Paper Tigers: Not So Eco-Friendly

Inaction on climate change inspires civil disobedience


According to the Climate Justice Programme, an international coalition of scientists, activists and lawyers, progress in combating climate change has fallen far short of where it needs to be.

Though they agree that "we have international agreements, more resources for scientific research leading to stronger evidence, some policy advances, a change in industry rhetoric and a certain increase in public awareness," it just hasn't been enough to raise the specter of a devastating climactic future for the planet, caused primarily by the rich world but felt mostly by the poor world.

The heat will be turned up on the debate next month, during what has been billed as "the largest mass civil disobedience for the climate in U.S. history."

The Capitol Climate Action (CCA) -- a national coalition of more than 40 environmental, public health, social justice and labor groups -- has been organizing thousands of supporters to descend on the Capitol Power Plant in Washington, D.C., on the afternoon of March 9 in a act of civil disobedience in the hopes of heightening public awareness and official action on the climate and energy crises.

From the actions of Rosa Parks to Mahatma Gandhi, non-violent civil disobedience has been an important tool for citizens seeking social change when governments have been unhelpful or when laws have been unfair -- or unenforced.

As Henry David Thoreau observed in his seminal 1849 text Civil Disobedience, "Most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient."

"The field of law has, in many ways, been the poor relation in the world-wide effort to deliver a cleaner, healthier and ultimately fairer world," says Klaus Töpfer, the former Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme.

"We have over 500 international and regional agreements, treaties and deals covering everything from the protection of the ozone layer to the conservation of the oceans and seas. Almost all, if not all, countries have national environmental laws too. But unless these are complied with, unless they are enforced, then they are little more than symbols, tokens, paper tigers."

photo: 'No Matter' Project