France, Alternative Libertaire AL #240 - Energy issue: Social ecology against the deadly capitalism (fr, pt)

How, under the lights of the climate crisis mounts, integrate energy issues, both in our 
daily practices and activists in a social project updated? ---- The Industrial Revolution, 
which developed from the nineteenth century and has transformed the planet was made 
possible by the frenzied exploitation of fossil fuels. First the charcoal, and then by 
increasing the oil. Today, the prospect of resource depletion and the engagement of 
climate change will make inevitable mutation of human societies ... They can not survive 
by becoming sober energy. ---- Revolutionaries can not simply refer the matter after the 
revolution. We face two challenges today, in reality deeply nested one inside the other: 
on the one hand contribute to the development of elements of a transition to an ecological 
society and secondly define the major changes social that will allow a low energy society 
to meet the needs of its members, updating our social project is a key element of our 
struggle to anticipate changes to an ecological society.

Does this mean that within capitalist society it is possible to build large-scale change 
that? We think not. But that does not mean that there is nothing to do today, or that the 
development of such alternatives can be done without a strong link with social and 
ecological struggles ...

The capitalist legacy

Above all we need to know the state of affairs today. Let us simplify the matter, on the 
situation in France. CO2 emissions are reached 5.04 tonnes per capita in 2011 (64th in the 
world), when the global average was 4.50 tons [ 1 ]. Obviously this classification is not 
sufficient to assess the significance of changes needed in energy use. Recall that 
[footprint 2 ] French, which is half due to CO2 emissions [ 3 ], is now estimated to 
average 5 hectares per person while the planet has only 1.8 hectares inhabitants [ 4 ].

In 2012, the energy consumed (measured at the end user) in France is divided between the 
households (29.8% of total final consumption), the tertiary sector (14.7%), the transport 
sector (31.9%), industry (20.8%) and agriculture (2.9%). All sectors, petroleum products 
are the first form of energy consumed representing 41.8%. Followed by electricity (24.4%), 
gas (20.8%), thermal renewable energy - wood, biofuels, biogas and waste - (9.7%) and coal 
(3.4%) [ 5 ]. Electricity comes to 75.8% nuclear, 14.6% of renewable energy sources 
(mainly hydropower 11.2%) and 9.6% of fossil power plants. And fossil fuels account for 
68% of energy consumption, 19% nuclear and renewables only 13%.

This brief review can get an idea of the scale of the changes needed for the French 
economy continues to destroy the planet. The "Grenelle 1" law sets a target of a fourfold 
gas emissions greenhouse 2050. This corresponds to the target set at the Kyoto Protocol to 
contain global warming to a level of 2-degree rise beyond which the climate change "will 
result in an increase in extreme weather events, a rise in sea level, advanced deserts, 
etc.., with the cohort of human drama and soaring costs that these phenomena will cause "[ 
6 ].

What about today? In 2010, globally, were released 50.1 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent in 
the atmosphere, 20% more than in 2000. Certainly France can boast a more positive. "In 
2012, emissions of France at the perimeter of the Kyoto Protocol amounted to 490 Mt eq. 
CO2, a decrease of 12% compared to baseline (...). This downward trend is due to all 
mitigation measures, including improving industrial processes, enhanced building 
insulation, renewable energy use, etc.. " [ 7 ] Probably should be added to account for 
this assessment, the impact of economic slowdown due to the crisis and especially the 
process of deindustrialization deported pollution to the South.

Ambitious goals

When a country claims to be virtuous by posting a 12% decline in 22 years, then it is 
necessary to achieve a 75% reduction by 2050, and this decline is actually mainly a shift 
pollution in other countries, it appears that it is the whole of the current economic and 
social system that is incapable of solving the climate crisis. There is not and there can 
not be a capitalist solution to the ecological crisis, if only because without "GDP 
growth", the capitalist system can not survive. Also, improvements in energy efficiency or 
renewable energy barely offset the growth in energy costs due to the increase in GDP ...

The energy in an ecological society

Ecological society that we are calling for will not be a society that will give technology 
or in which men and women should live under a restriction. Take the example of the habitat 
that now accounts for a third of the energy consumed in France. Today, we know how to 
build houses "positive energy", ie that produce more energy than they consume. Obviously 
this involves a significant technological level.

