ClimateWar

Over the past month we have travelled from the Mondragon Cooperative of Arrasate, in the Basque Country, and then down to Malaga, southern Spain where greenhouses are so prevalent they can be clearly seen from space. We then made our way to Scotland for Climate Camp and a confrontation with Greenhouse Feudalism.

After arriving from the super-hot and super-commercial neoliberal wasteland of southern, coastal Spain, we flew to London to stay with a good friend from UK Indymedia.

After one day of wandering around Portobello Road, we were on a National Express bus (we couldn’t afford a train) to Edinburgh, and then a local train to Lanark, where we got a lift after buying food, camping supplies, and wellies for the mud and rain.

When we arrived at Mainshill, we joined the Mainshill Solidarity Camp, on the rise of one side of the Mainshill, and pitched our tent near a line of sycamore trees that hosted tree-houses high in their branches and defensive tunnels beneath. The trees provided us with much needed protection from the prevailing wind and the rain. Later the tree-houses and tunnels were the stage for some media stunts, photos published in a few national newspapers.

When we set-up our 2 person tent, in the rain, with our Indymedia friend nearby, we were the only ones in the field, and proudly surveyed the grassy slope in front of us, and the two open-cast mines across the road from us, as if we weren’t mere trespassers, but as if we owned the joint.

Over the next two weeks we watched the full Scottish Camp for Climate Action lifecycle, and the number of tents around us multiplied.  The Scottish Camp for Climate Action 2009 was hosted by the Mainshill Solidarity Camp, a resistance group which has occupied the proposed site of a new opencast mine for about 2 months.

The land is owned by Lord Home, who is not one of Grist’s green royals.  In my view, it’s more of a case of a felonous Lord who is liable for forfeiture of his titles, lands and freedom. His dealings with Scottish Coal, the Royal Bank of Scotland, and politicians of all flavours — Labour, Scottish National, and Conservatives — is more a kind of Greenhouse Feudalism.

The 10-day event was very interesting as there were a number of groups with overlapping aims, with strategic and tactical differences. Sometimes these differences created such tension that there were almost breaks. However, we managed to maintain cooperation and the event was a success.

It wasn’t possible to use Climate Change as a filter, or simplify the problem via a kind of carbon rationalism. i.e. “how much emissions, by whom, when, how do we stop it?”. The Mainshill Solidarity Camp, which is a longer term project than the 2009 Scottish Climate Camp, aims to continue to physically resist the opencast mine for as long as possible, and these individuals work in conjunction with the local community.

The context of the campaign, become the Greenhouse Feudalism, the local equivalent of the Australian Greenhouse Mafia. The corrupt planning process, the distorted politics, the money, and most of all, the immediate negative health effects of opencast mining. See the Coal Health Study BLOG.

Kirstie made national press with the Coal Health Study, Sunday Herald “A climate of fear“. A new edition of the study is being prepared under the auspices of local organisations. The Coal Health Study scope is being expanded, and we are making important international connections.

Climate change activists need to decide whether they use climate change as a filter or a lens.

People, most of all climate change activists, must decide whether climate change is a lens through which they analyse the problem and sythesise the solutions. Or is climate change is a filter, that selects and screens-out any elements and aspects not directly related to greenhouse gas emissions.  

Filter 

• remove by passing through a filter; "filter out the impurities"  

• device that removes something from whatever passes through it

  Princeton Wordnet

Lens

• a transparent optical device used to converge or diverge transmitted light and
  to form images  

• (metaphor)
  a channel through which something can be seen or understood; "the
  writer is the lens through which history can be seen" 

• biconvex
  transparent body situated behind the iris in the eye; its role (along
  ­with the cornea) is to focuses light on the retina

  Princeton Wordnet 

If climate change is a filter, screening-out all that is not important, than the only important thing is reducing global warming, especially greenhouse gas emissions and especially C02 emissions and everything else is left for another, later campaign. Revolution will have to wait, lets sort out emissions first. As Monbiot says “Climate Change is Not Anarchy’s Football”

But for many, including the core of activists at Mainshill Solidarity Camp and I would guess a strong current within the Climate Camp movement such as Earth First and Coal Action Edinburgh, anarchy, direct-action and similar democratic tendencies such as consensus and veganism are vital. Climate Change is not about greenhouse emissions, it is about Climate Justice. For them climate activism, its not just about emissions reductions, it’s very much about revolution.

In short, the it’s a super-narrow agenda of GHG emissions reductions versus a neboulous and evolving revolution of Climate Justice. 

