tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/direct-action-10080/articlesDirect Action – The Conversation2023-09-15T01:30:04Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2136442023-09-15T01:30:04Z2023-09-15T01:30:04ZAnother day, another roadblock: how should NZ law deal with disruptive climate protests?<p>The most recent protest by the Restore Passenger Rail climate protest group, in which a Wellington car dealership was <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/498004/restore-passenger-rail-protesters-arrested-after-wellington-car-dealership-defaced">defaced with red paint</a>, is not just the latest in a local movement – it’s part of a <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/publications/interactive/climate-protest-tracker">global trend</a>.</p>
<p>Airline bosses have been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/sep/07/ryanair-michael-oleary-hit-with-cream-pies-by-climate-protesters">hit with cream pies</a>, Just Stop Oil protesters have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/02/arts/design/vandalizing-art-protests.html">glued themselves</a> to iconic pieces of art in famous galleries, school students are skipping school to march for climate justice, and <a href="https://crisis24.garda.com/alerts/2023/07/germany-climate-protesters-blocking-runways-at-dusseldorf-and-hamburg-airports-the-morning-of-july-13">airport runways</a> have been invaded. Everywhere, <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018904907/restore-passenger-rail-protest-closes-highway">including in New Zealand</a>, roads and highways have been blocked.</p>
<p>It’s entirely likely such protests will continue and escalate in their impact as the <a href="https://www.unep.org/climate-emergency">climate emergency</a> worsens, and frustration grows with a perceived lack of meaningful government action.</p>
<p>Groups such <a href="https://rebellion.global/about-us/">Extinction Rebellion</a> view “non-violent direct action and civil disobedience” as not only justifiable but crucial in the face of what they see as an urgent existential threat.</p>
<p>But for every climate action there has been a political and legal reaction. From <a href="https://www.coe.int/en/web/commissioner/-/crackdowns-on-peaceful-environmental-protests-should-stop-and-give-way-to-more-social-dialogue">Europe</a> to <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/05/30/australias-crackdown-climate-activists">Australia</a> there have been crackdowns. New laws have been drafted in Britain to create <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-order-bill-overarching-documents/public-order-bill-factsheet">specific offences</a> such as obstructing major transport works, interfering with key national infrastructure, and causing serious disruption by tunnelling.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, a New Zealander living in Britain was given a “draconian” <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/488871/kiwi-climate-activist-given-draconian-prison-sentence-in-uk">three-year prison sentence</a> for his role in a protest that shut down a busy road in London.</p>
<p>With the stakes rising, it’s important that governments and legal systems find ways to adapt, without risking a climate protest arms race that may only encourage increasingly unreasonable impacts on the general public.</p>
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<h2>Rights and freedoms</h2>
<p>In New Zealand, a trend towards authorities reaching for harsher penalties is also evident. </p>
<p>The traditional sentence for obstructing a <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1981/0113/latest/whole.html#DLM53571">public road</a> without consent is a fine of up to NZ$1,000. Such penalties are now being augmented with potential charges of <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1961/0043/latest/DLM329273.html#:%7E:text=Crimes%20against%20public%20welfare&text=Every%20one%20commits%20criminal%20nuisance,or%20health%20of%20any%20individual.">criminal nuisance</a>, and <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/488116/protesters-blocking-roads-could-face-14-years-jail-police-warn">police have warned</a> that protesters could face up to 14 years in jail for <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1961/0043/latest/DLM330704.html?search=sw_096be8ed81d369a9_endangering+transport_25_se&p=1&sr=14">endangering transport</a>. </p>
<p>That is longer than many serious crimes, including the maximum ten years under <a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/new-law-targeting-ram-raids-passes-first-reading">proposed law changes for ram-raiding</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-look-there-how-politicians-divert-our-attention-from-climate-protesters-claims-211381">Don’t look there: how politicians divert our attention from climate protesters' claims</a>
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<p>At the same time, protest is a critical part of free and democratic societies, and has been used (often in novel ways) to achieve change we now take for granted.</p>
<p>Although there is no specific right to protest in law, protesting is a manifestation of the rights to freedom of movement, <a href="https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1990/0109/latest/DLM225516.html?search=ts_act%40bill%40regulation%40deemedreg_New+Zealand+Bill+of+Rights+Act+1990_resel_25_a&p=1%2f">association</a> and <a href="https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1990/0109/latest/DLM225515.html?search=ts_act%40bill%40regulation%40deemedreg_New+Zealand+Bill+of+Rights+Act+1990_resel_25_a&p=1%2f">peaceful assembly</a> in most liberal societies.</p>
<p>Globally, such rights are protected by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the related framework of human rights treaties. In Aotearoa New Zealand, the Bill of Rights Act 1990 guarantees those rights.</p>
<h2>No absolute right to protest</h2>
<p>And yet, the right to protest is not absolute. As with most rights, it can be subject to such reasonable legal limits as can be justified in a free and democratic society.</p>
<p>In practice, this means not all forms of protest may be permissible, such as disorderly acts or ones that risk violence or public safety. Tolerance of protest and some levels of inconvenience should be expected in liberal democracies. But intentional and serious disruption to ordinary life may be illegal if it is done unreasonably.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/just-stop-oil-do-radical-protests-turn-the-public-away-from-a-cause-heres-the-evidence-192901">Just Stop Oil: do radical protests turn the public away from a cause? Here's the evidence</a>
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<p>Determining what is reasonable is the hard part. It involves assessing the scale and impact of the inconvenience, and the rights and freedoms of others affected.</p>
<p>So, peaceful protests that cause temporary inconvenience and limited obstruction might be permissible. But repeatedly blocking people from going about their business for prolonged periods may not be.</p>
<p>Climate protests exist at a moral and legal intersection. Reducing carbon emissions means targeting roads, highways and fossil fuel-powered vehicles by creating blockades and choke-points. But for centuries, authorities have been charged with keeping those vital routes open for citizens.</p>
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<h2>Worlds collide</h2>
<p>The challenge is to find the balance between two world views that are colliding. It’s wrong to try to silence legitimate dissent, but how do governments and other authorities make room for, and even facilitate, a protest movement aimed at altering fundamental behaviours?</p>
<p>One response might be to designate new areas where such protests can be held (including on roads) as a way to help those messages be heard and seen. These must be authorised and conducted in ways that don’t unreasonably hinder the rights of other citizens.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/just-stop-oil-how-mediation-between-climate-activists-and-police-could-help-with-escalating-protests-180692">Just Stop Oil: how mediation between climate activists and police could help with escalating protests</a>
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<p>But it is unlikely to be enough for more radical ends of the protest movement, which clearly view direct and increasingly disruptive actions as the only effective method.</p>
<p>There may be no simple answer. But New Zealand’s next government should review the current legal frameworks to ensure they are fit for purpose. People are equal before the law, and breaking the rules means being held to account. But the penalties must not be disproportionate.</p>
<p>Law and policy already acknowledge the climate crisis will demand enormous effort and change. They cannot also become blunt tools for repressing social movements dedicated to holding those same powers to account.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213644/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander Gillespie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Police have warned climate protesters could face up to 14 years in jail for ‘endangering transport’ – longer than the maximum for serious crimes like ram-raiding.Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of WaikatoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2034552023-04-13T13:40:50Z2023-04-13T13:40:50ZGrand National protests: Animal Rising campaigners reveal how exploiting animals harms us too<p>Britain’s 175th annual <a href="https://www.grandnational.org.uk/">Grand National</a> horse race is set to take place on Saturday April 15. The protest group <a href="https://www.animalrising.org/who-we-are">Animal Rising</a> (formerly known as Animal Rebellion), an offshoot of the larger climate movement <a href="https://extinctionrebellion.uk/">Extinction Rebellion</a>, plans to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/apr/02/climate-activists-grand-national-animal-rebellion-horse-racing">disrupt</a> it with direct-action tactics, including activists gluing themselves to the track before the race commences.</p>
<p>The group’s opposition to the spectacle is about much more than the numerous <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/apr/10/eclair-surf-becomes-second-horse-to-die-after-grand-national">injuries and deaths</a> that horses sustain during races. Animal Rising stands opposed to what it sees as the systemic exploitation of other species which reduces non-human beings to expendable commodities. Crucially, the group also seeks to highlight the inextricable link between the exploitation of other species, ecosystems and the escalating climate crisis. </p>
<p>Animal Rising emerged in the UK in 2019 with a refreshingly holistic perspective, arguing that the systematic exploitation of other species isn’t just ethically unacceptable but also fuels <a href="https://www.unep.org/facts-about-climate-emergency">climate change</a>. The group targets animal farming and fishing as particularly devastating devourers of “<a href="https://www.animalrising.org/who-we-are">ecosystems and lives</a>”. Their repertoire of non-violent direct-action tactics include <a href="https://www.plantbasedfuture.animalrebellion.org/post/the-last-animal-rebellion-action-ever-supermarket-aisles-blocked-in-national-action">blocking meat and dairy aisles</a> in supermarkets. In 2019, 400 activists <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-49976197">occupied the Smithfield meat market</a> in London for 18 hours.</p>
<p>Animal Rising’s attempts to draw attention to the disastrous climate impacts of industrial animal agriculture and fishing are laudable. But is an absolute shift to plant-based subsistence, as the group advocates, the answer?</p>
<p>The treatment of other species as means for human ends stems from <a href="https://theconversation.com/humanity-and-nature-are-not-separate-we-must-see-them-as-one-to-fix-the-climate-crisis-122110">anthropocentric worldviews</a> prominent in western societies which frame humans as separate from and superior to nature and other species. Reduced to such an inferior status, other species become prime candidates for exploitation, as seen in <a href="https://med.stanford.edu/animalresearch/why-animal-research.html">medical testing</a>, sport and entertainment and the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/sep/25/industrial-farming-one-worst-crimes-history-ethical-question">horrors of factory farming</a>. </p>
<p>Animal agriculture is <a href="https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000010&fbclid=IwAR33T-YJBBLV35epl0z7dDo-org_XxyQnWdG3vgX18NyRTGQX-DfOXliH68">one of the largest</a> contributors to climate change. Livestock are a major emitter of greenhouse gases including methane, which is around 25 times more effective than CO₂ at trapping heat in Earth’s atmosphere. And acquiring land to rear these captive animals drives tropical deforestation, resulting in the further loss of vital <a href="https://www.clientearth.org/latest/latest-updates/stories/what-is-a-carbon-sink/?gclid=CjwKCAjwitShBhA6EiwAq3RqA0b3sHdxbTlC_RvoyCZetl5LI2Jfs0nbEidwYRd7nGU_GIelHNFsNBoCYswQAvD_BwE">carbon sinks</a> and biodiversity. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-023-01631-6">Recent research</a> has underscored the role that animals in the wild play in keeping climate-warming gases like CO₂ out of the atmosphere. For instance, wildebeest migrating across Africa’s Serengeti consume large amounts of grassland carbon, which is returned as dung and incorporated into the soil by insects. </p>
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<img alt="A herd of wildebeest on a yellow African plain dotted with shrubs and trees." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520799/original/file-20230413-26-uvey6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520799/original/file-20230413-26-uvey6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520799/original/file-20230413-26-uvey6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520799/original/file-20230413-26-uvey6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520799/original/file-20230413-26-uvey6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520799/original/file-20230413-26-uvey6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520799/original/file-20230413-26-uvey6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Rewilding animal populations could accelerate the drawing down of carbon from the air.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/pt/image-photo/beautiful-african-landscape-masai-mara-kenya-292335302">Oleg Znamenskiy/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Animal Rising is right to claim that liberating other species and <a href="https://www.rewildingbritain.org.uk/explore-rewilding/what-is-rewilding">rewilding</a> the <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/global-land-for-agriculture">three-quarters of farmland</a> used for livestock production would significantly aid the fight against climate breakdown. But the group’s demand for a plant-based future lacks important nuance.</p>
<h2>Plant-based solutions?</h2>
<p>The campaigners call the urgent transition to plant-based food systems “<a href="https://www.animalrising.org/our-history">the key solution</a>” to contemporary environmental crises and an essential component of a more just and sustainable world. The world’s foremost experts would tend to agree. In a recent report the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) repeatedly called for a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02409-7">reduction in meat consumption</a>, especially in wealthy countries, highlighting the considerable <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/srccl/chapter/chapter-5/5-5-mitigation-options-challenges-and-opportunities/5-5-2-demand-side-mitigation-options/5-5-2-1-mitigation-potential-of-different-diets/figure-5-12/">climate benefits</a> of vegan, vegetarian and <a href="https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/what-flexitarian-diet">flexitarian</a> diets.</p>
<p>My work looks at how we can ethically reshape our relations to nature and other species along more harmonious and sustainable lines. An absolute ban on consuming other animals, while plants remain fair game, constitutes another arbitrary boundary akin to that used to separate humans from other animals. All animals must take life in order to survive, as we cannot produce our own nutrients or energy. This fundamental aspect of our entangled lives with others is <a href="https://theconversation.com/go-vegan-because-of-mass-exploitation-of-animals-not-because-eating-them-is-wrong-110628">not inherently problematic</a>. </p>
<p>But how we use others in the business of living matters considerably. There’s a world of difference between small-scale subsistence fishing and farming and the profit-driven, industrial-scale extraction under global capitalism. Similarly, plant-based food systems which turn habitats into chemical wastelands <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/research-and-innovation/en/horizon-magazine/rise-and-fall-monoculture-farming">devoid of biodiversity</a> are far from ethical or sustainable. </p>
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<img alt="A lone fisher casts a wide net over shallow water at sunset." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520800/original/file-20230413-16-mmi1p6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520800/original/file-20230413-16-mmi1p6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520800/original/file-20230413-16-mmi1p6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520800/original/file-20230413-16-mmi1p6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520800/original/file-20230413-16-mmi1p6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520800/original/file-20230413-16-mmi1p6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520800/original/file-20230413-16-mmi1p6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Subsistence farmers and fishers can harvest food sustainably.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/pt/image-photo/asian-fishermen-throwing-fishing-net-during-1523805494">Worawit_j/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p><a href="https://www.un.org/en/fight-racism/vulnerable-groups/indigenous-peoples">Indigenous peoples</a> the world over explain how to live more ethically and sustainably. Robin Wall Kimmerer, environmental scientist and citizen of the Potawatomi Nation, refers to the “<a href="https://guides.nyu.edu/nyu-reads/braiding-sweetgrass/the-honorable-harvest">honourable harvest</a>”: when deciding anything, from how and where to build homes to how to produce food and source energy, principles to live by include taking only what we need, always leaving some for others, and sustaining those who sustain us.</p>
<p>Some indigenous communities in <a href="https://bioone.org/journals/journal-of-ethnobiology/volume-38/issue-3/0278-0771-38.2.314/Everything-We-Do-Its-Cedar--First-Nation-and-Ecologically/10.2993/0278-0771-38.2.314.full">northwestern North America</a> practice partial harvesting of trees instead of clear-cutting. By only removing certain parts, the trees continue living and sustaining the wider ecosystem. In the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S259033222030350X">Ekuri community-managed forest</a> in southeastern Nigeria, hunting endangered species and commercial timber extraction is prohibited. These considerate relations to the land and other species are among the reasons why biodiversity tends to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1462901119301042?casa_token=tEhgr7K5dL0AAAAA:wr1qSSaNovwsOAcC8d-prVQdujHpbMZYr1lSeWOvTgmcPTlgnb0ZR0NVTC6dOJ6GnXC-4xTnGw">thrive</a> on indigenous-managed lands worldwide.</p>
<p>Animal Rising’s fight for a future devoid of exploitation is essential. A substantial shift towards plant-based food systems in wealthy countries could work wonders in that direction, and Animal Rising is right to target these excesses. Let this be the beginning of <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/sydney-environment-institute/news/2023/03/27/a-future-of-political-theory--when-justice-is-multispecies.html">collective resistance</a> to all forms of exploitation and domination.</p>
<p>As Kimmerer has said, only by <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/443658/the-democracy-of-species-by-kimmerer-robin-wall/9780141997049">respecting and sustaining those who sustain us</a> can the Earth last forever.</p>
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<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heather Alberro does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The horse race is likely to be disrupted by activists from the Extinction Rebellion offshoot.Heather Alberro, Lecturer in Global Sustainable Development, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1915792022-10-31T02:32:40Z2022-10-31T02:32:40Z40 years ago, protesters were celebrated for saving the Franklin River. Today they could be jailed for months<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492452/original/file-20221031-26-xhbsr0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C11%2C1537%2C1207&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=616420">Peter Dombrovskis/National Library of Australia/Wikimedia</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 1982 <a href="https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/franklin-dam-greens">campaign</a> to stop the building of Tasmania’s Franklin River dam was a defining moment in the history of Australia’s social movements. Those events are now being recounted in the documentary <a href="https://franklinriver.movie/">Franklin</a>, <a href="https://franklinriver.movie/screenings">screening</a> throughout the country.</p>
<p>Franklin tells how thousands of activists stood up in front of police and bulldozers and, through a persistent yet peaceful opposition, eventually forced the Tasmanian government to abandon the project. It was one of Australia’s <a href="http://envlaw.com.au/tasmanian-dam-case/">most famous</a> campaigns of <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Civil_Disobedience/seTaDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover">civil disobedience</a>. </p>
<p>Sadly, the story contrasts starkly with current political discourse. Environmental activists in Australia today are often depicted as public enemy number one. In the past few years, a swathe of anti-protest legislation has been enacted at both state and federal levels, imposing extremely tough sentences on those falling foul of the law. </p>
<p>A citizen trying to emulate the Franklin dam protesters today would likely pay a very high price. This silencing of dissent means an important tool for environmental advocacy is closed – and both nature and democracy will suffer. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="protesters sit on dirt road holding banners and a flag" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492454/original/file-20221031-18-8sooxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492454/original/file-20221031-18-8sooxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492454/original/file-20221031-18-8sooxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492454/original/file-20221031-18-8sooxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492454/original/file-20221031-18-8sooxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492454/original/file-20221031-18-8sooxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492454/original/file-20221031-18-8sooxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protesters in southwest Tasmania in 1982, opposing the proposed Franklin River dam. A citizen trying to emulate them today would pay a high price.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Archives of Australia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Silencing peaceful protest</h2>
<p>Politicians insist anti-protest laws <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwip_5a778P6AhWmyosBHbWXDvM4ChAWegQIBRAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Faustralia-news%2F2022%2Fjun%2F28%2Fnsw-premier-labels-blockade-australia-protesters-bloody-idiots-as-sydney-police-make-12-more-arrests&usg=AOvVaw35wQ8of2S7S2mdX2RiVujc">protect the community</a> from disruptive behaviour. Human rights organisations, on the other hand, <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/580025f66b8f5b2dabbe4291/t/61f089b18edca03eeb443cc1/1643153858652/Global_Warning_report_HRLC_EDO_GP.pdf">denounce the laws</a> as systemic repression which threatens the right to protest.</p>
<p>The former Coalition federal government was consistent in its anti-protest stance. It frequently sought to portray environmental and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2046147X211055192">animal-welfare</a> activists as dangerous extremists.</p>
<p>For example, a peaceful animal welfare protest in Melbourne in 2019 which disrupted traffic drew the ire of then prime minister Scott Morrison. He described the activists as “green-collared criminals” and said “the full force of the law” should be used against them.</p>
<p>At the state level, <a href="https://theconversation.com/lock-on-devices-are-a-symbol-of-non-violent-protest-but-they-might-soon-be-banned-in-queensland-122472">Queensland</a>, <a href="https://www.hrlc.org.au/news/new-nsw-anti-protest-laws-are-excessive-and-unnecessary">New South Wales</a>, <a href="https://www.justice.tas.gov.au/community-consultation/closed-community-consultations2/workplaces-protection-from-protesters-amendment-bill-2021">Tasmania</a>, <a href="https://melbactivistlegal.org.au/2021/01/19/call-on-the-city-of-melbourne-to-stop-silencing-protests/">Victoria</a> and <a href="https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/wa-counter-terrorism-police-raid-climate-activists-homes-over-chalk-graffiti-20210820-p58kn0.html">Western Australia</a> have all contributed to demonising environmental protest. And there’s no sign they intend to change.</p>
<p>Two months ago, the Tasmanian government <a href="https://www.hrlc.org.au/news/2022/6/23/dark-day-for-democracy-as-tasmanian-anti-protest-bill-set-to-become-law">increased penalties</a> for protesters who, much like the old Franklin activists, obstruct “business activities” such as mining and logging. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/animal-rights-activists-in-melbourne-green-collar-criminals-or-civil-disobedients-115119">Animal rights activists in Melbourne: green-collar criminals or civil 'disobedients'?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>First-time offenders face a fine up to $9,050 and up to 18 months in prison. For second offences, the fine is $13,575 and two years in prison. </p>
<p>Earlier this year, the NSW government passed a <a href="https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/bills/Pages/bill-details.aspx?pk=3963">bill</a> introducing the new offence of disrupting major public facilities. It means citizens who, for example, organise a peaceful protest <a href="https://greens.org.au/nsw/news/media-release/today-coalition-has-made-it-crime-protest-town-hall">in front of a train station</a>, face up to <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/curbing-our-freedom-the-nsw-bill-that-should-never-have-become-law-20220402-p5aaat.html">two years in prison</a>. </p>
<p>Also in NSW, one non-violent activist was recently <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/06/22/australia-climate-protesters-rights-violated">remanded</a> for two weeks in a maximum-security prison, and others have been subjected to harsh curfew conditions despite posing no threat to the community. </p>
<p>And NSW Police this year re-established a special <a href="https://www.nationaltribune.com.au/further-man-charged-by-strike-force-guard-over-unauthorised-protest-nsw/">Strike Force Guard</a> that seeks to prevent, investigate and disrupt unauthorised protests.</p>
<p>NSW’s harsh approach prompted Amnesty International to launch a <a href="https://action.amnesty.org.au/act-now/protect-the-right-to-protest-in-nsw">petition</a> urging the state government to respect citizens’ right to protest.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="police hold a civilian by the arm" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492457/original/file-20221031-26-n7ogim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492457/original/file-20221031-26-n7ogim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492457/original/file-20221031-26-n7ogim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492457/original/file-20221031-26-n7ogim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492457/original/file-20221031-26-n7ogim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492457/original/file-20221031-26-n7ogim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492457/original/file-20221031-26-n7ogim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Police arrested environmental protesters earlier this month for blocking a Melbourne intersection.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Diego Fedele/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Is ‘direct action’ dying?</h2>
<p>Demonstrations and other public forms of protest are a type of civil disobedience known as “direct action”.</p>
