Page 39 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 25
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The Environment
get droughts and who will get projects that would impact the Preserving the Status Quo?
floods? In addition, questions entire planet, geoengineering Geoengineers claim to be “true
around how additional weather is inherently undemocratic and believers” in climate change,
changes would exacerbate uncontrollable. Because these but appear more concerned with
conflicts in a world where schemes must be maintained for preserving the status quo and
climate change is already extremely long periods of time, creating new markets for their
making farming more difficult with consequences that could technologies than promoting
remain unaddressed. Like all manifest over generations, these real solutions. The time,
SRM techniques, MCB does proposals assume that existing money, energy and political
nothing to reduce greenhouse governmental and economic will expended on promoting
gas emissions, transition us to structures will be stable for the dangerous and speculative
energy democracy or grapple next 100 years or more. This is geoengineering experiments
with the root causes of climate a huge, dangerous and frankly are resources that would be
change. absurd assumption. better used for a just transition
to energy democracy, a living
Brushing Aside Human Rights Frontline Communities Bear regenerative economy and
the Burden powerful community action.
SRM cannot honor the right
to Free, Prior and Informed The assumption behind SRM We know what we need to do
Consent (FPIC) of those techniques is that we cannot, to tackle the climate crisis. We
that stand to be impacted, as or will not, cut greenhouse need a just transition towards a
enshrined in the United Nations gas emissions and end the healthy, regenerative economy
Declaration on the Rights of environmental injustices they based on sustainable, renewable
Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) cause – from fossil fuel extraction energy; agroecology; zero
and broadly supported by to coal or gas-fired power waste; ecosystems protection;
other vulnerable communities, plants, refineries, pipelines and Indigenous sovereignty; human
including peasants, Small mountaintop removal mining. rights; social equity; and keeping
Island Nations, and frontline Geoengineering promoters fossil fuels in the ground.
communities in the global North argue that they are preparing The crisis and the urgency
and South. This is because every for a worst-case scenario. But are real, but urgency does not
community and every person frontline communities the justify false mechanisms like
would be impacted by SRM. The world over are already in the geoengineering. We do not
huge scale and trans-boundary worst-case scenario, in which have the time or resources to
nature of SRM make FPIC industry and capital are more waste on deadly distractions!
impossible and governance important than the right to clean This applies to all the false
unfeasible. And, because some air, clean water, healthy soil, solutions in this booklet, but
countries, like the U.S., can human rights and justice. with geoengineering there
choose to “go it alone” and move is the additional risk that
forward with geoengineering Promoting Real Solutions or reckless experimentation
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