All Roads Lead to Corporatised Control

Climate Narrative and Solutions - All roads lead to Corporatised Control

The climate narrative has been constructed to usher in a new business model to commodify nature. David Babson, Program Director at Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, stated in 2019 that “the emerging carbon economy is a trillion-dollar opportunity, according to estimates”. Barbara Baarsma, CEO of Rabo Carbon Bank, stated in 2021 “It’s a bank where not money but carbon is the currency.”

Catherine Abreau, executive director of the Climate Action Network, explains Net Zero as “the amount of emissions being put into the atmosphere is equal to the amount being captured.” Simply, you release 100 tons of carbon in the air, and if you invest in someone removing 100 tons of carbon from the atmosphere, you are carbon neutral. Polluting companies buy carbon credits - they don’t stop polluting.

This approach creates a new industry of selling and buying carbon credits, and this new market includes Renewable Energy and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). Solutions which do not actually reduce carbon emissions.

Under the justification of climate change, the New York Stock Exchange is creating a class of listed companies (Natural Asset Companies- NAC) based on nature and the benefits that nature provides (termed ecosystem services).

Examples of natural assets that will be monetised are forests, wetlands and coral reefs, as well as farms. These natural assets will be traded on the stock market.

"You may see this preparation for ecosystem profiteering on a local level where Councils are currently changing categorisation of public land from 'Parks to Wetlands/Natural Resources', exploiting 'legislative drivers' on how the land can be used and the possible leasing out of Natural Biodiversity' areas for Carbon offset economics".

Kate D

The wealthiest already own a disproportionate amount of nature and farming land, and they will receive the bulk of profit from carbon offsetting. NACs allow for corporates to own and control public-common land and water, i.e. a land grab. Indigenous populations living off the land (without land ownership) are particularly vulnerable to exploitation.

Renewable energy is purportedly the answer to the climate. It’s called clean energy as the PR focuses on the aspect that it uses the sun and wind. What is not discussed is that in 2020, the World Bank predicted a 500% increase in the production of minerals such as Graphite, Lithium and Cobalt by 2050 to feed the energy transition. To mine these precious minerals, human rights abuses are occurring with forced labour of minority groups in China and children working in mines in the Congo.

Also not discussed is the cumulative effect from the whole lifecycle of the infrastructure. The Green Warriors of Norway raise concerns regarding the increased use of Bisphenol A (BPA) and related chemicals. BPA used in the wind turbine blades is an endocrine disruptor, and will potentially end up in our water and food, and harm animals.

Farmers around Australia are fighting back against the turbines and their transmission lines. Documented stories of people becoming unwell and unable to live around the turbine’s low frequency noise are abundant.

Farmers are forced to sign non-disclosure forms to become a host farm. The wind turbines destroy farming land, people’s lives and communities, devaluing land in the process. As people move off the land, it will be bought by corporates and their affiliates at a bargain price.

Carbon is the New Currency - Data is the New Gold

How this hits us directly in our towns is that while Carbon is the new currency, Data is the new gold. Therefore, our carbon usage must be monitored and controlled.

This occurs through redefining our towns and communities into SMART regions - where the language of equity and inclusion replaces autonomy, human rights, privacy, protections etc. Equity and Inclusion means we have the right to be included in their plans, but we do not have the right to opt out.

SMART technology is a “transformation” of the way we live, move around, and work. SMART stands for SELF MONITORING ANALYSIS REPORTING TECHNOLOGY. We will be individually surveilled, tracked and traced, inside and outside of our homes.

Public Private Partnerships are working on individual Carbon scores. We will be allotted a certain amount of Carbon Credits which influence where we can go, what we can buy, what we can eat.

The rich can buy more Carbon Credits to expand what they are able to do, and those on lower incomes, or those who are on middle incomes and increasingly struggling with the crashing of the economy, can sell their credits to the wealthier.

In a repeat of the COVID measures, those who benefit from the “transformations” gain more wealth and power, and those who don’t end up poorer and more vulnerable.

The Daily Mail reported in December 2021 that the “Top 0.01% of wealthiest individuals now hold 11% of the world's wealth, up more than $400bn from 2020. Meanwhile 100 million people fell into extreme poverty.”

Food systems are currently being “transformed” for us to eat in the smart cities. Under a PR campaign of “Synthetic is Sustainable”, natural processes are now dangerous and bad for the “climate”, whilst synthetic food will save us from climate change.

All food will be tracked and traced and allotted a carbon value. All coinciding with the Silicon food tech companies cornering the market on lab-grown food and indoor SMART vertical farms.

The elephant in the room is that the surveillance and data storage systems consume enormous amounts of energy. In 2020, John Vidal in Climate Change News quotes research showing that “the communications industry could be using 20 percent of all electricity by 2025.” This is only talking about smartphones and gadgets- not about the complete monitoring of every aspect of life. Surely, if this was really about the environment and not control, better systems could be put in place.

Large global corporate companies in bed with our governments (through Public Private Partnerships) and ridiculously wealthy individuals are determined to dominate the world. What better way is there to accomplish this to ensure the people demand to be controlled and surveilled to save us from climate change. Companies rely on social license- that the public trusts they are acting in our best interests. 

Grooming Youth towards Fearful and Angry Activism

To create social license, they’ve targeted the youth, who are endlessly assaulted by the message that they are close to extinction. Under this sustained fear campaign, they have been co-opted into fighting for the agendas listed above, which mostly benefit big corporate polluters - the irony!

Cory Morningstar’s book “The Manufacturing of Greta Thunberg” outlines the corporate agenda behind Greta and investigates all the affiliates and funders. I encourage parents to buy this book and leave around for your children to read.

Young people are additionally co-opted by so-called Citizen groups, such as Extinction Rebellion who are funded by corporates invested in big oil and renewables (the wealthy back both sides). On the Wrong Kind Of Green website, you can search NGOs, Citizen and Environmental groups and their corporate backers.

A Solution

Until those who profit are not involved in government decision-making, until media is not owned by corporate interests, the Australian government has no right to press ahead with these “transformations”. They cannot claim social license. Only when these conflicts of interest are removed can we transparently explore options for living in genuinely non-exploitative ways with nature.

Any model which removes human rights of autonomy, agency and privacy, and will instead allow for corporatised, centralised control of people, land, food, education, information etc (under the guise of the climate) must be refused.

Kate Mason is a community advocate who is concerned about the lack of government and corporate media transparency regarding Public Private Partnership ‘transformations” which are being rolled out in our towns and cities. Kate has an extensive work history in Welfare and Community Development. She is committed to communities having all the information available to make informed and considered decisions on anything which impacts on their lives and the environment.

Kate Mason is a member of Community Voice Central Coast