In twenty years’ time will the world still be suffering from the devastation of climate change, with droughts and floods and dramatic changes to the rainfall patterns?
In Australia, will oil and coal pollution, agricultural chemical run‐off and de‐forestation finally have killed off the Great Barrier Reef? Will the Murray River still flow to the sea? And what about our unique wildlife and their habitat? So many species already threatened, and now even the bees and insects which pollinate plants and crops? What is the future for food production and farming communities? It doesn’t have to happen Science and technology can solve these issues. Renewable energy sources such as solar, hydro and wind, along with environmentally sustainable industries can roll back a lot of the damage. Regenerative agriculture and ‘green farming’ methods can revitalise the land and bring greater yields. Better methods of waste management and recycling open up new industries that can turn much of the waste into useful products. The science clearly says that high irrigation crops such as cotton and rice should be phased out, along with the pesticides and chemical fertilisers that poison the land and rivers. What is preventing this? Answer ‐ The profit incentives of the multinational coal, gas and oil monopolies, the multinational power and energy companies, the multinational agri‐corporations and the multinational finance and investment tycoons! 100 greedy corporations are responsible for over 70% of global greenhouse gas production, the destruction of rainforests and devastating mining operations in developing countries. In Australia their major mouthpieces are the Minerals Council of Australia and the Business Council of Australia. To continue to rake in obscene profits for their overseas shareholders, they bankroll subservient politicians and threaten to cut jobs if their demands are not met. Such is their influence with the parliamentary parties that they have been getting away with paying little or no tax for decades! They pressure the States and Federal governments to resist any effective attempts at regulation – look at the Murray‐Darling Basin Authority and the dying river systems! What is the answer? Nationalisation of the large mining, power and water monopolies would return these vital industries back to public ownership, where they could be properly regulated and controlled to benefit the people rather than distant shareholders. Profits could be ploughed into alternative energy industries, rehabilitation of desecrated lands and rivers, and the re‐training of workers from the old industries being phased out. Indigenous communities could recover and protect their traditional lands. And even better if a system of participatory democracy gave workers and communities a say in the management and policies of the new industries! Sounds good … But it won’t happen while corporate capitalism and US imperialism dominate Australia! None of the parliamentary parties will challenge this domination, even though it threatens us with climate change disaster and the horror of imperialist nuclear war. Only a revolutionary socialist movement for national independence can win the fundamental change that Australia needs to prevent permanent damage to our precious environment. Nationalise mining, power and water!
Power to the people, not the multinationals!
Communist Party of Australia (Marxist‐Leninist)
www.cpaml.org info@cpaml.org
