Analysis: Stansted protest
Analysis: Stansted protest
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Protests against climate change will descend upon London today, in an international campaign including over 70 countries.
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Climate change negotiators meeting in Poznan, Poland, face a tough challenge from today.
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Monday, 08, Dec 2008 12:53
They could be forgiven for feeling hard-done by. After passing the most comprehensive and far-reaching environmental legislation in the world, government figures will look at today's protest in Stansted airport with an air of resignation.
Surely they could take it a little easier, now that parliament has demonstrated its commitment to tackling climate change?
The government is now officially committed to cutting Britain's carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. When it began the consultation process, the promised figure was 60 per cent. Lobbying by green groups pushed it up. A little later, the government backed down on another significant demand – for aviation to be included in the emissions calculations. After making such significant concessions there was an expectation the green movement might be pacified. No such luck. Historically, concessions do not always guarantee satisfaction.
The British ruling class had a habit of making just enough of a concession at the right time to prevent more radical change, with many historians using this pragmatic tendency to explain the continued presence of a monarch or the lack of British revolutions.
But that very same assumption proved false during many critical changes in Britain's history. When the Great Reform Act was passed in 1832, for instance, most of its supporters in parliament argued that offering a slight increase in the franchise would dampen calls for more radical reform – such as that demanded by the proto-socialist Chartist movement. It didn't work like that. The Act merely precipitated further calls for expansion, and eventually the establishment of democracy as we know it.
There was a similar period in the 1960s during Roy Jenkins' celebrated stint as home secretary. Efforts to suspend birching and capital punishment tended to galvanise liberalisers in society, rather than pacify them. Within years British society had changed fundamentally. Play censorship was ended, abortion legalised in all but name (it was actually accomplished by expanding the medical conditions which allowed it), homosexuality was decriminalised and the divorce laws changed forever.
And so it is today. The green movement has proved itself to be effective and ruthless. It has moved from hippy-associated obscurity in the nineties to an all-encompassing media saturation in the noughties. Offering action seems to merely further validate the movement, rather than dampen it.
But the government also faces continued protest because its policy appears so inconsistent. Once the 80 per cent law was passed, the possibility of building new runways appeared slightly deranged – schizophrenic even. Admittedly, no decisions have been taken yet. But there have been strong hints from within government, most notably from transport minister Geoff Hoon, that ministers want at least Heathrow pushed through.
The green movement is right to point out the oddity of this. Expanding aviation after signing a commitment to cut it seems like the action of someone who doesn't understand the consequences of his actions. The government does understand, but it is coming up against a fundamental problem of green issues, which no-one likes to admit. Tackling climate change isn't good for the economy.
There are theories as to how it can help the economy in the long run – the Green party have some particularly interesting proposals for using climate change action to boost employment in manual trades. But the short-term action is painful, and in the middle of a recession, it will overrule any government's green credentials. Aviation is good for the UK economy; more flights to and from the UK will boost the country's finances and long-term success. Even with legislation on the statute book, it's hard for green warnings to overcome that.
And that means there are more days like today on the horizon.
Ian Dunt