*[Enwl-eng] Europe needs a reality check
ENWLine
This is part of a series of 6-weekly emails written by our Director telling stories to help you understand what the heck we're trying to do and where you might fit in.
The day the floods hit Belgium felt surreal. Outside my window, I saw the water levels rising. On my computer, alerts sounded about the catastrophe spreading across the country. That same day, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gave a speech, from Belgium, trumpeting the EU's big plans to protect our planet. [1] Did it feel surreal for her too?
The floods across Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Austria were a painful further sign that climate change is here and very real. It means that climate action also needs to get real. Everywhere. As the water levels rise, we think Europe’s leaders need a reality check along these lines:
- Everything is connected, most of all people and planet. Today,
we produce more and more stuff, sucking up natural resources and wrecking
nature in the process. This isn’t an accident. It’s a result of the way our
economies are set up and it’s driving climate change with one hand and
inequality with the other. The same economic system that causes climate
destruction sees workers wages kept low while shareholders payouts
skyrocket.
- Europe’s leaders need to be able to connect the crises.
Hundreds died in the floods, across Germany and Belgium. Meanwhile, dozens
nearly died in Belgium last week on a hunger strike driven by a need for an
identity card. After living and working here for years, they still have no
stability or recognition. [2] Those who stood up for the migrants were
criticised for being disrespectful of the victims of the floods. In reality,
the issues are connected and rather than playing these two groups against each
other, politicians should be seeing those connections. The root cause of both
of these crises is a system that is about the expropriation of people and the
destruction of the planet. Again, all of this is about political choice.
- If more and more crises are happening, it’s because our leaders
are ignoring root causes. Instead of sandbags and plasters, we need to
take a good look at root causes of problems. The most important of these
causes is our economic model which is all about maximising growth without
considering the consequences. That is the only way to stop the floods and the
tipping points we have been warned about. [3]
- The direction of European climate politics is very clear. The
new plan Von der Leyen presented last week shows some progress. [4] That
progress is a direct result of the tireless activism of communities like ours,
speaking up for the planet. But it's far from enough. The fossil fuels
industry will still be rewarded for churning out CO2 for the next two decades.
And forests are still set to be burned and counted as renewable energy [5]. We
have a lot of work to do.
- Elections are coming, and they are an opportunity. National elections are on the horizon in places like Germany, France and Poland. They are chances to vote in the kinds of politicians that fight root causes, not symptoms. But democracy is not just about elections, and there is a lot we can do until the elections come.
In the next months, we will be sharing lots of opportunities to fight climate change and stop inequality from Europe. But we will need to act together if we are going to confront them.
At one million and rising, WeMove Europe is already a powerful community that is starting to build lasting change together [6]. To meet the challenges we face, we need it to be such a huge force that it is impossible to ignore. If each of us reading this email invited just one friend to join us, that could be tens of thousands of new people fighting alongside us.
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In all of this story, there is uncertainty. And in uncertainty there is hope. [7] We can’t rewind the tape or wish back all lives, homes and stories destroyed by climate change up until now. But we can take action and prove that we are alive, that we care and that we are not going to accept this situation.
With hope,
Laura (Brussels) and the entire WeMove Europe
team
References:
[1]
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_3541
[2]
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/20/alarm-grows-over-migrants-hunger-strike-in-brussels
[3]
According to the IPCC report:
https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/chapter/spm/
[4]
https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/chapeau_communication.pdf
[5]
Some of you wrote to us about this and we want to set the record straight: it is
important to distinguish between the mass destruction of forests via subsidies
and political targets set at European level versus small pockets of people using
wood pellet ovens. The problem is with politicians driving mass destructions of
forests and calling that renewable energy, not a few individuals operating on a
tiny scale
[6]
https://www.wemove.eu/sites/wemove.eu/files/annual_report_2020_en.pdf?utm_source=civimail-39211&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20210730_EN
[7]
See Rebecca Solnit, ‘Hope is an embrace of the unknown’:
http://rebeccasolnit.net/essay/hope-is-a%E2%80%8Bn-embrace-of-the-unknown%E2%80%8B-rebecca-solnit-on-living-in-dark-times/
WeMove Europe is a community of people from all walks of life,
who call Europe our home,
no matter where we were born, where we live or who
we love. In the name of a brighter future for people and the planet,
we
come together to sign petitions, send letters and protest on the streets to make
our voices heard.
Our power comes from each other. And it's thanks to
small monthly donations, fivers and tenners, that we can keep going.
please help keep WeMove Europe strong by chipping in.
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