Opinion On climate, hear those who live by the Earth
Suraj Yengde writes: The rise of Green Parties across industrially developed nations is a sign of the growing impact of climate activists. Manny Green Parties now have a decisive role to play in governments.
The rich nations must step up to fix their eco-terrorism, advantaged through the emissions of greenhouse gases and industrial waste.(Representational File) 
The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, a continuation of 25 preceding conferences, saw developing countries turning the tables on developed nations. World nations endorsing a deal is a difficult task considering huge global economic disparities. The richer nations cannot coax the poorer ones to follow the agreement when their sustenance depends on consuming greenhouse gases. Glasgow is slated to repeat the past, with no concrete deals.
But the agenda of climate change is no longer an issue of stereotyped vegetarians, animal lovers, or planet protectors arguing from a position of certain privilege. The rise of Green Parties across industrially developed nations is a sign of the growing impact of climate activists. Manny Green Parties now have a decisive role to play in governments. In Germany and some European countries, they are important players in the government.
Cooperation has to come into play. The rich nations must step up to fix their eco-terrorism, advantaged through the emissions of greenhouse gases and industrial waste. Incidentally, these nations are at the immediate risk of becoming the first victims of the melting of glaciers.
Ironically, the solution to climate emergency is also coming from the same lineage responsible for its creation. The polluting industries and world leaders who have banked on each other in a quid pro quo arrangement are now proposing solutions for the world. Corporate sponsorship to the international climate conference chaperoned by billionaires reveals a fundamentally altering reality of predators as guardians. A list of the “principal partners” of COP26 explains how much greenwashing is on the agenda of those behind the most damage to the world.
The natural protectors of mother nature are communities who rely on and live by the forms around the Earth. They identify Earth as a mother. There are rituals and religions about Mother Earth and her past. These communities have to be the centre of attention. It is they who have held nature intact and found ways to assimilate into human life at its purest, away from disasters of modern industrial capitalism responsible for the climate crisis.
A dialogue on climate change cannot begin without rusticating the rotten monopoly capitalism that has looked at nature as profit-making enterprise. They promote greed as an innovation, by substituting care and harmony.
India is one of the worst victims of its own making. By not listening to its people and the courts, it has brought deadly scenarios for its people in the form of water shortages, and impact on biodiversity. One of its leading victims is agriculture and the groups that rely on it. One should learn from the mistakes.
The Indian government, with its ambitious agenda, has to promise recent, reachable goals. The agenda has been set with pomp by promising to replace coal with clean, renewable energies of up to 500 GW. We get energies from various sources: nuclear power (6.8 GW), hydropower (46.5 GW), and renewable (101.5 GW) in total is 155 GW. Where and how would the government plan to produce another 350 GW in India? Energy expert Arunabha Ghosh says this would mean deploying about 10MW-11MW of renewables every single working hour for the next nine years.
In addition, the Indian government must listen to its Earth-living communities. The perpetrators of the climate emergency are the rich industries, and the victims are the working class, oppressed castes. The solution to this problem has to come from the victims. Whenever any dialogue on climate change is put forward, the Adivasis, Dalits, and Shudras who live by the Earth and rely on it need to be brought to the table. Civil societies, independent think-tanks, and government agencies are predominantly manned by savarnas who have textual knowledge of the problem, mostly learned from the Western apparatus. Instead, the government should immediately appoint a commission constituting Bahujans exclusively and listen to their mandate. This commission should be given the authority to engage with global actors in the government and civil societies to come up with a solution that would harness humanity with nature. We need community-based solutions to the problems affectingcommunities.
Suraj Yengde, the writer of Caste Matters, curates the fortnightly Dalitality column
Share
