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ECOPEACE Party, previously eThekwini ECOPEACE, and before that eThekwini Ecoparty, is a nationally registered environmental political party in South Africa that was founded in 1995. eThekwini is the isiZulu name for Durban. The isiZulu ECOPEACE motto Buhlakuleni uButhi, Yitshaleni iMithi means ‘Uproot Poisons, Grow Trees (medicine)’.[2][3] It entered the 1996 Municipal Elections but failed to win a seat. In 2000 it won one seat in the eThekwini Municipal Council.[4] This was the only Green seat in South Africa. ECOPEACE was not re-elected in the 2006 local elections.[5] However its sister organisation Operation Khanyisa Movement (OKM) gained a seat in the Johannesburg City Council in those elections. OKM is a fellow member of the Socialist Green Coalition (SGC).
Although ECOPEACE is environmentalist in the broadest meaning of seeking sustaianability of natural, built, social, economic, and political aspects etc. Global climate disruption and renewable energy production are major concerns.
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Per capita per dollar GDP, South Africa’s emissions are 20 times worse than the USA, they are the highest in Africa, and in terms of commitment to Renewable Energy, South Africa lags far behind China, India, Brazil and Russia. Germany, with almost half as much sunshine as South Africa has over 15% Renewable Energy.[6][7][8][9][10][11]
The World Bank has recently defied the recommendation of its own Extractive Industries Review which calls for the phasing out of financing for coal, oil and gas extraction.[12][13][14] Both the ANC government and the DA official opposition[15] support the continued financing of fossil carbon exploration (Karoo fracking,[16][17] offshore drilling), extraction (many more coal mines, even near the Cradle of Humankind, with associated acid mine drainage[18]), import, export, chemical processing (including increased Sasol oil from coal), combustion and emissions (four largest record breaking massive coal-fired power stations) that worsen global climate disruptions – while dedicating only token sums to renewable energy.[19]
This 'Burn More Coal' response to global climate disruption was characterised as ‘criminally insane’ by ECOPEACE.[20] "Business as usual having brought us to our present predicament will result in not only Barbarization, a collapse of civilisation, but even a global mass extinction event.[21] The present global economic, ecological, environmental, climate and energy crises are intimately linked. There is an immediate need to move away from the capitalist causes of these problems, especially the unfair, unequal concentration of wealth and power. Not only is it self-centred, self-serving elitist decisions made through such condensation of wealth and power that propel us all towards mass species extinction, but heading towards these catastrophes has continuing effects on everyone. This creates an ethical responsibility for all to take part in the resolution of this unprecedented human caused global problem.”[22]
"The only alternative is a set of sufficiently strong enough policy demands to challenge and change elitist concentration of wealth and power that is the cause of our global problems; i.e. a Trans-Capitalist Great Transition.[23][24][25] If the evolutionary advantage of human intelligence[26] is not used to solve our human caused environmental problems then that intelligence when used merely to amplify universal behaviours of living organisms to monopolise resources to exhaustion and to dominate in quality (fitness, advantage, leverage) and in numbers, will eventually become a disadvantage and we like many other species will reach natural limits, and become extinct when unable to adapt in time and to a necessary degree (too little too late).”[27][28][29]
South Africa cannot increase coal mining, burning and exports in isolation; if other countries follow suit this will mean burning as much fossil carbon in the next forty years as in the previous two hundred, a commitment to a 6 degree rise and well past the point of no return to mass species extinction. This will be the ultimate crime against humanity and nature.[27][28][29][30] Those culpable in maintaining or increasing fossil carbon emission may not actually believe in global climate disruption, or they may be acting unethically, or even be insane by any every day definition and use of the word, without negating their criminal culpability.
Coal fired power stations have to keep running even when the demand is below production. Coal must be mined, transported, crushed, pulverised into a powder and injected into a furnace (all energy intensive processes) to superheat dry steam to run a 20 tonne turbine that drives the generator. The generator could be detached from the grid to balance a decreased load, but the turbine must continue to turn, must stay hot, and must continue to be supplied with dry superheated steam. The furnace must stay hot and continue to be fed with powdered, pulverised coal. Coal must keep burning, even if the 'baseload' is oversupplied. So 'baseload' is a synonym for the dirty inefficient commitment to gigantic coal-fired power stations and dirty coal mining.