<p>As part of a current research project, we interviewed Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) activists, and representatives from Vegan Rising and Animal Liberation. The interviews reveal that some activists are abandoning direct action in light of the new anti-protest laws.</p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://www.al.org.au/">Animal Liberation</a> has shifted to lobbying and education to enact change. As one person from the organisation told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>In the past, when the laws were very different, (we) would do more direct action, such as sit-ins. But now we’ve moved away from that, because it’s illegal. As an organisation, it wouldn’t help to have us shut down because of an illegal action like that.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Likewise, Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson recently left the organisation following its decision to <a href="https://freedomnews.org.uk/2022/09/29/standing-up-for-direct-action-paul-watson-v-sea-shepherds/">abandon direct action</a> as a protest strategy.</p>
<p>But the tougher laws have not deterred other protesters. Animal activist <a href="https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/wa/controversial-wa-vegan-activist-tash-peterson-charged-after-disruptive-protest-at-perth-royal-show-c-8362894">Tash Peterson</a> told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Disruptive activism and civil disobedience are essential to create social change and bring to light the atrocities animals are subjected to […] Until recently, I was rarely charged for my protesting, but now things are changing and I am getting arrested for disorderly conduct and trespass.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Former Greens leader Bob Brown played a key role in the 1982 Franklin campaign. More recently, he says <a href="https://bobbrown.org.au/bbf-to-continue-defending-tasmanias-forests-and-wildlife/">his organisation</a>, the Bob Brown Foundation, will continue to “peacefully defend” Tasmania’s native forests, waterways and wildlife, adding:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The real villains here are those who want to jail fellow citizens for defending public forests and wildlife.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-how-archaeology-helped-save-the-franklin-river-92510">Friday essay: how archaeology helped save the Franklin River</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="two men with a bulldozer and sign reading 'Protect swift parrot habitat under threat'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492461/original/file-20221031-12-uy87u8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492461/original/file-20221031-12-uy87u8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492461/original/file-20221031-12-uy87u8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492461/original/file-20221031-12-uy87u8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492461/original/file-20221031-12-uy87u8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492461/original/file-20221031-12-uy87u8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492461/original/file-20221031-12-uy87u8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bob Brown, left, says his foundation will continue to peacefully defend the environment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bob Brown Foundation</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Peaceful protest is a basic right</h2>
<p>As the Franklin documentary shows, protesters were willing to spend a few days in prison as the price of their campaign’s success. But the price paid by protesters today is so much higher. </p>
<p>At a federal level, the new Labor government has an opportunity to shift the tone of the national conversation and support the right of citizens to engage in peaceful protest. </p>
<p>Such an approach is consistent with the party’s values. Ahead of the May election, Labor told Human Rights Watch that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Promoting universal human rights is an essential policy objective for Labor. [It is] vital to ensuring a peaceful world where all people have the right to live with dignity, freedom, safety, security and prosperity. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Franklin celebrates the role of non-violent direct action as a tool for social change. It tells of a people exercising their rights and coming together to fight for environmental justice. Let’s hope those kinds of stories are not consigned to history. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Human Rights Watch will hold a <a href="https://fan-force.com/screenings/franklin-palace-cinemas-como/">special screening</a> of Franklin in Melbourne on November 2.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191579/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deborah Williams has previously researched Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), a direct action animal activist group, and attended a few of their protests. She is also a former member of the Animal Justice Party and Animals Australia. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Piero Moraro does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The 1982 Franklin Dam protests were a defining moment in the history of Australia’s social movements. But such campaigns may well be impossible today.Piero Moraro, Lecturer in Criminology, Edith Cowan UniversityDeborah Williams, PhD Candidate, Murdoch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1929012022-10-21T12:18:48Z2022-10-21T12:18:48ZJust Stop Oil: do radical protests turn the public away from a cause? Here’s the evidence<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490699/original/file-20221019-21-1lv2e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1%2C1272%2C716&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Just Stop Oil handout / EPA</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Members of the protest group Just Stop Oil recently <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ-dr4xyMgk">threw soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers</a> in the National Gallery in London. The action once again triggered debate about what kinds of protest are most effective. </p>
<p>After a quick clean of the glass, the painting was back on display. But critics argued that the real damage had been done, by alienating the public from the cause itself (the demand that the UK government reverse its support for opening new oil and gas fields in the North Sea).</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1580879221656006656"}"></div></p>
<p>Supporters of more militant forms of protest often point to historical examples such as the suffragettes. In contrast with Just Stop Oil’s action, when the suffragette Mary Richardson went to the National Gallery to attack a painting called The Rokeby Venus, she <a href="https://journals.le.ac.uk/ojs1/index.php/mas/article/view/92">slashed the canvas</a>, causing major damage. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490702/original/file-20221019-13-wxw5cs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="painting of woman's rear, with slash marks" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490702/original/file-20221019-13-wxw5cs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490702/original/file-20221019-13-wxw5cs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490702/original/file-20221019-13-wxw5cs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490702/original/file-20221019-13-wxw5cs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490702/original/file-20221019-13-wxw5cs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490702/original/file-20221019-13-wxw5cs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490702/original/file-20221019-13-wxw5cs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Rokeby Venus: the 17th century painting by Diego Velázquez was slashed by a suffragette, though later repaired.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rokeby_Venus#/media/File:Richardson-Venus.png">National Gallery / wiki</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, many historians argue that the contribution of the suffragettes to women getting the vote was negligible or <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/State_and_Society_Fourth_Edition/J7ivJo9phvkC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22militancy+clearly+damaged+the+cause.%E2%80%9C&pg=PA152&printsec=frontcover">even</a> <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Extension_of_the_Franchise_1832_1931/a-Rd0iLobaEC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA160&printsec=frontcover">counterproductive</a>. Such discussions often seem to rely on people’s gut feelings about the impact of protest. But as a professor of cognitive psychology, I know that we don’t have to rely on intuition – these are hypotheses that can be tested.</p>
<h2>The activist’s dilemma</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Matthew-Feinberg-2/publication/338562538_The_activist's_dilemma_Extreme_protest_actions_reduce_popular_support_for_social_movements/links/5ea5eff892851c1a90728bd5/The-activists-dilemma-Extreme-protest-actions-reduce-popular-support-for-social-movements.pdf">one set of experiments</a> researchers showed people descriptions of protests and then measured their support for the protesters and the cause. Some participants read articles describing moderate protests such as peaceful marches. Others read articles describing more extreme and sometimes violent protests, for example a fictitious action in which animal rights activists drugged a security guard in order to break into a lab and remove animals.</p>
<p>Protesters who undertook extreme actions were perceived to be more immoral, and participants reported lower levels of emotional connection and social identification with these “extreme” protesters. The effects of this kind of action on support for the cause were somewhat mixed (and negative effects may be specific to actions that incorporate the threat of violence). </p>
<p>Overall, these results paint a picture of the so-called activist’s dilemma: activists must choose between moderate actions that are largely ignored and more extreme actions that succeed in gaining attention, but may be counterproductive to their aims as they tend to make people think less of the protesters.</p>
<p>Activists themselves tend to offer a different perspective: they say that accepting personal unpopularity is simply the price to be paid for the media attention they rely on to “<a href="https://twitter.com/michaelmezz/status/1582184473252098049?s=20&t=dnnbkSRMmIo8_1wJuPlEMw">get the conversation going</a>” and win public support for the issue. But is this the right approach? Could activists be hurting their own cause?</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1582184473252098049"}"></div></p>
<h2>Hating protesters doesn’t affect support</h2>
<p>I’ve conducted several experiments to answer such questions, often in collaboration with students at the University of Bristol. To influence participants’ views of protesters we made use of a well-known framing effect whereby (even subtle) differences in how protests are reported have a pronounced impact, often serving to <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Benjamin-Detenber-2/publication/229694828_Framing_Effects_of_Television_News_Coverage_of_Social_Protest/links/5f5777b692851c250b9d3036/Framing-Effects-of-Television-News-Coverage-of-Social-Protest.pdf">delegitimise the protest</a>. </p>
<p>For example, the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11315449/Just-Stop-Oil-activists-throw-tomato-soup-Van-Goghs-Sunflowers.html">Daily Mail article</a> reporting the Van Gogh protest referred to it as a “stunt” which is part of a “campaign of chaos” by “rebellious eco-zealots”. The article does not mention the protesters’ demand.</p>
<p>Our experiments took advantage of this framing effect to test the relationship between attitudes to the protesters themselves and to their cause. If the public’s support for a cause depends on how they feel about the protesters, then a negative framing – which leads to less positive attitudes toward protesters – should result in lower levels of support for the demands. </p>
<p>But that’s not what we found. In fact, experimental manipulations that reduced support for the protesters had <a href="https://brookes.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=384ad6d2-e8c1-4f38-bb5f-af1e00e54fda">no impact on support for the demands of those protesters</a>.</p>
<p>We’ve replicated this finding across a range of different types of nonviolent protest, including protests about racial justice, abortion rights and climate change, and across British, American and Polish participants (this work is being prepared for publication). When members of the public say, “I agree with your cause, I just don’t like your methods,” we should take them at their word.</p>
<p>Decreasing the extent to which the public identifies with you may not be helpful for building a mass movement. But high publicity actions may actually be a very effective way to increase recruitment, given relatively few people ever become activists. The existence of a <a href="https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/1/3/pgac110/6633666?login=false#369463521">radical flank</a> also seems to increase support for more moderate factions of a social movement, by making these factions appear less radical.</p>
<h2>Protest can set the agenda</h2>
<p>Another concern may be that most of the attention obtained by radical actions is not about the issue, focusing instead on what the protesters did. However, even where this is true, the public conversation opens up the space for some discussion of the issue itself. </p>
<p>Protest plays a role in <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/agenda-seeding-how-1960s-black-protests-moved-elites-public-opinion-and-voting/136610C8C040C3D92F041BB2EFC3034C">agenda seeding</a>. It doesn’t necessarily tell people what to think, but influences what they think about. Last year’s Insulate Britain protests are a good example. In the months after the protests began on September 13 2021, the number of mentions of the word “insulation” (not “Insulate”) in UK print media doubled.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490756/original/file-20221019-24-h4zka0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graph showing mentions of 'insulation' in UK news media over time with a sharp rise between August and September 2021" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490756/original/file-20221019-24-h4zka0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490756/original/file-20221019-24-h4zka0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490756/original/file-20221019-24-h4zka0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490756/original/file-20221019-24-h4zka0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490756/original/file-20221019-24-h4zka0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490756/original/file-20221019-24-h4zka0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490756/original/file-20221019-24-h4zka0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Spot when the Insulate Britain protests began. (Author’s own research, using Factiva database to search UK broadsheet and tabloid newspapers)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Colin Davis</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some people don’t investigate the details of an issue, yet media attention may nevertheless promote the issue in their mind. A YouGov poll released in early June 2019 showed “the environment” ranked in the public’s top three most important issues for the first time. </p>
<p>Pollsters <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2019/06/05/concern-environment-record-highs">concluded</a> that the “sudden surge in concern is undoubtedly boosted by the publicity raised for the environmental cause by Extinction Rebellion” (which had recently occupied prominent sites in central London for two weeks). There’s also evidence that <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/boris-johnson-hatches-plan-to-insulate-britons-against-winter-bills-vg7xdjg3h">home insulation has risen up the policy agenda</a> since Insulate Britain’s protests.</p>
<p>Dramatic protest isn’t going away. Protagonists will continue to be the subject of (mostly) negative media attention, which will lead to widespread public disapproval. But when we look at public support for the protesters’ demands, there isn’t any compelling evidence for nonviolent protest being counterproductive. People may “shoot the messenger”, but they do – at least, sometimes – hear the message.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192901/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Colin Davis is a professor of psychology who is interested in protest both as a scientist and a practitioner. He has been active with various campaign groups including Extinction Rebellion and was arrested for a similar action earlier this year, but does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond his academic appointment. </span></em></p>People want to shoot the messenger, but they do hear the message.Colin Davis, Chair in Cognitive Psychology, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1926612022-10-17T16:11:53Z2022-10-17T16:11:53ZThree arguments why Just Stop Oil was right to target Van Gogh’s Sunflowers<p>Waves of controversy were sparked recently when the Just Stop Oil activists <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/oil-protest-van-gogh-sunflower-soup-intl-scli-gbr/index.html">threw tomato soup</a> over Van Gogh’s Sunflowers at the National Gallery in London. Although the painting was behind glass <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/14/just-stop-oil-activists-throw-soup-at-van-goghs-sunflowers">so not damaged</a>, politicians were quick to condemn their “<a href="https://twitter.com/JamesCleverly/status/1581327788388163584?s=20&t=ACNnBMBQN9UNL-cxoRhrVg">attention-seeking</a>” vandalism while media commentators proclaimed that the act had “<a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewMarr9/status/1580879221656006656?s=20&t=ACNnBMBQN9UNL-cxoRhrVg">lost them</a>” to the cause. </p>
<p>It is perhaps with some poetic timing that I’ve just started a project that is an oral history of the <a href="https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/research-and-teaching/departments-and-schools/geography/oral-history-of-the-environmental-movement-project/">environmental movements in the UK</a>. The aim is to contribute to a greater understanding and wider public awareness of the variety of modes of engagement with environmental issues.</p>
<p>This tactic was certainly a provocative act and Van Gogh’s work is undoubtedly some of the most important artwork of modern times. However, many of these commentaries on Just Stop Oil’s actions simply just don’t hold up. </p>
<p>The main critiques of the activist stunt are that it <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/10/14/just-stop-oils-van-gogh-soup-stunt-sparks-criticism-alienating-strategy">alienates people</a> who are sympathetic to the climate cause by attacking a much-loved and important piece of art. That it smacks of <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-is-too-middle-class-heres-how-to-fix-that-123231">middle-class activism</a> and is overly performative. And, finally, that it has required “<a href="https://currentlyhq.com/personal/we-need-more-climate-protests-just-not-performative-ones/">explanation</a>”, which if you have to do, you’re losing.</p>
<p>While there is some truth to these critiques, I don’t buy them.</p>
<p>Rather than wade further into the quagmire of social media debate, here is a breakdown of the three arguments and explanations of why I think that this kind of provocative activism deserves our unwavering support.</p>
<h2>1. Art is an extension of corporate power</h2>
<p>First off, museums and art galleries have long been used by fossil fuel companies for the purposes of <a href="https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745335889/artwash/">artwashing</a> – the ethically acceptable process of funding art and culture to smooth over their very unethical corporate practices. Some of the more conscientious institutions (<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/oct/19/shells-ends-national-gallery-sponsorship-to-delight-of-campaigners">including</a> <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/c3ab1b10-ee06-4fac-abe9-1a1e4dcef39f">The National Gallery</a>) have <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/bp-ends-tate-sponsorship-2017-447041#:%7E:text=Tate%20was%20forced%20to%20disclose,year%20between%201990%20and%202006.">cut ties</a> with any sponsorship from oil companies, but others have <a href="https://www.channel4.com/news/revealed-science-museum-signed-gagging-clause-with-exhibition-sponsor-shell">doubled down</a> on it.</p>
<p>Art itself, through the <a href="https://qz.com/513625/the-new-reserve-currency-for-the-worlds-rich-is-not-actually-currency/">networks of global trading</a>, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-02/how-do-the-rich-avoid-taxes-billionaires-use-this-art-strategy?leadSource=uverify%20wall">tax avoidance</a> and the creation of <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/9783956796227/">freeports</a> (huge walled complexes where art is stored away from prying eyes and tax collectors), has become <a href="https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745338248/art-after-money-money-after-art/">totally intertwined</a> with global corporate and fossil fuel capitalism. Corporations plough money into art institutions and art pieces themselves because it buys them validity in the eyes of the public. Art becomes a shield for their more nefarious planet-destroying practices.</p>
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<p>But the art should never be considered above, or separate from, the capitalist content behind it. Millions of treasured pieces of art are now under the purview of corporate power and have <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/147192/modern-art-serves-rich">become windows</a> – beautiful windows no doubt, but still windows – into the shady practices of global capital and <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JMLC-01-2021-0002/full/html?casa_token=HAd9Kr6jD2kAAAAA:37GtlbaQIbxeoQOtXExK2-OKjvog5kYNaEv94Jwy_MF1ssCHNztVGBofMoPYjqp-NMkKE5PYOPklW_nmDBelpT8QQpgo6cEAmp_vF_Ydv6DNIL8h1Q">international tax avoidance</a>. As hard as it is to stomach sometimes, art pieces, in this way, become extensions of corporate power and hence are legitimate targets of climate activism.</p>
<h2>2. Fighting class oppression and climate change is the same</h2>
<p>The second critique, often coming from the left, accuses climate activism of being inherently middle-class. Groups, they argue, are populated by white people and the “mess” they create (be that with soup on paintings or <a href="https://twitter.com/Taj_Ali1/status/1581332937475207169?s=20&t=4ELyikRjs5qmUWZuNYYl6g">milk on supermarket floors</a>) is often cleared up by working-class cleaning staff. </p>
<p>There is truth in these arguments, which are often missing from the justification of these activist practices. However, taking a more holistic approach, social and economic justice is a fundamental pillar of climate justice – you cannot have <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/cop26-tackling-climate-breakdown-and-delivering-economic-justice-must-go-hand-in-hand/">one without the other</a>. The Just Stop Oil activists who defaced the Van Gogh recognised these arguments in part when <a href="https://twitter.com/JustStop_Oil/status/1580883249228046336?s=20&t=x0HvtkQci8bXDeUjY0EFQw">they said</a> that many people “can’t afford to even buy and heat soup because of the energy crisis”.</p>
<p>“Solving” the climate crisis demands total system change. As <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-strikes-greta-thunberg-calls-for-system-change-not-climate-change-heres-what-that-could-look-like-112891">Greta Thunberg</a> and other prominent voices have constantly said. Capitalism will not solve the problem, it only makes it worse. Capitalism has the oppression of the working class as its core engine. So, fighting against the changing climate means also fighting capitalism’s class (and indeed, racial, gendered and ableist) imbalance. The two are, and need to continue to be, one.</p>
<h2>3. Direct action is important</h2>
<p>Finally, some people have wheeled out the phrase “if you’re explaining yourself, you’re losing”. Again, there is a kernel of truth to that, but the severity of the climate catastrophe needs no further explanation. </p>
<p>Explaining is not the point of direct action. If you need to be “won over” by the argument, then you’re clearly not doing enough. </p>
<p>Just Stop Oil’s action with soup on Sunflowers was to symbolise that we’re attacking something we love. The level of ire at those symbolically ruining – remember, it was behind glass so has not be destroyed – a precious art piece should be given a million-fold to those who are actually ruining our precious planet.</p>
<p>Direct climate action will only increase as the situation worsens and our governments continue to actively make things worse with new mines, fracking and new <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/oct/07/uk-offers-new-north-sea-oil-and-gas-licences-despite-climate-concerns">oil drilling contracts</a>. <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/books/3665-how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline">Destroying pipelines</a>, <a href="https://www.insider.com/laver-cup-climate-change-activist-sets-his-arm-on-fire-on-court-2022-9">demanding an end to private jets</a> and other direct action against fossil fuel burning infrastructures are important acts in this regard. They highlight how art is also part of that infrastructure and is therefore equally vital.</p>
<p>The current crop of climate activists –- Just Stop Oil, Extinction Rebellion, Insulate Britain etc – will forge their own path because that is what activists need to do to make their points heard. But for all the reasons outlined above, understanding the history (and their successes and failures) will be important to help build a coherent, united and effective climate movement. </p>
<p>That cohesive movement will need art yes, but not as a conduit for the very capitalist vehicles that are destroying our beautiful planet. As Van Gogh himself said: </p>
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<p>…it is not the language of painters but the language of nature which one should listen to, the feeling for the things themselves, for reality is more important than the feeling for pictures.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Oli Mould does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It might be provocative but this sort of direct action is important.Oli Mould, Reader in Human Geography, Royal Holloway University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1855592022-06-27T12:29:27Z2022-06-27T12:29:27ZFive ways you can get involved in fighting for women’s reproductive rights<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470609/original/file-20220623-51718-p3n7uq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Participants on a Women's March rally in front of San Francisco's City Hall in 2019.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/january-19-2019-san-francisco-ca-1398376445">Sundry Photography | Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since 2021, hard-won <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-supreme-courts-ruling-on-abortion-means-for-womens-health-and-well-being-4-essential-reads-185543">women’s reproductive rights</a> and bodily autonomy have been rolled back in the US in an alarming fashion. With <a href="https://theconversation.com/state-courts-from-oregon-to-georgia-will-now-decide-who-if-anyone-can-get-an-abortion-under-50-different-state-constitutions-184298">state bans</a> on abortion past as little as six weeks – as <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/09/01/1033171800/texas-abortion-ban-supreme-court-?t=1655983956723">was passed in Texas</a> on September 1, 2021 – and now the Supreme Court’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/us-supreme-court-overturns-roe-v-wade-but-for-abortion-opponents-this-is-just-the-beginning-185768">overturning of the 1973 Roe v Wade</a> ruling, it is easy to imagine that we have slipped and fallen into a Handmaid’s Tale-style dystopia. </p>
<p>As such misogynist ideology becomes entrenched, it is natural to feel hopeless. A recent surge in activist TikToks suggests, however, a way forward. People have been pairing a sample from the song Paris by US electro duo The Chainsmokers with the hashtag <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@kris10isblue/video/7096542106386386222">#ifwegodownthenwegodowntogether</a>, messages of solidarity and crucial information. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14742837.2018.1555457">My research shows</a> that people often think that activism requires a certain type of direct action. But such narrow definitions of activism prevent people from taking part. They also typically harm those who face the biggest structural disadvantages and related barriers to getting involved in direct action. </p>
<p>Instead, remembering that doing something is always better than doing nothing – and widening our definition of what activism can be – is helpful. Here is a non-exhaustive list of ideas of how we can support our sisters across the pond and further the global fight for women’s reproductive rights.</p>
