“The whole climate discourse is elite. It comes out of universities and from scientists, and is centred on the West. What about fishermen in India? They understand climate change. Many of us trust scientists but, as we saw in the pandemic, there is also scepticism about who these people are, telling us how to live our lives. The voices of fishermen carry credibility too.”
Ghosh cited Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 Paris Agreement, and George W Bush’s withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol, as examples of Western nationalism hindering climate action. But he also pointed to the way poorer nations use nationalism as an argument against decarbonisation: why should they curb growth when the West has profited at their expense? For these nations climate action “is not about the future, but about the past”, he said.
“When you come from a poor country such as India, you learn not to listen to what politicians say, but to look at what they do. Politicians around the world talk a good game, but they are basically preparing for war. Climate change is essentially becoming an all-out war and this is just the beginning.
Amitav Ghosh: “Climate change is becoming an all-out war” - New Statesmanhttps://www.newstatesman.com/environment/2022/10/amitav-ghosh-climate-change-war