Australian Socialists Discuss program for Climate Change

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The Socialist Alliance has begun discussion of a draft program on “How to stop climate destruction,” and is inviting comments from others in Australian left and green movements

Two documents from the discussion are available on Dave Riley’s excellent blog, Green Lefts:Left Greens.

  • How to stop climate destruction: early working draft under discussion.
    “Socialist Alliance advocates an emergency mobilisation of the whole world economy and industry to achieve minimum greenhouse emissions reductions of 60% of 1990 levels by 2020, and 90% by 2030. These targets are our bottom line and are based on the increasingly dire scenarios presented by climate scientists suggesting that this is the minimum necessary to avoid runaway global warming. Based on the precautionary principle that all possible and likely threats must be avoided if feasible, we reccommend the Zero Emissions Network goal as the safest plan to aim for.”
  • A report on the policy draft, presented by Ben Courtice to the Socialist Alliance Victorian state conference, April 14th, 2007.
    “We need to make it more concrete. We don’t need to retain exclusive ownership. What if other environmentalists want to contribute? Ideally we could come up with a joint green-socialist action plan and ask people to sign on. It doesn’t have to be attached to a particular party, or to the word “socialism” even – the aim is to win support for the ideas. We can be imaginative. Can we get unionists or even unions to come behind our climate action plan? MPs? Businesses? We must try this. SA is an alliance because we believe in the power of people putting secondary differences to one side to work on common goals. This applies to alliances outside our own membership, not just within the party.”