<h2>Raise awareness</h2>
<p>Research shows that the more people are informed about an issue, the more it is possible to <a href="https://journals.lwbooks.co.uk/newformations/vol-2015-issue-87/abstract-8670/">shift dominant perspectives</a>. The idea is to destigmatise talking about abortion, so that it becomes normalised as an issue relating to women’s health and reproductive rights. This reduces the stigma around abortion and keeps the issue in the public sphere, demonstrating how “the personal is political”. </p>
<p>Social media has <a href="https://www.mic.com/articles/80229/23-inspiring-feminist-digital-campaigns-that-changed-the-world">repeatedly</a> been shown to be a good way of sharing information, whether that is via memes that distil key philosophical arguments for abortion into bite-size graphics and words or through linking to news articles, petitions, feminist charities and campaigns. </p>
<p>Having conversations with friends and family can be just as instrumental. Raising awareness and destigmatising abortion enables us to better fight for women’s reproductive rights so that they are not hidden out of sight and easier to attack. </p>
<h2>Join a local pro-choice group or set up your own</h2>
<p>I was part of a pro-choice group in Nottingham, UK, which counters anti-abortion activism outside of hospitals and clinics. We positioned our bodies to block out the anti-abortion messages and provided a friendly face and chaperone for any woman seeking an abortion. We also provided leaflets, directing women to neutral pregnancy and abortion advice services such as the <a href="https://www.bpas.org/">British Pregnancy Advisory Service</a>. </p>
<p>Social media can be a good place to look for such local groups but if you don’t find one, team up with some friends and start it yourself. That’s how the Nottingham group began ten years ago and it is still going strong with nearly 1,000 local members. <a href="https://rosauk.org/voices-from-the-frontline/grassroots-campaigning/">Grassroots campaigning</a> – from social housing activist group <a href="https://focuse15.org/">Focus E15 Mothers</a> to the <a href="https://www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2020/07/02/new-era-redevelopment-moves-ahead-with-residents-pleased-and-happy/">New Era Tenants Association</a>, which fought to keep tenants’ homes – has <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt183pdzs">a direct impact</a> on individuals and can mobilise the wider public, having a <a href="https://commonslibrary.org/grassroots-led-campaigns-report/">significant impact</a> on society and politics. </p>
<h2>Lobby your MP and respond to government consultations</h2>
<p>Anyone can sign <a href="https://bpas-campaigns.org/campaigns/roe-v-wade/#take-action-now">parliamentary petitions</a> or write to their local MP to ask that they support women’s reproductive rights (<a href="https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP">find your MP here</a>). There is an all-party parliamentary group on sexual and reproductive health in the UK, comprising MPs and peers who raise awareness in parliament of these issues: you can <a href="https://www.fsrh.org/policy-and-media/all-party-parliamentary-group-on-sexual-and-reproductive-health/">sign up for news and events here</a>. If you’re unsure of how to formulate such a letter, charities often provide <a href="https://abortionrights.org.uk/model-letter-on-defending-and-advancing-the-law-to-mp-who-defended-the-time-limit/">template letters</a> for <a href="https://england.shelter.org.uk/support_us/campaigns/writing_to_your_mp">contacting MPs</a>. </p>
<p>You can also sign up to mailing lists of feminist charities and organisations, such as <a href="https://www.filia.org.uk/about-filia">Filia</a>, to be notified of any relevant government consultations. Research shows that citizen involvement in the <a href="https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/145393/3/Role_Parliamentary_Petitions_Systems_CLB_COMBINED_VERSION_FINAL.pdf">parliamentary process</a> can <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13572334.2012.706057?casa_token=HRd2UXAGziYAAAAA%3AA0Xrl5bElnQuIzI6SFrsKEdMP-Fmbu-rX_w6Tze2ZZ5CAuE-kHpLPZ8rOO73OHsDQzSsd5O3dbj0">affect policy</a>. </p>
<p>During lockdown, a temporary measure was put in place by the UK government, allowing the provision of at-home medical abortion pills. Feminist campaigning saw this crucial service extended: on March 30 2022, the <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/mps-vote-to-continue-at-home-abortion-care-introduced-in-lockdown-12578383">UK parliament voted</a> in favour of amending the Health and Care bill, making telemedicine for early medical abortions permanent in England and Wales. </p>
<h2>Provide financial support</h2>
<p>Grassroots organisations and campaigns often depend entirely on volunteers and private donations for their existence. Fundraising enables campaigns such as <a href="https://abortionrights.org.uk/">Abortion Rights</a>, the UK’s only national grassroots pro-choice campaign, to organise protests, maintain pressure on the government to support women’s reproductive rights. </p>
<p>Abortion funds provide practical financial support to help women access abortion. You can donate to the <a href="https://donate.abortionfunds.org/give/323375/#!/donation/checkout">National Network of Abortion Funds</a> to support those in the US and to <a href="https://abortion.eu/#support">Abortion Without Borders</a> to support women in Europe.</p>
<h2>Take it to the streets</h2>
<p>Protest marches have long been a way of expressing dissent – on everything from <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-first-earth-day-was-a-shot-heard-around-the-world-136210">pollution</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0962629893900105">political oppression</a> to <a href="https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/reporting-dissent-in-wartime-british-press-the-antiwar-movement-and-the-2003-iraq-war(b8aa145a-e8ae-443d-9d38-a282060ab64c)/export.html">war</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/03/us/george-floyd-protests-crowd-size.html">racism</a>. They have also consistently been a means of showing solidarity for women, from the <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-sex-power-and-anger-a-history-of-feminist-protests-in-australia-157402">suffragist marches</a> of the early 20th century to the 2017 <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-womens-march-on-washington-can-learn-from-black-lives-matter-71849">Women’s March on Washington</a>. </p>
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<img alt="A crowd with colourful banners fill a wide route." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470606/original/file-20220623-55883-rkjh6f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470606/original/file-20220623-55883-rkjh6f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470606/original/file-20220623-55883-rkjh6f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470606/original/file-20220623-55883-rkjh6f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470606/original/file-20220623-55883-rkjh6f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470606/original/file-20220623-55883-rkjh6f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470606/original/file-20220623-55883-rkjh6f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The Women’s March on Washington, January 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/washington-dc-usa-jan-21-2017-1271994529">Johnny Silvercloud | Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Four years prior to Roe v Wade, in 1969, radical feminist group Redstockings held what they called an <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/abortion-speak-out-3528238">“abortion speakout”</a> in New York City, which saw women come forward to talk about their experiences of illegal abortion. These speakout events spread across the US in response to government hearings where most of the politicians speaking about abortion – at the time – <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/23/opinion/sunday/abortion-speakout-anniversary.html">were</a> male. American political scientist Erica Chenoweth <a href="https://www.ericachenoweth.com/research/civil-resistance-what-everyone-needs-to-know">highlights</a> how fruitful this kind of non-violent civil resistance can be. </p>
<p>It is vital to continue to speak out and show solidarity to our sisters in the US. We must also continue to fight to <a href="https://www.bustle.com/life/what-is-the-uk-anti-protest-bill-how-will-it-work">protect our right to protest</a> and to prevent the encroachment of similarly regressive laws in the UK.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185559/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma Craddock received funding from e Economic and Social Research Council for her PhD research. </span></em></p>From protest marches and fundraising to parliamentary petitions and talking with friends, there are many ways to make your voice heard.Emma Craddock, Senior Lecturer in Health Research, Birmingham City UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1819772022-05-24T15:15:43Z2022-05-24T15:15:43ZClimate change: radical activists benefit social movements – history shows why<p>Wynn Bruce <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blog/wynn-bruce-fire-supreme-court-climate-change-rcna25837">set himself on fire</a> on April 22 2022 – Earth Day. His self-immolation in front of the US supreme court was a protest against inadequate action on the climate crisis. He later died of his injuries. </p>
<p>Two days earlier in the UK, climate activist Angus Rose ended his <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/apr/20/mps-to-get-scientific-briefing-on-climate-after-activists-hunger-strike">37-day hunger strike</a> when a parliamentary group finally agreed to host a briefing by the chief scientific adviser for MPs and ministers.</p>
<p>Such radical forms of protest have historically been deployed by social movements to cast a spotlight on desperate situations, when conventional legal and political responses have been deemed woefully inadequate. After decades of international negotiations, the <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGII_SummaryForPolicymakers.pdf">latest report</a> by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change yet again warned that current emissions put countries far off limiting warming to below 2°C by 2100. Severe droughts, intolerable heat, wildfires, violent storms, crop failures, sea-level rise and social turmoil are expected to <a href="https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/1/19/16908402/global-warming-2-degrees-climate-change">spiral</a> once global temperatures exceed that threshold.</p>
<p>As such, some climate activists are likely to deploy increasingly radical tactics in the years ahead. History shows that may be a good thing for the wider movement.</p>
<h2>Bodies on the line</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://theconversation.com/radical-environmentalists-are-fighting-climate-change-so-why-are-they-persecuted-107211">my research</a>, I’ve explored what motivates radical environmental activists to engage in what’s called direct action. Coined by US anarcho-feminist <a href="https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/voltairine-de-cleyre-direct-action">Voltairine de Cleyre</a>, direct action was popularised during Mahatma Gandhi’s opposition to British colonial rule in India. Its use proliferated in civil rights and anti-war demonstrations during the 1960s and 70s, namely in the form of sit-ins, marches and other forms of civil disobedience that challenged state laws. </p>
<p>Direct action is a <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781403990235_1?noAccess=true">mode of protest</a> that takes place outside of parliamentary politics. It encompasses a range of tactics. Within the environmental movement, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2018/09/13/europe/germany-hambach-forest-police-intl/index.html">Hambach Forest</a> activists in Germany have used direct action to occupy old-growth forests set for clear-cutting. Extinction Rebellion has <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/climate-change-protesters-blockade-uk-oil-facility-latest-action-2022-04-04/">blocked roads and oil depots</a> across the UK. More controversial tactics include acts of sabotage, such as dismantling machinery. In 1986, for instance, two Sea Shepherd Conservation Society engineers <a href="https://seashepherd.org/announcement/1986-2/">destroyed half of Iceland’s whaling fleet</a> and a processing station in Reykjavik harbour, effectively shutting down the country’s commercial whaling industry for 16 years.</p>
<p>These tactics are designed to disrupt the status quo and halt an antagonistic system or process at its source. They also seek to draw media and public attention to the issue. But they tend to be adopted as a means of last resort, when a situation is urgent and more conventional modes of political participation, like voting and lobbying, are deemed insufficient.</p>
<h2>The radical flank effect</h2>
<p>Wynn Bruce’s self-immolation recalls a similar protest in the mid-20th century. <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/rearvision/the-history-of-self-immolation/7463408">Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức</a> set himself on fire in 1963 to highlight the persecution of religious minorities by the US-backed regime in South Vietnam. </p>
<p>Such radical acts of self-sacrifice have often take place where the mobilisation of a social movement is <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14742837.2018.1468245?casa_token=vkcMU_9ZUf8AAAAA:p1JF1447GfwQ4rXQ4sZWvYooAczETMtHdAqS5UkOSL1wyxRL-o-CDqmBH5EW5YI9vO_Pb2YcUCglDA">already underway</a>. This dynamic is known as the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9780470674871.wbespm174">radical flank effect</a>. When the efforts of the movement are frustrated, radical segments emerge and deploy more disruptive tactics. These serve to render the demands of their mainstream counterparts more palatable in the eyes of governments and the public, effectively advancing the entire movement’s agenda. </p>
<p>In the late 1950s, alongside the prospects of armed self-defence by Malcolm X and the Black Panthers, Martin Luther King Jr’s calls for dismantling segregation laws appeared less radical. <a href="https://www.bl.uk/votes-for-women/articles/suffragettes-violence-and-militancy">Militant suffragettes</a> destroying property made granting women the vote seem a reasonable concession. And suffragette <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/may/26/emily-davison-suffragette-death-derby-1913">Emily Davison’s death</a> after colliding with a horse at the 1913 Epsom Derby, whether intentional or not, attracted global attention to the struggle for universal suffrage. </p>
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<p>Radical forms of resistance – from property destruction to hunger strikes and self-immolation – serve a similar function in the environmental movement. They highlight the urgency of the climate crisis as well as the reasonableness of <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/50125/4-demands-for-cop26-time-now/">demands by mainstream organisations</a>, such as the need to swiftly phase out fossil fuel projects.</p>
<p>Of course, there is always a risk that more extreme tactics might alienate certain segments of the public. But <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2019/12/12/environmental-direct-action-may-be-forgiven-by-voters-if-they-can-see-that-conventional-politics-are-not-working/">research suggests</a> that people tend to be more sympathetic towards radical tactics when they see that conventional political solutions are failing.</p>
<p>Sociologists Paweł Żuk and Piotr Żuk <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14742837.2018.1468245?casa_token=Ss_-8-y8VkkAAAAA%3AS5DLBEi9VbUw5a0QhEQjgOnDLsuvwVLUQUC-PBtpjWwgXD2eNmW_hlb49twsnu0C4I-3tv-UvsgvOQ">argue that</a> tactics such as self-immolation are acts of rebellion against a deficient reality: gestures of self-sacrifice which alert observers to an entire community’s suffering. These forms of protest are especially common during times of crisis – like the unfolding climate emergency – when <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-24487-w#Sec6">the lives of millions</a> – human and nonhuman – may be threatened.</p>
<p>These modes of environmental protest are also powerful articulations of grief over the narrowing prospects of a viable future for many of Earth’s inhabitants. In his recent book <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/books/3665-how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline">How to Blow Up a Pipeline</a> scholar-activist Andreas Malm observes that it is “better to die blowing up a pipeline than to burn impassively – but we shall hope, of course, that it never comes to this. If we resist fatalism, it might not.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181977/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heather Alberro does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Direct action can make the demands of a mainstream movement seem reasonable.Heather Alberro, Lecturer in Global Sustainable Development, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1789112022-03-09T17:28:34Z2022-03-09T17:28:34ZTyre Extinguishers: activists are deflating SUV tyres in the latest pop-up climate movement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/450998/original/file-20220309-23-1cgh9yc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5184%2C3453&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/brown-suv-car-parked-parking-beside-1331297699">JARUEK_CH/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A new direct action group calling itself <a href="https://tyreextinguishers.com/">the Tyre Extinguishers</a> recently sabotaged hundreds of sports utility vehicles (SUVs) in various wealthy parts of London and other British cities. Under cover of darkness, activists unscrewed the valve caps on tyres, placed a bean or other pulse on the valve and then returned the cap. The tyres gently deflated.</p>
<p>Why activists are targeting SUVs now can tell us as much about the failures of climate policy in the UK and elsewhere as it can about the shape of environmental protest in the wake of Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain.</p>
<p>The “mung bean trick” for deflating tyres is tried and tested. In July 2008, the Oxford Mail reported that up to 32 SUVs were <a href="https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/2406516.green-guerillas-target-4x4s/">sabotaged</a> in a similar way during nocturnal actions in three areas of the city, with anonymous notes left on the cars’ windscreens. </p>
<p>In Paris in 2005, activists used bicycle pumps to <a href="https://www.wired.com/2005/09/in-france-push-comes-to-suv/">deflate tyres</a>, again at night, again in affluent neighbourhoods, again leaving anonymous notes. In both cases, activists were careful to avoid causing physical damage. Now it’s the Tyre Extinguishers who are deflating SUV tyres. </p>
<p>In the early 2000s, SUVs were still a relative rarity. But by the end of 2010s, almost half of all cars sold each year in the US and one-third of the cars sold in Europe were <a href="https://www.iea.org/commentaries/growing-preference-for-suvs-challenges-emissions-reductions-in-passenger-car-market">SUVs</a>. </p>
<p>In 2019, the International Energy Agency <a href="https://www.iea.org/commentaries/growing-preference-for-suvs-challenges-emissions-reductions-in-passenger-car-market">reported</a> that rising SUV sales were the second-largest contributor to the increase in global CO₂ emissions between 2010 and 2018 after the power sector. If SUV drivers were a nation, they would rank <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2019/oct/25/suvs-second-biggest-cause-of-emissions-rise-figures-reveal">seventh in the world</a> for carbon emissions.</p>
<p>At the same time, the Tyre Extinguishers’ <a href="http://www.tyreextinguishers.com/how-to-deflate-an-suv-tyre">DIY model of activism</a> has never been easier to propagate. “Want to get involved? It’s simple – grab some leaflets, grab some lentils and off you go! Instructions on our website,” chirps the <a href="https://twitter.com/T_Extinguishers/status/1501475807734243330?s=20&t=nDGd_59TQQrj6veJA6S6GA">group’s Twitter feed</a>.</p>
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<h2>Changing activist strategy</h2>
<p>Though the actions led by the Tyre Extinguishers have numerous precedents, the group’s recent appearance in the UK’s climate movement does mark a change of strategy. </p>
<p>Extinction Rebellion (XR), <a href="https://theconversation.com/extinction-rebellion-im-an-academic-embracing-direct-action-to-stop-climate-change-107037">beginning in 2018</a>, hoped to create an expanding wave of mobilisations to force governments to introduce new <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-48359-3">processes</a> for democratically deciding the course of climate action. XR attempted to circumvent existing protest networks, with its message (at least initially) aimed at those who <a href="https://cusp.ac.uk/themes/p/xr-study/">did not consider themselves activists</a>.</p>
<p>In contrast, activists in the Tyre Extinguishers have more in common with groups that have appeared after XR, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/insulate-britain-blocking-roads-will-alienate-some-people-but-its-still-likely-to-be-effective-168021">Insulate Britain</a>, whose members blockaded motorways in autumn 2021 to demand government action on the country’s energy inefficient housing. These are what we might call pop-up groups, designed to draw short-term media attention to specific issues, rather than develop broad-based, long-lasting campaigns. </p>
<p>After a winter of planning, climate activists are likely to continue grabbing headlines throughout spring 2022. XR, along with its sister group, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/14/just-stop-oil-activist-direct-action-against-uk-oil-infrastructure-target-petrol-stations-depots-refineries">Just Stop Oil</a>, threaten <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/extinction-rebellion-uk-oil-refineries-ukraine-b2031777.html">disruption</a> to UK oil refineries, fuel depots and petrol stations. Their demands are for the government to stop all new investments in fossil fuel extraction.</p>
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<img alt="An industrial scene with three cooling towers and various chimneys lit up with yellow lights." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451000/original/file-20220309-18-ikixn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451000/original/file-20220309-18-ikixn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451000/original/file-20220309-18-ikixn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451000/original/file-20220309-18-ikixn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451000/original/file-20220309-18-ikixn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451000/original/file-20220309-18-ikixn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451000/original/file-20220309-18-ikixn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">UK-based activists have threatened to block oil refineries in April 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/grangemouth-refinery-scotland-327145709">Orxy/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>The Tyre Extinguishers explicitly targeted a specific class of what they consider anti-social individuals. Nevertheless, that the group’s action is covert and (so far at least) sporadic is itself telling. </p>
<p>In his book <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/books/3665-how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline">How to Blow up a Pipeline</a>, Lund University professor of human ecology Andreas Malm asked at what point climate activists will stop fetishising absolute non-violence and start campaigns of sabotage. Perhaps more important is the question that Malm doesn’t ask: at what point will the climate movement be strong enough to be able to carry out such a campaign, should it choose to do so?</p>
<p>Given the mode of action of the Tyre Extinguishers, the answer on both counts is: almost certainly not yet.</p>
<h2>The moral economy of SUVs</h2>
<p>For now, the Tyre Extinguishers will doubtless be sustained by <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/03/08/tyre-extinguishers-climate-group-declare-war-posh-suv-drivers/">red meat headlines</a> in the right-wing press. It’s still probable, however, that the group will deflate almost as quickly as it popped up: this is, after all, what has happened with similar groups in the past.</p>
<p>The fact that activists are once again employing these methods speaks to the failure of climate policy. Relatively simple, technical measures taken in the early 2000s would have solved the problem of polluting SUVs before it became an issue. The introduction of more stringent vehicle emissions regulations, congestion charging, or size and weight limits, would have stopped the SUV market in its tracks.</p>
<p>SUVs are important because they are so much more than metal boxes. <a href="http://i-peel.org/homepage/car/">Matthew Paterson</a>, professor of international politics at the University of Manchester, argues that the connection between freedom and driving a car has long been an ideological component of capitalism. </p>
<p>And Matthew Huber, professor of geography at Syracuse University in the US, reminds readers in his book <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/lifeblood">Lifeblood</a> that oil is not just an energy source. It generates ways of being which become culturally and politically embedded, encouraging individualism and materialism. </p>
<p>Making SUVs a focal point of climate activism advances the argument that material inequality and unfettered individual freedoms are incompatible with any serious attempt to address climate change.</p>
<p>And here lies the crux of the conflict. The freedom of those who can afford to drive what, where and when they want infringes on the freedoms of the majority to safely use public space, enjoy clean air, and live on a sustainable planet.</p>
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<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Graeme Hayes is a member of the Labour Party.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Oscar Berglund is a member of the Labour Party</span></em></p>Resurgence of SUV sabotage highlights the failure of climate policy and an evolving protest strategy.Graeme Hayes, Reader in Political Sociology, Aston UniversityOscar Berglund, Lecturer in International Public and Social Policy, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1680212021-09-20T16:18:29Z2021-09-20T16:18:29ZInsulate Britain: blocking roads will alienate some people – but it’s still likely to be effective<p>Insulate Britain is a campaign group urging government action on greenhouse gas emissions and fuel poverty in the country’s housing stock. Their methods have recently landed them in the news, as activists <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/15/green-protesters-bring-m25-traffic-to-a-halt-for-second-time-this-week">blocked parts of the M25</a> – the motorway surrounding London – by sitting on slip roads and in the carriageway until their removal by police. </p>
<p>The long delays their protests caused drew outrage from motorists and much of the media that reported it. So what is the purpose of this kind of disruption, made popular in recent years by Extinction Rebellion (XR)?</p>
<p>The American sociologist <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Social-Movements-1768---2018/Tilly-Castaneda-Wood/p/book/9780367076085?gclid=CjwKCAjw-ZCKBhBkEiwAM4qfF0VHBNbgJLgg2hMg9eqk7tSFD_Hci0NBC6ArrHa0nRe4eOo8KsdRexoC3LUQAvD_BwE">Charles Tilly</a> argued that all protest actions were what he called WUNC displays: shows of worthiness, unity, numbers and commitment. The goal was not to stop or make something happen directly, but to demonstrate the strength and appeal and values of the protesters, so that both those in power and the general public would listen to their message.</p>
<p>Direct action groups tend to be slightly different from traditional social movements: their actions typically carry higher risks, and they tend to have fewer organisational resources. While they are very committed, being “respectable” isn’t necessarily so important, and the actions are typically carried out by relatively small numbers of people. Creating disruption helps make up for these shortcomings.</p>
<h2>Novelty and attention</h2>
<p>Protest is the language of people denied access to power – it is designed to draw attention, to be seen and heard. It is much more likely for protesters to achieve something if they inconvenience others in the process, rather than (as more established groups tend to do) leading a march or a demo. Many activists in Britain drew that lesson from the massive anti-Iraq war protests of 2003, which mobilised so many people and yet achieved little. </p>
<p>Recently, <a href="https://theconversation.com/decade-of-dissent-how-protest-is-shaking-the-uk-and-why-its-likely-to-continue-125843">researchers</a> have shown this to be true by comparing various kinds of protest over the past decade. Strikes, sit-ins, occupations and blockades have proven more likely to achieve some degree of success than less disruptive protests such as marches, demos or petitions.</p>
