Being Green - 27 October 2017
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It’s all been about the poor performance of our economy, slow growth, you name it. A week of painful introspection, no matter how Malusi Gigaba dresses up his words or indeed his person with designer suits and spectacles.
There is a lot of talk, comment, on how the economy could be vamped up, efficiencies increased, corruption rooted out. There must be hope for a better deal in the future. What are politicians without hope? Most commentators say there’s nothing much that the Minister can offer, as we’re tied to the current model of the market, selling of minerals and a bit of agricultural produce – in short the same thing as before.
But wait, say the alternative society protagonists – it’s time for a new socio-economic paradigm.
Paradigm? One of those fashionable words that make you sound clever – it simply means model of how things work. Let’s change the paradigm of society and the economy says the A I D C, the Alternative Information and Development Centre.
Since 2011 they’ve been working on this new paradigm, which will radically change the way we trade, the way we live. And I mean radically, as the AIDC thinking is unashamedly to the Left, or against the capitalist paradigm that we are firmly entrenched in.
So what to do? Create a Million Climate Jobs! What do they mean, climate jobs?
We’re coming to that. First though South Africa has to transition away from the Minerals-Energy complex that continues to dominate our capitalist economy, to a low-carbon economy in which the basic needs of communities are met in an equitable, sustainable and affordable way. There have been developments in the right direction since 2011, but the solutions are being pursued with the logic of the capital market. In these six years there have been many developments – for instance, renewable energy is now firmly established as part of the energy mix (although still a minor part); retrofitting buildings, and the development of environmentally friendly construction methods
There is a lot of talk, comment, on how the economy could be vamped up, efficiencies increased, corruption rooted out. There must be hope for a better deal in the future. What are politicians without hope? Most commentators say there’s nothing much that the Minister can offer, as we’re tied to the current model of the market, selling of minerals and a bit of agricultural produce – in short the same thing as before.
But wait, say the alternative society protagonists – it’s time for a new socio-economic paradigm.
Paradigm? One of those fashionable words that make you sound clever – it simply means model of how things work. Let’s change the paradigm of society and the economy says the A I D C, the Alternative Information and Development Centre.
Since 2011 they’ve been working on this new paradigm, which will radically change the way we trade, the way we live. And I mean radically, as the AIDC thinking is unashamedly to the Left, or against the capitalist paradigm that we are firmly entrenched in.
So what to do? Create a Million Climate Jobs! What do they mean, climate jobs?
We’re coming to that. First though South Africa has to transition away from the Minerals-Energy complex that continues to dominate our capitalist economy, to a low-carbon economy in which the basic needs of communities are met in an equitable, sustainable and affordable way. There have been developments in the right direction since 2011, but the solutions are being pursued with the logic of the capital market. In these six years there have been many developments – for instance, renewable energy is now firmly established as part of the energy mix (although still a minor part); retrofitting buildings, and the development of environmentally friendly construction methods
