Green Transition

Lima is currently hosting the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21), which runs from 30 November till 11 December 2015. There, at last, definite agreements should be made to fend off climate change. After the tragic failure of the Copenhagen climate summit (2009), observers see the Paris summit as the last chance.

The European Trade Union Institute recent conference on ‘The Socio-Ecological Transition: A New Climate for the EU’s Sustainability Transition’ laid bare the need for radical change to deal with the climate crisis. And if battling climate change requires making our societies less superficial, less focused on expansion and instead more focused on equality, then that’s something we can all fight for.

While an excellent book, we need to look further than simply saying ‘social movements are the only answer’ if we are to develop effective movements that create change. The need for social movement mobilisation too easily becomes a slogan rather than a nuanced solution. We can both praise and look deeper than Klein’s ‘This Changes Everything’.

The ecological challenge should no longer be addressed solely as an environmental issue. Rather, it should be considered a social one. A riveting French report makes the relationship between the environment and 21st century lifestyles amazingly concrete.

The IPCC’s latest report is categorical: unless we act now, dramatic changes in global temperatures will occur by the end of the century. The message is loud and clear: it is a call to action of the utmost urgency.

Green parties face major challenges ahead. How can we finance welfare in the future? How do we strengthen the third sector and the public sector in many countries? How do we find ways to regulate the private welfare market? How much of the wealth can be managed by non-profit organisations or volunteer work (the church or the family?) These are among the questions that are discussed in a new report by GEF and its partners.

Long perceived and portrayed as a party unlike the others, Ecolo has succeeded in becoming one of French-speaking Belgium’s four ‘big’ parties in just 30 years. But today, many struggle to grasp what distinguishes the Green party since so many others have adopted the theme of sustainable development. A review of ‘Ecolo, Democracy as a Project’ by Benoit Lechat.

The EU Fifth Project is creating a network of community-based movements as part of a broader transition, starting at the local level and gaining international momentum, with the aim of building a sustainable future.

An interview with Ralf Fücks, Director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation.

The coming upheaval in our ways of living and working will require us to live an ecological lifestyle based on new forms of democratic participation that enable us to collectively and comprehensively reshape our social and physical environment.