Humanity is in a race against time to avoid the environmental and social catastrophe caused by climate change.
At times, it seems we are losing the race. When we look at the sabotage of international summits by the rich countries, or the false solutions peddled by governments and corporate polluters, the challenge we face can seem overwhelming.
But globally, there is a rising people’s movement demanding real action on climate. This movement gives reason for hope and inspiration.
The huge protests at Copenhagen, Australia’s two successful Climate Action Summits in 2009 and 2010, and the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth in Bolivia all show that ordinary people are determined to act for human survival — even if most governments aren’t yet.
The Climate Change-Social Change conference is being organised to contribute towards understanding and collective action, in Australia and internationally, to address the climate emergency.
The conference will discuss the radical solutions to the crisis.
It is a mistake to question climate change without questioning its cause — the capitalist system. This system is based on the logic of competition, domination of nature and limitless growth.
Climate Change-Social Change conference will take place at the University of Melbourne over November 5-7. It is organised by Green Left Weekly and the Socialist Alliance, and is sponsored by the University of Melbourne’s Office of Environmental
Programs.
A number of exciting guest speakers have already confirmed for the conference, including:
John Bellamy Foster (United States)
John Bellamy Foster is one of the world’s leading Marxist economists and ecologists. He is an editor of the independent radical journal Monthly Review and is a professor of sociology at the University of Oregon.
Foster is the author of many books, including: The Ecological Revolution; The Great Financial Crisis (with Fred Magdoff); Marx’s Ecology; Ecology Against Capitalism; and The Vulnerable Planet.
Ian Angus (Canada)
Ian Angus is the editor of climateandcapitalism.com – one of the world’s most popular ecosocialist websites. He is also a co-editor of the Canadian Socialist Voice and was a founding member of the Ecosocialist International Network.
Angus has authored several books and pamphlets, including: The Global Fight for Climate Justice; Food Crisis: World Hunger, Agribusiness and the Food Sovereignty Alternative; and Confronting the Climate Crisis: An Ecosocialist Perspective.
Derek Wall (Britain)
Derek Wall is a former principal speaker of the Green Party of England and Wales, and a green activist, writer and economist. He is a leading member of Green Left, an ecosocialist current within the Green Party.
Wall’s latest book, The No-Nonsense Guide to Green Politics, will be published by New Internationalist later this year. His other books include Babylon and Beyond: The Economics of Anti-Capitalist, Anti-Globalist and Radical Green Movements and Earth First! and the Anti-Roads Movement.
Wall will address the conference through a video link.
The conference will host a wide variety of plenary panels and workshops within the general themes of:
• the climate debt, climate justice and international solidarity;
• food security and climate change;
• building the climate action movement;
• capitalist economic crises, socialism and ecology; and
• strategies for environmental and human survival.
To register for the conference or for more information, visit www.ccsc2010.wordpress.com , email climateconf2010@gmail.com , or phone (02) 9690 2508.