<p>One reason for the efficiency of disruption is that it is much more likely to provide press coverage, particularly when it is novel. It’s instructive to compare the Insulate Britain protests with the recent Extinction Rebellion protests. In April 2019, XR were able to garner widespread media and political attention by occupying central London for nearly two weeks. Since then however, doing the same thing has brought diminishing returns: the <a href="https://www.cusp.ac.uk/themes/p/blog-gh-xr-september-2020/">police are better prepared</a>, the actions are less disruptive, they mobilise fewer people, and the media has turned elsewhere.</p>
<p>Yet people stopping traffic on the M25 <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9999901/Priti-Patel-orders-police-decisive-action-against-Insulate-Britain-M25-protest.html">has attracted attention</a>. And the small group of activists have managed to get their demands – insulate all social housing by 2025 and all homes by 2030 – printed in <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/16126456/protest-group-insulate-britain/">national newspapers</a>. Their clear demands are an evolution of XR’s preference for leaving details of what policies are needed to tackle climate change to a future citizens’ assembly.</p>
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<img alt="A worker in blue overalls rolls out wool in an attic." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422112/original/file-20210920-13-1fa6bwv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422112/original/file-20210920-13-1fa6bwv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422112/original/file-20210920-13-1fa6bwv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422112/original/file-20210920-13-1fa6bwv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422112/original/file-20210920-13-1fa6bwv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422112/original/file-20210920-13-1fa6bwv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422112/original/file-20210920-13-1fa6bwv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A nationwide retrofit and insulation campaign could slash emissions and fuel poverty.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/worker-insulate-attic-mineral-wool-1898667700">Irin-k/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>Is annoying people worthwhile?</h2>
<p>Critics say that blocking roads hurts vulnerable people. In this case, talk radio hosts highlighted delays to <a href="https://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/nick-ferrari/m25-insulate-britain-furious-mother/">one girl’s taxi journey</a> to her special needs school. In the case of anti-fracking activists who blocked the A583 in Lancashire in July 2017, the trial judge argued that the inconvenience caused – the police had to set up a contraflow – justified sending three of them to jail on a <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/fracking-protesters-jailed-cuadrilla-little-plumpton-lancashire-shale-gas-drilling-a8556331.html">public nuisance charge</a>.</p>
<p>But as any motorist can tell you, these things happen every day. If you drive a car to work, you’ll know how often you are delayed, by accidents, roadworks, sheer weight of traffic.</p>
<p>Other critics will point to the confused logic of blocking roads for the cause of insulating homes. There is, indeed, little connection between the two, unlike activists <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jun/19/students-protest-at-science-museum-over-sponsorship-by-shell">occupying the Science Museum</a> to protest Shell’s sponsorship of its climate change exhibition, or blockades of fracking sites. But then again, there isn’t much of a direct connection between marching through London and demanding that British forces don’t invade Iraq, either.</p>
<p>Where groups engage in more indirect forms of disruption, it’s necessary to do more behind the scenes for the protest to make sense, including making the link explicit for onlookers. <a href="https://www.insulatebritain.com/">Insulate Britain</a> held banners with their name and logo – a quick search on the web takes you to a website outlining what the group wants. It is, in other words, all about the target audience, the public, which activists reach through the media. Nothing will be achieved there and then. Britain’s homes will not be insulated as a result of this particular protest.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/five-numbers-that-lay-bare-the-mammoth-effort-needed-to-insulate-britains-homes-162540">Five numbers that lay bare the mammoth effort needed to insulate Britain's homes</a>
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<p>Of course, disruptive protest annoys people, and protesters sometimes lose support because of this. YouGov measured public support for XR recently and found that nearly half of those polled have a <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/survey-results/daily/2021/09/03/3ee46/1">negative opinion of the group</a>. But broad popularity isn’t all that relevant. Direct action groups aren’t running for elections. They don’t need to be supported by a majority. At least 73% of those polled had heard of XR – more than Momentum (33%), Stonewall (50%), ActionAid (60%), or the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (64%).</p>
<p>What Insulate Britain want is to highlight political inertia and force the government to take action. And it is unlikely that people will be against insulating homes just because they get annoyed at protesters. An estimated <a href="https://www.nea.org.uk/articles/what-is-fuel-poverty/?parent=about-us">four million UK households</a> currently live in fuel poverty. Insulating homes is an essential part of lowering Britain’s emissions – and saving British households a lot of money. So, while Insulate Britain may well not be popular, their strategy appears to be to take the hit among some groups who might be irked by their methods in order to get home insulation in the news and up the government’s agenda.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168021/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Oscar Berglund is a member of the Labour Party.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Graeme Hayes is a member of the Labour Party.</span></em></p>Climate activists don’t have to be popular to achieve their goals.Oscar Berglund, Lecturer in International Public and Social Policy, University of BristolGraeme Hayes, Reader in Political Sociology, Aston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1552762021-03-10T17:32:11Z2021-03-10T17:32:11Z‘Blockadia’ helped cancel the Keystone XL pipeline — and could change mainstream environmentalism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388831/original/file-20210310-14-xe73jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=251%2C99%2C3631%2C1757&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The direct confrontational tactics adopted by environmental activists over the past decade have transformed the global climate movement.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Despite Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent comment that Canada and the United States <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-meet-the-press-vaccines-saudi-arabia-keystone-1.5931364">will move forward after the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline project</a>, the public debate on the fate of Alberta’s troubled bitumen sector still burns. </p>
<p>Back on Jan. 20, U.S. President Joe Biden <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-protecting-public-health-and-environment-and-restoring-science-to-tackle-climate-crisis/">reversed the approval of the project</a>, fulfilling one of his election promises. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney called the decision a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/27/alberta-leader-says-bidens-move-to-cancel-keystone-pipeline-a-gut-punch">gut punch</a>.”</p>
<p>For environmental groups, the cancellation of Keystone XL reset American climate policy that had been hit hard by the Trump administration. More crucially, it was a “<a href="https://350.org/press-release/biden-to-stop-keystone-xl/">people-powered victory</a>” following more than 10 years of grassroots action that drew on economic and legal means to stop the pipeline. </p>
<p>Their <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/climate-and-environment/environmental-groups-keep-fighting-kxl-despite-biden-s-promise-to-block-pipeline-1.5221397">sustained political pressure</a> was a notable contributing factor to Biden’s decision. Many members of the coalition against Keystone XL opted for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-015-9289-0">direct confrontational tactics, such as marches, mass arrests, lockdowns and blockades</a> that went beyond the strategies typically used by environmental groups. </p>
<p>Known as “blockadia,” these tactics have transformed the global climate movement in substantive ways — and it may surge once again after COVID-19 lockdowns are relaxed and lifted. </p>
<h2>The rise of blockadia</h2>
<p>Naomi Klein popularized the term “blockadia” in her book <a href="https://naomiklein.org/this-changes-everything/"><em>This Changes Everything</em></a>. She writes that blockadia is the “roving transnational conflict zone […] where ‘regular’ people […] are trying to stop this era of extreme extraction with their bodies or in the courts.” </p>
<p>Beginning with a series of small direct actions that put emphasis on social justice to the environmental movement, <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/environment/2013/01/12/welcome-to-blockadia-enbridge-transcanada-tar-sands/">Blockadia was a “web of campaigns” local activists launched against oilsands pipelines, including Keystone XL and the Northern Gateway</a> in the early 2010s. </p>
<p>At the time, other social movements such as <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/democracy/2013/01/11/idle-no-more-rises-to-defend-ancestral-lands-and-fight-climate-change-bill-mckibben/">Idle No More</a> were also using confrontational tactics to stop the flow of fossil fuels and disrupt the business-as-usual mode preferred by many big corporations. The movement established a new paradigm in mainstream North American environmentalism. </p>
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<img alt="A large group of people gather in the snow holding the flags of Indigenous nations." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388825/original/file-20210310-19-1qb4gxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388825/original/file-20210310-19-1qb4gxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388825/original/file-20210310-19-1qb4gxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388825/original/file-20210310-19-1qb4gxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388825/original/file-20210310-19-1qb4gxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388825/original/file-20210310-19-1qb4gxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388825/original/file-20210310-19-1qb4gxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Military veterans and Indigenous elders stop for a ceremonial prayer during a march to a spot near the Dakota Access oil pipeline site in Cannon Ball, N.D., in December 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/David Goldman)</span></span>
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<p>Conventional environmental campaigns are marked by eye-catching celebrity environmentalism, advocacy activities targeting law makers and “not in my backyard” movements motivated by local concerns. Although blockadia has incorporated these strategies, the spread and success of it indicates three major developments. </p>
<p>First, participants of blockadia think more in terms of <a href="https://eeb.org/blockadia-map-reveals-global-rise-of-anti-fossil-fuel-blockades/">what is legitimate than what is legal</a>. Consequently, confrontational tactics and civil disobedience actions are legitimized by an “us versus them” framing. Blockadia is mobilized by a sense of planetary emergency, further radicalizing environmentalism.</p>
<p>Second, blockadia strives to combine environmental and social justice concerns. This is arguably why movements under this umbrella term have led to the formation of unexpected political coalitions. Consider, for instance, the <a href="https://truthout.org/articles/cowboy-indian-solidarity-challenges-the-keystone-xl/">alliance of ranchers and Indigenous communities formed during the fight against Keystone XL</a>, as well as the solidarity with the Idle No More movement <a href="https://doi.org/10.22230/cjc.2015v40n4a2958">non-Indigenous peoples have expressed on social media</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fridaysforfuture-when-youth-push-the-environmental-movement-towards-climate-justice-115694">#Fridaysforfuture: When youth push the environmental movement towards climate justice</a>
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<p>Third, blockadia is decentralized. Despite outspoken activists like Naomi Klein and Bill McKibben, small local organizations brought together by shared environmental concerns drive the success of blockadia. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2015.1105177">Social media</a> played a crucial role in coalition-building among these organizations. </p>
<p>In the case of transnational resistance to Keystone XL, organizations such as <a href="https://actionnetwork.org/groups/nokxl-promise-to-protect">the Promise to Protect coalition</a> are fighting together for globally minded local concerns. Their opposition is motivated by a range of things, from the threat of potential spills or the risk to local waterways, but they are all aware of the global implications of their local actions. In the words of environmental researcher <a href="https://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/search/publication/8982818">Meike Vedder</a>, the rise of blockadia indicates a shift from “not in my backyard” to “not on my planet.” </p>
<h2>The future of environmental activism</h2>
<p>The collective efforts of diverse groups have not only contributed to the delays and cancellations of high-profile pipeline projects like Keystone XL and Northern Gateway, they have been growing around the globe as well. </p>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://theconversation.com/ca/podcasts">Click here to listen to Don’t Call Me Resilient</a></span>
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<p><a href="https://ejatlas.org/">The Environmental Justice Atlas project</a>, launched in 2015, has documented over 3,000 environmental conflicts around the globe. Many of them echo blockadia’s populist, pro-democractic push for fossil fuel divestment and a “just transition.” </p>
<p>Whether blockadia is able to fundamentally shift the dynamics of mainstream environmentalism remains uncertain. It will depend on the ability of blockadia-inspired actions to transform local concerns into broader quests for environmental and social justice. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-build-support-for-ambitious-climate-action-in-4-steps-155636">How to build support for ambitious climate action in 4 steps</a>
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<p>The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18922-7">temporarily decreased global carbon dioxide emissions</a> and prompted ongoing public conversations on “<a href="https://www.resilientrecovery.ca/">resilient recovery</a>.” Blockadia could bounce back when lockdown measures are lifted. </p>
<p>The key lesson offered by the Keystone XL cancellation to Canadian energy politics is: if policies won’t address populist demands for radical departure from subsidizing the oil and gas sector, the public anger on climate inaction will carry on. Although blockadia began as an anti-Keystone XL campaign, it is likely to continue to disrupt the established policy discussions on Canada’s commitment to taking action on climate change. </p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sibo Chen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A web of local environmental action campaigns launched against oilsands pipelines a decade ago helped bring an end to Keystone XL.Sibo Chen, Assistant Professor, School of Professional Communication, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1306562020-01-29T13:29:14Z2020-01-29T13:29:14ZClimate action shouldn’t mean choosing between personal and political responsibility<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312490/original/file-20200129-92954-15mnp76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Montreal climate march, September 27 2019.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/montreal-quebec-canada-september-27-2019-1516078307">Maria Merlos/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Can your individual behaviour make a real <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-yes-your-individual-action-does-make-a-difference-115169">difference to the environment</a>? And should you be expected to voluntarily change your life in the face of our worsening <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-pandemics-biodiversity-loss-no-country-is-sufficiently-prepared-123466">environmental crises</a>? Some argue this <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-focusing-on-how-individuals-can-help-is-very-convenient-for-corporations-108546">emphasis on personal responsibility</a> is a distraction from the real culprits: companies and governments.</p>
<p>We often treat the decisions to find alternative ways of living more sustainably and to pursue political resistance against big polluters and inactive governments as separate. But our recent research found that the relationship between alternatives and resistance is really far more complex. One can often lead to the other.</p>
<p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0002716212454831">Previous studies</a> have shown that taking individual responsibility for the environment or developing green alternatives often go <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/ap.2015.27">hand in hand</a> with political action. Our research suggests that this relationship can form over time, and that when people change their lifestyles for environmental reasons this can galvanise their political action more generally. But we also found that this doesn’t always happen and that bringing the two together can be difficult.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/EE37A2794AA982B44474C73D735BB3F4/S1755773919000377a.pdf/gateway_or_getaway_testing_the_link_between_lifestyle_politics_and_other_modes_of_political_participation.pdf">first study</a>, carried out with Soetkin Verhaegen of UCLouvain in Belgium, looked at the environmental actions of a group of over 1,500 politically interested Belgians between 2017 and 2018. We found that citizens who took individual actions such as buying ethical products, changing how they travelled or producing their own food or energy, became more politically active over time. This included interacting with political institutions (for example, contacting elected politicians) and other actions such as taking part in protests.</p>
<p>Our research suggests that taking individual responsibility for the environment increases your concern for it, which in turn motivates you to participate in other forms of action. While the effect was quite small, this seems to be good news for environmental movements. It shows that when people (at least the politically interested ones) can be motivated to adopt modest lifestyle changes, they can, in turn, become politically active in more a general sense.</p>
<p>Yet on a practical level, trying to encourage both individual alternatives and political resistance isn’t easy, as we found in <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14742837.2019.1708311?fbclid=IwAR23PNebw_YtnZReA2cY11JRUexuaCSKAe_U-l_vFQ0cMH9UNlDTl2r8eIk">our study</a> of two organisations promoting local food and energy systems in Manchester in the UK. As well as having limited time, the organisations found political activism sometimes conflicted with their aim of promoting alternative lifestyle projects to the broadest possible audience. As one interviewee put it: “If we’re trying to influence the uptake of solutions, then being seen as the opposition … isn’t particularly productive.” </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312500/original/file-20200129-92987-sx3fnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312500/original/file-20200129-92987-sx3fnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312500/original/file-20200129-92987-sx3fnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312500/original/file-20200129-92987-sx3fnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312500/original/file-20200129-92987-sx3fnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312500/original/file-20200129-92987-sx3fnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312500/original/file-20200129-92987-sx3fnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The personal can become political.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/ottawa-canada-sep-17-unidentified-occupy-113097916">Paul McKinnon/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>However, we’ve also seen how bringing alternatives and resistance together can be done, and that its success can depend on location. In a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1468-2427.12860?fbclid=IwAR3mAVlZZh2vhS3BdVnnegePLqy39oHJAvPZAqjQJXIP74VEeoZAY4la65o">series of in-depth interviews</a> with environmental organisers in Bristol, we found the activists strongly benefited from their city’s compact size and layout (when compared to Manchester). Being more likely to bump into people from other activist groups means that, according to one interviewee, “your socialising is political”.</p>
<p>The result was that activists in Bristol were better at maintaining relationships between different groups and at keeping the social side of activism going than in Manchester. This enabled a crossover of participants between the alternatives and resistance sides of the movement.</p>
<p>Some started growing their own food and ended up defending their allotments against urban developments. Others who were initially protesting against supermarkets ended up in a food-growing scheme.</p>
<p>Pursuing alternatives also helped sustain the resistance activities. This was both because the alternatives often involved a more positive experience and because they made it easier to point to viable solutions during environmental protests.</p>
<h2>Increasing involvement</h2>
<p>So from a campaigner’s point of view, there’s little evidence that promoting alternative lifestyle choices and political resistance are mutually exclusive. In fact, in many cases the two feed into each other in positive ways, especially in the form of spillover from participation in one form of action to another.</p>
<p>The effect we found was quite small and spillover will certainly not happen automatically. But that suggests there’s an important role for organisers to stimulate it further. Different organisations are needed to provide both personal and political activities and encourage more (and more diverse) people to get involved.</p>
<p>For most ordinary people concerned, the debate over the effectiveness of taking individual responsibility for the environment is likely to continue. Our research at least suggests that people motivating each other to take personal action doesn’t undermine a broader environmental project. But it’s still important for people to discuss what other action is needed, and to look for or even organise ways to put pressure on powerful actors to take their responsibility.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/imagine-newsletter-researchers-think-of-a-world-with-climate-action-113443?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=Imagineheader1130656">Click here to subscribe to our climate action newsletter. Climate change is inevitable. Our response to it isn’t.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130656/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joost Demoor receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (UK). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brian Doherty receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (UK).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip Catney does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New research shows changing your lifestyle for environmental reasons can lead you into political action.Joost de Moor, Post-doctoral Researcher, Department of Political Science, Stockholm UniversityBrian Doherty, Professor of Political Sociology, Keele UniversityPhilip Catney, Senior Lecturer in Politics, Keele UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1157412019-04-20T17:43:07Z2019-04-20T17:43:07ZExtinction Rebellion: disruption and arrests can bring social change<p>Extinction Rebellion burst onto everybody’s screens with disruptions and mass arrests across the UK and around the world in protest against government inaction on climate change. Radical disruptions have been at the heart of Extinction Rebellion’s activism since it was founded in 2018 – from January’s disruption of <a href="https://rebellion.earth/2019/02/17/breaking-now-extinction-rebellion-disrupts-london-fashion-week-with-swarm-roadblocks-meets-british-fashion-council/">London Fashion Week</a>, to the infamous <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/extinction-rebellion-naked-protest-house-of-commons-climate-change/">naked protest in Parliament</a> at the beginning of April. But the scale of the most recent actions has finally succeeded in forcing mainstream news cycles to start giving the politics of climate change the attention it deserves.</p>
<p>One could argue that Extinction Rebellion’s week of action was fortunately timed – the extension of Article 50 <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2019/apr/10/brexit-eu-to-decide-on-uk-extension-live-news">to October</a> has created something of a news vacuum while everyone takes a momentary breather from Brexit. Nevertheless, activists would rightly claim that climate change is the bigger looming catastrophe. </p>
<p>In October 2018, the <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/11/pr_181008_P48_spm_en.pdf">UN’s climate agency</a> published grave projections of the enormity of the challenge ahead if we are to limit the most catastrophic consequences of climate change. For both Extinction Rebellion and the Fridays for Future school strike movement, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/16/what-was-agreed-at-cop24-in-poland-and-why-did-it-take-so-long">piecemeal response</a> of nations at the UN’s annual climate change conference in Poland in December 2018 made it clear that there is no more time to lose.</p>
<p>The aim, then, is to force the issue. Through their blockades of iconic central London sites, Extinction Rebellion is keeping climate change at the forefront of the public and politicians’ lips, making the seemingly abstract problem facing all of us feel real. And rather than just warning of this climate emergency, it offers a vision of an alternative future, where a <a href="https://rebellion.earth/the-truth/demands/">Citizens’ Assembly</a> takes the lead in reducing UK emissions to net zero.</p>
<p>Perhaps inevitably, Extinction Rebellion’s actions have been met with a familiar backlash from some political commentators – witness Adam Boulton’s <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/extinction-rebellion-adam-boulton-robin-boardman-london-travel-sky-news/">sneering performance on Sky News</a>, and David Blunkett’s <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-6933701/DAVID-BLUNKETT-force-law-used-against-eco-anarchists.html">indignant authoritarianism in the Daily Mail</a>. But while activists say <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/police-told-to-use-full-force-of-law-against-heathrow-climate-change-protesters-11697820">they regret the disruption</a> caused to working people, they consider their actions a necessary evil in order to change the conversation.</p>
<p>Older activists will surely point to the impact and legacy of <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/the-dark-side-of-globalization-why-seattles-1999-protesters-were-right/282831/">1999’s Battle of Seattle</a>, when the Global Justice Movement successfully closed down the World Trade Organisation’s annual meeting. Not only was this extremely empowering for those involved, it crucially helped make resistance to a largely abstract neoliberal governance structure seem concrete and real.</p>
<p>Much like the Occupy demonstrations seven years ago, Extinction Rebellion’s latest eye-catching protests have been friendly and open, laden with artistic performances, talks and human connection. This good-natured spirit has so far meant that the movement has gained significant traction – not only on the airwaves, but on the streets too.</p>
<p>Extinction Rebellion’s efforts are aimed at building momentum and are based in political science – their website highlights that it takes just <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/01/worried-american-democracy-study-activist-techniques">3.5% of a nation’s population</a> engaged in sustained nonviolent resistance to topple a dictatorship. In the UK, that’s less than 2.5m people.