Climate Change Campaigns: Climate Deniers, Climate Traders, Climate Justice

For those choosing between the filter or the lens, assuming climate change and global warming are real, its a choice between 3 Climate Change Campaigns, 2 corporate and 1 community

1. Climate Deniers: climate change is not real, not significant, natural and not man-made, will be good & wont hurt you, is worth the inconvenience - the Greenhouse Mafia - carbon emission consumers of producers - coal, oil, gas, automobile, agriculture
   
2. Climate Traders: climate change is the single biggest problem and we can deal with it by exclusively focusing on reducing greenhouse emissions, every other problem needs to cue behind it
   
3. Climate Justice: global warming and climate change are a symptom of a pathological global system that is based on violence and exploitation. Imperialism, industrial and landed fuedalism, capitalism
   

Open Question
Has a climate change filter been set-up withing the Propoganda Model framework?
 (Chomsky/Herman)

Carbon Rationalism

A kind of economic rationalism is possible, indeed tempting, especially for the quantitative science types, and haggling the details of the various carbon trading schemes and other market-based mechanisms.

Mainshill Solidarity Camp, Scotland Climate Camp, UK Climate Camp & Douglas community activists

Looking at the proposed open-cast mine at Mainshill - now home of the Mainshill Solidarity Camp and host to the Scotland Climate Camp - you would get two very different views is you use climate change as lens versus climate change as filter.

Mainshill through the Climate Filter

George W Bush “Sometimes it’s hard to tell when you listen to the filter.”

Looking at Mainshill through the filter 

Emissions reductions is imperative, all else is distraction. Direct-action against carbon producers and consumers and carbon trading are the main focus. The main culprit is Scottish Coal, the policy of the Scottish Executive and the hypocrisy of the UK Government. 

Mainshill through the Climate Lens

Mainshill Solidarity Camp have occupied a beautiful and environmentally important hill near the mansion of absentee Lord Home. If the felonous Lord Home has his way, Mainshill will be an open-cast coal and clay mine and leased to Scottish Coal who will extract 1.7 million tonnes over 4 years.

In my view, The True Spirit of Black Douglas Lives at Mainshill Solidarity Camp

Mainshill is owned by the estates of the 15th Earl of Home, David Douglas-Home. Son of Conservative PM Alec Douglas-Home, who blew-up Douglas Castle in the 60s to avoid the Inheritance Tax of the Old Labour government, which was triggered at the death of his grandfather.

The current Lord Home, called The Ghost Lord by the common Douglas folk, is the quintessential absentee landlord. He has other homes - especially after the Douglas mansion was exploded to avoid taxes. Mainly he lives in London, where his privilidge and positions are staggering even for the the British upper-classes.

 Lord Home

• Chairman of Coutts Bank, banker to the Royal Family, landed gentry and the new economy elite.
• works for the UK government via the bank bail-out of Royal Bank of Scotland and Natwest.
  
• Chairman of the Grosvenor Group which is the international property group owned by the Duke of Westminster, making him one of the richest men in the UK, owning much of London
• President of the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, and hosts shooting and conservation parties at his estates, which he charges money for, apparently when Prince Harry was busted by paparazi wearing Nazi uniforms for fun, he was sent to lay low at Lord Home’s estates. Prince Charles, William and Harry where due to shoot in Douglas this week.

Finances

Lord Home is Chairman of Coutts Bank, which a private banker to the Royal Family, a Coutts teller-machine sits in the basement of Buckingham Palace. Coutts is the private banker of the landed gentry, but now includes celebrities and other new economy elite. Coutts is the private banking arm of Natwest, which is owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland. RBS is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is now majority-owned by the UK government after the so called sub-prime meltdown.

Coutts has offices throughout the world. Coutts is split into two separate entities:

• Coutts has 28 offices in the UK, and 1 outside the UK, in Monaco.
• RBS Coutts, which has its headquarters in Zurich and five other offices in Switzerland – Berne, Geneva and Lugano. Its international offices are situated in Hong Kong, Montevideo, Singapore, Dubai and also Jersey, Isle of Man and Cayman.

Wikileaks estimates that something like 30% of the worlds private wealth is held in Swiss Bank accounts -

Switzerland: A parasite feeding on developing world? . Much of the money that was “lost” in the financial crisis of 2008-2009 will be found in the accounts of such private offshore banks as Coutts. ATTAC is one NGO working to end the tax evasion of corporations and rich individuals, the end of tax havens and the democratic control of finance.

Theoretically Coutts is now owned by the UK people, via the 2008 500 billion pound bank rescue package, the bail-out mechanisms and now the nationalisation - The Times of London’s “The bank that sank“. Therefore at Coutts, David Douglas Home is an state-employee and now the UK public own the Royal Bank of Scotland, which is the banker to Scottish Coal, there is no obstacle for Gordon Brown to stop Mainshill.

• Will New Labour or the green-blue Conservatives (David Cameron’s Green-Tories) pressure David Douglas-Home to walkaway from the Greenhouse Fuedalism ? The government and opposition can instruct both the Royal Bank of Scotland and Coutts Bank, both owned and controlled by the state and by extension the people, to cease the open-cast mine at Mainshill.

