Australia, congratulations. We now boast a brand new opposition leader from the far-Right, who proudly declared, say, eight or nine times in a single interview on Tuesday that he would not support climate change legislation, terming it a ‘big new tax’ on the Australian people.

So here we have the new political tactic of our Right- simple, snappy, and to the point- “that other lot want to TAX you!”
This tactic is nothing new, of course. Ben Chifley once observed that the Australian public ‘votes from the hip-pocket reflex’. The Right is simply banking that this is still the case. Shrewd.
Never mind that such a reflex, if the Western world cannot overcome it, will almost certainly destroy our planet. Never mind that. A ‘big new tax’? That’’s bad. No need for that. No sir.
And so, here, my friends, is the ultimate tragedy of the commons, excitedly limbering itself up for what looms as its greatest triumph. The Right wants power. Fossil fuel companies want profits. Voters don’t want taxes. And meanwhile, (according to the scientists, at least) climate disaster looms. So cue the violins. This will be a tragedy to impress even the ancient Greeks.
At the heart of this potential tragedy, however, is not fiction, but a simple truth. And this truth is one that the West are going to have to confront very soon if the project of civilization begun by its Grecian forefathers is going to stand a chance of continuation.
This truth is, folks, that we are obscenely spoiled.
Sorry West.
Really.
We have too much, we consume too much, and we want too much. Even the relatively poor among us.
An unemployed friend of mine, for example, calculated his wealth on the global rich list (http://www.globalrichlist.com/), and ranked amongst the top 10% richest people on this planet.
Or me. I am a student, with a low-paying part time job. Yet nonetheless, I can (normally) eat any kind of food I please. I can access any artwork, any movie, any literature, or any music I please. I can get any kind of health care I need, and access a world-class education with ease. And even with my comparatively low social status within the West, I could travel, if I wished, to any nation on Earth tomorrow.
Now, I am not suggesting that we all take a vow of poverty and renounce all our possessions. For one thing, I know that this will never happen. And for another, many trappings of modern life, especially those enabling information sharing, have vast potential for helping us to bring about the positive changes we desperately need- so it would be foolish to abandon them now. What I am trying to illustrate, rather, is the enormous responsibility that each of us has as a result of the wealth and power that we in the West have been born into.
Because truly, in the context of human history, the standard of living that we currently enjoy is astounding. Our lives would have been unimaginable to every single generation that has come before us, and are incomprehensible to the vast majority of humans alive today. Yet somehow, we treat this life as if it is our birth-right. Somehow, we don’t, by and large, consider ourselves rich. And we don’t, by and large, feel any special debt towards the rest of the world as a result of enjoying this level of wealth.
But indebted we are. Each and every one of us.
Because here is the rub. Our wealth, which somehow most of us so easily take for granted, has come to us directly from an economic system built from the ground up with fossil fuels. This is a fact. And no aspect of our lives is exempt. Everything each of us have, everything we own, and everything we ‘earn’ is inextricably linked to these fuels. Our parents’ houses. Our cars. Every holiday we have ever taken. Our clothes. The Internet on which this blog is posted. And the very computer you are using to read it.
All of this, without exception, would not be ours if it wasn’t for our society’s past and present use and abuse of fossil fuels.
So all of this, without exception, is stolen goods.
Stolen goods, because of what this economic system has taken away from our planet and its people. Taken from the millions of people around the world losing their lives, homes or livelihoods to climate change every single year. Taken, from the thousands of other species currently going extinct as a result of our environmental destruction. And taken from the hands of our very own children, who look likely never to experience the same world, with its diversity and bountiful resources that we have enjoyed.
So yes, we do have a debt. Each and every one of us. And that Westerners would baulk at any cost associated with mitigating and repairing the destruction wrought by the economic system that has given us such privileges is simply obscene.
So no, West. Climate change policies will never be a ‘tax’ upon us. In fact, they are a reparation- insufficient, and long over due.
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