Ditch capitalism to save planet, urges Derry councillor Shaun Harkin

A Derry councillor has urged people to abandon capitalism to avert a climate catastrophe that will destroy lives on a far greater scale than the banking collapses of a decade ago.
By Kevin Mullan
Published 16th Jul 2019, 17:54 BST

People Before Profit Colr. Shaun Harkin issued the call ahead of a climate change discussion in The Playhouse at 7 p.m. next Wednesday, July 24. The event will be addressed by local campaigners, including Maeve O’Neill from Zero Waste North West, Claire Thompson from Extinction Rebellion and student climate strike activists Róis Hutton and Dara Morgan.

Colr. Harkin said: “The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) report gives us 11 years to avert climate catastrophe.

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“This cannot be done with polite incremental change. The physical needs of people and the planet can’t be aligned to an economic model revolving around reckless profiteering and unplanned growth driven by unaccountable corporations and abetted by the political establishment.”

The Foyleside councillor said everything needed to change if disaster was to be avoided.

“Even with declarations of climate emergencies, climate change has never received crisis treatment from our governments - despite the fact it carries the risk of destroying lives on a vastly greater scale than collapsed banks,” said Colr. Harkin.

Related topics:DerryExtinction Rebellion