• Prince Charles, the green, organic and permaculture royal has declared war on climate change. Will he boycott Coutt’s ? Pull the Royal account from Coutts ? Or does Charles blue-green platform, his green royalty only extend to a Shock Doctrine Green Zone, a kind of neofedualism where the rich live in secure enclaves green enclaves, while all around is a sea of Mad Max brown. Or does Prince Charles rely on David Douglas-Home, his banker, to “greenwash his finances?” If Charles wants the “carbon cost” to be labeled on all products, what would the carbon cost be for Mainshill ?
  

Greenhouse Feudalism

In Australia, according to the authors Guy Pearse (High and Dry) and Clive Hamilton (Scorcher: The Dirty Politics of Climate Change) and an ABC 4 Corners report “Greenhouse Mafia”, the high-carbon emissions producers and consumers - oil, coal, gas -call themselves the Greenhouse Mafia.They have literally been writing government policy, cabinet submissions and legislation from at least before the Kyoto Protocol. 

As Monbiot recently wrote Scottish climate policy is hypocritical, contradictory and counter-productive. The Scottish First Minister boasts of a the toughest climate change policy in the world, but, also has the biggest coal mines in Europe. According to Scottish Coal, 40% of which are in the Douglas Valley.

A kind of Greenhouse Feudalism - both landed and industrial - is in evidence around Lord Home. Its difficult to describe the titles, positions, connections David Douglas-Home posseses without sounding like a conspiracy theory nutter. Quite possibly why the conspiracy theory industry is given such a long leash.

David Douglas-Home is Chairman of Coutts Bank - the Royal Banker - which is the private banking arm of the Royal Bank of Scotland. RBS is now “nationalised” after the finance bail-out. Royal Bank of Scotland is the banker to Scottish Coal, a private company - after Thatchers privatisation’s. The Mainshill site is owned by the Angus-Douglas Estate, and is leased to Scottish Coal for mining purposes. 

The head of project delivery at Scottish Coal is a former employee from the Grosvener Group, which Lord Home is also Chairman. Grosvener Group is a private property group, owned by the Duke of Westminster.

David Douglas-Home, is also a Conservative Scottish Peer, one of the 92 remaining in the House of Lords. His father was a Conservative PM. But as Margaret Thatcher said, her greatest achievement was New Labour, and the Labour mafia at all levels of government are perhaps more corrupt as at least Lord Home is honest about his privilidge and attitutes. The Labour thugs and machine enable and enrich the industrial and landed feudal lords.

UK level: Coutts Bank is based in the Strand, London, and so to is Lord Home. The House of Lords is the most prestigious club in the United Kingdom. Much of what happens in Douglas is decided far away in Edinburgh or London. The New Labour government gets enormous press from its Climate Bill, which is full of all sorts of policy innovations. Its a policy wonks wet dream, a media junkies fix. As usual, the hype is the opposite of the reality. According to Climate Bill, no new coal mines or power stations. In reality… new mines, new power plants. Company tax is paid from Scottish Coal to the UK Treasury. Scottish Coal sponsor the hand-signed Christmas cards that go to constituents from the local Westminster Labour MP Karen Gillon.

Scottish level; Scottish planning policy has a presumption against new opencast mines, and Scottish climate policy is on-paper the toughest in the world. But with the drop in diesel fuel prices, and carbon trading scheme or, shudder, a carbon tax coming over the event horizon, Scottish Coal cant get mining fast enough. Scottish Coal makes what donations ? What of the revolving door ?

Regional level; South Lanarkshire Council gets paid a fixed amount from the new and existing mines, per tonnage mined and sold. Contracts for mine related work are used as a pork barreling scheme. Political donations ? Contracts ? Cronyism ? Money siphoned off ? Revolving doors ? consulting fees ? The RDT is controlled by trustees mostly from Scottish Coal and South Lanarkshire Council.

Local level: on the Douglas level, the establishment around the church and community hall are promised large sums for refurbishments. The budgets for the swimming pool are massive, much of the contracts goes to corrupt local councillors family businesses.

Finance

Being an employee of a subsidiary of the bank that is financing the mine on his land puts David Douglas-Home in a conflict of interest position. I wonder how many other commercial loans are being provided by Royal Bank of Scotland to favor senior executives and management ? 

Peerage

Is David Douglas-Home fulfilling his aristocratic duties to his family fief of Douglas ? He is destroying the environment, poisoning people with pollution, corrupting the democratic and market institutions of the land. He has also made himself an enemy of his Sovereign, but joining the enemy in the climate war i.e. increasing GHG emissions. He is also endangering the future of the country, the United Kingdom. Therefore he should resign his position, like his father and contest a House of Commons seat if he wishes to remain in government. If he does not, he is a felonous lord, having commited high-treason. He should lose his titles, property, positions and his freedom.