Their clear <a href="https://rebellion.earth/the-truth/about-us/">demands and principles</a> give the movement a clarity and focus that the Occupy movement may have lacked, and they are growing week by week – Extinction Rebellion says that <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-47997531">50,000 people</a> have joined the movement since the protests started.</p>
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<p>But contemporary mainstream news cycles are fast and fickle, so the movement will have to act quickly and carefully to maximise use of its new-found public platform.</p>
<h2>Danger of diminishing returns</h2>
<p>It’s extremely important that the movement’s purpose does not become overshadowed by its tactics. Extinction Rebellion has ransacked the playbook of direct action repertoires – <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-47935416">blocking roads</a>, <a href="https://www.desmog.co.uk/2019/03/09/climate-change-means-real-death-real-blood-extinction-rebellion-paints-downing-st-red">using fake blood</a>, <a href="https://rebellion.earth/2018/11/24/breaking-extinction-rebellion-funeral-service-on-parl-sq-blocks-square/">recreating funeral marches</a>, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVdl6lKxG-Q">surprise nakedness</a>. While these have so far been successful in bringing the movement’s name and cause to the fore, using such tactics ad nauseum can quickly lose the public’s imagination and support. This was evident in the Global Justice Movement of the 2000s, as the desire to recreate the euphoria of Seattle resulted in tactical “summit hopping” with diminishing returns.</p>
<p>State agencies also learn quickly how to police repeated mobilisations more ruthlessly and extremely – although Extinction Rebellion’s “trademark” repertoire, the tactical use of mass arrests, so far appears to be combating this threat effectively. Police have powers to disperse protesters, but the sheer number of people now willing to be arrested shifts the balance of power between the public and the state. For example, police have so far been unable to clear any of the four sites in central London, as spates of arrests were closely followed by new wave of protesters arriving to entrench control. The city’s police stations do not have the capacity to hold hundreds of arrested protesters for long periods, and court costs will discourage officers from pursuing charges, limiting the punitive power of the state.</p>
<p>At the same time, Extinction Rebellion’s tactics risk fetishising the act of being arrested as a symbol of participants’ commitment to the cause. The movement’s co-founder, Roger Hallam, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-47865211">recently told the BBC</a> that in order to achieve its goal of “getting in the room with government”, it may need to create a law and order crisis on the scale of 1,000 arrests. Such an arbitrary target is problematic, as it may encourage activists to take more risk in pursuit of a goal that is by no means guaranteed.</p>
<p>Even if one is critical of the politics seemingly behind many “<a href="https://greenandblackcross.org/guides/laws/5-trespass-aggravated-trespass/">aggravated trespass</a>” charges, a criminal record can be extremely costly and cause significant problems for many younger activists – especially people of colour. This contrasts with the relative risks posed to seasoned activists whose job, lifestyle or privilege <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/15/extinction-rebellion-protesters-arrested-stansted-15">allows them to ride the consequences</a>. It is crucial that Extinction Rebellion fulfils a duty of care to support those who are prepared to put their bodies on the line but, with more than <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/extinction-rebellion-protests-arrests-near-500-as-police-deploys-1000-officers-to-remove-eco-a4121861.html">900 arrested</a> already, its an expensive, high-risk game should multiple criminal charges be brought.</p>
<p>For now, Extinction Rebellion activists will consider recent events as a runaway success. They have gained visibility and traction – and have at least temporarily steered media attention away from Brexit. Most importantly, they have put climate change squarely in the middle of public conversation. Let’s hope it stays there.</p>
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/imagine-newsletter-researchers-think-of-a-world-with-climate-action-113443?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=Imagineheader1115741">Click here to subscribe to our climate action newsletter. Climate change is inevitable. Our response to it isn’t.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115741/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander Hensby does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>XR has the nation’s attention, but to build on this momentum its purpose must not become overshadowed by its tactics.Alexander Hensby, Lecturer in Sociology, University of KentLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1124122019-02-25T19:10:05Z2019-02-25T19:10:05ZThe government’s $2bn climate fund: a rebadged rehash of old mistakes<p>Australia’s new flagship Climate Solutions Fund, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-25/scott-morrison-announces-new-%242bn-climate-change-policy/10844922">announced this week</a> by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, will spend more than A$2 billion on cutting greenhouse emissions by 2030.</p>
<p>While action on climate change is welcomed, this announcement seems to be a faithful reprise of the previous Emissions Reduction Fund, which was <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-emissions-reduction-fund-is-almost-empty-it-shouldnt-be-refilled-92283">beset with problems</a>. </p>
<p>The government has put a new name on an existing scheme, while steadfastly refusing to learn from mistakes made along the way. In cruder terms, it’s slapped a gleaming coat of lipstick onto a pig of a policy.</p>
<p>Add to that the A$1.38 billion pledged today for building the Snowy 2.0 scheme – another plan hatched by one of the government’s former incarnations – and there’s not a lot of imagination on display as Morrison’s government scrambles for some much-needed climate credibility ahead of this year’s election.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-emissions-reduction-fund-is-almost-empty-it-shouldnt-be-refilled-92283">Australia's Emissions Reduction Fund is almost empty. It shouldn't be refilled</a>
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<p>Currently Australia’s main tool to try and reduce emissions is the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF), a “<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-how-does-todays-direct-action-reverse-auction-work-40152">reverse auction</a>” that lets businesses voluntarily reduce pollution and be rewarded with taxpayer cash. Successful bidders for funding have to sign a contract to reduce their pollution over several years.</p>
<p>So far, <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/climate-change/publications/emissions-reduction-fund-update">193 million tonnes of pollution reduction has been secured</a> at an average cost of A$12 per tonne. In total, around A$2.5bn will have been used to help businesses reduce pollution under the ERF’s original incarnation.</p>
<p>The Climate Solutions Fund is basically a rebranding exercise. It will build on the existing ERF but now expands the scope of participants, including allowing farmers to <a href="https://www.afr.com/news/politics/coalition-to-announce-35b-climate-solution-fund-20190224-h1bnjx">drought-proof their farms</a> and subsidising businesses to pursue energy-efficiency projects.</p>
<h2>Experience tells us it’s a bad idea</h2>
<p>The aim for any climate policy should be to reduce our emissions to the agreed 2030 levels at the lowest possible cost. Unfortunately this is unlikely to happen with the Climate Solutions Fund.</p>
<p>This fund will inherit many of the ERF’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-emissions-reduction-fund-is-almost-empty-it-shouldnt-be-refilled-92283">existing problems</a>.</p>
<p>One of the ERF’s main issues is with its so-called “safeguard mechanism”. This was set up to ensure that large polluters could not cancel out the progress achieved by the fund’s participants. But this has failed: many large polluters’ “benchmarks” (the amount of emissions they are allowed to release before being penalised) have increased over time and, consequently, much of the work done by the fund has indeed been undone. Because of this, the fund has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jun/03/up-in-smoke-what-did-taxpayers-get-for-their-2bn-emissions-fund">not given good value for money</a>, despite awarding funding to the lowest bidders.</p>
<p>There are deeper problems. The way the funding is awarded – with public funds going to project proponents who promise to do a good job – the participants inevitably know more about the details of the projects than the government does. This “informational asymmetry” may mean that businesses overquote, asking for more money than they would be prepared to accept.</p>
<p>The successful projects that have signed up may not even be genuinely “<a href="https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/108879/3/01_Burke_Undermined_by_Adverse_Selection_2016.pdf">additional</a>”, in that they may well have gone ahead regardless of whether or not they won government backing. In other words, we could be paying for something that would have happened anyway!</p>
<h2>But we know what works</h2>
<p>Economists have known for decades the best way to encourage pollution reduction. It involves putting a price on carbon. </p>
<p>Implementing a carbon tax or (more likely) a carbon trading market will give business the flexibility to choose their own pollution control measures, while also ensuring that overall emissions are reined in.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/one-year-on-from-the-carbon-price-experiment-the-rebound-in-emissions-is-clear-44782">One year on from the carbon price experiment, the rebound in emissions is clear</a>
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<p>A carbon price will spur industry to invest in cleaner technologies (and increase the potential for jobs growth in these areas) and ensure we meet our climate goals. </p>
<p>Despite prophesies of economic doom, a carbon price can be used to decarbonise the economy, simulate growth in new industries, and redistribute the revenue to ensure equity. It’s using economic levers to help the environment.</p>
<p>Putting lipstick on a pig does not change the fact that it is still a pig.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112412/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian A. MacKenzie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Scott Morrison’s pledge to spend billions on a Climate Solutions Fund is a thinly veiled rehash of the widely criticised Emissions Reduction Fund, which had much of its work undone by fine print.Ian A. MacKenzie, Senior Lecturer in Economics, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/911212018-02-15T19:55:33Z2018-02-15T19:55:33ZWhen citizens set the budget: lessons from ancient Greece<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206605/original/file-20180215-131000-kd97z6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pamphlets for participatory budgeting processes in New York , a system that does back to ancient Greece.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/neotint/6267976938">Daniel Latorre/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Today elected representatives take the tough decisions about public finances behind closed doors. In doing so, democratic politicians rely on the advice of financial bureaucrats, who, often, cater to the political needs of the elected government. Politicians rarely ask voters what they think of budget options. They are no better at explaining the reasons for a budget. Explanations are usually no more than vacuous phrases, such as “jobs and growth” or “on the move”. They never explain the difficult trade-offs that go into a budget nor their overall financial reasoning.</p>
<p>This reluctance to explain public finances was all too evident during the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/aug/07/global-financial-crisis-key-stages">global financial crisis</a>.</p>
<p>In Australia, Britain and France, centre-left governments borrowed huge sums in order to maintain private demand and, in one case, to support private banks. In each country these policies helped a lot to minimise the crisis’s human costs.</p>
<p>Yet, in the elections that followed the centre-left politicians that had introduced these policies refused properly to justify them. They feared that voters would not tolerate robust discussion about public finances. Without a justification for their generally good policies each of these government was defeated by centre-right opponents.</p>
<p>In most democracies there is the same underlying problem: elected representatives do not believe that voters can tolerate the financial truth. They assume that democracy is not good at managing public finances. For them it can only balance the budget by leaving voters in the dark.</p>
<p>For decades, we, independently, have studied democracy <a href="https://www.newdemocracy.com.au/our-work">today</a> and in the <a href="http://researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/2082">ancient past</a>. We have learned that this assumption is dead wrong. There are more and more examples of how involving ordinary voters results in better budgets.</p>
<p>In 1989, councils in poor Brazilian towns began to involve residents in setting budgets. This participatory budgeting soon spread throughout <a href="https://www.participedia.net/en/cases/participatory-budgeting-porto-alegre-2005-2007">South America</a>. It has now been <a href="http://www.in-loco.pt/upload_folder/edicoes/1279dd27-d1b1-40c9-ac77-c75f31f82ba2.pdf">successfully tried</a> in Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, the United States, Poland and Australia, and some pilot projects <a href="http://abonnes.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2014/07/03/donner-les-cles-du-budget-aux-citoyens-nouvelle-tendance-des-villes-du-monde_4449464_4355770.html.">were set up in France too</a>. Participatory budgeting is based on the <a href="https://www.publicdeliberation.net/jpd/vol8/iss2/art9/">clear principle</a> that those who will be most affected by a tough budget should be involved in setting it.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206570/original/file-20180215-131003-1pamyxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206570/original/file-20180215-131003-1pamyxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206570/original/file-20180215-131003-1pamyxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206570/original/file-20180215-131003-1pamyxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206570/original/file-20180215-131003-1pamyxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206570/original/file-20180215-131003-1pamyxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=665&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206570/original/file-20180215-131003-1pamyxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=665&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206570/original/file-20180215-131003-1pamyxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=665&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mapping of participatory budgeting in the world, 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1XSWIeYDu8G8JuwUV2KNfQ9K06EU&hl=en&ll=-3.81666561775622e-14%2C28.011100499999998&z=1">Tiago Peixoto</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In spite of such successful democratic experiments, elected representatives still shy away from involving ordinary voters in setting budgets. This is very different from what happened in ancient Athens 2,500 years ago.</p>
<h2>How the ancient Athenians did it</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://utpress.utexas.edu/books/pritchard-public-spending-democracy-classical-athens">Athenian democracy</a> ordinary citizens actually set the budget. This ancient Greek state had a solid budget, in spite of, or, we would say, because of the involvement of the citizens in taking tough budget decisions.</p>
<p>Ancient Athens was incredibly successful state. It developed democracy to a higher level than any other did before modern times. It was the leading <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/fr/academic/subjects/classical-studies/ancient-history/war-democracy-and-culture-classical-athens?format=PB#hsTH55fKzBDF8tII.97">cultural innovator</a> of classical times. Democratic Athens quickly became a <a href="http://www.usias.fr/evenements/athens-conference/">military superpower</a>. These successes did not come cheaply. They depended on Athenian democracy’s ability to raise new taxes and to control public spending.</p>
<p>Athenian democracy required frank discussions about this public spending. This requirement lay at the heart of its surprising success at balancing budgets. In this <a href="https://utpress.utexas.edu/books/pritchard-public-spending-democracy-classical-athens">direct democracy</a> assembly-goers voted for or against each policy. The Athenian assembly met forty times per year. Twenty percent of voters always turned up. There was thus a big difference from now: ordinary citizens regularly attended meetings to discuss and to decide on public finances.</p>
<p>Athenian assembly-goers expected a politician who supported a policy to estimate its cost accurately. He had to demonstrate whether it was affordable. Often he faced the counter arguments of rival politicians that it was not affordable. In response he had to say how the cost could be reduced or a new tax introduced.</p>
<p>In ancient Athens politicians certainly did not believe that ordinary voters could not tolerate the financial truth. They often convinced voters to increase taxes or to cut benefits for the sake of the greater good.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206421/original/file-20180214-174990-1xzfjkx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206421/original/file-20180214-174990-1xzfjkx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206421/original/file-20180214-174990-1xzfjkx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206421/original/file-20180214-174990-1xzfjkx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206421/original/file-20180214-174990-1xzfjkx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206421/original/file-20180214-174990-1xzfjkx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206421/original/file-20180214-174990-1xzfjkx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A horde of Athenian four-drachma coins from Turkey.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Pritchard</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Setting the budget today</h2>
<p>Today, in most participatory budgeting exercises, ordinary voters usually deliberate about only a portion of a budget. In 2014, however, a local council in Australia ran it differently. The <a href="https://www.newdemocracy.com.au/our-work/183-city-of-melbourne-people-s-panel">City of Melbourne</a> asked a group of ordinary people to help to set the entire budget of 2.5 billion euros. This group was a randomly selected cross section of local residents. The council gave this group complete access to the council’s financial records and financial bureaucrats.</p>
<p>Over three months these ordinary voters had <a href="https://www.newdemocracy.com.au/docs/activeprojects/City%20of%20Melbourne_newDemocracy%20Foundation_Project%20Outline_July2014%20-%20Revised%20Final.pdf">regular meetings</a> about this budget. After forty hours of deliberation, they were able to agree on spending priorities and to make recommendations about local taxes. They came up with budget solutions that no one had thought of before deliberating.</p>
<p>To everyone’s surprise these ordinary voters recommended tax increases and even the selling of under-utilised public assets. They also set limits for such asset sales: they judged that <a href="https://www.newdemocracy.com.au/docs/activeprojects/City%20of%20Melbourne%20Peoples%20Panel%20Recommendations%20November%202014.pdf">waste collection</a> was a vital service for the local community and so should never be sold. The City of Melbourne largely incorporated what this group had worked out into its ten-year budget.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206419/original/file-20180214-175001-hghzyc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C2%2C697%2C464&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206419/original/file-20180214-175001-hghzyc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206419/original/file-20180214-175001-hghzyc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206419/original/file-20180214-175001-hghzyc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206419/original/file-20180214-175001-hghzyc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206419/original/file-20180214-175001-hghzyc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206419/original/file-20180214-175001-hghzyc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The members of the People’s Panel who helped the City of Melbourne to set its 10-year budget.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lyn Carson</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Three important lessons</h2>
<p>From these two examples we can draw three important lessons. First, rigorous public debate about public finances is essential. In ancient Athens frank discussion weeded out unaffordable policies. It laid the groundwork for the tax increases that were needed to fund other policies. In Melbourne the debates of ordinary citizens helped the council to increase local taxes and to keep important services in public hands.</p>
<p>Second, elected representatives should not fear telling voters the financial truth. Involving ordinary voters in public-finance debates actually helps to build consensus for tough reforms. Athenian voters did not punish politicians for higher taxes because they were the ones that had voted for them in the first place.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206572/original/file-20180215-131032-gxj3z4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206572/original/file-20180215-131032-gxj3z4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206572/original/file-20180215-131032-gxj3z4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206572/original/file-20180215-131032-gxj3z4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206572/original/file-20180215-131032-gxj3z4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206572/original/file-20180215-131032-gxj3z4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206572/original/file-20180215-131032-gxj3z4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Booths and stalls installed in a street of New York for citizens to take part of the participatory budget process.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/65900513@N06/17179563782/">Costa Constantinides/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Third, ancient Greek democracy was surprisingly good at successfully resolving budgetary crises.</p>
<p>As long as modern politicians are brave enough candidly to speak about public finances, there is no reason why contemporary democracies cannot mirror the Athenian experience. Instead of trying to sell their budgets with vacuous phrases, elected representatives would do better to speak openly about budget problems and to listen to the good solutions that ordinary voters have.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91121/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David M. Pritchard receives funding from Strasbourg University's Institute for Advanced Study and the University of Queensland. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lyn Carson is Research Director of NewDemocracy.</span></em></p>Politicians assume that voters cannot face the financial truth. To democracy experts this is just wrong. Involving voters results in better budgets as shows history from ancient Greece.David M. Pritchard, Research fellow, Université de StrasbourgLyn Carson, Research Director, The newDemocracy Foundation, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/685652016-11-14T04:09:37Z2016-11-14T04:09:37ZPolicy uncertainty continues to hamper carbon emissions management<p>Uncertainty surrounding regulatory requirements is the main hindrance to carbon-intensive companies taking long-term action on managing emissions, my research finds.</p>
<p>I interviewed 32 managers directly involved in carbon emissions management from 18 of Australia’s largest companies. The interviews were conducted over two periods, in 2013 (before repeal of the carbon tax) and in early 2016 after the repeal of the carbon tax.</p>
<p>Even though almost all companies sampled for the research believe the carbon tax was an effective mechanism in driving climate change actions, political uncertainty surrounding climate change policies was seen as a significant restraint on strategy.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145703/original/image-20161114-9073-1hbuojj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145703/original/image-20161114-9073-1hbuojj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145703/original/image-20161114-9073-1hbuojj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145703/original/image-20161114-9073-1hbuojj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145703/original/image-20161114-9073-1hbuojj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145703/original/image-20161114-9073-1hbuojj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145703/original/image-20161114-9073-1hbuojj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Julia Gillard’s government introduced a fixed carbon price in 2012.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alan Porritt/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Australia has been particularly prone to uncertainty surrounding climate change policies. For example, in 2012, a <a href="http://theconversation.com/the-carbon-tax-the-experts-respond-2254">fixed price carbon tax</a> was implemented with plans to proceed subsequently to an emissions trading scheme by 2015. This was expected to put a price on Australia’s carbon pollution.</p>
<p>However, in July 2014, the Coalition government repealed the carbon tax and replaced it with the <a href="https://theconversation.com/palmer-deal-gives-green-light-to-direct-action-experts-react-33601">“Direct Action Plan”</a>, which remains the centrepiece of Australia’s current greenhouse gas reduction efforts. </p>
<p>The managers I interviewed said there were concerns over the uncertainty of emissions policies before and after the carbon tax was repealed. One manager commented:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“One of the main challenges for us, from a carbon emission management perspective, is the absence of long term government policies that appropriately prices carbon or values carbon in the national context.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Not only was there concern about long term emissions policies, managers were also concerned about uncertainty surrounding the Direct Action policy, which they saw as still evolving.</p>
<p>While regulatory requirements on emissions were the main factor driving significant management action in companies, this same factor hindered companies taking long-term action on climate change issues. For example, the financial pressure exerted through the carbon tax forced companies to take actions to manage their emissions. One manager said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The carbon tax works. Nothing would have changed. We’d be using 25% more energy today if it wasn’t for the carbon tax because nothing would have been done.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Managers also claimed uncertainty hindered them from investing in long-term projects on renewable energy. This was because they claimed it was difficult to factor in the costs of mitigating emissions to their business activities. A manager commented:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I don’t believe anyone’s factoring in carbon tax type costs in terms of looking at the cost of doing business. I think it’s too uncertain - what might happen is just so unknown that it’s pretty difficult to know what to factor in.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Managers felt it was difficult to create long term business strategies around decarbonisation if they didn’t have appropriate regulations or pricing. What managers specifically wanted from the Australian government was long-term policies to be able to plan for the future. </p>
<p>They wanted these policies to be, in the words of one manager: “equitable, fair and drive lowest cost carbon reduction and doesn’t penalise Australian business ahead of our international competitors.”</p>
<p>What matters, one manager explained, is not the mechanism (for example, the carbon tax or direct action plan) but rather the detailed design of the scheme so that it covers whole sectors, gives attention to trade exposed industries and is administratively streamlined within the current energy and climate change policy framework.</p>
<p>The Australian government has recently ratified the <a href="http://unfccc.int/paris_agreement/items/9485.php">Paris Agreement</a>. With enormous pressure from the international community, this ratification will put significant pressure on the Australian government to bring effective emissions management policies. These could drive urgent and significant emissions reduction management actions by Australian companies. </p>
