wealth would remain in the hands of the rich. Today, manygovernments seem determined to repeat this catastrophic error.The "free market" has always been a product of public policy. Withweak antitrust laws, some giants survive while everything else breaks down. Ifdirty industries were strictly regulated, clean ones would flourish. Otherwise,the smart ones win. But corporate dependence on public policy in thecapitalist world has seldom been greater than it is today. Many importantindustries today depend entirely on the state to survive. Governments havethe oil industry in their hands - hundreds of millions of unsalable barrels, tobe precise - just as they had banks in their hands in 2008. At the time, theyfailed to use their power to eradicate the sector's socially destructivepractices and rebuild it focused on human needs. And they make the samemistake today.Buy debtsfrom oil companies like BP, Shell and Total. Thegovernment lenteasy Jet 600 million pounds , although a few weeks ago thecompany spent £ 171 million in dividends: the profit is private, the risk issocialized. In the US, the first rescue plan includes $ 25billion for airlines . In short, the rescue plan consistsof extracting as much oil as possible from strategic reserves and suspendinganti-pollution laws , while freezing renewable energyproduction. Several European countries are trying to savetheir airlines and car manufacturers .Don't believe it when they say they do it for us. A survey fromIpsos in 14 countries suggests that, on average, 65% of people want climatechange to be prioritized in economic recovery. In all countries, votersmust strive to convince governments to act in the public interest, not in the interests of companies and billionaires who finance and pressure themthrough lobbyists. The permanent democratic challenge is tobreak the ties between politicians and the economic sectors that they shouldregulate or, in this case, close.Even when lawmakers try to express these concerns, their efforts are oftenweak and naive. The recent letter to the government of an inter-partygroup of parliamentarians, calling for airlines to be bailed out only if they"went further in tackling the climate crisis" could have been writtenin 1990. Air travel is inherentlypolluting. There are no realistic measures that can, even in themedium term, make a significant difference. Today we know that the carbonoffset schemes advocated by parliamentarians are useless: all economic sectorsneed to maximize greenhouse gas cuts, so transferring responsibility from onesector to another does not solve anything. The only significant reform isto decrease flights. Anything that prevents the aviation industry fromcontracting is therefore preventing the reduction of its impacts.The current crisis allows us a glimpse of how much we need to do to changeour disastrous trajectory. Despite the vast changes in our lives, globalcarbon dioxide emissions must be reduced by only 5.5%this year. A UNreport shows that in order to have a reasonable chance of preventing 1.5 ° C ormore from global warming, we will need to reduce emissions by 7.6% per year forthe next decade. In other words, confinement exposes the limits ofindividual action. Traveling less helps, but not enough. To make thenecessary cuts, we need structural changes. This means an entirely newindustrial policy, created and guided by the government.Governments like the one in the UK should abandon their road constructionplans. Instead of expanding airports, they should publish plans to reducelanding permits. They should be committed to an explicit policy toovercome fossil fuels.During the pandemic, many of us found out how many of our trips areunnecessary. Governments can take the time to create plans to reduce theneed for commuting, while investing in walking, cycling and - when physicaldistance is less necessary - public transport. This means wider sidewalks,better bike lanes, buses as a service and not as a source of profit. Theymust invest heavily in green energy, and even more in reducing energy demand -for example, through thermal insulation, better heating and lighting. Thepandemic exposes the need for better occupation of neighborhoods, with lesspublic space for cars and more for people. It also shows how we need thekind of security that a deregulated, low-tax economy cannot offer.In other words, let's do what many asked for well before the disaster: aGreen New Deal. But please, let's stop describing it as an economicstimulus package. We have over-stimulated consumption over the pastcentury, which is why we face an environmental disaster. We will call it asurvival package, whose objective is to provide income, distribute wealth andprevent catastrophes, without stimulating perpetual economic growth. Weare going to save people, not corporations. Rescuing nature, not whodestroys it. Let us not waste our second chance.

SOURCE: https://www.cartamaior.com.br/?/Editoria/Trabalho/As-companhias-aereas-e-as-gigantes-do-petroleo-estao-a-beira-do-abismo-e-nenhum-governo-deveria-salva-las/56/47364