New publication: Verena Winiwarter - The way to a climate-friendly society

by Martin Auer

In this short, easy-to-read essay, the environmental historian Verena Winiwarter presents seven fundamental considerations for the path to a society that can also secure the lives of future generations. Of course, it is not an instruction book - "In seven steps to ..." - but, as Winiwarter writes in the foreword, a contribution to a debate that is to be held. The natural sciences have long since clarified the causes of the climate and biodiversity crisis and also named the necessary measures. Winiwarter therefore deals with the social dimension of the necessary change.

The first consideration concerns the welfare. In our networked industrial society based on the division of labour, individuals or families can no longer take care of their own existence independently. We depend on goods that are produced elsewhere and on infrastructure such as water pipes, sewers, gas and electricity lines, transportation, health care facilities and many others that we do not manage ourselves. We trust that the light will come on when we flick the switch, but in fact we have no control over it. All of these structures that make life possible for us would not be possible without state institutions. Either the state makes them available itself or regulates their availability through laws. A computer may be made by a private company, but without the state education system there would be no one to build it. One must not forget that the welfare of the public, the prosperity as we know it, was made possible by the use of fossil fuels and is inextricably linked to the poverty of the "Third World" or the Global South. 

At the second step it's about the welfare. This aims at the future, at providing for our own existence and that of the next generation and the one after that. Services of general interest are the prerequisite and consequence of a sustainable society. In order for a state to provide services of general interest, it must be a constitutional state based on inalienable human and fundamental rights. Corruption undermines effective services of general interest. Even if institutions of public interest, such as the water supply, are privatized, the consequences are negative, as experience in many cities shows.

In the third step the rule of law, fundamental and human rights are examined: "Only a constitutional state in which all officials have to submit to the law and in which an independent judiciary monitors them can protect citizens from arbitrariness and state violence." In court In a constitutional state, action can also be taken against state injustice. The European Convention on Human Rights has been in force in Austria since 1950. Among other things, this guarantees the right of every human being to life, liberty and security. "Thus," Winiwarter concludes, "the organs of Austria's fundamental rights democracy would have to protect people's livelihoods in the long term in order to act in accordance with the constitution, and thus not only implement the Paris Climate Agreement, but also act comprehensively as environmental and thus health protectors." Yes, they are the fundamental rights in Austria are not "individual rights" that a single person can claim for themselves, but only a guideline for state action. It would therefore be necessary to include the obligation of the state to ensure climate protection in the constitution. However, any national legislation on climate protection would also have to be embedded in an international framework, since climate change is a global problem. 

step four names three reasons why the climate crisis is a “treacherous” problem. "Wicked problem" is a term coined by spatial planners Rittel and Webber in 1973. They use it to designate problems that cannot even be clearly defined. Treacherous problems are usually unique, so there is no way to find a solution through trial and error, nor are there any clear right or wrong solutions, only better or worse solutions. The existence of the problem can be explained in different ways, and possible solutions depend on the explanation. There is only one clear solution to the problem of climate change at the scientific level: No more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere! But implementing this is a societal problem. Will it be implemented through technical solutions such as carbon capture and storage and geoengineering, or through lifestyle changes, fighting inequality and changing values, or through an end to capitalism driven by finance capital and its logic of growth? Winiwarter highlights three aspects: one is the “tyranny of the present” or simply the short-sightedness of politicians who want to secure the sympathy of their current voters: “Austrian politics is busy, by prioritizing climate-damaging economic growth, the Securing pensions for today’s pensioners instead of enabling a good future for the grandchildren through climate protection policies at least as much.” A second aspect is that those who do not like the measures to solve a problem tend to see the problem, in this case, climate change, to deny or belittle it. The third aspect concerns “communicative noise”, i.e. an overabundance of irrelevant information in which the essential information is lost. In addition, misinformation, half-truths and downright nonsense are spread in a targeted manner. This makes it difficult for people to make correct and sensible decisions. Only free and independent quality media can protect the rule of law democracy. However, this also requires independent financing and independent supervisory bodies. 

The fifth step names environmental justice as the basis of all justice. Poverty, disease, malnutrition, illiteracy and damage from a toxic environment make it impossible for people to participate in democratic negotiations. Environmental justice is thus the basis of the democratic constitutional state, the basis of fundamental rights and human rights, because it creates the physical prerequisites for participation in the first place. Winiwarter quotes the Indian economist Amartya Sen, among others. According to Sen, a society is all the more just the more “realization opportunities” created by freedom it enables people to have. Freedom includes the possibility of political participation, economic institutions that ensure distribution, social security through minimum wages and social benefits, social opportunities through access to the education and health systems, and freedom of the press. All these freedoms must be negotiated in a participatory manner. And that is only possible if people have access to environmental resources and are free from environmental pollution. 

