The Democratic Party markets itself as the party of environmental protection while pursuing policies that are endangering all life on earth. Fossil fuel producers are able to do as they please whether republicans or democrats are in the white house.
It’s becoming increasingly difficult to refute the sentiment that the mainstream environmental “movement” has lost its way, assuming that it ever had a clear one in the first place. This election cycle has illuminated the fact that this cadre of the larger non profit industrial apparatus has aligned itself more with a political party, the Democrats, than with the principles necessary to confront the quintessential climate crisis that’s edging the planet and requisite systems for survival to a junction of entropy.
It must now be said that the abject intransigence of mainstream environmental groups poses a clear and present danger to climate and environmental justice that in some ways, it could be argued, rivals that of former President Trump. How can this be so? The proof is not only in the policies these groups have either written or fully support, but also in the candidates they support at all levels of government who perpetually choose profits over people and who break their promises or drastically change their positions just to get elected. We saw this with President Biden, who many of these groups endorsed despite the fact that he broke his word on new oil and gas drilling on federal lands - he in fact approved more oil and gas leasing than his predecessor.
And we are seeing the same myopic and sophomoric behavior as it pertains to Vice President Harris, who many of these groups endorsed despite never seeing her policy proposals for climate change. Some of these groups, as well as climate thought “leaders,” who are considered the anointed imprimaturs of the climate community, are even defending Harris after she not only proclaimed that she would not institute a national fracking ban, but also bragged about casting the deciding vote to expand the pernicious practice that poisons air, land, water, and public health alike during her debate with former President Trump.
Rather than issue polemics for the inadequate snippets of climate policy that Harris is dangling underneath her presidential conquest rooted more in “vibes and joy” than comprehensive policies, these groups and individuals offer her panegyrics. One climate “leader” even suggested how Harris could defend her flip flop on fracking, offering, in part, that Harris should proclaim, “Our country is an energy superpower and we must continue to be one in the 21st Century.” The so-called climate leader goes on to advise Harris to state, “I expressed concerns about fracking because of the stories I’d heard from people across states like Pennsylvania of irresponsible industry behavior…that’s why I’ve supported Governor Shapiro’s approach of working with industry to tighten health and safety rules.”
This kind of doublespeak is something you would expect more from Trump than someone who purports to be a climate leader. And here’s why syllogism like this is dangerous: It was just reported that a Pennsylvania-based fracking company has actually received $30 Million of the people’s money for environmental justice. To this end, it’s way more Trumpian to align environmental justice with fracking than it is “progressive.” This kind of behavior that is rooted in the ideology of white “supremacy” must be reduced as quickly as, if not faster than, greenhouse gas emissions if we, and specifically frontline communities, have any chance to survive and thrive. Hence why true climate and environmental justice champions identify the root causes of the climate crisis as white “supremacy” ideology, patriarchy, and colonization.
Speaking of colonization, far too many of these groups and individuals continue to colonize the climate discourse, which allows latitude for Harris and the Democrats to be considered the leading narrative, rather than obloquies that she and her corporate party rightfully deserve for their continued dereliction of duty when it comes to protecting people and planet. And it’s also how milquetoast climate policies like the Inflation Reduction Act is considered a panacea when it should be rendered a pariah for its litany of transgressions that include governmental largess for the fossil fuel cartels, and, as recently discovered, a continuation of racial and wealth inequality as household making $50,000 or less have only received 7% of funding, while households making $200,000 or more have received 500 percent more of IRA funding.
Next week a toxic panoply of climate/environmental organizations and thought “leaders” will descend upon New York City for the municipalities annual Climate Week. The upcoming election is sure to dominate the lexicon, and there will be more discussion about the need to defeat Trump than discussion on the need to push Harris to be in a better position to do exactly that. Trump will be used as a pavlovian retort to warranted concerns about Harris’s policy positions on climate change, her flip flops and Biden’s own climate record that’s been inconsistent at best, but overall more addled and anemic than he is.
These climate groups and their thought “leaders” will attempt to fly a flag of pragmatism, but what they are really doing is waving a white flag of surrender and capitulation in an effort to maintain their funding levels and access to a misguided menagerie of lawmakers who are contemporaneously turning their backs on Palestine and environmental justice communities. This all represents a lack of principles and morality that forms the antithesis of the objective needs of the people and the planet.
It must be said that the veil has been lifted and now this elitist circumference of affluent, Professional Managerial Class operatives are in the open for all who are willing to open their eyes to see that they are whiter and bluer, than they are green.
When we have to fight the system as well as the system that purports to be fighting the system that refuses to decouple our economy and way of life from the instruments of our destruction, how can we look at them as any different than enemies and obstructions of justice. And for those, like Bernie Sanders, who recently suggested in an interview with CNN that Harris is just saying what needs to be said to be elected and being “pragmatic,”, as well as those “progressives” who suggest that Harris will move to the left after she’s elected, I place you in contempt for this kind of sorry rhetoric that’s literally killing people. This approach to political strategy is less about Lucy not holding the ball for Charlie Brown, and more an example of her kicking him in the crotch and spiking the ball on his face.
No Compromise
No Retreat
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright is a national racial and climate justice advocate. He is a proud member of the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) and is blessed to be the father of his eight-year-old son, Zahir Cielo. The opinions expressed in this piece are his own.
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