{"id":94436,"date":"2024-06-08T10:11:19","date_gmt":"2024-06-08T08:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=94436"},"modified":"2024-06-08T10:11:19","modified_gmt":"2024-06-08T08:11:19","slug":"voting-is-such-a-blunt-instrument-britains-climate-assembly-report-gathers-momentum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=94436","title":{"rendered":"\u201cVoting is Such a Blunt Instrument\u201d: Britain\u2019s Climate Assembly Report Gathers Momentum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guest essay by Eric Worrall<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate activists are celebrating the sham political legitimacy of the government sanctioned British\u00a0Climate Assembly<\/a>, and other climate assemblies which are popping up around Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jury duty for global warming: citizen groups help solve the puzzle of climate action<\/strong><\/p>

By Cathleen O\u2019Grady<\/a>Oct. 29, 2020 , 1:45 PM<\/p>

\u2026<\/p>

The U.K. Climate Assembly is one of a growing number of similar gatherings popping up across Europe, many of them charged with addressing climate change and other science-heavy issues. A citizens\u2019 assembly in Ireland that deliberated from 2016 to 2018 led to a referendum that legalized abortion and a government plan to quadruple its carbon tax by 2030. This year in France, an assembly made 149 climate policy recommendations, and President Emmanuel Macron has agreed to push for 146 of them, including making \u201cecocide\u201d a crime and including climate goals in the French constitution. Spain, Denmark, and Scotland have announced their own upcoming climate assemblies, although they have been delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. And at the regional and local level, dozens of citizens\u2019 juries and councils have drawn up policies on climate adaptation, air quality, and environmental protection.<\/p>

\u2026<\/p>

Over three weekends\u2014and a fourth weekend forced online and stretched over three weekends because of the pandemic\u2014the assembly listened not only to scientists, but also to representatives of interest groups such as Greenpeace and industry body Energy UK. The goal was to provide both impartial information and explicitly labeled opinions from advocates, says Chris Stark, chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change, an independent body advising the government. Assembly member Ibrahim Wali, a doctor from Epsom, says that although some members didn\u2019t believe the scientists or think climate action was worthwhile, it was clear to everyone that they were not there \u201cto argue about whether climate change is real.\u201d The assembly\u2019s clear task\u2014identifying policies to reach net zero by 2050\u2014kept discussions on track, he adds.<\/p>

\u2026<\/p>

RANDOMLY ASSIGNING CITIZENS<\/strong> to positions of political power has a history stretching back to ancient Greece, where the Athenians used the practice to select magistrates and members of their representative Council of Five Hundred. But the architects of electoral systems in postrevolution France and the United States preferred a republican system of professional politicians\u2014an \u201celected aristocracy\u201d\u2014over outright rule by the masses, Van Reybrouck says. \u201cThey were as much afraid of democracy then as we would be of anarchy today.\u201d<\/p>

\u2026<\/p>

Politicians also tend to overestimate the opposition of a vocal minority to some climate measures\u2014such as onshore wind farms, she says. And they fear punishment at the ballot box, where citizens express their opinions about a multitude of policies at the same time: \u201cVoting is such a blunt instrument.\u201d<\/p>

\u2026<\/p>

Read more: https:\/\/www.sciencemag.org\/news\/2020\/10\/jury-duty-global-warming-citizen-groups-help-solve-puzzle-climate-action<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although\u00a0the British Citizen\u2019s assembly was set up to appease Extinction Rebellion<\/a>, I suspect British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is happy with the outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCitizens assemblies\u201d appear to be becoming popular all over Europe with politicians who want to provide a veneer of democratic legitimacy to a process to push forward unpopular policies. In my opinion this is because politically naive citizens assemblies are much easier to manipulate than genuine representative democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UK assemblies contained a small number of people who were against climate action, a composition of views which allegedly matched the demographics of the British people. But \u201cit was clear to everyone that they were not there \u201cto argue about whether climate change is real.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why was it clear to everyone some issues were not up for discussion? Because\u00a0the assembly moderators set the agenda<\/span><\/em><\/strong>, of course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The politically naive opponents of climate action on the assembly acquiesced to this soft coercion in a way which would never have happened in a legitimate parliament of politically experienced elected representatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

via Watts Up With That?<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/ift.tt\/3kOO7LB<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

November 2, 2020 at 12:17AM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest essay by Eric Worrall Climate activists are celebrating the sham political legitimacy of the government sanctioned British\u00a0Climate Assembly, and other climate assemblies which are popping up around Europe. Jury duty for global warming: citizen groups help solve the puzzle of climate action By Cathleen O\u2019GradyOct. 29, 2020 , 1:45 PM \u2026 The U.K. Climate Assembly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","has-post-thumbnail","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-oza","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":279346,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=279346","url_meta":{"origin":94436,"position":0},"title":"Canadian Academics: Climate Change Assemblies could Break Political Deadlocks","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"18\/09\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The Academics admit \u201cmany Canadians are\u00a0polarized along party lines\u201d \u2013 but think the solution is to change how \u201crepresentatives\u201d are selected.","rel":"","context":"In \"Canadian Academics\"","block_context":{"text":"Canadian Academics","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=canadian-academics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image-555.png?fit=1200%2C848&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image-555.png?fit=1200%2C848&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image-555.png?fit=1200%2C848&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image-555.png?fit=1200%2C848&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image-555.png?fit=1200%2C848&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":408314,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=408314","url_meta":{"origin":94436,"position":1},"title":"How Badly Climatists Attack\u00a0Meat","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"15\/10\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"And this is where green ideology longs to be. 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