<p>The longer Australia stays without an effective emissions management policy, the more meeting international targets will be impractical. As I found from the interviews, the momentum for urgent action on emissions management is declining and certain companies are reluctant to proceed with long-term investment in emissions management because of uncertainty around climate change policies. </p>
<p>It’s time for those in parliament to leave party politics behind and find enough common ground to design a climate change policy which is economically efficient and environmentally effective.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/68565/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jayanthi Kumarasiri receives funding from the Accounting & Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand (AFAANZ) and the research grant scheme of the Faculty of Business and Law of Swinburne University of Technology. The project has been enhanced by mentoring from Professor Christine Jubb and Professor Keith Houghton.</span></em></p>Managers from carbon intensive companies are holding off on long term emissions strategies because of uncertainty around regulations and policies, new research finds.Jayanthi Kumarasiri, Lecturer in Accounting, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/654752016-09-28T20:12:39Z2016-09-28T20:12:39ZPutting carbon back in the land is just a smokescreen for real climate action: Climate Council report<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138205/original/image-20160919-28337-afksd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Plants absorb carbon and store it in the land. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Blue mountains image from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Just as people pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels, the land also absorbs some of those emissions. Plants, as they grow, use carbon dioxide and store it within their bodies. </p>
<p>However, as the Climate Council’s <a href="http://climatecouncil.org.au/land-carbon-report">latest report</a> shows, Australia’s fossil fuels (including those burned overseas) are pumping 6.5 times as much carbon into the atmosphere as the land can absorb. This means that, while storing carbon on land is useful for combating climate change, it is no replacement for reducing fossil fuel emissions. </p>
<p>Land carbon is the biggest source of emission reductions in Australia’s climate policy centrepiece – the <a href="http://www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/ERF/Auctions-results/april-2016">Emissions Reduction Fund</a>. This is smoke and mirrors: a distraction from the real challenge of cutting fossil fuel emissions. </p>
<h2>Land carbon</h2>
<p>Land carbon is part of the active carbon cycle at the Earth’s surface. Carbon is continually exchanging between the land, ocean and atmosphere, primarily as carbon dioxide. </p>
<p>In contrast, carbon in fossil fuels has been locked away from the active carbon cycle for millions of years. </p>
<p>Carbon stored on land is vulnerable to being returned to the atmosphere. Natural disturbances such as bushfires, droughts, insect attacks and heatwaves, many of which are being made worse by climate change, can trigger the release of significant amounts of land carbon back to the atmosphere. </p>
<p>Changes in land management, as we’ve seen in Queensland, for example, with the <a href="https://theconversation.com/land-clearing-in-queensland-triples-after-policy-ping-pong-38279">relaxation of land-clearing laws</a> by the previous state government, can also affect the capability of land systems to store carbon.</p>
<p>Burning fossil fuels and releasing CO₂ to the atmosphere thus introduces new and additional carbon into the land-atmosphere-ocean cycle. It does not simply redistribute existing carbon in the cycle. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.earth-syst-sci-data.net/7/349/2015/essd-7-349-2015.html">The ocean and the land absorb some</a> of this extra carbon. In fact, just over half of this additional carbon is removed from the atmosphere, and split roughly equally between the land and the ocean. However, this leaves almost half of the CO₂ emitted from fossil fuel combustion in the atmosphere. It’s this remaining CO₂ that is driving global warming.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138141/original/image-20160918-17036-405re9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138141/original/image-20160918-17036-405re9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138141/original/image-20160918-17036-405re9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138141/original/image-20160918-17036-405re9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138141/original/image-20160918-17036-405re9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138141/original/image-20160918-17036-405re9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138141/original/image-20160918-17036-405re9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Figure 2. Changes in the global carbon cycle from 1850 to 2014. Positive changes (above the horizontal zero line) show carbon added to the atmosphere and negative changes (below the line) show how this carbon is then distributed among the ocean, land and atmosphere.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Adapted from Le Quéré et al. 2015, data from CDIAC/NOAA-ESRL/GCP/Joos et al. 2013/Khatiwala et al. 2013.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although Australia’s land sector has absorbed more carbon than it has emitted over the past decade or two, this has been overshadowed by our domestic fossil fuel emissions and those from our exported fossil fuels. These are roughly <a href="http://escholarship.org/uc/item/8mh1t3q2#page-1">6.5 times greater</a> than the uptake of carbon by Australian landscapes. </p>
<p>Under international carbon accounting protocols, emissions are assigned to the country that burns the fossil fuels. However, many Australians are becoming increasing concerned about the ethics associated with exploiting our fossil fuels, no matter where they are burned. </p>
<p>In short, we’ve got a big problem that requires a global response, which includes a strong commitment from Australia.</p>
<h2>Falling short of our commitment</h2>
<p>Last December, Australia joined the rest of the world in pledging to do everything possible to limit global warming to no more than 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and furthermore to pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C. Yet Australia lacks a robust, credible long-term plan to cut Australia’s CO₂ emissions from fossil fuel combustion. </p>
<p>Current climate change policies and practices in Australia allow for the use of land carbon “offsets” – that is, carbon taken up by land systems can be used to offset or subtract from fossil fuel emissions. For example, the government’s <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/climate-change/emissions-reduction-fund">Emissions Reduction Fund</a> (ERF) provides financial incentives for organisations or individuals to adopt new practices or technologies that reduce or sequester greenhouse gas emissions. </p>
<p>Currently, <a href="http://www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/ERF/Auctions-results/april-2016">vegetation (land system) projects</a> represent the majority of ERF-accepted projects (185 out of 348). And yet, while storing carbon on land can be useful, it must be additional to, and not instead of, reducing fossil fuel emissions. Moreover, numerous critiques have <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-climate-targets-still-out-of-reach-after-second-emissions-auction-50519">questioned the effectiveness of the ERF</a>. </p>
<h2>Problems of scale</h2>
<p>We also have a problem of scale. <a href="http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/141119/ncomms6282/full/ncomms6282.html">Reducing emissions through land carbon methods</a> could save up to 38 billion tonnes of carbon globally by 2050 if combined with sustainable land management practices. By comparison, global carbon emissions from fossil fuel combustion are currently around <a href="http://www.earth-syst-sci-data.net/6/235/2014/essd-6-235-2014.pdf">10 billion tonnes per year</a>. </p>
<p>If this rate is continued, total fossil fuel emissions from 2015 to 2050 will be about 360 billion tonnes – nearly 10 times larger than the maximum estimated biological carbon sequestration of 38 billion tonnes over the same period.</p>
<p>It is now virtually certain that the carbon budget (the amount of carbon that can be produced while keeping warming below a certain level) will be exceeded. To meet the Paris 1.5°C aspirational target (and probably to meet the 2°C target) will require the use of <a href="https://theconversation.com/removing-co2-from-the-atmosphere-wont-save-us-we-have-to-cut-emissions-now-51684">negative emission technologies</a> throughout the second half of the century. </p>
<p>However, no proposed negative emission technology has yet been proven to be feasible technologically at large scale and at reasonable cost, so this approach remains an in-principle option only. For effective climate action, the emphasis must remain on reducing emissions from fossil fuel combustion. </p>
<p>Using land carbon to “offset” our fossil fuel emissions is ultimately a smokescreen for real climate action. </p>
<p><em>Our thanks to Jacqui Fenwick for co-authoring this article and the report.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65475/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Australia is pumping 6.5 times more carbon into the atmosphere than the land can absorb.Martin Rice, Head of Research, The Climate Council of Australia and Honorary Associate, Department of Environmental Sciences, Macquarie UniversityWill Steffen, Adjunct Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/645622016-09-01T20:19:48Z2016-09-01T20:19:48ZDirect Action not as motivating as carbon tax say some of Australia’s biggest emitters<p>Australia’s largest listed, carbon intensive companies say management lost focus on carbon matters, abandoned energy projects and didn’t have the commercial imperative to produce long-term strategic action on reducing emissions after the carbon tax was repealed, new research finds.</p>
<p>Our research looked at the comparative views of emitters before and after the repeal of the carbon tax legislation, in interviews with 18 senior managers from nine carbon-intensive listed companies.</p>
<p>Two years have passed since Australia’s carbon tax was repealed. It was introduced by the Labor government and came into effect in 2012. </p>
<p>The carbon pricing scheme <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-australias-carbon-price-mechanism-in-six-dot-points-4230">asked big emitters to pay for each tonne of emissions</a> above a threshold of 25,000 tonnes, in carbon units, and these were at a fixed charge of: $23 a tonne in 2012, $24.15 a tonne in 2013 and $25.40 a tonne in 2014.</p>
<p>The Swinburne research found the financial pressure exerted by the carbon tax forced companies to take action to manage emissions. As one senior executive observed at the time:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“…the threat is our operating costs will increase, and we won’t be able to pass that cost on through to our customers, and, therefore, our earnings suffer as a result”. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In July 2014, the coalition government repealed the carbon tax by replacing it with the <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/clean-air">“Direct Action” plan</a> which works primarily by providing funding to companies to incentivise emission reduction activities. The <a href="http://www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/ERF/Auctions-results/april-2016">government has spent</a>A$1.7 billion on 143 million tonnes of emissions, at an average cost of A$12 a tonne.</p>
<p>Many of the companies interviewed for our research said Direct Action was not as effective as a carbon tax in driving companies to act urgently and manage emissions. The carbon tax gave companies incentives to act because it increased utilities prices, adding financial burden for some companies, in addition to these companies being liable under the tax. </p>
<p>One manager said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The scheme [carbon tax] now obviously having a cost associated with those emissions, it was a case of trying to understand where the costs were and essentially how we capture that information and how we track it.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The existing <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Series/C2007A00175">National Greenhouse Energy Reporting Act 2007</a> (which requires high emitters to report emissions) does not provide the same incentives because it’s only a compliance measure with no direct financial burden.</p>
<p>Our research found the carbon tax created not only financial pressure but also a reputation threat for high emitting companies. </p>
<p>When the carbon tax was repealed, the focus on carbon emissions in these companies shifted. In some cases this showed up in the form of changes to staff hiring, away from environmental or technical specialists and towards legal staff. One manager explained it as: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Even though we may not have the technical background in some respects, I think there’s a lot of interest in the legal profession into climate issues, you know, the social issues.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This shift in focus was partly due to a lack of top management attention to the issue and partly because the financial justification for having dedicated personnel to tackle emissions decreased. </p>
<p>Some companies postponed or abandoned energy management projects after the repeal of the carbon tax. For example, one manager observed that his company had postponed A$1.5 billion worth of long term renewable investment projects due to the carbon tax repeal and the political uncertainty around the <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/renewable-energy-target-8912">Renewable Energy Target</a>.</p>
<p>Another factor is the lower use of techniques such as provision of incentives and setting targets for emissions management compared with the period of the carbon tax. One manager stated his company was no longer investing in target setting as there was no financial return for doing so. </p>
<p>Almost all interviewees in our research agreed that the carbon tax had been an effective mechanism when it was in place. Certain companies have a clear expectation a carbon price will re-emerge. They are proactively monitoring this issue. One manager described it as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We shadow in a carbon price across our portfolio of assets, determine what the potential impact is for [company name] and how we would manage that. We’ve continued to invest in carbon reduction…The business now looks at it as a cost-of-doing business opportunity.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Overall, the research provided mixed evidence about achieving Australia’s commitment, made at the Paris climate change summit, to reduce emissions to 26-28% on 2005 levels by 2030. Some companies are acting as though the carbon tax never left us, while for others carbon emission management is no longer a strategic issue. </p>
<p>The financial pressure exerted from the carbon tax was a strong motivation for all sample companies to take urgent action on emissions management. So the challenge for the current government is whether Australia’s current policy incentives for corporate constraint of carbon are strong enough to deliver.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Jayanthi Kumarasiri will be online for an Author Q&A between 2 and 3pm on Friday, 2 September, 2016. Post any questions you have in the comments below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64562/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jayanthi Kumarasiri receives funding from the Accounting & Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand (AFAANZ) and Swinburne University of Technology’s Faculty of Business and Law research grant scheme. . </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christine Jubb and Keith A Houghton do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New research has found that carbon intensive companies have lost focus on reducing emissions under Direct Action, when compared with the carbon tax.Jayanthi Kumarasiri, Lecturer in Accounting, Swinburne University of TechnologyChristine Jubb, Professor of Accounting, Associate Director Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of TechnologyKeith A Houghton, Emeritus Professor, Australian National University; Professor, Accounting and Finance, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/620442016-07-13T07:20:12Z2016-07-13T07:20:12ZCan Malcolm Turnbull do climate and energy policy now?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130306/original/image-20160712-17972-1lgnam6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Turnbull might be hamstrung by his barely-there majority.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Paul Miller</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The re-elected Coalition government has the opportunity to revamp its policies on climate change. Transition of the energy sector is key if the 2030 emissions target is to be met. But with a razor-thin majority in Parliament, will Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull have the appetite and internal authority to tackle the challenge?</p>
<p>In contrast to the past three federal elections, climate change policy was not one of the big issues in this campaign. Faced with a <a href="https://theconversation.com/policycheck-labors-phased-emissions-trading-scheme-58496">fairly comprehensive climate policy blueprint</a> from the Labor Party, the Coalition opted not to say much on the subject. A carbon tax and emissions trading scheme have been ruled out, but the door for climate and energy policy reform has not been slammed shut. </p>
<p>In fact, there has been a clear sense that the government accepts that there needs to be a more comprehensive policy framework than just the subsidy-based <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/climate-change/emissions-reduction-fund">Emissions Reductions Fund</a>, with its <a href="https://theconversation.com/direct-action-not-giving-us-bang-for-our-buck-on-climate-change-59308">inherent problems</a>. In 2015, Environment Minister Greg Hunt <a href="http://www.greghunt.com.au/Home/LatestNews/tabid/133/ID/3417/Australias-2030-Emissions-Reduction-Target.aspx">announced</a> that there will be a climate change policy review during 2017. </p>
<p>But the internal politics of the Liberal Party could yet stand in the way. Turnbull has traditionally supported measures to cut emissions, and this fits with his emphasis on innovation. But many on the right of the party oppose action on climate change. </p>
<p>The fact that the Coalition only just scraped into government might be seen as an argument in favour of more moderate policies. But it could also strengthen the hand of Turnbull’s detractors, including opponents of climate change action. </p>
<h1>Is that a price on your carbon?</h1>
<p>One tricky issue for the Coalition in the election was the plan for the Emissions Reductions Fund “with safeguards”. In the expert community it is generally thought that the Coalition’s plan has been to <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-new-cap-on-emissions-is-a-trading-scheme-in-all-but-name-47035">transform the current mechanism</a> into a so-called “baseline and credit” scheme or a variant thereof. </p>
<p>Baseline and credit would put a price signal on carbon emissions in electricity and possibly industry. It has drawbacks compared with normal emissions trading, among them that there would be no revenue for the government from selling carbon permits; that it would not fully reflect carbon costs to electricity users; that some or many businesses may not be covered; and that it may perpetuate carbon-related investment uncertainty. Its main attraction is political – it would limit effects on electricity prices, and it has been depicted as something that is not a “carbon price”. </p>
<h1>Energy transition</h1>
<p>The energy challenge is of an altogether different magnitude. Climate policy needs to be integrated with energy policy, and it must get the transformation of Australia’s power sector under way. As the <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-can-get-to-zero-carbon-emissions-and-grow-the-economy-32015">Deep Decarbonisation</a> project showed, a near-zero-emissions electricity supply by 2050 is at the heart of a low-emissions strategy. </p>
<p>This is possible and affordable, but waiting for it to happen all by itself would take too long. </p>
<p>Unless there is a significant and durable price on carbon, other approaches are needed to get the most emissions-intensive power plants off the system – for example, through a <a href="https://theconversation.com/farewell-to-brown-coal-without-tears-how-to-shut-high-emitting-power-stations-50904">market mechanism for brown coal exit</a> and/or regulated closure of old plants.</p>
<p>Support for new zero-emissions energy is a big open question. Will the <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/renewable-energy-target">Renewable Energy Target</a> be extended, perhaps as a low-emissions energy target? Will there be fixed-price auctions for large-scale renewable energy, such as those in the <a href="http://www.environment.act.gov.au/energy/cleaner-energy/large-scale-solar">ACT</a>? Should funding for clean energy research and development be ramped up, and how? </p>
<p>Then there are questions about energy market reform and structural adjustment. How to provide adequate revenue for a future power system that largely relies on renewables, when the existing electricity market was designed for fossil-fuel-powered generators? How to manage the social and economic adjustment in the coal regions? </p>
<p>The government will need to tackle energy transition, and it has the opportunity to make this one of its contributions to help modernise the economy. There might even be some common ground for it in parliament. </p>
<h1>Ambition needed</h1>
<p>Marginal policy change is not going to do the trick. Australia’s <a href="http://www4.unfccc.int/submissions/INDC/Published%20Documents/Australia/1/Australias%20Intended%20Nationally%20Determined%20Contribution%20to%20a%20new%20Climate%20Change%20Agreement%20-%20August%202015.pdf">pledge under the Paris Agreement</a> is a 26-28% reduction in emissions by 2030, relative to 2005. This is at the <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-2030-climate-target-puts-us-in-the-race-but-at-the-back-45931">lower end of the range</a>, according to many indicators, and it is likely that the target will need to be strengthened for the next round of international pledges. </p>
<p>Labor’s proposed target is a 45% reduction. This is on the way to much deeper required reductions down the track. </p>
<p>Achieving even a 28% target through domestic reductions would be a big step for Australia. Net national emissions have been roughly flatlining for more than two decades, thanks to falling emissions from land-use change. </p>
<h1>Brexit, Trump and the future</h1>
<p>Amid the current global destabilisation, there are concerns that climate policy will take a back seat despite the momentum created by the Paris Agreement. In Europe, <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/brexit">Brexit</a>, terrorism and refugees are top of the agenda. But unless they herald a global shift towards inward-looking governments or wider economic malaise, Europe’s troubles should have little bearing on the transition to cleaner energy in Asia and Australia. </p>
<p>A Donald Trump presidency, on the other hand, could throw a spanner in the works by providing a rallying point for opponents of climate action. Hillary Clinton as president, however, would push for meaningful climate policy both globally and at home. </p>
<p>Those determined to push ahead will do so regardless of the to and fro in Europe and the United States. China, for example, seems unlikely to waver in its push to modernise its economy and thereby <a href="https://theconversation.com/factcheck-does-the-new-climate-deal-let-china-do-nothing-for-16-years-34239">dampen carbon emissions</a>. </p>
<p>Turnbull has a chance to help position Australia for a future in which the carbon-intensive way of doing things is on the way out. We will see whether he chooses to do so – and whether his party room will let him.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62044/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frank Jotzo has received research funding from a range of organisations. He has been a member of various review panels and advisory bodies, most recently as a member of the ACT Climate Change Council and the SA government's low carbon economy expert panel. </span></em></p>Malcolm Turnbull returns to the helm with a wafer-thin majority and a significant element in his government who still oppose climate action - can he defy the odds and serve up some credible policy?Frank Jotzo, Director, Centre for Climate Economics and Policy, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/596602016-05-19T19:37:34Z2016-05-19T19:37:34ZElection 2016: climate politics off to a chilly start, but could still heat up<p>One week into the extended federal election campaign, climate has not featured prominently. While prime minister Malcolm Turnbull campaigns on “<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/may/17/election-2016-malcolm-turnbull-liberal-party-coalition-profile">jobs and growth</a>”, opposition leader Bill Shorten has <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-28/shorten-promises-150m-upgrade-to-the-university-of-tasmania/7368464">emphasised education</a> and employment conditions. Climate also warranted no mention in the government’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/federal-budget-2016">pre-election budget</a>.</p>
<p>This week’s <a href="http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/national-press-club-address/NC1606C017S00">National Press Club debate</a> between federal environment minister Greg Hunt and his shadow counterpart Mark Butler largely <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/election-2016-major-parties-espouse-need-for-climate-truce-but-find-little-common-ground-20160518-goy2p2.html">retrod party lines</a>, and received limited coverage.</p>
<p>Yet 2016 could still be a climate election. Here’s why.</p>
<h2>Points of difference</h2>
<p>There are major climate policy differences between the Coalition government and Labor opposition.</p>
<p>The government has committed to a target of 26% to 28% reduction in greenhouse emissions by 2030 (relative to 2005), and remains committed to its incentive-only <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-how-does-todays-direct-action-reverse-auction-work-40152">auction scheme</a> for industry to reduce emissions. </p>
<p>By contrast, Labor has committed to a 45% reduction in emissions over the same period, with a 50% renewable energy target. It has also pledged to set up an <a href="https://theconversation.com/labor-unveils-phased-emissions-trading-scheme-58458">emissions trading scheme</a> that is more consistent with how other countries are approaching climate policy.</p>
<p>These are substantial differences, especially given criticisms that the government’s Direct Action model is <a href="https://theconversation.com/direct-action-not-giving-us-bang-for-our-buck-on-climate-change-59308">expensive and inefficient</a> and offers <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-climate-targets-still-out-of-reach-after-second-emissions-auction-50519">no guarantee of achieving its stated targets</a>. So there are opportunities for climate to feature prominently as a point of policy difference.</p>
<h2>Public opinion</h2>
<p>Public opinion tends to move in favour of the opposition on climate policy. For the past several years, the Lowy Institute has polled Australians on <a href="http://www.lowyinstitute.org/lowyinstitutepollinteractive/">climate policy, among other international issues</a>. It has found, perhaps surprisingly, that Australians tend to be most supportive of strong action when the government of the day is perceived as inactive. </p>
<p>The high point for public support was 2006. Conversely, the low point for public support on strong climate action was 2012, as the Labor government under Julia Gillard <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-this-the-moment-that-climate-politics-and-public-opinion-finally-match-up-50062">introduced the carbon tax</a>.</p>
<p>There is evidence now of a <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2016/election-2016-climate-change-policy-a-vote-winner-for-majority-of-australians-20160513-gouwbf.html">rebound in support for climate policy</a>, with perceptions that the government is dragging its feet on climate change. This clearly creates incentives for Labor to campaign on climate.</p>
<h2>Green pressure</h2>
<p>The Greens loom as a threat to Labor if it doesn’t emphasise its commitment to climate action. The Greens surprised many by winning the lower house seat of Melbourne in 2010, and Adam Bandt has held it since. </p>
<p>Now the Greens have their <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2016/election-2016-the-eight-seats-richard-di-natale-plans-to-turn-green-by-2026-20160505-gomrrr.html">sights set on other lower house seats</a>, and perception that it is the party that takes climate action seriously will have damaging effects for Labor in electorates most vulnerable to Greens campaigning.</p>