In addition, ecological society, breaking with capitalism is necessarily an egalitarian 
society. The company will generate a lot more collective way of life, where many goods and 
services - washing machines, computers, video resources, cars ... - will be shared within 
several blocks of homes. This will drastically reduce the necessary welfare production and 
produce more expensive goods, but fewer and especially rid of planned obsolescence [ 8 ] 
dear to capitalists. The example of agriculture where most of the energy consumption 
related to the production of inputs for agro-industry, shows that it is possible by the 
implementation of technical changes - in this example agriculture biological - to greatly 
reduce energy costs associated with the production ... In addition, many economic sectors 
which in reality does not correspond to the needs of men and women, but to generate 
profits, will be abandoned or nearly abandoned: advertising, packaging, production of all 
these useless gadgets that abound in consumer societies. There will be no race to 
incessant change materials imposed without advertising campaign. Not to mention all the 
functions of law enforcement, supervision and commissioning of the population not only to 
enable the survival of unequal societies.

Energy transition

The issue of transport, which also consume a third of the energy in France will result in 
a fundamental change. First with regard to the transport of goods which will be reduced to 
a minimum by implementing a productive autonomy of each region portion. Then the commuting 
people also will be reorganized, in part by refocusing on the local economy and secondly 
by the systematic implementation of free public transport. The question of how the 
carriage of leisure will be managed collectively in self-management structures of the 
population respecting the balance between the wishes of the people and protecting the 
environment.

To conclude on this point, an ecological society will favor providing its members to 
health services, education, housing benefit of running water, energy and means of 
communication, access to culture .. . Collective life will be richer, allowing greater 
collective solidarity, better support for people experiencing weakness and putting an end 
to these great solitudes of modern cities. This company will be sober energy, the only way 
in ending the exploitation of fossil fuels, reduce emissions enough greenhouse gas 
emissions. Today, beyond the ideological struggle, it is possible to achieve progress 
towards a low-energy society. The means for this are multifaceted, reflecting the global 
nature of the energy issue.

It is possible to popularize the experiments of energy-saving and implementation of 
renewable energy resources, wind, small hydro, solar, biomass ... and these actions result 
in a significant proportion of the population. These experiments can take the path of a 
community housing to collectivize many hardware and building human relations without 
domination today.

Alternative methods

It is also possible to work, whether in agriculture or crafts with alternative methods of 
using eco-friendly materials to build biogas plant vegetable waste. Promote the 
consumption of "short circuit" is the same logic. All these forms of experimentation 
already reducing emissions of greenhouse gases measurably and especially to promote the 
development of energy-efficient technologies. But obviously believe in a progressive 
generalization of these logics, without questioning the capitalist organization of society 
would fall imposture.

One of the major obstacles hindering the progress of these logics is the massive 
dependence of the population in the capitalist ideology, the "need to eat" that locks in 
the submission to the capitalist order. This is not a propaganda for the "voluntary 
simplicity" it will be possible to detach swathes of the population of this dependence. 
The energy transition will not be built in connection with the emergence of 
against-society capable of organizing excluded with those who reject the life that 
capitalism seeks to impose and to build a more enviable life . But such against-society, 
linking all experiments for energy sobriety and another lifestyle, risk of isolating this 
segment of the population and sterilize this perspective.

It is therefore essential that this cons-build company in connection with the rest of the 
dominated classes; build more bridges between those who want to break with the consumer 
society and the great mass of the proletariat who enroll. This convergence can only be 
achieved and within social and ecological struggles. Militant and revolutionary militants 
who act both within the social struggles that ecological struggles on this important 
responsibility. Build convergence between social and ecological struggles is nowadays a 
challenge, both logics are separated. How to take into account the aspirations expressed 
in the social struggles on employment, wages, working conditions, the right to retire in 
the context of fighting against the destruction of nature, how to take account the need to 
fight against the release of greenhouse gas emissions by the social movement while these 
fights are often experienced as contradictory?

This is probably one of the fundamental today for revolutionaries issues. If we do not 
give ourselves the means to overcome this contradiction, the struggle for an ecological 
society will be lost! Yet tracks exist that we must work. First and foremost, multiply 
activists bridges through a joint draft social transformation and joint actions by 
developing whenever possible convergences between the two fights. And remember that the 
main emitters of greenhouse gas emissions in unequal societies are in the bourgeoisie, and 
the struggle for wealth sharing is a precondition for a low-energy society.

Jacques Dubart (AL Agen)


[ 1 ] website "The World Bank" data.worldbank.org . See section "CO2 emissions (metric 
tons per capita)"

[ 2 ] This notion is a resource estimate produced by the earth per unit of floor space 
available. Obviously humanity can not permanently, as it does today consume more than the 
Earth produces.

[ 3 ] Source: Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and the Sea

[ 4 ] 2012 Report on the State of the World published by WWF in collaboration with the 
Zoological Society of London and the Global Footprint Network

[ 5 ] Compass - Key figures of energy, Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and 
Energy,

[ 6 ] See www.developpement-durable.gouv.fr

[ 7 ] www.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/Emissions-de-la-France, 33791.html .

[ 8 ] A set of techniques to reduce a product's life in order to increase the replacement rate