Thursday 9 August 2018

Out of the Wreckage: A New Politics for an Age in Crisis

I was pleased to get my hands on this book as I frequently read Monbiot in The Guardian and follow his ideas. As well I was hoping for some insight into the spirit and direction behind spontaneous British protest movements such as the Extinction Rebellion protesters. Canadian Naomi Klein refers praisingly of George Monbiot on the dust-jacket as having "a dazzling command of science and relentless faith in people." Klein is right, Monbiot writes with fluency on a number of topics, and turns a keen eye to political science, in particular a cultural view of history, the rise of Neoliberalism, and solutions that tackle the crisis of democracy. The book is structured by first establishing historical context for Monbiot's fresh view, while the remainder of the book addresses our current situation. He opens the book with the relevant truism, "you cannot take away someone's story without giving them a new one," and talks about storytelling as "the means by which we navigate in the world" as we "all possess a narrative instinct."
Monbiot addresses our cultural familiarity with contemporary story themes under an introductory subtitle: Heroes and Villians, tearing down the Social Democrat "narrative," as a neat, complete package, but simplistic and failing to deliver a strong enough defense against the exploitation of the poor by under-restrained corporations that has resulted in climate crisis. I for one consider Social Democracy a flawed but fairly well-meaning philosophy for what it does, but I also agree with Monbiot's remedies in the last chapters, it's just that if he were not living in a Social Democracy, but under a Dictatorship, he would not even be able to write. However in terms of tone, it seems this whole book involves the taking down of sacred cows, allowing Monbiot to eloquently propose Proportional Representation among other certainly worthy ideas in the final chapters, and I do enjoy the radical way he writes.
Mobiot then introduces the Neoliberal story. In this story, "the world fell into disorder...and Stalinism and Nazism" exemplified this, something no person can argue with, however, on the tail of this universal opposition to fascism came the attached belief that "collectivism crushes freedom, individualism and opportunity," collectivism having represented itself through fascist regimes that collectively enslaved, ethnically cleansed and generally killed millions. "Freedom-seeking entrepreneurs" are intended to be the heroes in the Neoliberal story, who will conquer over the "enforced conformity" of collectivism, "freeing society from the enslavement of the state."
Both widely-accepted stories are in trouble, says Monbiot, who remarks that he has been listening for a new story to fix or radically modify these somewhat dysfunctional narratives, only to continually encounter "silence" that "creates disparity."
This failure, says Monbiot, also means a movement that does not know its values. "Know your values," says Monbiot in a not-very-veiled message to a contemporary protest movement addressing climate change, it is "the bedrock of effective politics." Monbiot remarks that to do this you must know your principles, and have "a description of the world as we would like it to be." Then, being Monbiot, he actually gets concrete and lists a statement of 16 principles.
These are great and include, "We want to live in a place in which everyone's needs are met, without harming the living world or the prosperity of future generations," and from there he develops upon the principles listed. He dips from cultural to psychological questions frequently, asking if readers might ponder why we remember a terrorist act more then the candle-lot march in solidarity with victims. "Our innate tendency is to stand together against threats to our well-being, to treat an attack on one as an attack on all," Monbiot asserts. Yet we are in an Orwellian epidemic of loneliness with consumerism as the cause, with "a price on everything and a value on nothing." The author proposes that we have heard the story of Homo Economicus so many times that we have accepted it and it has come to define us, "it has changed our perception of ourselves," and this in turn, "has changed the way we behave." The consequences are a self-generating crisis and the loss of common purpose.
Having addressed alienation, Monbiot then gets on a roll and dissects the last few years of politics and the rise of Neoliberalism and it is a pleasure to read his writing. His well-constructed history of corporate interference in democracy includes how Barack Obama failed to help victims of foreclosure, and instead protected the banks "at all costs." He reminds us that Obama pushed for trade deals that handed power from citizens to corporations such as the "Trans-Pacific Partnership, the TTIP, and The Trade in Service Agreement." Shattering any other illusions readers may have had about Obama, Monbiot points out that in Obama's first three years in office, "95% of income growth in the US was captured by the richest 1% of earners."
The book asserts that the result of this was the way only 36% voted in 2014, America's lowest voter turn-out since 1942. The author goes on to describe an American political climate of Hilary Clinton leaks, voter alienation and disappointment in a way that is eye-opening. Part of this no-sacred-cows set-up was to create a contrast to the political scene in the U.K. where the election was not looking promising for the Labour Party until a draft manifesto was leaked, "presumably with the intention of sabotaging the party."
The manifesto revealed that the Labour party intended to make privatized services public, increase public spending, restore free education at university, enhance the rights of workers and the unemployed, restrict landlord exploitation and strengthen environmental rules and other public protections.
The UK voted in droves, Labour won 40 percent of the vote, gained an extra 30 seats in Parliament, and Conservatives lost their majority. Labour had become "propositional" as Jeremy Corbyn connected with voters. However Monbiot feels that Labour failed to "consolidate" by actively embedding their policies within wider change. He then pursues a further still entertaining discussion of political corruption and takes on the "Think Tanks" posing as expert advisors to policy. "Overt political spending by the patrimonial elite is supplemented by truckloads of dark money: the undisclosed funding of organizations involved in public advocacy...as hundreds of groups purporting to be either independent think tanks or grassroots campaigns were founded and financed by billionaires and corporations." True and nicely said, Monbiot. Having dismantled Neoliberalism in various nations, he proceeds to propose the most obvious solutions accrued from his years of writing and larger analysis, the fresh narrative Monbiot has waited for and then felt pressed to provide. The combined ideas are intended to enrich democracy and rectify systemic failings. The new narrative revolves around "every nation" having "a constitutional convention once every twenty years, to take stock of its political system." Here Monbiot cites Stuart White, who teaches politics at Oxford University, who argues that conventions "should mostly consist of people who do not already have a formal role in politics." Monbiot further proposes implementation of a long-awaited system of proportional representation in the form of the Single Transferable Vote or STV. Not one to leave stones unturned, Monbiot exhaustively describes the issues and offers simple and workable solutions, fair referendums, even coming up with ideas for dealing with "dark money," a major harm to democracy which he had expounded upon in the second half. "Stop treating them as charities," says Monbiot, and instead make "any organization involved in public advocacy declare all donations of say, $1000.00 or more." Also a rule, the same transparency regulation should be applied in parliament requiring media as well members "to reveal any financial interests pertinent to the debates they join." There's more. There's a lot of great solutions in here. Monbiot addresses the IMF, World Bank and UN Security Council, remarking, "The United States, uniquely, has veto power over all three" which impose austerity in poorer nations and "deregulation on their governments." He also critically points out that as the WTO and UN general assembly "operate almost entirely on the basis of presumed consent," the WTO "should be replaced by a new body- a Fair Trade Organization- which...allows poorer nations to protect their infant industries from foreign competition until they are strong enough to fend for themselves," which was actually the security feature of noninterference wealthier nations rely upon. As a consequence, "The World Bank and the IMF...should be replaced by a body charged with preventing excessive trade surpluses and deficits from forming, and therefore international debt from accumulating...overseen by...a directly elected world parliament." Monbiot's conclusion is an inspiring summary of his ideas, including an offer of optimism based on a dose of reality in terms of majority interest. "The frustration that almost all those who want a kinder, better, more protective political experience is that we know we have, in theory at least, the numbers on our side."

