* Green solutions to recession

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/05/1

Green solutions to recession
The environment is more important than ever and its campaigners must ditch those fancy buzzwords

By Darren Johnson


If past experience is anything to go by, recessions are not kind to green politics. I recall the buzz of campaigning for the Green party in the late 80s. We had an unprecedented explosion of environmental awareness that was rapidly followed by the virtual disappearance of the environment as a political issue when the impact of the early 90s' recession started to bite. After securing 15% of the nationwide vote in the 1989 European elections, those of us who stood on the Green ticket in the subsequent general election three years later were struggling to get 500 votes apiece.

That mustn't happen this time. It is vital that the environmental and the economic challenges we face are dealt with in an integrated fashion. As the Stern report made so clear the economic cost of not dealing with climate change would be devastating compared with the cost of dealing with it.

We also need to make very clear that tackling the recession in a green way is not about producing a gameplan to get us back to growth, credit binges and wildly escalating house prices as quickly as possible. If we are to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past and tackling rather than adding to environmental devastation we need to change our economic priorities, not just while the recession lasts but permanently.

The political mainstream is failing to come up with really creative solutions and seems fixated on short-term answers to boost consumer spending. Yet, so far, the green movement has failed to make its voice properly heard. This is not for the lack of brilliant ideas. The Green New Deal for example, written by a cast of prominent figures from the green movement, puts together a raft of impressive proposals such as a massive home insulation programme to create jobs and cut bills, as well as measures to boost manufacturing of green technology and properly regulate the finance sector.

But are we doing enough to convince people? Especially in times of recession, Greens need to tackle people's everyday fears and aspirations in a way they can relate to in a language that is relevant. Otherwise, environmental concerns will just be seen as an abstract luxury for the good times that can easily be dispensed with once the going gets tough.

I still see far too many leaflets, articles and press releases, however, whether from the Green party or from green pressure groups, that are full of impenetrable jargon, far removed from the everyday conversations in pubs, cafes and workplaces. This has got to change. If we are concerned about dwindling oil supplies then let us say that, rather than use the technocratic geek-speak of the "peak oil" debate. If we want home insulation programmes and green energy schemes to create lots of new jobs for plumbers, roofers and electricians then let's say that, rather than making vague pronouncements about "green collar jobs" and expecting people to know or care what we mean. Jobs that don't sound real, don't look real and don't seem like they will ever pay real money to real people are unlikely to ever capture the public's imagination.

Yes we can be pleased that the green movement is packed full of intelligent, highly-educated and well-read individuals. But if we look back to one of the biggest achievements of the 20th century, few were better educated and more articulate than William Beveridge. Yet he was able to build mass public support for a new welfare state and get millions of people buying copies of a parliamentary report, not by talking elitist gobbledegook, but by talking of the need to tackle the five "giant evils" of want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness. The challenges we face today are even greater but if we communicate our solutions effectively there is no reason why we cannot achieve similar levels of popular support for them as Beveridge did.