System Change, Not Climate Change

CH, Belfast

The climate crisis is a political issue, which requires a political solution. You can change your entire lifestyle but for big change, the change we need to save our planet, we need governments and companies to take responsibility – yet what have they done? They have sat on their hands. They continue to allow oil companies to frack and continue the destruction of the world’s rainforests.

This year due to wildfires, the Amazon rainforest lost over 2 million acres. The rainforest, being one of the largest carbon dioxide sinks, plays a significant role in global climate change. There is more CO2 in our atmosphere than any other time in human history. Animals are also going extinct; average wildlife populations have dropped by 60% in the last 40 years.

Due to greed, deforestation, over fishing and soil erosion, it’s estimated that in ten years we will have consumed all the worlds resources. We have enough food to end world hunger, yet many remain hungry. There’s enough money in the world for people to have a stable living, yet many still struggle in poverty. All of these things are by-products of capitalism, our economic system which is reliant upon continual growth and plundering of our resources in pursuit of profit. Governments are sitting on their hands, while their wealthy friends line their pockets with the rewards of ecological devastation.

We need a change of system. A system not based on the pursuit of profit but an economy organised on the basis of sustainability and the needs of the population. Not the needs of BP, nor Shell, nor Saudi Aramco. Capitalism is incompatible with our sustainability as a species. We must build the basis for socialism, we must build the basis for working class power, we must strike at the hearts of the corporations and their friends in government. We must get organised.

The young people of Ireland must go forth and politically engage their peers in school, in their workplaces, at home in their communities and in the trade union and housing movements – for this is where we begin to challenge capitalist power. This is no small task, but the mantle has been passed to the young people of Ireland. We must make our governments take a stand against corporations deciding our future for us. It is their greed that is killing us. It is capitalism that is killing us. It is capitalism that is killing our future. It is capitalism that is killing our planet. We need a change of system. Are we ready for the challenge? It is socialism or extinction. It is socialism or death.