Estates

How can David Cameron, Zac Goldsmith and Prince Charles continue to allow someone so closely aligned to the Conservatives and Royalty undermine the Vote Blue Go Green Tory platform and the Royal’s organic green credentials. Under forfeiture David Douglas-Home’s estates revert to the Queen. A better way would be a community trust be established for the people of Douglasdale. They would take ownership and control of the estates forfeit.

Tradition

James Douglas, or Black Douglas was a famous warlord aligned with William Wallace and Robert the Bruce. They would be turning in their graves if they knew how one of their ancestors was abusing the people they fought for. Black Douglas would consider David Douglas-Home a traitor, whose punishment would be forfeiture. 

Democracy & Industry

Formal democracy has failed. A new, richer democracy from below, in industry and community needs to replace the corrupt formal institutions.

• natural resources
  
• finance
• people
• government
• industry
• environment

Planning system

The planning system is so complex, onerous and expensive that only a large corporation with teams of experts can manage it. Planning is done by corporations like Scottish Coal and the government planning bodies rubber stamp. 

Royal Inquiry

A Royal Inquiry might have some kind of effect, a positive effect. But for real change, a popular inquiry, along with the resistance of the Mainshill Solidarity Camp and the creation of alternative institutions needs to occur

Anarchy

If there ever was a case study for “anarchy” or government, of the people, for the people, by the people, than this is it. Once again, Climate Commisar Monbiot has got it wrong, there will be no solution to climate change, no reduction in greenhouse gas emissions unless there is a fundamental re-organisation of society.

It is possible that a permanent environmental war time economy is established, a kind of Carbon Dictatorship (Tim Flannery), but it is far from certain that the Sustainment scenario would be able to “engineer” the planet.

The WSJ - once a bastion of climate change deniers - recently published a feature lift-out explicitly acknowledging the threat of global warming and environmental crisis: The Need for Geoengineering.

 The authors solution is global, corporate, geo-engineering. The problem isn’t that we have not “engineered” too much, we have not “engineered” enough.

You can hear the same arguments from the far-right - and increasingly liberals and blue-greens - on all kinds of issues.

The problem isn’t with capitalism, or conservatism. The problem is that we haven’t engineered the planet enough. We haven’t been conservative enough, capitalist enough. The problem isn’t that we shouldn’t be fighting in Iraq of AfPak, the problem is that we are not fighting harder with more troops. 

The corporate geo-engineers are co-opting the momentum created by the climate change campaigners (with Al Gore the self-appointed saviour) and justifying a further expansion of human domination of the living planet.

Radical historian of science David F Noble calls this the Corporate Climate Coup (audio from Vancouver Cooperative Radio and and text from ZNET in a mashup at Permaculture TV)

1. Corporate Climate Campaigns: Denial vs Trade - Corporate Climate Coup - Part 1
   
2. Anti-Globalisation - Corporate Climate Coup - Part 2
   
3. Climate Commisars & Community Climate Campaigns - Corporate Climate Coup - Part 3

RAND corporation had a military analyst research and publish a couple of papers on the potential for perennial polyculture to be used to save the environment and create employment. Seeds of Another Agricultural. Revolution?. 

His conclusion was that it might be difficult to find a place for perennial polyculture in todays market place.

However, with the growth of corporate “fair-trade” branding such as Mc Donalds fair-trade coffee, and the awareness raising of such movies as Food Inc, perennial polyculture will become a value-add for corporations looking for environmental sustainability and better branding.

A recent book, by University of Davis couple, have managed to “marry their separate fields to argue logically for the use of GM technologies to improve organic agriculture” Tomorrow’s Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food

So the elements are being assembled for a McGaia future. A family friendly, geo-, genetic & socially engineered organic perennial polyculture planet.

Unless resistance and alternatives are created, such as worker-cooperatives, popular inquiries, community associations etc, a nested, fractaline organisation of work and community democracy, we will find that corporations are perfectly able to adapt and co-opt the techniques that have been nurtured by the permaculture and associated movements. 

As Mollison says, permaculture is more than a gardening system. Its about fair share, people and earth care.

Chomsky recently spoke Noam Chomsky on the Past 10 Years: Seattle ‘99 to WSF to Climate in ‘09 and said that it is up to us to decide if that extends to international solidarity and a global system of management that integrates and coordinates democracy in the community and the workplace from the bottom-up. 

We can choose between a hellish ecocide (ecological disaster), a McGaia sustainment (military-industrial sustainability) or a global framework of Gaia Permaculture. A framework which gives rights to all of nature, including the poor, and especially the living ecologies.

See also Monsanto and Gates Foundation in Africa, Stuffed & Starved etc