"The Climate Movement Has Failed"

Nate Hagens made a throwaway comment in a recent podcast - "... there are a lot of reasons why the climate movement has failed so far".¹ Well, it feels a relief to hear this acknowledged. Yes, it has failed. All those thousands on the streets, submissions, petitions, lawsuits, education, lobbying, non-violent direct action, arrests - they haven't made a dent in the steady rise of greenhouse gas emissions and global warming as it heads towards the catastrophic tipping points. It has not slowed the collapse of ecosystems and the current great mass extinction of species.

So, let's look at how and why and where we go from here. Over the past couple of tumultuous years on this planet it's become clear that the climate movement has not managed to change the behaviour of those who have the national or global power to stop the planet heating to catastrophic levels - the Governments of the most powerful nations and the global corporations on whose funding these governing classes depend.

The climate movement HAS been successful in getting through to ordinary people. Surveys confirm this - 80% people globally in 2024 wanted their Government to take stronger action on climate.² In homes, workplaces, local councils, schools, businesses, farms and more, people have changed their approach to energy use, diet, transport, waste, food cultivation, consumerism and much more. There's no lack of solutions out there - think just of the massive global Project Drawdown from 2017.³

It's not the people; it's the gap between what the vast majority of people want and what those holding power are prepared to do - that has become the problem. The international COP climate conferences have become irrelevant. Worse than that, we are witnessing the breakdown of international justice itself as major powers USA and UK continue to defy the rulings of the International Court of Justice and support a legally defined genocide led by a declared war criminal.⁴

Like America under Trump, New Zealand's coalition Government has doubled down on climate denialism and is actively expanding fossil fuel production and industrial dairying. Against strong public opposition, it is steadily removing all legal and constitutional obstacles to the free movement of private capital into profitable investments, regardless of the cost to humans or the environment. Against all sanity, it is driving for Growth Growth Growth on a planet already deeply in overshoot. Following the example of our allies Australia, USA and UK, our Government is also boosting military spending at the expense of health or education, let alone climate mitigation.

Neoliberal capitalism has its gloves off and is unresponsive to calls for collective action on the climate crisis - or indeed anything else designed for collective welfare rather than individual or corporate private profit. This takeover of governments by the global and national corporate elites has been well documented for USA and UK - see Chris Hedges' blog "How Fascism Came"⁵ and Grace Blakely's book "Vulture Capitalism".⁶ For those of us who have thrown our energy into the climate movement, this is profoundly distressing. It is easy to feel paralysed by a despair beyond the shared rage and love that has kept us going. Greg Waite reviewed "Vulture Capitalism" in Watchdog 166, August 2024 Ed.

So, What Do We Do?

Let's abandon the idea that climate action - or indeed any other action for our collective welfare - can be achieved within the current neoliberal structures of power and ownership. Especially since, even in Aotearoa, this system is moving towards fascism i.e. Government run by and for private corporations.⁷ We need to band together as citizens of Aotearoa, as citizens of the world, to take our future back before it disappears altogether.

This is what Roger Hallam has been saying as he organises for revolution, disruption of the existing system and local citizens assemblies.⁸ And Chris Hedges when he sees a general strike and citizens' refusal to support the actions of current regime as the only way to resist America's descent into fascism.⁹ So many of us have found energy, support and learning within the climate movement.

We have built up skills and networks and kept them going, we have knitted together an experienced cross-generational cadre of NVDA (non-violent direct action) activists around the motu. Now let's reach out wider. Let's bring these taonga to a wider movement. Let's expand our strategic vision to connect with other strands of resistance to weave a broad strong popular movement for the radical changes we will need to survive the future.

The Re-Emergence Of A Socialist Vision And Push-Back

How do we get together fast enough and tight enough? We are working on so many campaigns - climate and fast-track, Toitū te Tiriti, pay equity, anti-militarism, boycotts for Palestine, living wage, fighting health and education cuts... Paul Barlow's breathless 15-minute monologue listing the destructive changes the Coalition has made in their first 18 months brings home to us what we are up against.¹⁰

As he says, we have been under a deliberate onslaught, with too much to focus on. The only sensible way to manage this is to band together under a common vision and platform. People around the world are starting to put a name, a vision and leaders to what we want. "Socialism" is being reclaimed to describe values like fairness and justice, caring for one another and for Papatūānuku, protecting the commons, leaving no one behind, addressing colonial injustices, direct democracy, from each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs...

These unifying values and vision underly a platform of measures that make sense to ordinary people - like income security, housing security, fair taxes, easy access to health and education, unpolluted land, water and wild areas, protection from climate chaos. And peace. In New York City a self-identified democratic socialist, Zohran Mamdani, has been elected as Democrat candidate for the New York City mayoralty.¹¹

In the UK Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana have left Labour to form a more Leftwing party, and in the USA Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are considering leaving Democrats to form a new party. In Ōtautahi the Alliance has re-emerged to contest the local Council elections with socialist candidate Tom Roud, calling for City Council assets like the Port of Lyttelton to be kept in public hands.¹²

This fits with the vision and goals of the climate movement. It's been clear for some years now that we cannot survive global warming or resource overshoot without making major changes to how we live. Here's the logic behind the social changes required if we are to avert catastrophic global warming now -

• Rich nations, such as NZ, must cease all greenhouse gas emissions within the next decade.
• For NZ that means stopping coal, oil, gas production and imports, as well as intensive dairying.
• Such a drop in emissions could only be achieved by a rapid drop in energy usage across society.
• The fairest and least chaotic way of powering down like that would be through an equitable energy rationing scheme covering all people.
• No Government could bring in such rationing without public outcry unless people know they have security of income and housing and access to basic public services such as health and education. This entails fairer taxes and income distribution.
• It also couldn't be brought in without resolving the festering injustices of Aotearoa's colonial past - which entails constitutional reform along the lines outlined by Matike Mai.

Let's Build A Broad, Strong, Unified Movement

Acting effectively on climate and ecosystem collapse cannot be separated from acting to end inequality and poverty and colonial injustices. The climate movement, in Aotearoa as globally, has failed in influencing the behaviour of those currently in power. But we have got through to the people. It is time to change our tactics and our strategy and find our allies among those working for social and Tiriti justice and peace. The submissions and the protests are still worth doing -0 but let's not waste much time reacting to a deaf and hostile Government. Let's use these activities to meet and talk with one another about our campaigns and strengthen our connections. Let's build a broad strong unified movement - like so many ordinary people are hanging out for!

Footnotes:

1. Nate Hagens: "Ask Nate Anything 2025", YouTube 23/6/25
2. UN Development Programme: Peoples' Climate Vote 2024
3. Project Drawdown
4. UN Office of High Commissioner of Human Rights, 18//9/24
5. The Chris Hedges Report - "How Fascism Came", 24-12-24
6. Vulture Capitalism: Grace Blakeley in Conversation, You Tube
7. See Chris Hedges on the USA: "How Fascism Came" Substack, 18/1/25
8. Roger Hallam: "The Inevitable Revolution Is Underway" Substack 27/6/25
9. Chris Hedges: Full speech at Workers Strike Back Conference 1/3/25 - especially the last seven minutes
10. Paul Barlow: "18 Months Of The Coalition Chaos", 2/2/25 YouTube
11. Wikipedia "Zohran Mamdani"
12. Scoop Alliance Party Launches First Campaign In Over A Decade, 4/7/25

Watchdog - 169 August 2025