The 22nd of April marks Earth Day, a great day to think about what is the best way to tackle the issues of climate change.
Introduced in 1970, Earth Day has been gaining more attention in recent years due to the increased concern about global warming.
Eco-Socialism is an ideology that combats the idea that the climate crisis is happening due to solely the human population.
It instead argues that global warming is caused by oil companies and huge corporations, therefore, eco-socialists argue the only way to reverse the effects of climate change is to adopt a more socialist government.
Oliver Youd is a 21-year-old student at the University of Salford a local council candidate for Pendleton and Charlestown.
With a greener future as part of his policies with the Northern Independence Party, climate change is a topic he is passionate about.
He said: “For people in Salford, eco-socialism would mean a complete green re-birth which would affect everyone from the bottom-up rather than the top-down.”
He is campaigning for more tram stops to be available throughout Salford, so that students can get to Uni more easily.
He said: “The Quays has six tram stops, whereas Pendleton, Worsley, Swinton and Walkden have zero.
“This means the people have little access to green transport across Salford.”
The wider topic of the UK being a socialist country was something he was in full support of. He said: “We need to stop these ghastly corporations from polluting our oceans, rivers, water supply and the very ground beneath our feet.” He believes we will one day see a socialist UK.
The Breakthrough Party is a socialist party based in Manchester which firmly believes that eco-socialism is the only way to stop climate disaster.
Alex Mays, the founder of the group, said in a statement: “To achieve true climate justice, we’ll need to redistribute wealth and power towards the Global South — the countries historically affected by imperialism, colonialism and underdevelopment, and most at risk from climate change.”
Maddy Steeds, is the treasurer of the Manchester and Salford branch of the Socialist Party, said that 70% of carbon emissions are caused by just 100 companies and the government aren’t doing enough to tackle this.
She said: “Currently our government puts the burden of fighting climate change on the individual, asking them to recycle rather than making large scale changes to the way we run our society.
“We need to fight for a socialist government that will fund green energy and retrain those currently working in fossil fuel industries to work in the new green jobs this will create.
“Until we live in a system that is willing to fight for everyone, not just the 1%, we will not be able to stop climate change. We need a socialist society, not capitalist greed.”
With all this in mind, here are some tips for how to combat climate change.
Happy Earth Day!
5 Tips to Help the Planet by Annie
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