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	Action on Climate Change by Mary Robinson Realizing Rights & agencies Ireland   Climate change is not just an environmental matter: it is a political, economic, social, and human rights issue; and if we are to achieve a just solution we must change the whole debate, and make it a people-centred debate.   When it comes to media coverage of issues relating to climate change, much has been written about the stalled international negotiations. Little of significance has been accomplished since Copenhagen last December and major disagreements between developed and developing countries remain as entrenched as ever. It has also been widely reported that expectations for progress on an international treaty at the next major climate talks in Cancun, Mexico in December are low.   It"s easy to become discouraged about our collective prospects for preventing catastrophic climate change.   What gets less media attention however, is the desire, and efforts, to address climate change by citizens around the world - the notion that people, companies and some governments are moving ahead, with or without progress on international negotiations, and that others should join this race sooner rather than later or risk being left behind.   Last month, 350.org founder Bill McKibben led a rally demanding a symbolic step by the U.S. President - to install solar panels on the roof of the White House.   Last Monday, on the one-year anniversary of President Obama"s Executive Order 13514, which directed the U.S. Federal Government to lead by example and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced plans to install solar panels on the White House roof. Such is the power of citizen action.   Now is the time for such direct action. And now is also the time to recognise the extent of the negative impacts that climate change is having on the poorest and most vulnerable - that this is not just an environmental matter: it is a political, economic, social, and human issue; and if we are to achieve a just solution we must change the whole debate, and make it a people-centred debate.   On, October 10, over 7,000 events took place in 188 countries for the 10/10/10 Global Work Party, the largest day of carbon-cutting action in the planet"s history. It is a day for people across the planet to get to work on climate solutions and pressure their politicians to do the same.   Events included the planting of a "Forest of Hope" outside of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In the South Pacific, Tongan activists organised a No Car Day. And in Kampot, Cambodia trash pickups organised to clean the streets of rubbish and raise awareness of over-consumption and waste management.   Actions such as these, being taken by people who are among the most vulnerable to the effects of a changing climate, and the least able to adapt to or mitigate those impacts certainly sends a message to the world’s most powerful leaders: that the people are getting to work, and governments need to get to work too - directing energy and resources towards the creation of green jobs and climate justice. Visit the related web page
	Power but little glory in polluted politics by Tony Fitzgerald Australia Institute & agencies   A harmonious civil society rests on essential pillars, such as individual freedom, non-discriminatory equality, and the rule of law. As Chief Justice Earl Warren of the US Supreme Court pointed out years ago, law "presupposes the existence of a broad area of human conduct controlled only by ethical norms and not subject to law at all".   That aphorism sits uneasily with the realities of 21st-century Australian politics.   However, until official misconduct becomes egregious enough to overcome community cynicism and generate public outrage, few Australians seem troubled by, or even interested in, structural and systemic flaws in our political process and public administration.   Citizens not directly affected by a law are generally more concerned with day-to-day financial and other personal considerations than with the misuse of power or the impact of injustice on others.   This general apathy is not really surprising. Life is good for most Australians. Most have family and other priorities to distract them from matters that don"t directly affect them personally. Few crave power or understand those who do. Like the Trojans who disregarded the warnings of Cassandra, the beautiful daughter of King Priam who had been cursed by Apollo, most of us are also reluctant to confront major problems that we would prefer to ignore. Our unwillingness to act on scientific warnings about global warming and its potentially disastrous consequences are a dramatic example.   Communal inertia is also magnified by Australia"s anachronistic, rudimentary political system, which is based on flawed assumptions that democracy is synonymous with majority rule and that, because MPs are elected, parliamentary decisions express the popular will. The first proposition disregards the fundamental democratic prohibition on the majority oppression of individuals and minorities. The second ignores the realities of modern party-political decision-making, with rigid party discipline ensuring that, with few exceptions, MPs vote as directed.   A former prime minister once praised "the uniqueness of the Australian system. What is unique is our virtually pristine version of theoretical parliamentary sovereignty; although in practice, under executive control, it is unfettered by constitutional constraints, international law or universal human rights. By and large, our laws are valid even if they are contrary to the public interest or unjust.   Voters are little more than observers of a substantially rule-free contest who are entitled, indeed compelled, to choose one or other of the established political parties to govern every few years.   The community is ill-served by this growing transfer of power from the public to the dominant political parties and the parties disinterest in ethical constraints and resistance to oversight and accountability, even by independent anti-corruption bodies. Without satisfactory legal and ethical fetters, the political process, like all human constructs, can be, and is, manipulated and exploited to advance personal and group interests.   A political class has evolved which is interested in little but the acquisition and exercise of power. Careerists with little or no experience outside politics learn their craft in party administration, politicians offices and supporters organisations before party pre-selection and entry to Parliament.   Small groups control each of the two major parties and indirectly the national destiny. It is now extremely difficult, if not impossible, for another competitive political force to emerge because of the financial advantages held by the two major parties and the critical role that money plays in political activity.   The well-connected, and often wealthy, are given access to and influence over the political process. Decisions favouring special interests are common. "Media management" insults and confuses the electorate, which is denied the comprehensive accurate information which is essential to the proper functioning of democracy.   Most, if not all, conventions concerning standards of political conduct which the Westminster system once incorporated are now obsolescent; bipartisan support for fundamental institutions is periodically abandoned for political advantage; and social division, populism and prejudice are occasionally used as political tools.   Because all parties grasp opportunities when in power, opposition criticism of government self-indulgence is generally muted and the risk of an electoral backlash is low.   These short-term political practices and tactics risk serious social problems. Public figures are role models and their standards percolate into the community. Social capital and social cohesion built on integrity and trust are easily dissipated as the population increases, communities become larger and more diverse and economic disparities widen.   People who consider themselves powerless outsiders readily become disillusioned, cynical, apathetic and disengaged and lose trust in government, the integrity of its process and decisions and even fundamental institutions. Principled leadership is essential to preserve our confidence in and support for each other.   *Tony Fitzgerald is a former Australian judge, who presided over the Fitzgerald Inquiry.
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