<p>Political opponents of all stripes have a real opportunity to wedge the prime minister on climate change. It appears likely that prime minister Turnbull is <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/may/17/election-2016-malcolm-turnbull-liberal-party-coalition-profile">playing a long game</a> and hoping that an election victory will allow him to marginalise those parts of his government that still oppose climate action.</p>
<p>This view involves placing weight on the claims Turnbull made on losing the coalition leadership to Tony Abbott in 2009. Then, he declared that <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/may/17/election-2016-malcolm-turnbull-liberal-party-coalition-profile">he did not want to lead a party not serious about climate action</a>, and questioned any policy that claimed to be cost-neutral. These statements may come back to haunt him.</p>
<p>Finally, civil society groups are mobilising aggressively on climate change. Groups such as <a href="https://www.getup.org.au/">GetUp!</a> will be out in force come election day and are promoting climate action, while environmental groups are pushing hard to ensure that climate change will not be forgotten in the election. </p>
<p>Building on devastating reports of <a href="https://theconversation.com/coral-bleaching-comes-to-the-great-barrier-reef-as-record-breaking-global-temperatures-continue-56570">coral bleaching</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/david-attenborough-says-the-great-barrier-reef-is-in-grave-danger-its-time-to-step-up-58204">David Attenborough’s most recent television series</a>, many are using the Great Barrier Reef as a <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/17/saving-great-barrier-reef-climate-change-should-be-central-election-issue-says-tim-flannery">symbol of the need to take climate action seriously</a>.</p>
<h2>Dangers of a climate election?</h2>
<p>For some analysts, Australia’s 2007 contest could rightly be described as “<a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09644010802065815#.Vzt42JF96Uk">the world’s first climate election</a>”.</p>
<p>The then Labor opposition leader Kevin Rudd rode a wave of support for strong climate action, and took office from a Coalition government perceived as weak on climate change. </p>
<p>In 2013, Coalition opposition leader Tony Abbott declared that the forthcoming election would be a “<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-02/abbott-says-election-will-be-referendum-on-carbon-tax/4929346">referendum on the carbon tax</a>”, and in those terms he scored a resounding victory.</p>
<p>In both of these accounts, the role of climate policy in the election result is probably overstated. But it also helps to explain why leaders of both parties appear spooked by the idea of campaigning strongly on their climate policy. It may be easier for Labor to announce its climate position softly, and the government to run a scare campaign on economic costs of any stronger action than its own platform.</p>
<p>Indeed, for some advocates of climate action, a climate election may not be a good thing. The climate consensus that characterises the position of progressive countries has not been reflected in Australia. This undermines policy consistency, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ajph.12024/abstract">economic predictability for business</a>, and <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ajph.12023/abstract">public support for climate action</a>.</p>
<p>But it is also the case that Australia’s most recent brief window of bipartisanship on climate policy in 2009 did not end well. The carbon pollution reduction scheme (CPRS) was never enacted. And both the then prime minister Kevin Rudd and current prime minister Malcolm Turnbull lost their jobs, at least partly because of it.</p>
<p>We may well see climate feature prominently in the weeks to come. And while there may be some dangers, it’s hard to think of a climate policy situation in Australia that’s any more problematic than <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ajph.12019/abstract">what has come before</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59660/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matt McDonald has previously received funding from the UK's Economic and Social Research Council.</span></em></p>Climate change has won and lost elections in the past, and there’s a distinct chill in the air this time around.Matt McDonald, Associate Professor of International Relations, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/593082016-05-15T19:47:15Z2016-05-15T19:47:15ZDirect Action not giving us bang for our buck on climate change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122444/original/image-20160513-18946-w35jqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=233%2C0%2C1603%2C1434&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Energy efficiency projects could receive more subsidies if Direct Action is continued.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/asocall/441983418/in/photolist-F4hgL-8EQ9CL-6ShVRA-5vDSaf-dQTy8Q-asnPqz-anbs5Y-4rDAxq-asqpYh-bVjdcF-666VQc-asnRgD-4oL2Y6-pNhNc3-7XQzWm-LPF71-9GuSRt-6PsxeW-bQr9w4-e3bymL-7E2Fao-8Q685i-efj1ei-f4rKKM-eQ7J5A-f4rYGe-eVB72H-6c5qwC-7VA87W-r4zfJ3-jMD5kk-9B4Ufb-a17WCj-f4FGVb-9V8fqB-f4rsK2-4JHdBR-rcyn9U-9wVMaW-eiVdZ3-jMFw63-rrQciG-f4FJnY-rt12ks-gxjkbt-LU4a3-6Ed1vt-9LDaw1-4oQ5PN-7Tc6rB">David González Romero/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Direct Action is the centrepiece of Australia’s current greenhouse gas reduction efforts. To date, A$1.7 billion in subsidies has been committed from the government’s <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/climate-change/emissions-reduction-fund">Emissions Reduction Fund</a> to <a href="http://www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/maps/Pages/erf-projects/index.html">projects offering to reduce emissions</a>.</p>
<p>The scheme <a href="https://theconversation.com/carbon-tax-repealed-experts-respond-29154">replaced</a> Australia’s two-year-old carbon price in 2014 and is a <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/climate-change/publications/factsheet-tracking-to-2020-april-2016-update">key part of the government’s plan</a> to reduce emissions by 5% below 2000 levels by 2020, and 26–28% below 2005 levels by 2030. </p>
<p>Environment Minister Greg Hunt has called Direct Action a “<a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/has-greg-hunts-direct-action-scheme-fixed-climate-change-policy-in-australia-20150427-1muorr.html">stunning success</a>” and “<a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/minister/hunt/2015/mr20151112.html">one of the most effective systems in the world for significantly reducing emissions</a>”.</p>
<p>In a new <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1759-3441.12138/abstract">article</a> in Economic Papers, I look into the economics of Direct Action and how it is working. I conclude that the scheme is exposed to funding projects that would have happened without government funding. </p>
<p>This issue has long been known as a threat to schemes of this type, and means that the scheme is likely to be less useful in reducing emissions than the government is claiming.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.finance.gov.au/procurement/procurement-policy-and-guidance/commonwealth-procurement-rules/">Commonwealth Procurement Rules</a> require value for money in government purchases. It is not clear we are getting that with Direct Action.</p>
<h2>Information problems</h2>
<p>The key challenge for schemes like Direct Action is information. What exactly is the scheme buying, and would that have happened without it?</p>
<p>Direct Action works by inviting voluntary project proposals and then allocating funds to the lowest bidders in <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-how-does-todays-direct-action-reverse-auction-work-40152">reverse auctions</a>.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, projects that would have gone ahead even without a subsidy – call them “anyway projects” – have a cost advantage that makes them well placed to win the auctions. It is often difficult for the government to identify such projects. When projects of this type receive funding, taxpayers’ money is being used ineffectively.</p>
<p>Economists call this adverse selection, or the “<a href="http://www.economist.com/node/813705">lemons problem</a>”.</p>
<h2>All about that baseline</h2>
<p>The government has developed a set of <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/climate-change/emissions-reduction-fund/methods">methods</a> for defining projects and measuring the emission reductions provided by each project against estimated baselines. It is an economy-wide scheme, and there are methods covering everything from <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/climate-change/emissions-reduction-fund/methods/industrial-fuel-energy-efficiency">energy efficiency</a> to <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/climate-change/emissions-reduction-fund/methods/aviation-transport">aviation</a>.</p>
<p>As is, the methods leave opportunities for anyway projects to qualify. The <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/climate-change/emissions-reduction-fund/publications/white-paper">Emission Reduction Fund White Paper</a> states that a “flexible approach” is being pursued so as to encourage participation.</p>
<p>One <a href="http://www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/ERF/Want-to-participate-in-the-Emissions-Reduction-Fund/Planning-a-project/Eligibility-additionality-and-newness">rule</a> is that projects be new. But across the Australian economy, new projects are launched every year. Some happen to reduce emissions. These projects are being attracted into the Direct Action auctions.</p>
<p>Carry-overs from the former <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/climate-change/emissions-reduction-fund/cfi/about">Carbon Farming Initiative</a> have also been allowed to side-step the newness requirement.</p>
<h2>The experience so far</h2>
<p>Three Direct Action auctions have been held to date, with the most recent in <a href="http://www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/About/Pages/News%20and%20updates/NewsItem.aspx?ListId=19b4efbb-6f5d-4637-94c4-121c1f96fcfe&ItemId=250">late April 2016</a>.</p>
<p>Some of the funded projects are likely to be providing genuine reductions in emissions. Unfortunately, however, some project categories are rather questionable.</p>
<p>Landfill operators have been awarded Direct Action subsidies in each of the auctions. Their projects are often <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-27/carbon-abatement-auction-goverment-awards-millions-old-projects/6500716">already generating revenues</a> from electricity sales and renewable energy certificates.</p>
<p>Other projects to win subsidies include upgrades to lighting in supermarkets and to the fuel efficiency of vehicles. These are activities that are supposed to happen anyway.</p>
<p>The biggest winner to date has been vegetation projects. Among these are projects to reduce tree clearing, including of invasive native species near Cobar and Bourke in New South Wales. The large payments for these projects are likely to have preserved some vegetation. But some farmers appear to have not actually been planning to clear. If so, funding is going to anyway projects.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122446/original/image-20160513-18959-1uofktn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122446/original/image-20160513-18959-1uofktn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122446/original/image-20160513-18959-1uofktn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122446/original/image-20160513-18959-1uofktn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122446/original/image-20160513-18959-1uofktn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122446/original/image-20160513-18959-1uofktn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122446/original/image-20160513-18959-1uofktn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122446/original/image-20160513-18959-1uofktn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This vegetation could be protected under the avoided deforestation category of Direct Action. But was it going to be cleared, and is a taxpayer-funded subsidy the best way to save it?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Burke</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Projects potentially <a href="http://www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/ERF/project-and-contracts-registers/project-register?View=%7b8BA6253D-59EC-4321-8D74-A765E1F842EA%7d">in line</a> for the next auction include boiler upgrades and modifications to aircraft. If Direct Action were to continue for years to come, the bill could become very big.</p>
<p>Journalists such as <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/01/greg-hunt-660m-spent-reducing-greenhouse-emissions">Lenore Taylor</a> and <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/business-spectator/why-the-direct-action-auction-has-a-suspicious-whiff-of-rubbish-abatement/news-story/da6fd8e9a01c737bf7daa8635bf0d9a7">Tristan Edis</a> are among those who have raised concerns about the quality of Direct Action projects. The government has yet to properly engage with this issue.</p>
<h2>This problem could be avoided</h2>
<p>There are far better policy approaches than Direct Action subsidies.</p>
<p>A key advantage of either an emissions tax or an emissions trading scheme is that the government does not need to evaluate individual projects from covered enterprises.</p>
<p>These schemes instead introduce a price per unit of emissions and leave the private sector to decide which projects to implement. Large emitters are <a href="http://www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/NGER">already required to report their emissions</a>, so implementation is comparatively straightforward. Any revenue raised could be used to reduce other taxes or Australia’s budget deficit.</p>
<p>Regulations could also be put to more use. Strengthened restrictions on <a href="https://theconversation.com/queensland-moves-to-control-land-clearing-other-states-need-to-follow-58291">vegetation clearing</a> and on the <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-coal-mines-are-pouring-methane-gas-into-the-atmosphere-55394">release of coal mine gas</a> are examples.</p>
<p>Eligibility to generate <a href="http://www.dictionary.com/browse/carbon-offsetting">offset credits</a> should be tightened to cover only credibly genuine emission reductions that are difficult to achieve using other policies. Some carbon farming activities can meet this criterion, and could generate revenue from private-sector buyers. Public expenditure on new offset projects could be ended.</p>
<h2>Better off going back to what was working</h2>
<p>There are <a href="http://insidestory.org.au/direct-action-subsidies-wrong-way-go-back">many other downsides</a> to Direct Action. These include its administrative complexity, the issue of emissions reappearing elsewhere in the economy, and the subsidy culture it inculcates.</p>
<p>The scheme is yet to induce emissions reductions in key sectors of the economy. Emissions from electricity generation are <a href="https://theconversation.com/one-year-on-from-the-carbon-price-experiment-the-rebound-in-emissions-is-clear-44782">rising again</a>.</p>
<p>Australia has a big challenge ahead in decarbonising our economy. There are many opportunities, but we need to get our policy settings right. It would be better to move on from Direct Action subsidies. An approach centred on pricing emissions makes more sense.</p>
<p><em>An open-access version of Paul’s paper can be downloaded <a href="https://ideas.repec.org/p/een/ccepwp/1605.html">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59308/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Burke does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Direct Action is the centrepiece of Australia’s climate action – but it may not be working as well as the government hopes.Paul Burke, Fellow, Crawford School, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/554642016-02-26T17:04:22Z2016-02-26T17:04:22ZWhy Heathrow 13 verdict could lead to more radical climate activism, not less<p>The so-called “Heathrow 13” <a href="http://www.planestupid.com/">Plane Stupid</a> climate activists have been given <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-35651166">suspended prison sentences</a> for trespassing on the airport’s runway. The case – and the decision of the judge to hand down custodial sentences at all, even if they were suspended – illustrates the way judicial attitudes to unlawful climate activism have seesawed over the years, and the harsh treatment meted out to the activists may yet backfire. </p>
<p>In 2008, six Greenpeace activists who had admitted causing criminal damage at Kingsnorth power plant were <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/sep/11/activists.kingsnorthclimatecamp">found not guilty</a> by a jury, following a week of expert testimony on coal and climate change. It seemed a significant moment for the UK climate movement. Their “lawful excuse” defence justified their actions to fight global warming, and appeared to offer campaigners a way to make governments take both notice and action.</p>
<p>But subsequent acts of mass disobedience faltered: in April 2009, 114 activists planning to shut down Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station were <a href="http://newint.org/features/web-exclusive/2011/01/12/undercover-and-over-the-top-collapse-of-ratcliffe-trial/">pre-emptively arrested</a> in a case which ultimately brought to light the extent of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/21/drax-protesters-convictions-quashed-police-spy-mark-kennedy">police infiltration</a> of the environmental protest movement.</p>
<p>Later that year 29 activists were found guilty of “<a href="https://www.cps.gov.uk/news/latest_news/131_09/">obstructing the railway</a>” by a jury in Leeds after the judge refused to allow them to present a <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-necessity-defence-should-climate-activists-be-allowed-to-break-the-law-53181">necessity defence</a> and call expert witnesses to justify their “hijacking” of a coal train at Drax power station. And in June 2010, nine Plane Stupid activists were found guilty by a jury and fined for breach of the peace after they had broken into Aberdeen airport and played golf on the runway, dressed as <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/mar/03/aberdeen-airport-climate-protest">Donald Trump</a>. Taking non-violent direct action in order to “put climate change on trial” seemed at a dead end.</p>
<p>The trial of the Heathrow 13 may have changed all that. In fact, the activists probably owe a vote of thanks to district judge Deborah Wright. History tells us that social movements not only mobilise when conditions are favourable; they also mobilise in response to threat, especially where that <a href="https://mobilizingideas.wordpress.com/category/essay-dialogues/violent-state-repression/">threat</a> is widely seen as an injustice.</p>
<p>The court’s guilty verdict was to be expected, but the judge’s threat to impose the maximum sentence of three months imprisonment succeeded in producing a wave of <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/heathrow-13-jailing-peaceful-protesters-would-be-unprecedented-attack-on-dissent-judge-told-a6849636.html">sympathetic media coverage</a>, <a href="https://secure.avaaz.org/en/heathrow_13_11/?pv=67&rc=fb">internet petitions</a> and an impressive and sustained show of solidarity from <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/feb/24/heathrow-13-climate-change-protesters-avoid-jail">300 or so supporters</a> outside the court. Criminal trials are social theatre: Wright’s promise of a punitive sentence turned this one into a political event.</p>
<p>In so doing, the trial reminds us that the courts, especially the criminal courts, are a site of battles over legal and political legitimacy. Trials like that of the Heathrow 13 are, in the strict sense, about the causes that motivate action, the weighing of harms and the acceptability of specific conducts – but they are also about the scope that democratic societies afford for small groups of citizens to challenge what they perceive to be injustice in the name of the collective good.</p>
<h2>What next for the climate movement?</h2>
<p>Though the Heathrow 13 were spared jail time, a suspended prison sentence for a non-violent minor crime, committed by (largely) first-time offenders, arguably remains extraordinary and excessive. In 2006, sitting in a <a href="http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKHL/2006/16.html">High Court appeals case</a> of anti-war activists who had committed aggravated trespass and criminal damage at RAF Fairford on the eve of the invasion of Iraq, Lord Justice Hoffmann formalised a basic bargain: where activists act in a publicly accountable way – with restraint, sincerity, and a sense of proportion – then police, prosecutors, and magistrates should show sensitivity and equal restraint, taking the conscientious motives of protesters into account.</p>
<p>Activists are aware of the bargain: the Heathrow defendants certainly were, and it is a staple of <a href="https://netpol.org/resources/sentencing-on-conviction/">advice for would-be environmental disobedients</a>.</p>
<p>But this sentence throws the bargain into confusion. By acting with less restraint – and causing more damage – activists can potentially secure a jury trial. Though the potential penalties are more severe, this move typically works in favour of the activists as juries, in general, are <a href="http://cps.sagepub.com/content/47/1/3">less likely than magistrates to convict</a> in these sorts of cases (despite the Leeds and Aberdeen verdicts).</p>
<p>But if magistrates are now imposing jail time, actual or suspended, for minor offences, then acting with restraint starts to appear less attractive. If you’re going to be dealt with harshly for aggravated trespass, you may as well cause criminal damage too, because that might get you a more favourable trial.</p>
<p>This year will see a concerted wave of climate disobedience across Europe, as activists react, post-Paris, both to the lack of a concrete action plan by Western governments and to the apparent necessity of citizen action in order to force governments do anything meaningful at all. In the UK, we should expect more climate disobedience, not less: the Heathrow 13 trial raises the stakes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/55464/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brian Doherty receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. He is a member of the Green Party and a supporter of Friends of the Earth. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Graeme Hayes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Protesters could be tempted to add ‘criminal damage’ to trespass, thereby ensuring a more sympathetic trial by jury.Graeme Hayes, Reader in Political Sociology, Aston UniversityBrian Doherty, Professor of Political Sociology, Keele UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/531812016-01-18T16:12:43Z2016-01-18T16:12:43ZThe ‘necessity defence'– should climate activists be allowed to break the law?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108208/original/image-20160114-2356-198vl81.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://delta5trial.org/media/">delta5trial.org</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Can you break the law to stop climate change … and get away with it? That’s exactly what five climate change activists wanted to argue at a recent criminal trial in Seattle, Washington.</p>
<p>In September 2014 the group tied themselves to a 25ft (8 metre) high “tripod” over a railway line in Washington State, US, to block a train carrying crude oil which, if used, would have contributed directly to carbon emissions and so climate change. The activists, now known as the “<a href="http://delta5trial.org/">Delta 5</a>”, relied on the so-called “necessity defence” to justify their actions and avoid criminal liability.</p>
<p>A successful “necessity defence” needs to show that the crime was necessary in order to prevent an even greater criminal act or irreparable evil. There should be no reasonable legal alternative available under the circumstances. In court, the Delta 5 argued that their actions to prevent the oil from reaching its destination were necessary to stop the greater harm of climate change. As such, they said they shouldn’t be held criminally responsible.</p>
<p>The activists hoped to set a new precedent in the United States which would have paved the way for climate activists in the future to more readily use necessity as a defence to criminal charges. In 2008, for example, a group of six Greenpeace activists were tried in the UK for property damage and trespass after shutting down a coal power station. They used the necessity defence and were <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/sep/11/activists.kingsnorthclimatecamp">acquitted</a> by a jury. </p>
<p>The judge in Seattle, however, ruled that the defendants had failed to show that there was no reasonable legal alternative to their actions. Even though the judge was sympathetic to the activists cause, she was bound by <a href="http://openjurist.org/939/f2d/826/united-states-v-d-schoon">case-law</a> on the lack of evidence supporting a necessity defence and reluctantly instructed the jury to ignore all wider arguments about climate change. The five were found guilty of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/15/delta-5-seattle-washington-climate-change-court-defense">misdemeanour trespassing</a>. </p>
<p>Legal recognition for “necessity” remains a long-term goal for climate activism, but the latest setback shows how difficult these arguments are to win in court. It’s not just climate change. Attempts to <a href="http://norml.org/marijuana/medical/item/medical-necessity-defense">justify the use of marijuana</a> for medical purposes have been met with mixed success, where successful necessity defences have been very much <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/broward/article16683641.html">the exception</a> rather <a href="http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/2006/7.html">than the rule</a>.</p>
<p>Necessity has been most successful in cases involving <a href="http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKHL/1991/1.html">potential crimes by doctors</a> around the issue of consent, but there are major limits. It’s usually not recognised as a defence against murder charges, for example, a view that dates back to the 1880s when two shipwrecked sailors decided to <a href="https://www.justis.com/data-coverage/iclr-bqb14040.aspx">kill and eat their subordinate</a>, a cabin boy, for survival when lost at sea.</p>
<h2>Playing by the rules isn’t working</h2>
<p>While necessity is difficult to assert in climate activism trials, the Delta 5 and Greenpeace cases raise a big question: should activists be allowed to take matters into their own hands to prevent global warming and climate change? Given underwhelming results in combating this at the international level to date, arguably they should.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108412/original/image-20160118-31828-1jt2gqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108412/original/image-20160118-31828-1jt2gqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108412/original/image-20160118-31828-1jt2gqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108412/original/image-20160118-31828-1jt2gqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108412/original/image-20160118-31828-1jt2gqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108412/original/image-20160118-31828-1jt2gqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108412/original/image-20160118-31828-1jt2gqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108412/original/image-20160118-31828-1jt2gqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Delta 5 – taking the law into their own hands.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://delta5trial.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Delta_5_Trial-4-of-43008x1528.jpg">delta5trial.org</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Paris climate change agreement in December was celebrated as a major achievement in bringing all states together, developed and developing alike, to agree on a common plan to reduce global carbon emissions. However, on closer inspection, it doesn’t seem to be ambitious enough to work as expected. Warming will be <a href="http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2015/cop21/eng/07.pdf">limited to 2.7°C</a>, at best, while the agreement isn’t yet <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-paris-climate-agreement-the-real-work-starts-now-52264">legally-binding</a>. Climate change is still likely to have <a href="http://ar5-syr.ipcc.ch/ipcc/ipcc/resources/pdf/IPCC_SynthesisReport.pdf">severe effects</a>.</p>
<h2>Robust action – without fear</h2>
<p>If states are unwilling or unable to sufficiently reduce their carbon emissions in time to make a real difference, shouldn’t people around the world be encouraged to take robust action without fear of being thrown in jail for their efforts to do good?</p>