The sixth step continues to deal with the concept of justice and the associated challenges. Firstly, the success of measures intended to lead to more justice is often difficult to monitor. The achievement of the 17 sustainability goals of Agenda 2030, for example, is to be measured using 242 indicators. A second challenge is lack of clarity. Serious inequalities are often not even visible to those who are not affected, which means that there is no motivation to take action against them. Third, there is inequality not only between present and future people, but also between the Global South and the Global North, and not least within individual nation states. Poverty reduction in the North must not come at the expense of the South, climate protection must not come at the expense of those who are already disadvantaged, and a good life in the present must not come at the expense of the future. Justice can only be negotiated, but negotiation often avoids misunderstandings, especially at the global level.

step seven emphasizes: "Without peace and disarmament there is no sustainability." War does not only mean immediate destruction, even in times of peace, the military and armaments cause greenhouse gases and other environmental damage and claim huge resources that should better be used to protect the basis of life. Peace requires trust, which can only be achieved through democratic participation and the rule of law. Winiwarter quotes the moral philosopher Stephen M. Gardiner, who proposes a global constitutional convention to enable a climate-friendly world society. As a kind of trial action, she proposes an Austrian climate constitutional convention. This should also address the doubts that many activists, advisory bodies and academics have about the ability of democracy to cope with climate policy challenges. Limiting climate change requires comprehensive social efforts, which are only possible if they are supported by a de facto majority. So there is no way around the democratic struggle for majorities. A climate constitutional convention could kick-start the institutional reforms needed to achieve this, and could help build confidence that beneficial development is possible. Because the more complex the problems are, the more important trust is, so that society remains capable of acting.

Finally, and almost in passing, Winiwarter goes into an institution that is actually formative for modern society: the "free market economy". She first quotes the writer Kurt Vonnegut, who attests to addictive behavior in industrial society, namely addiction to fossil fuels, and predicts a “cold turkey”. And then the drug expert Bruce Alexander, who attributes the global addiction problem to the fact that the free market economy exposes people to the pressure of individualism and competition. According to Winiwarter, moving away from fossil fuels could also result in moving away from the free market economy. She sees the way out in promoting psychosocial integration, i.e. the restoration of communities that have been destroyed by exploitation, whose environment has been poisoned. These must be supported in the reconstruction. An alternative to the market economy would be cooperatives of all kinds, in which the work is geared towards the community. A climate-friendly society is therefore one that is neither addicted to fossil fuels nor to mind-altering drugs, because it promotes people's mental health through cohesion and trust. 

What distinguishes this essay is the interdisciplinary approach. Readers will find references to a number of authors from different fields of science. It is clear that such a text cannot answer all questions. But since the writing boils down to the proposal for a constitutional climate convention, one would expect a more detailed account of the tasks that such a convention would have to solve. A parliamentary decision with a two-thirds majority would suffice to expand the current constitution to include an article on climate protection and services of general interest. A specially elected convention would probably have to deal with the basic structure of our state, above all with the question of how concretely the interests of future generations, whose voices we cannot hear, can be represented in the present. Because, as Stephen M. Gardiner points out, our current institutions, from the nation state to the UN, were not designed for that. This would then also include the question of whether, in addition to the current form of representative democracy by representatives of the people, there can be other forms that, for example, shift decision-making powers further “downwards”, i.e. closer to those affected. The question of economic democracy, the relationship between a private, profit-oriented economy on the one hand and a community economy oriented towards the common good on the other, should also be the subject of such a convention. Without strict regulation, a sustainable economy is inconceivable, if only because future generations cannot influence the economy as consumers via the market. It must therefore be clarified how such regulations are to come about.

In any case, Winiwarter's book is inspiring because it draws attention far beyond the horizon of technological measures such as wind power and electromobility to the dimensions of human coexistence.

Verena Winiwarter is an environmental historian. She was voted scientist of the year in 2013, is a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and heads the commission for interdisciplinary ecological studies there. She is a member of Scientists for Future. A Interview on climate crisis and society can be heard on our podcast "Alpenglühen". Your book is in Picus publisher appeared.