Dangers of politicising Climate Change

With the recent floods raising the profile of climate change even higher, can direct action be justified to help combat climate change? Is the direct action involved in the camp planned at Heathrow on 14th August reasonable? Here’s a quote from the climate camp website “This is the only way to stop the actions of those vested interests that watch the planet burn while counting the money they make from the fire.“

Ok, here’s my point. Does demonising business leaders get results? Does aligning yourself with the acts of political extremists get you public sympathy? I don’t think it does. I think those who politicise climate change and promote direct action (a phrase which can mean much more extreme things than peaceful protest) need to realise they may be risking alienating exactly the people who they need as allies.

Do these people want to overturn the capitalist system that currently governs the way the world operates? I’m not just talking fat cats here, I’m talking about interest rates and pensions, things many of us rely on for our financial security.

Now I understand the issue with climate change, yes we need to act. Businesses of all sizes, people wherever they live, need to change how they emit greenhouse gases like CO2. That is why I set up my business, Ems2. The best way to make this change is to find ways of doing profitable business that reduces GHGs, or those of others. This keeps our futures safe in more ways than one. We don’t need anarchy, we need to work with people.

Even corporate CEOs are human beings. Those of us trying to help organisations take positive steps to combat climate change need to relate to them as such. Let’s stop radicalising people into extremist behaviour; it’s the climate change we need to fight, not each other. Let’s allow the police to spend their time on more useful stuff than dragging people away from the outskirts of Heathrow because of some misguided sense of doing the right thing.