Rain, climate, inequality and politics are connected – 02/21/2023 – Jorge Abrahão

The chance encounter in the Serra do Mar between humid and warm currents from the Amazon and a cold front from the south of the continent released in a short period of time the enormity of 600 mm of water in the form of rain (the equivalent of 600 liters per square meter) in some cities on the north coast of São Paulo. The consequences were tragic, above all in terms of lost lives and suffering, but also materially.

Extreme weather events have been repeated for years, here and there, each time more intense, but we are incapable of learning from them, of making the cause-effect relationship, focused as we are on our individual lives, on immediate survival, on consumerism and on struggles. of power. The model imposes itself and the order is to produce and consume: the rest, we’ll see later.

We still call these events “natural disasters”, as if they were an inevitable fatality, as if we had nothing to do with it and nature was solely responsible. And so we wash our hands and continue to deceive and delude ourselves, thinking that the solution does not depend on us. We prefer to pretend that everything is natural and, in this way, cover up our responsibility in choosing a predatory development model, which consumes natural resources without limits and receives increasingly forceful responses from nature itself, which we do not know how to interpret.

Meanwhile, those who have political and economic power —and are most responsible for the increase in these extreme weather events— seek protected places in their countries and around the world, under the illusion that they will be able to escape unscathed. They may even gain a little time, but no more than that. It would be better to face the problem head on: Freud explains the process of denial.

The lack of awareness of most governments, companies and society in relation to climate change and its impacts means that tragedies like the one that occurred this weekend are repeated with more intensity and speed. For decades, data has shown that extreme weather events have been increasing, and the reaction, in the various spheres of government nationally and internationally, is not up to the seriousness of the problem.

Emissions of greenhouse gases (CO_two) break a record year after year, despite the goals of the Paris Agreement of 2015, which obtained the commitment to reduce emissions from 193 countries in the world. But our inability to take global collective action was proven in the distribution of vaccines during the pandemic, when it was observed that, while a few countries vaccinated the fourth dose, most of the world did not apply the first.

As long as the individual interests of countries and large economic sectors are ahead of collective interests, we will continue to experience tragedies, lamenting deaths, being moved, showing solidarity, crying, but without structural changes that prevent their repetition. These violent weather events are directly related to human actions and are a response to irresponsible and arrogant collective behavior.

It is important for us to make these connections so that the choices and priorities for actions are defined considering the impacts we have on the environment. In this sense, governments and companies play a fundamental role. Banks, by financing projects without considering the medium and long-term environmental impact, are responsible for the tragedies that ensue. The oil and gas exploration projects in the Amazon, if they move forward, will be related to the floods and landslides in the coming years. Financing shale gas exploration projects, whether in the US or Argentina, is directly related to climate change; those involved in its funding, as well.

On the other hand, by assuming that deforestation in Brazil will be zero by 2030, the government is signaling the extent to which it will reduce, in the medium and long term, the loss of lives and material resources. The withdrawal of garimpeiros from the Amazon goes in the same direction. The restructuring of Ibama and Funai, too.

The time has come for awareness that we are interconnected and our decision-making has an impact, yes! The consumption of non-certified products in cities, such as meat, wood, soy and gold, is related to the tragedies. Deforestation for the expansion of the agricultural and livestock frontier, which arrives at our table in the form of meat, in our homes as wood for construction or furniture, in our bodies in gold jewelry, is related to floods. Knowing the origin of what we consume and making conscious choices is one of the factors that can contribute to reducing impacts. Identify companies and funders, too.

City halls need to avoid occupying risk areas and provide decent housing alternatives to the vulnerable population. They can and should make sustainable public purchases: the wood of public buildings must be certified; food served in snacks and meals can be traced and free of pesticides; the green areas, enlarged; the bus fleet can run on clean fuel; open-air dumps replaced by sanitary landfills; solid waste recycling and organic composting, universalized; the reduction of the distance between home and work, reduced. The state is responsible for a third of the economy and must use its power to induce change.

In the world, we have the challenge of a global governance that assumes the role of giving guidelines and controlling, with binding, obligatory measures, in order to achieve the emission reduction targets. We can no longer continue in the well-intentioned game. We need binding climate commitments that, if disobeyed by countries, will have serious consequences, as this irresponsibility puts human life on the planet at risk. And what’s more serious than that? The link between loss of life, tears and suffering due to the disdain of governments and corporations urgently needs to be done. Otherwise, we will continue to dry tears after each tragedy, only to wake up the next day, barely sleeping, drink coffee and go about our daily work until our turn comes.

The hills descend. The houses come along and, with them, their residents: poor and suffering people. This is where inequality meets the environment. It is also here that they meet the tax reform, necessarily progressive, which taxes the super-rich in order to provide dignified living conditions for the poorest, the 70% of workers who earn up to two salaries in this country that is not ashamed of it.

It is here that the leniency of the local public administration, in allowing settlements in hilly and risky areas, meets with social injustice. It is here that fake news connects with the tragedy by creating parallel realities to manipulate people and induce them to vote for adventurers on duty, the same ones who maintain this state of affairs. It is here that social networks that require us to write short texts reduce our repertoire and capacity for criticism and understanding.

Inequality, environment, economy and politics are Siamese twins, intertwined in the same origin of a patrimonialist state and with still unsurpassed marks of slavery, which insists on living on favours, secret amendments, shameful centuries-old secrecy. One of the consequences of all this is what we are experiencing this weekend.

How long will we continue on this insane individual journey, despising the gift we get from nature in the form of reason and emotion, instead of making this human experience something that is emotionally and collectively worthwhile? It’s time for change.