Thomas Hobbes, in his 1651 book Leviathan, made a defence for the notion of the ‘social contract’ between government and citizen. That in exchange for the loss of absolute personal freedom, via election or appointment, governments had the legitimacy and resource to effect beneficial social control and change that was beyond the ability of the individual. Now I’m not about to start defending the philosophy of Hobbes, but time is short and needs must. Particularly in regards to the climate crisis we are already undergoing.

Ask your elected representative(s) if they agree with the following:
We are already living with more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than there has been for 3 million years.
The planet currently has 2 degrees centigrade average global temperature increase already locked in; that’s even if we stop burning all fossil fuels now.
Those current high levels will persist for centuries.
Climate change is irreversible within the lifetimes of newborns today.
Climate change is already happening.

If they disagree ask them for their sources of evidence.

If however they do agree then ask if they agree on this prognosis for humanity if the economic model we live by is not fundamentally changed:
That there will be global fresh-water scarcity, grain production collapse, economic collapse, mass migration from equatorial and other drought-ridden regions, resource conflicts, social collapse and even potential human extinction…

Once again, if they disagree, ask them for the scientific defence of their optimism.

But, should they agree with these terrible predictions (that many climate scientists hold as pragmatic and not hyperbole), ask why the following suggestions are not then, the only realistic, short term choices we must make:
A food industry based on meat has to be replaced by a food industry based on plants.
Local economies need to be encouraged at the expense of the existing globalist model.
We need government driven programmes of social housing building, rental and maintenance.
Energy production and distribution must be taken into public ownership.
All domestic properties should be fitted with appropriate renewable energy generation, if necessary at government expense.
All domestic properties should be made to be energy efficient, if necessary at government expense.
Public transport provision must be increased and made free of charge.
The required labour must be sourced, trained and employed at the local level by national government.
Air travel must be taken into public ownership and reduced to the absolute minimum of essential use.
Governments must work together to the common aim of preserving and replacing as much of our habitable environment as possible.

Hobbes famously declared in Leviathan that in a “state of nature”, human life would be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”. Okay – he wasn’t talking about ecological collapse but you get the allusion. He could be right. But in respect of all our futures I hope we can prove him wrong.
If you’re reading this in the UK you can find your elected representative and send an email directly via www.writetothem.com without moving from the comfort of your keyboard.
Start enforcing the terms of the contract they’re being paid for.

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