Hull Protest for Gaza
11 months ago
Saturday, April 17, 2010
'leader' debate
The debate last thursday was a good thing if it helped increase interest in politics. Nick Clegg came out marginally better than the others, BUT, if the Green leader, Caroline Lucas, had been on stage she would have outshone them all. Clegg said he would do things differently – BUT, how differently? All three still cling to the idea of economic ‘growth’. The Greens know that we have to change our ideas fundamentally if we are to climb out of recession without massive job losses and/or more damage to the environment. It was Caroline who came up with the term Green New Deal which the old parties have now adopted, but - the Greens’ policies actually hang together. ALL the old parties forget that the economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment. We forget this at our peril. We can’t continue with infinite growth on a finite planet.
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2 comments:
Shan, I think to be fair the Lib Dems do accept long term, we can’t have infinite economic growth on a finite planet, and the Lib Dems’ ‘Green Road to Recovery’ pre-dates the ‘Green New Deal’ (I’m sure the Greens didn’t copy the Lib Dems), albeit the GND is more ambitious – FoE and Greenpeace have given the Lib Dem a cautious welcome.
The question I would ask you is what would Greens do, as is quite possible, if the GND causes economic growth? Would you accept some short term growth in order to create a sustainable economy, or be happy to see job loses and cuts in order to avoid growth at any cost?
Thanks for this. Depends what you mean by growth. The Greens want growth - growth in necessary stuff such as warm homes, good public transport, care for the vulnerable, nurture of the young, supportive communities, locally produced food and renewable energy - instead of frantic consuming, war, waste and financial speculation. No we would not be happy to see job losses and cuts. We want people to have satisfying jobs doing positive things (instead of manufacturing weapons for example)and this is all possible if the collective mindset
changes...which needs visionary leadership - which we have in Caroline Lucas.
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