Meanwhile, the power of the utility industry to subvert democracy processes for their own interests has often fallen below the radar. Much has been written about the power of the fossil fuel industries to keep us dependent upon their products. But in the United States as elsewhere, we have another force that is directly at odds with the masses: consolidated wealth and power, particularly in the form of entrenched energy industries. In a democracy, the opinions and choices of the majority are supposed to be what drives policy, and the people clearly want action on climate, decarbonization of the electricity sector, and more than anything more solar. But policies like renewable energy mandates remain highly popular, and 2/3 of voters nationwide even support requiring new homes to include rooftop solar, as California has done. This is not to say that Americans always support specific policies in fact the popularity of pricing carbon among economists has shown itself to be inversely proportional to its support among actual voters. This support crosses party lines while more Democrats and Liberals tend to support more ambitious policies, Americans across the political spectrum want more renewables. Like Europeans, the American people support policies to decarbonize rapidly, with a large majority initially expressing support for the decarbonization goal of the Green New Deal. However, the crowning irony is Caldwell’s crude attempt to smear Thunberg with the charge of her activism being “at odds with democracy”, given that a lack of functional democracy is slowing down the very action on climate issues that she is calling for, and specifically the deployment of renewable energy.Ī few facts: Solar is the most popular energy source. Furthermore, his claims that Thunberg and the climate movement are “politicizing” the language of the climate crisis pretends as though our collective failure to control man-made emissions is not inherently political. Suggesting that protest movements that force rapid change are at odds with the democratic process is not a new tactic, but one that is no less phony every time it is rolled out in vain attempts to stop social change. However, in the United States, our democratic form of government is literally founded on principles including the ability of individuals to “petition their Government for a redress of grievances”. Perhaps the senior writer considers deliberations by elected officials and maybe even veteran journalists – both groups where older men like himself are over-represented – to be the only valid form of political activity. New York Times Columnist Christopher Caldwell’s condescending op-ed on Greta Thunberg last Friday was merely the latest in a series of attacks on the teenage activist that have peaked over the last week, and which have been consistently ugly.Ĭaldwell relies more on insinuation than logic to support his thesis, and there are several things very wrong with his analysis.
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