Monbiot, G. (2018). Out of the wreckage: A new politics for an age of crisis. Verso.

Wednesday 9 May 2018

Powering the Future

Powering the Future: A Scientist's Guide to Energy Independence Daniel B. Botkin

Botkin is an inspiring person with credentials that include over five decades of experience in environmental science. He is Professor Emeritus at U C Santa Barbara and President of the Center for the Study of the Environment. His writing career began with several science books combining computer modeling and Forest Ecology, and more recently among his works are the classics Discordant Harmonies, and The Moon in the Nautilus Shell; Discordant Harmonies Reconsidered. He writes quite beautifully and is considered an important American thinker and a world-renowned ecologist. He's written at least 12 other books and is a seasoned educator with a widely-used environmental science textbook among his works.
Energy independence is an important topic to be versed in, and Botkin has blended his eloquence with his capacity to write science for a layperson. This is an in-depth analysis, but Botkin has a style that is friendly and easy to read. It's not difficult to understand the scientific concepts he addresses without the daunting aspect of reading something that is considered "in-depth."
The book opens describing recent urban grid blackouts and continues in this direct, down-to-earth fashion. Each energy source is assessed in a special chapter. After the assessment, he follows by addressing energy distribution systems and how things currently work or fail to work, along with inefficiencies and options.
Chapter 7 is a discussion of solar power, and, like the other chapters, makes a reader feel like they are included in the evolution of the science behind the electrical power. The chapter involves opportunities for entrepreneurs, the upside and downside of solar energy and various intriguing new off-the-grid solar technologies. It also addresses the idea of on or off-the-grid in general and is a well-rounded exploration of the topic. It even has a section dedicated to sun-powered vehicles and each chapter includes thinking around transportation. The book is an objective assessment of prospect, costs, limitations, risks, dangers and the trade-offs associated with every leading and emerging source of energy including oil, not gas, coal, hydroelectric, nuclear, wind, solar, ocean power, and biofuels.
To be honest with you, I expected him to be in favour of the type of nuclear reactors that recycle nuclear material, thereby reducing radioactive waste, and that he would talk about new systems for minimizing radioactive waste and other advances that the nuclear industry has developed to assure us they are cleaning up their act. However, Botkin assessed the nuclear industry but then once he came to inefficiencies and failures, didn't give them a passing grade. What I enjoyed about the book the most was that Botkin directly addresses the concern that we cannot continue with our current standard of living while scaling back and shifting our energy consumption. Botkin believes we can, and sets out to prove it throughout the book. I think Botkin succeeds in this endeavor, which makes the book highly reassuring throughout, perhaps too reassuring, given what is at stake.
The final third discusses solutions, the scientific and economically sound path to sustainability and energy independence. Here Botkin's book is most clearly an indispensable primer that should be on the desk of policy-makers, not to mention students, schoolchildren, and everyday people.
In section three of the final chapter, Botkin explores how. This includes designing an energy system, transporting energy, pipelines, the concept of grid vs a smart grid, and a number of other interesting features. Botkin believes that governments are underfunding some of the essential mechanisms required for change, and these include research and development of alternative energy sources, railroads, and going full ahead with solar and wind.
It's not a huge book, but it's still an extraordinary undertaking considering the breadth of the topic(s) involved, one helluva primer rather than the entire owner's manual for energy independence in America.
The resounding message is that the energy and the planning is available to get even a large country like the United States out of crisis, and free from the grip of nuclear power dependence as well.
His analysis and rejection of nuclear power is certainly the point causing the most criticism of the book from the outside world, but it's why I like the book the most.
Energy independence is possible, there is a road map, and this is an excellent example of how it can be done. To paraphrase the back dust-jacket, which also includes the well-earned praise of required reading and a declaration that the book is comprehensive: you may not approve of his allocation of resources, but it's still an impressive read and certainly one of the more thought-provoking books on the topic. Uplifting and recommended.