Let’s start with the million-dollar question: Would global enviromental issues and the upcoming solutions exponentially increase the injustice and inequality of the world? Thus, would it create a new era of violence and climate wars? I would like to draw your attention. This question is not around the climate problems only but also the upcoming solutions planned by the developed countries.
Climate change and global warming are for sure the preeminent issues of the humankind at this millennium. But, this is not a challenging struggle only between the damaged nature and the humans but maybe more importantly between humans itself. A sustainable world and a healthy future highly depends on the the set of relations between people, societies and countries…
So, let’s go on asking the disturbing questions: Would this issue further increase the gap between countries and people when there already are many injustices in the world, even related to basic living conditions? Would this push some countries into much deeper chaos? After all, are we ready for climate wars?
We already did experience globally the pandemic issue. Just like the injustice situation for reaching the vaccine for Covid-19 pandemic in the world, would sustainability agenda become the upmost survival kit of just the rich countries? Well, what about the rest?
We are in the same boat in the upcoming wild storm…No, actually we are not! We may be facing the same storm, in very high waves but not everyone’s ship is the same. Some on the raft, some on the ships that do not even sway from the storm…
Politics is everything!
While we are discussing the issues related to the climate crisis, we generally proceed through the stages of mitigation and adaptation. But it should not be overlooked that these are also multi-layered in themselves. For example, political adaptation is one of the key issues that is extremely important and needs to be emphasized in every aspect.
Christian Parenti, highlights the already underway political adaptation of climate change discussions and stress on ‘climate fascism‘ in his striking book ‘Tropic of chaos: Climate change and the new geography of violence’
‘Adaptation is both a technical and a political challenge. Political adaptation means transforming humanity’s relationship to itself, transforming social relations among people. Successful political adaptation to climate change will mean developing new ways of containing, avoiding and deescalating the violence that climate change fuels.
However, another type of political adaptation is already under way, one that might be called the politics of the armed lifeboat: responding to climate change by arming, excluding, forgetting, repressing, policing and killing. One can imagine a green authoritarianism emerging in rich countries, while the climate crisis pushes the Third World into chaos.’
Climate Fascism and Injustice
Countries, already struggling with fundamental issues such as democracy, equality and justice are now witnessing the extraordinary conditions triggered by the climate crisis; the floods, wild fires, storms and their deadly and devastating effects.
Parenti, stresses also on ’militarized adaptation’ in his book: ’The Pentagon and its European allies are actively planning a militarized adaptation, which emphasizes the long-term, open-ended containment of failed or failing states—counterinsurgency forever. This sort of “climate fascism,” a politics based on exclusion, segregation, and repression, is horrific and bound to fail.’
So, instead of trying to create solid adaptation solutions to cover the critical issues for all humanity, some countries already take the militarized adaptation as a strong option for them which obviously means an immoral journey to a world of disgrace and no return via climate wars.
A new global political frame is essential!
“The question is…whether we shall, by whatever means, succeed in reconstituting the natural world as the true terrain of politics, rehabilitating the personal experience of human beings as the initial measure of things, placing morality above politics and responsibility above our desires, in making human community meaningful, in returning content to human speech, in reconstituting, as the focus of all social action, the autonomous, integral, and dignified human, I,…” Vaclav Havel, Open Letters
It seems there is a lot to think and discuss around the political adaptation of climate change, in need of a new global frame and understanding before its to late…
While addressing issues re: the climate crisis, such vital agenda in the world should not be overlooked. Otherwise, we can witness many tragic events around climate wars that we do not want to see never ever in the world on behalf of humanity.
As said before, the history of the world, written in tragedies with grave consequences, does absolutely not need the new ones…
