Pre- Climate Rally Discussion with some Celebs

Before The Climate March, I attended the "Climate Which Way Out" discussion with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, 350 founder Bill McKibbon, environmental author, Naomi Klein, former NYT reporter, Chris Hedges and socialist Seattle city council member, Kasham Sara. 

Even though it was an environmental talk, I was surprised to see that most of the conversation focused on our current political system.

Main points made by each person: 

Sen. Bernie Sanders: 

• the longest-running independent senator in the US
• He talked about how a small amount of people in large corporations run our political system. And the only way to change this is to have enough people “take to the streets.” 

Chris Hedges

• US people need to “speak the language of overthrow and revolution,” because both the democratic and republican parties are corrupt with corporate interests.

Naomi Klein

• drawn many connections between capitalism and the demise of society
• She told the story of scientists first conformation of climate change in 1988. 
• A senator testified in congress that there was a strong correlation between the increase of GHGs and the warming of the planet. 
• One of the things that went wrong was the timing. 
• In 1988, Canada and the US created an international trade agreement that would be the basis for the WTO. This international trade vamped up corporate trade and competition, making the market faster and less environmentally conscience. In other words, 1988 was when neoliberalism was created. Privatization, and deregulation happened, and the ideology of environmentalism was suddenly put at odds. 
• She gave us several examples of how the World Trade Organization and NAFTA have countered many environmental initiatives. For example, Ontario Toronto, created a regulation that required a certain amount of the city to run on wind energy, and mandated that approximately 40% of the windmills were made in Ontario. The law  was great for the town- it brought in business and created cleaner energy, however Japan used the WTO to sue Ontario for taking jobs away from Japanese windmill workers and they ultimately won, ruining the whole initiate. 
• We need to articulate positive visions like renewable energy because “fear makes us leap, but a positive vision gives us somewhere to leap to.”

Kshama Sawant

• Sawant is the first socialist city council member in the US. She only accepts the average worker’s wage, and gives the rest to charities.
• 5 wealthiest corporations in the world and that over time 90 companies have contributed to 2/3 of all greenhouse gases since the Industrial Revolution
• Like Hedges, she warms that these industries are involved in both political parties, and argues that we need more parties including a grassroots third party- but is it possible?

Bill McKibbon

• father of the current environmental movement
• he discusses how we can work within the system to create change
• Climate Change, unlike any other problem of this scale, is a time test
• the climate has already warmed by 1°C, will inevitably rise to 2°C, and at this rate could rise to 5°C by the end of the century (unthinkably hot)
• “To change everything will take everyone. That’s why it’s both an obligation and a privilege to live now.”