Time to say goodbye to Belchatow 🏭
super polluter power plants
THE GLOBAL "WE"
Semantics. Language. They play a pivotal role in shaping minds, narratives, and blame. Humankind is responsible for the current climate crisis. But is this really true? Is it a global “we” that is responsible for the devastation we are currently experiencing?
A research study that analyses how just 5% of power plants emit 73% of emissions tied to the electricity industry.
The study dubs these power plants “super polluters” and all run on coal. As one would logically deduce, it should be a global priority to transition these plants to cleaner forms of electricity.
Belchatow - Poland
Vindyachal - India
Dangjin - South Korea
Taean - South Korea
Taichung - Taiwan
Tuoketuo - China
Niederaussem - Germany
Sasan Umpp - India
Yonghungdo - South Korea
Hekinan - Japan
Belchatow and Taichung: to put the enormity of these two plants’ carbon pollution in perspective, in 2018 they each emitted more carbon dioxide than the entire country of Switzerland.
This month was a wake up call. Leading economies are grappling with the social instability after their first dealings with the climate crisis: Germany and the mudslides that killed 180 people, USA and the heatwave that killed almost 200 people.
As citizens, it’s a time to keep an eye out for the real meaning behind words. Politicians will use language to their advantage. In classic propagandistic style the media will turn to the global “we”. Finger-pointing at humankinds’ inability to change, rather than certain governments’ lack of action.
Yes I agree, our system is rotten. We do need to change our hyper-consumerist ideology that is extracting our planet to death, and we all have a part to play in this.
Yet, don’t let semantics fool you either. 100 companies are responsible for 71% of global emissions. 5% of power plants are responsible for over 73% of electricity’s emissions’. Unfortunately, only politicians can undo these two statistics. Something they’ve been hesitant to do due to the large pockets the fossil fuel industry maintains.
To use a sweeping global “we” allows those most responsible to evade accountability. It allows politicians to hide behind ambiguity, and diminishes the role indigenous people have in protecting biodiversity (indigenous communities represent only 5% of the world population, yet protect over 80% of the world’s biodiversity).
A global “we” is a catch. It is deflecting the blame to nobody in particular. It is a scape-goat for super polluters.
I invite you to keep an eye out for mainstream media’s depiction of the climate crisis. In Greta’s words this is not a “new normal” this is an emergency.
And remember: individuals might be statstically blameless for the climate crisis, yet individuals have been historically responsible for drastic change.