Why Will Governments Never Solve The Climate Crisis?
Questioner: Namaste Acharya Ji. My question is about anxieties regarding the future wherein the threats that were supposed to be in the future have come in the present almost: AI, which challenges our purpose as humans because it can do everything better than us, and climate change, which threatens our very survival, and the decline in the traditional institutions that could provide us solace. How does an individual cope with these anxieties? Further, what can we, as a community, as societies, do? Do you see any role of public policy or the government in this?
Acharya Prashant: Government is a concept. Government is a term. It's a concept. You are the government. I'm talking to somebody in flesh and blood. You are the government. Ours is a democratic system. You form the government. You don't just choose. You form the government. You are the policy. I won't even say you choose the policymakers.
You are the policy. Everything will be as you are. If we remain enslaved for long centuries, that has something to do with the way we had, unfortunately, become. It all begins within.
So, there is nothing that public policy can do in it. There is nothing that governments are going to do. Paris Agreement — what happened to that? We were talking of a 45% reduction in emissions by 2030. Instead of minus 45%, we are up 2.5%. We were talking of net zero by 2050. As things are, we'll be plus 25% by 2050. Even plus 2.5% will be fatal, and all the leaders got together. There were the national deliverables that were decided upon. What happened to that? Nothing.
Because the leaders will come back and see, if we implement these things, this fellow is not going to vote for me. You sir, you. It all comes at a cost. If you set up industries that are carbon neutral or carbon negative, that requires the taxpayer's money to be spent in a different way. Is the taxpayer game for that? Will we allow that to happen?
The government, the leaders, the vote seekers, they follow the electorate. They mislead the electorate, we know. They condition the electorate, we know. They corrupt the electorate. But ultimately, they follow the decision of the electorate, the mood of the electorate.
If you all collectively declare that you absolutely hold the color black sacred, and a vote seeker comes here, you'll find him in black. He follows what you like. He does what you want him to do. Obviously, he does manipulate you, but even after all the manipulation, he stands behind you. You lead him. You lead your leaders. So,
All real change can happen only at the level of the individual. Once it happens there, it takes no time for governments to tow the line.
But if the electorate remains as it is, that's the individual, the individual remains as she is and you go and petition the government, what will come of it?
The Paris Agreement will go down in history as a burning testament to the futility of governmental action. You can keep having summits after summits unless the population itself is sensitized. After all, the Paris Agreement, you will have people like Trump who will just junk the agreement. It's the second time in a row he's opted out of Paris. And who voted him to power? The army? Was it a coup? What happened there? It was a democratic process, and he got duly elected.
He's saying, "We'll make America great again, and there is gold under our feet. We'll dig out all the hydrocarbons, the gas, the oil. We'll not only burn these things, we'll actively export them. If we can make dollars out of our natural resources, why shouldn't we? We'll make America great again. America first." And if he says America first, Russia will say Russia first, China first, then all concepts of nationalism will be aroused.
The Paris Agreement said, "Let's look at the entire planet not as nationalities but as human beings." But are you prepared to look at the entire planet not from your little perspective? "I belong to UP, I belong to Tamil Nadu, I am Indian, I am American. UP first, Tamil Nadu first, India first, America first." As long as we are not prepared to have a macro perspective, how will governmental action happen?
People elected Trump, don’t forget it, and they rejoice at his policies. He's cutting down, he has already cut down the subsidies that were being given to the EVs, the EV industry, so that petrol, diesel, and gas regain their supremacy as fuels. And will initiate mining and exploration in Alaska. Do you understand how fragile that ecosystem is, Alaska? They're saying, "We will blast through the ice and dig out the minerals to help with the glaciers."
He's an old man. It's just that a lot of young men, a fat lot of young men, support him. 34 crore Americans, at least 17 crore of them support him. What can any government do when so many people want something? It will happen. If you want to accelerate climate devastation, it will be accelerated. Who can stop it? A leader is just a poor person, typically an old man. How will he resist the combined might of the electorate? The colossal power of mass ignorance? How can any leader resist that even if he wants to? They don’t want to, but even if he wants to.