<p>Since the 1950s legal theorists have argued about the consequences for people who feel morally compelled to break the law. The so-called <a href="http://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1096&context=ohlj">“Hart-Fuller” debate</a>, which continues to divide legal scholars <a href="http://www.hartpub.co.uk/books/details.asp?isbn=9781841138947">to this day</a>, examined among other things the nature of laws in Nazi Germany – for example, was legislation which authorised the transportation of Jews to concentration camps <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1960.tb00596.x/pdf">valid law at the time</a>?</p>
<p>The prominent legal philosopher HLA Hart argued yes: he believed laws continue to have legal force, despite a questionable moral basis. Lon Fuller, his rival, said that laws have an inner morality, without which there is nothing to be enforced or obeyed as “law”. </p>
<p>Fuller’s position may provide moral guidance to climate activists who perceive as immoral the legal framework currently configured to see global temperatures far exceed the 2°C limit. They can use society’s understanding of what the law ought to be – one that protects the environment – to justify their decision to disobey.</p>
<p>Hart would say that the law should not be disobeyed despite its questionable moral basis because to do so may open the door to anarchy and conflict. However the necessity defence falls squarely within the letter of the law, and therefore Hart’s theory, though it remains notoriously difficult to prove. Climate activists should bear in mind that they will need convincing proof of no reasonable legal alternative to their actions in order to increase their chances of success when raising necessity as a defence in future criminal trials.</p>
<p>The best way for climate activists to do this would be to leverage conventional legal and political routes as much as possible to achieve their goals. Once all of these options have been exhausted, then there may be no further reasonable legal alternatives left and as such, acts of civil disobedience which break the law may more easily be justified as being necessary. But as yet, strategies that draw upon Fuller’s theory of the inner morality of law, to justify disobeying the law regardless of reasonable legal alternatives, may not help activists keep a clean criminal record.</p>
<p>It is quite clear that necessity isn’t a reliable defence against criminal charges at present. But more sympathetic judges and juries in the future may radically transform the odds of success. The judge in the Delta 5’s case was sympathetic, though it didn’t lead to their successfully defending their position. As the effects of climate change become more and more noticeable, perhaps there will be no reasonable legal alternative in the future but to follow in their footsteps. The law just might keep pace.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53181/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tara Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Environmental campaigners have employed an argument that they were forced into ‘illegal’ action but judges are still not buying it.Tara Smith, Lecturer in Law, Bangor UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/505192015-11-13T00:58:50Z2015-11-13T00:58:50ZAustralia’s climate targets still out of reach after second emissions auction<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101773/original/image-20151113-12409-1hr2azl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australia will struggle to make real emissions reductions without making structural change away from coal in the energy sector. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daniel L Smith / Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The government’s Clean Energy Regulator yesterday announced the <a href="http://www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/ERF/Auctions-results/November-2015">results</a> of the second “reverse auction”. It spent A$557 million to buy emissions cuts of some 45 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. </p>
<p>Australia needs to cut its CO₂ emissions by 236 million tonnes to meet its current 2020 mitigation target of -5% below 2000 levels. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/direct-action-plan">Direct Action Plan</a> and its Emissions Reduction Fund (<a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/climate-change/emissions-reduction-fund">ERF</a>) is the Turnbull government’s major program for doing so.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/on-these-numbers-australias-emissions-auction-wont-get-the-job-done-40761">first auction</a>, in April this year, spent A$660 million for 47.3 million tonnes.</p>
<p>So far, then, almost half of the A$2.55 billion allocated to the ERF has been used and some 92.8 million tonnes of emissions reduction “bought” at an average rate of almost A$13.12 per tonne of CO₂. The ERF will also form part of efforts to achieve Australia’s <a href="https://www.dpmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/Summary%20Report%20Australias%202030%20Emission%20Reduction%20Target.pdf">2030 climate target</a>. </p>
<p>The latest round of UN climate negotiations begins in Paris in three weeks’ time. These talks aim to produce tougher national greenhouse targets for the decade to 2030. Ironically, the focus on Paris is drawing attention away from the urgency of emissions cuts that need to be delivered beforehand.</p>
<p>In Australia, the Paris talks encourage us to accept as given our 2020 target of -5% below 2000 emissions levels, although it is among the weakest of national mitigation efforts for that period. </p>
<p>They encourage us to ignore the fact that - according to criteria accepted by both Labor and Coalitions governments and now met because of the rising ambitions and efforts of major emitters elsewhere - Australia’s target should have increased to <a href="https://theconversation.com/steep-emissions-cuts-needed-or-well-blow-australias-carbon-budget-climate-authority-23425">-15% by 2020</a>.</p>
<p>It is against this second benchmark that the Turnbull government’s efforts should now be measured.</p>
<h2>Crunching the numbers</h2>
<p>Assuming all the emissions reductions contracted in these auctions are delivered, and the price per tonne of carbon remains the same for future sales, then the A$1.89 billion remaining in the ERF’s coffers will buy around another 101 million tonnes of emissions.</p>
<p>All up then, the total emissions reduction bought by the ERF will be around 193 million tonnes of CO₂. While this is 10 million tonnes better than predicted after the first auction this outcome remains 44 million tonnes (or about 19%) short of Australia’s -5% target – and much more for the -15% goal.</p>
<p>But that’s not the whole story. Some 275 projects will deliver their contracted emissions reductions over different periods – a few in a year, some over three, a few over five, many over seven, and most over ten years… by 2025.</p>
<p>Looking at the duration of contracts, it appears that only 45% (by volume) of this mitigation effort will contribute to the 2020 target. The rest will be occur after 2020.</p>
<p>In other words, only 51 million tonnes of emissions will be have been cut by 2020, leaving Australia 85 million tonnes (or 36% of the total) short of its -5% target and at least treble that amount for a -15% goal.</p>
<h2>Structural change needed</h2>
<p>The vast bulk of the contracts agreed in both the first and second auctions have re-funded emissions reduction schemes established well before the Direct Action Plan was conceived. As was the case for the first auction, most of the projects (by volume of emissions) involve “forest protection”. These rural projects generate carbon credits by paying to halt the destruction of native vegetation (so-called “avoided deforestation”). Such reductions could be achieved at no cost through regulatory intervention.</p>
<p>Most people paying superficial attention to the workings of the ERF would expect public money to be spent on creating structural change, by moving our industries onto renewable energy sources, for instance, rather than on paying rent to rural landowners to avoid activities that may release emissions in the future. Useful though these projects are, one wonders whether they should constitute the core and bulk of Australia’s flagship climate policy.</p>
<p>If the average price of carbon rises in subsequent auctions – and if Australian energy use and emissions continue to grow – the overall shortfall will increase still further. Recent evidence suggests that emissions from stationary electricity production and energy <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/environment/climate-change/coalfired-plants-lead-extreme-competition-lifting-emissions-20151112-gkx921.html">have increased</a> by some 3% since the removal of the carbon price last year.</p>
<p>It is notable that – again - no major emitters in the energy and resource sectors were among the successful bidders. In other words, the major sectors involved in producing Australia’s emissions are not engaged by this scheme.</p>
<p>The ERF’s reverse auction approach seems incapable of driving an economic and cultural transition to renewable energy or of encouraging substantial mitigation by major industrial emitters. It is not helping Australia work “more agilely, more innovatively”, as Prime Minister Turnbull has <a href="http://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/media/Ministry">put it</a>, in this case to tackle climate change.</p>
<p>Using this mechanism Australia won’t meet, let alone exceed, even its very weak 2020 reduction target. The ERF would need well over A$3 billion to buy all the emissions needed for that goal.</p>
<p>And it is equally clear that this approach is doing nothing to prepare Australia for the 2030 target it is taking to Paris, of -26 to -28% below 2005 levels. Nor for the much more ambitious targets required to avert dangerous climate change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50519/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Christoff does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The latest emissions auction closes the gap to Australia’s climate target, but still leaves work to be done.Peter Christoff, Associate Professor, School of Geography, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/497542015-10-29T01:23:06Z2015-10-29T01:23:06ZAustralia’s plantation boom has gone bust, so let’s make them carbon farms<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99927/original/image-20151028-21086-1cozobl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australia has around a million hectares of plantations, much of them no longer commercially viable.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACSIRO_ScienceImage_644_Pasture_and_Plantation_Comparison_for_Soil_Changes.jpg">CSIRO/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the rolling hills of Victoria’s Strzelecki Ranges, among paddocks of pasture and potatoes, stands a simple steel monument to the world’s tallest tree. The tree itself, which stood a mighty 115 m tall, was chopped down in the 1880s so that a registered surveyor could measure it.</p>
<p>Almost a century and a half later, Australia’s attitude to its forests is seemingly no less perverse. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99926/original/image-20151028-21095-1lxzvk4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99926/original/image-20151028-21095-1lxzvk4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99926/original/image-20151028-21095-1lxzvk4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99926/original/image-20151028-21095-1lxzvk4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99926/original/image-20151028-21095-1lxzvk4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99926/original/image-20151028-21095-1lxzvk4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1001&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99926/original/image-20151028-21095-1lxzvk4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1001&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99926/original/image-20151028-21095-1lxzvk4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1001&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Not chopping it down might have been a more fitting tribute.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Not far north of where the tree once stood is the Latrobe Valley, dominated by some of Australia’s most carbon-intensive coalmines and power stations. Covering much of the surrounding hills are timber plantations, which store tonnes of carbon. Plantations can be used to soak up emissions – except the current rules don’t officially recognise this.</p>
<p>Intensive plantations don’t count as carbon sinks under Australia’s <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/climate-change/emissions-reduction-fund/carbon-farming-initiative-project-transition">carbon farming rules</a>. The boom that led to the creation of almost a million hectares of new plantation timber died with the global financial crisis - but with a bit of smart thinking these could be put to use as carbon farms, rather than being allowed to die off and returned to pasture. </p>
<h2>Boom and bust</h2>
<p>The see-sawing fortunes of Australian forestry have largely been driven by government policy. The 1990s saw major policy reforms, which spawned protests (including log trucks <a href="http://tlf.dlr.det.nsw.edu.au/learningobjects/Content/R10817/object/r3031.html">blockading the national parliament</a>) and ultimately resulted in a widespread expansion of timber plantations. </p>
<p>The area of eucalyptus plantations grew from almost nothing in 1998 to about 1 million hectares by 2008, spurred by a massive influx of finance encouraged by the <a href="https://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2004C00970">Managed Investments Act (1998)</a>, which turned plantations into tax-effective investments.</p>
<p>But then came the global financial crisis, which saw Managed Investment Scheme (MIS) companies like Timbercorp and Great Southern Plantations go bust. Shareholders and investors lost out, but the plantations themselves were in the ground. </p>
<p>Since then, plantation ownership has been <a href="http://www.newforests.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/New-Forests-MIS-Review.pdf">consolidated</a> into the hands of a few dominant players such as <a href="https://www.newforests.com.au/">NewForests</a>, which acquired more than 700,000 ha, and <a href="http://www.gfplp.com/">Global Forest Partners</a> (more than 150,000 ha). </p>
<h2>An expensive experiment</h2>
<p>Some MIS plantations were poorly sited, in terms of climate and soils, used inappropriate species, or suffered pest or disease problems. Some have been written off, bulldozed and returned to pasture. Many more are likely to be. </p>
<p>Current estimates suggest that a third of the eucalyptus plantations are uneconomic with harvesting unlikely, another third will probably be harvested but are unlikely to be replanted. The rest will form Australia’s future hardwood estate. In this sense it has been a massive and expensive experiment.</p>
<p>This story shows the power of financial incentives, but reflects the problem of using tax inducements to fund an industry. For investors, tax deductions became the primary goal, rather than the quality of the investment.</p>
<p>The plantations’ boom and bust, with its focus on using fast money for fast-growing eucalypts, mostly for pulpwood, has obscured other important opportunities.</p>
<p>First, it shifted the focus away from the opportunities of <a href="http://www.agroforestry.net.au">integrating forestry into farming systems</a>.</p>
<p>Second, the reputation of Australian forestry and forestry investments has almost certainly suffered.</p>
<p>Third, it may have blinded us to the potential of using Australia’s rich diversity of tree species for other purposes. Australia’s genetic gifts to the world include trees that grow prolifically in poor soils, can withstand fire and drought, store carbon, and produce hard, strong, richly coloured timbers. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100075/original/image-20151029-21081-afbbm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100075/original/image-20151029-21081-afbbm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100075/original/image-20151029-21081-afbbm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100075/original/image-20151029-21081-afbbm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100075/original/image-20151029-21081-afbbm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100075/original/image-20151029-21081-afbbm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100075/original/image-20151029-21081-afbbm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100075/original/image-20151029-21081-afbbm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A treasure trove for carbon farmers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACSIRO_ScienceImage_714_Eucalyptus_Globulus_Plantation_Australia.jpg">T. Grove/CSIRO/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Already planted across millions of hectares throughout the world, Australia’s eucalypts, acacias and casuarinas offer a genetic treasure trove for carbon farming. </p>
<p>With much to learn about Australia’s diverse and productive flora – including how to farm it for carbon – it seems perverse that investment in Australian forestry research and education is now declining. </p>
<h2>Carbon crops</h2>
<p>Carbon markets and emerging technologies could fundamentally alter the way we conceive of trees as crops. </p>
<p>With a million hectares of eucalyptus plantation approaching maturity, there is almost certainly an active search for commercial markets for the standing timber - as wood fibre, for bioenergy fuel, or for non-wood products. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, large areas are likely to be reconverted to pasture, resulting in less carbon being stored in these landscapes. But there’s another, even simpler option for what to do with these plantations.</p>
<p>Perhaps it is time to reconsider whether to credit the carbon captured by these trees, given that their plantings were sponsored by our taxes. Changes to the carbon farming rules might make these and other multi-use plantations more viable.</p>
<p>The Australian Forest Industry estimates that Australia’s Kyoto-compliant forestry plantations (those established on cleared land since 1990) offset about 4.5% of Australia’s total emissions, but these are not credited under Australia’s <a href="http://www.climatechangeauthority.gov.au/files/submissions/2014/cfi-review/submission-09-v2.pdf">Carbon Farming Initiative</a>.</p>
<p>There are <a href="http://apo.org.au/files/Resource/review1_0.pdf">no approved CFI methodologies</a> for plantations that sequester carbon and produce commercial timbers, but if there were, multipurpose plantations could form a key plank of Australia’s Direct Action carbon abatement policy. </p>
<p>In addition to carbon, there is potential for plantings that deliver economic development and ecological benefits in terms of restoring landscapes. But new models of plantations are needed, supported with different policy setting that drive their development. </p>
<p>Any large-scale bio-energy or carbon plantings in the future need to heed the lessons from Australia’s plantation boom and bust. In emerging carbon-constrained economies, how we define resources in rural landscapes, including carbon credits, will literally shape our future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49754/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason Alexandra received research funding from the Rural Industries Research and Development to research farm forestry and plantation policies in the late 1990's and has maintained an interest in impacts of policies on how landscapes and plantations are managed since.</span></em></p>The GFC killed off Australia’s timber plantation boom, leaving behind a million hectares of timber. But by recognising the carbon value in these trees, a new industry could grow in place of the old.Jason Alexandra, Honorary Fellow, Charles Darwin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/484052015-10-01T00:01:34Z2015-10-01T00:01:34ZThere is one thing the Coalition can do for climate change that Labor cannot<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96866/original/image-20150930-5787-fq86rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Lukas Coch</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>After barely two weeks in office, the direction the Turnbull government is likely to take on climate is beginning to emerge.</p>
<p>Remembering that Malcolm Turnbull would not have had the numbers for a spill without pandering to the radical conservatives that he would stay the course – their course – on climate policy, we should not expect Turnbull to overcome his <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/sep/25/the-inconvenient-truth-about-direct-action-comes-from-turnbull-himself?CMP=soc_568">personal hypocrisy</a> on climate any time soon. After all, it was an emissions trade scheme (ETS) that lost him the leadership in 2009 – even if by one vote.</p>
<p>Yet there are small signs that Turnbull is slowly turning around the ship on climate. First, the future of both the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency has been secured by their move to the Department of Environment. <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/environment-minister-greg-hunt-opens-the-door-to-government-wind-power-investment-20150929-gjx2q4.html">Wind power</a> is open for business again, as Environment Minister Greg Hunt <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2015/s4319503.htm">confirmed</a> a change of focus in favour of renewables and public transport. </p>
<p>Tony Abbott’s move to block environmental groups to use “lawfare” in opposing large mining projects is as good as “dead, buried and cremated” under Turnbull, according to independent senator Nick Xenophon. And outspoken <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/sep/28/climate-sceptic-maurice-newman-not-reappointed-government-adviser?CMP=share_btn_tw">climate sceptic</a> Maurice Newman has not been re-appointed as chair of the Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Council.</p>
<p>So many of these changes have been made under the radar and certainly not in anticipation of legislative change, such as replacing Direct Action with something on par with global expectations. The parochial stigma that a carbon price and ETS are given by our tabloid media ensures that, for the time being, Turnbull will not mess with Direct Action.</p>
<p>The really hard climate questions, like addressing the gap between current policy and post-2020 targets, may be something that Turnbull will put off until a second term in government, if that’s what he gets.</p>
<p>But now that Turnbull is the leader he has a much stronger basis to take the lead on climate than Abbott did on any issue. This is to say, his prime ministership is not under threat from either the polls or in his own partyroom. Unlike Abbott, Turnbull has no obvious successor to challenge him. Whether this means Turnbull’s autocratic reputation will succeed his declared new era of consultation remains to be seen. </p>
<p>But the lack of a challenger certainly gives Turnbull the power to lead by his convictions. These could even conceivably be based on a rational approach to problems rather than personal loyalty.</p>
<p>What has also emerged in the past two weeks is Abbott’s core problem – the infatuation with personal loyalty. Many on the liberal side of politics laud this trait as a virtue, but it is clear that loyalty blindsided Abbott even from the danger he was in politically.</p>
<p>As even The Australian newspaper complained about so often, the Abbott government had turned the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) into a fortress. Contact with the world had become so controlled and scripted. Trust was reduced to political loyalty, leading with advice from Peta Credlin, Maurice Newman, and the inner cabinet. It only fed those media outlets – such as the Daily Telegraph – that were doing the heavy lifting for the Abbott agenda.</p>
<p>This acute political closure was excruciatingly painful for Australian democracy, with News Corp being the first to sign up to the groupthink treaty, which had become an all-too-cosy media-political complex. The support for Abbott had been solid, except for <a href="http://theconversation.com/forget-the-polls-news-corp-is-not-happy-with-abbott-again-46180">four editorials</a> in The Australian offering exasperated political coaching on how he could get back on track.</p>
<p>But what has also emerged is the cult-of the-leader friendships between Abbott and conservative journalists such as influential News Corp columnist Andrew Bolt. In the most popular story running in the Daily Telegraph on Monday – <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/loss-of-tony-abbott-as-prime-minister-is-a-time-of-sorrow/story-e6frg6n6-1227546307247">reproduced</a> across News Corp – Bolt avowed his adoration for Abbott.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I must declare straight up – I call Tony Abbott a friend … I don’t think Abbott is a great man because he’s my friend. He’s my friend because he’s a great man.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Bolt is inconsolable about the loss of Abbott, who he says is:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… not a thug, bully, racist, fool, liar, woman-hater, homophobe or bigot. He’s not cruel or lacking compassion.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As evidence of this, Bolt offers some rather embarrassing examples, including:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Just minutes after Malcolm Turnbull told Abbott he was challenging for his job, Abbott still honoured a promise to meet girl guides, rather than hit the phones to save himself.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Bolt’s declaration of political love for Abbott completely vindicates critics of the government who held that the attempted repeal of Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act was a gesture for Abbott’s friendship with one man.</p>
<p>Bolt defended Abbott against charges of being:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A crash-through insensitive bully with no people skills? Ask my children how gentle he was when he called around.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Powerful radio hosts Alan Jones and Ray Hadley have also been enraged by Abbott’s removal. Their partnership with the most radical far-right government in Australian history is over.</p>
<p>The influence of these radio shockjocks – but also The Australian – on the government’s climate change policy is substantial. It is not that such media outlets and programs have directly guided climate policy. Rather, it is that Abbott’s PMO was falling over itself trying to please them in return for their support.</p>
<p>This was the case with Jones and windfarm policy, but also the recent revelations that Abbott’s own department ordered an <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/bureau-of-meteorology-defends-climate-data-after-revelations-abbotts-department-considered-probe-20150924-gju6s2.html">inquiry</a> into the Bureau of Meteorology following claims in The Australian newspaper last year that the bureau was “wilfully ignoring evidence that contradicts its own propaganda”. You couldn’t invent a better case of the influence of News Corp’s masthead on Australian climate politics.</p>
<p>But now that Turnbull is in power, News Corp has become <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/sep/22/malcolm-turnbulls-coup-against-abbott-set-off-civil-war-in-news-corp-australia">internally divided</a> as it mourns the loss of its prime ministerial quisling. “Civil war” is breaking out between Bolt and The Australian’s editor-in-chief Chris Mitchell on how to cover Turnbull.</p>
<p>But curiously, the divisions within News Corp are a flipside of the opportunity that a Turnbull government now has – to depoliticise climate change in Australia.</p>
<p>For more than a decade, the tabloid press has been at the centre of the politicisation of climate change in Australia. Coalition governments are promoted as responsible economic managers who see climate change as incompatible with growth, while Labor is wasteful and irresponsible and burdens the economy with carbon and mining taxes. The binary has even spread to politicians being divided on acceptance of climate science, the aesthetics of renewables, and causes of extreme weather.</p>
<p>Whenever Labor and the Greens do anything on climate, the tabloid media ramps up an attack that rivals <a href="http://theconversation.com/politicised-media-false-balance-and-the-pseudo-climate-debate-18851">news coverage of climate in the US</a>. When Labor or the Greens propose climate solutions, it is like, “well of course they are going to say that” – after all, environmentalism is socialism in disguise, as Abbott once put it.</p>
<p>With the legacy of this seemingly immovable binary in Australian politics, strangely, the one government that can move to depoliticise climate is the Coalition. If a Coalition government can take leadership on climate, we might be able to break out of the binary mess we are in, which is the immediate precondition for Australia taking effective action on climate.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/48405/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
After barely two weeks in office, the direction the Turnbull government is likely to take on climate is beginning to emerge. Remembering that Malcolm Turnbull would not have had the numbers for a spill…David Holmes, Senior Lecturer, Communications and Media Studies, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.