FAIL WORSE
In his penultimate novella, “Worstward Ho” (1983), Samuel
Beckett writes
“All of old. Nothing
else ever. Ever tried. Ever failed. No
matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”
It’s
Beckett-ambiguous whether “Fail better” suggests an improvement or a worsening
of conditions. What is absolutely clear, though is that the performance of the
United States at the recent Rio +20 conference was intended as an energetic
worsening thrust.
There has been
general agreement that the final ratified agreement was a weak-kneed, weak tea
failure, dashing the shrinking hopes of the last twenty years of conferences,
and doing little to avert the multiple ecocatastrophes upon us.
The process started
with a draft declaration, self-censored, of course, so as to be
“realistic”. Then the US
delegation took out its red pencil.
The word “equitable”
was deleted from the initial text, as was any mention of the “right” to food,
water, health, the rule of law, gender equality or women’s empowerment. Any
clear, enforcable target of preventing two degrees of global warming had to go,
any commitment to change “unsustainable consumption and production patterns”
along with it, any notion of “decoupling” economic growth from the use of
natural resources.
Beyond that, many of
the foundations of the original 1992 Rio document had to be erased, including
all mentiion of the core principle of that Earth summit — common, but
differentiated responsibilities for repair. The original implication was that
those who had done the most damage, should take on the greatest burden. Out. No
rich country payment without poor country payments too. Liberty for us, our
version of equality, and certainly no fraternity.
Could we fail worse
than that? Sure. By articulating a positive “green” rationale for corporate
greed. We now hear that commodification,
putting a “fair value”, a price on nature — clean air, clean water — is
not only a way of making money, but also a way of saving it. In capitalism, if
something has no price, it has no value. Grabbing, owning and selling natural
resources will help preserve biodiversity, slow climate change, and reduce the
pressure for extraction. Capitalism can “save nature”.
A most excellent
plan for Fail worse.
