THE CAPITAL TIMES: Take to streets to get action on climate change

SYDNEY — Australia held national elections Saturday, and climate change was a front-and-center issue. I’ve appeared on a number of television and radio programs and at public forums to discuss the election, and the matter of global warming has come up every time.

Why?

First off, it’s a vital issue.

Second, the fight over how to address it has forced leadership changes in both major parties here.

Third, and most important, tens of thousands of Australians — including Bob Brown, the leader of the Green Party — took to the streets demanding action.

Australia’s Greens have long been a presence at the federal and state government levels here, thanks to flexible and democratic voting systems and to a political process that is still defined more by principles than by corporate money.

Like the American Greens — who could achieve a nationally significant electoral breakthrough in Wisconsin if Madison attorney Ben Manski prevails in his energetic campaign for the Assembly District 77 seat — the Australian Greens believe in combining electoral politics, traditional lobbying and “this is what democracy looks like” street demonstrations.

Last weekend’s rallies in Australia, organized by climate change activists in all the major parties and the broader environmental movement, proved the power of such demonstrations. More than 100,000 Australians filled the streets of major cities for rallies designed to put pressure on the political process.

Not surprisingly, the country’s leading political players took time away from electioneering to affirm their personal commitments to make Australia a leader in combating global warming.

American media, which has been complicit in peddling the fantasies of climate change deniers, did not note the demonstrations.

But former Vice President Al Gore was inspired to suggest that U.S. activists should follow the lead of the Australians and take to the streets. In a blog post published Tuesday, titled “The Movement We Need,” Gore notes: “Around the world, when politicians fail to act to solve the climate crisis, people are taking action.”

“It is my hope we see activism like this here in the United States,” declared Gore, who noted that one of his Climate Project presenters, Nell Schofield, attracted huge cheers when she told 10,000 activists in Sydney that Australia’s lack of political action on climate change is “not only embarrassing, it is morally reprehensible.”

Amusingly, Gore left off the best line from Schofield’s speech in Sydney: “As Al Gore says, politicians are also a renewable resource.”

Gore has renewed his own brand with his campaigning on climate change issues. But he will need to use all of his political skills — and those of his ablest allies — to build the movement necessary to break the logjam in Washington. This country’s cautious Democrats and delusional Republicans have created a toxic combination that makes inaction the default position. And our cramped electoral system offers far fewer openings for the U.S. Greens to pressure the process in the way the Australian Greens have.

There is no question that Gore is right, however, when he says: This is “the movement we need.”

John Nichols is the associate editor of The Capital Times.