This is it for me. My life’s work has been about addressing climate change, which is ultimately about how we develop our economies and societies. That is much more than a set of technical questions, is about morals and ethics - ie fairness.
Corporate power, big industries, and politicians on their payroll are attacking sustainable development because they are scared. Scared that it will be used as a place to make our economy fairer, our society more equal, and in turn weaken their grip on business as usual that they increasingly benefit from as life continues to get harder for the rest of us.
Growing up in the valleys will teach you what the legacy of an unfair economic transition looks like. It will also teach you show you what a fairer future should look like: keeping wealth in our communities through ownership and a strong voice/involvement in the change around us
📽️ @gareth_greenwales
5 months agonigelspugh
Community Wealth Building - that has meaningful legacy. ‘Welcome To Our Woods’ - an example? Within the earlier term of the last Labour Welsh Government, ‘Welcome To Our Woods’ was all the rage within the sustainability interested, as exemplary community ownership / access to community natural resources being empowered. In this case, access to work the valleys’ public forest estate. It was a total battle to get to a real starting point - getting NRW to release total control. Now, how sustainable is it, and how well disseminated as exemplary, the merits normalised as standard public body guidance, going beyond the fashion of political favour and electoral terms. . . Community energy, woodland/ forestry - workers cooperatives, community food growing, or even the Sustainable Farming Scheme; how is public money invested being held within community, empowering sustained community wealth, that is married to climate adaptation. Where is the prioritisation, the local authority planning for foundational economics, our food resilience, the replicable ‘Preston Model’ - the Community Wealth Building. Maybe @PlaidCymru will pay attention to Scotland’s CWB programme? . . When will elected leaders say no to community abuse, our historic and continued wealth extraction; coal, water, renewable energy, timber, land ownership, tourism wealth, out of town retail. When will our governments and councils say no more - and make global corporate polluters, and their share holders (extreme wealth disparity) pay their debt, fair taxes to restore our environment, community, nature and planet… . . We, the community power and climate adaptation advocates, really need to get to grips with effective hearts and minds, more in common, strategic, impactful communications. What does community hope look like and where is it coming from. . . Recently, the only place I’ve seen this being shaped and delivered, is by @greenpartyzack. @plaidcymruwales @welsh_labour (that should be) and the Third Sector really need to catch up fast, with making community hope, climate adaptation visible, relatable and real.
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