18 NOVEMBER 2022
Dr. Jem Bendell is Professor of Sustainability Leadership and Founder of the Initiative for Leadership and Sustainability (IFLAS) at the University of Cumbria (working part-time) as well as Founder of the Deep Adaptation Forum and the co-Founder of the International Scholars’ Warning on Societal Disruption and Collapse.
At times there were some glimmers of reality and sanity in the conference hall. The Colombian President Gustavo Petro gave a speech where he made it very clear we can’t tackle climate separately from the exploitative and extractive global systems that serve the rich. It was a sentiment stated in less eloquent terms by Venezuela’s President Maduro. Many were surprised to see President Emmanuel Macron suddenly appear friendly with him. Could he be interested in his views on capitalism and the climate? Or perhaps he was just wanting new sources of fossil fuels as the European energy crisis arrive at that awkward moment we call winter. Despite Petro’s speech, which had the additional benefit of upsetting the journalists at Breitbart, it’s clear that nothing in the UNFCCC processes will ever tackle the economic drivers of humanity’s self-destruction.