The need for ‘base-load’ is exaggerated to cover up the inefficiency of dirty coal and nuclear. Baseload is the last issue in changing completely to renewables, not the first. Even though there must be an immediate and continual decrease in the use of and dependency on fossil carbon, Renewable Energy baseload will not become an issue until Renewable Energy is 50% of supply which should by necessity be the case by 2020.
Renewable Energy is not all variable. A distributed mix of wind and solar with storage options on a smart grid can deliver fairly consistently. Potential for the continuous production equivalent of base-load from Concentrated Solar Power and other renewable technologies must be considered. At local scale, biogas digesters would provide small scale base-load. Ocean power; waves, currents and thermal are continuous; and tidal is very regular.
OTEC (Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion) is a continuous Renewable Energy that also mitigates global climate disruption by taking heat directly out of oceans. This creates greater mixing and combats thermal stagnation due to human caused ocean heating, which if allowed to continue can result in ocean anoxia and mass species extinction.[27][28][29]
Aluminium Smelters in South Africa are supplied electricity below cost. Since electricity costs are a higher percentage of household costs and income for poorer people, the higher per capita electricity costs for households in comparison to industry is unfair and discriminatory.[31][32] This could be reversed through tariffs for per capita consumption increasing at an exponential rate.
There is a free basic amount of household electricity in South Africa, but not on a per capita basis. The amount of electricity used by one Aluminium smelter that employs 1 000 workers is comparable to that generally used in eThekwini to employ about 2 000 000. Along with many organisations, ECOPEACE calls for the end of these perverse subsidies.[33]
Eskom offers Solar Water Heater rebates based on energy rating only and not on cost, so they are not used by the majority poor South Africans. Lower priced solar water heaters could receive a proportionately larger subsidy; to avoid being another perverse subsidy.
The fossil carbon industries wish to exhaust reserves since to leave them and return for their extraction at a later date may become prohibitively expensive. While technologies and infrastructure are locked into the present fossil paradigm it is also possible to have the greatest profit returns on the back of increasing demands and increasing prices of dwindling reserves while productions costs rise at much lower rates. Moves to less easily monopolised renewable energy technologies are disruptive, i.e. a point will be reached where this move becomes ever more economical and more rapid.
Similar to other Green Parties.[34] ECOPEACE proposes a transition to 100% Renewable Energy before 2030. ECOPEACE Party members built a $100 solar water heater.[35]
ECOPEACE campaigns against fossil carbon and supports calls for an immediate moratorium on fossil carbon exploration and immediate and continual decrease in the extraction, import, export, chemical processing, and combustion of fossil carbon.
• Continually decrease use of and dependency upon fossil fuels.
• Invest in renewable energy.
• Invest in energy-efficiency,
• Change to zero waste industrial ecology (Reduce Reuse Repair Remake Remanufacture Recycle Re-engineer Redesign).
• Radically reduce elitist non-essential luxury consumption.
• Increase extensive democratic controls over government.
• End perverse subsidies – no discounts for high industrial electricity users.
• Use economic mechanisms, innovative taxes, and cross subsidies.
• Redirect military budgets.
• Nationalise Eskom under democratic community and worker control
• Promote sustainable GE-free organic farming and food sovereignty.
• Encourage sustainable subsistence fishing.
• Build sustainable social housing for all.
• Promote public transport.
• Create Eco-cities.
The ECOPEACE platform is grouped under four headings:
Extensive Democracy
Economic Mechanisms
Sustainability Measurements
Coordinated Campaigns
ECOPEACE is non-ideological, or non-dogmatic, non-authoritarian; meaning it is principle based where means/tactics should correspond to aims/strategy, so as to be honest and ethical. It does not claim to represent all views, recognising political plurality and multiparty democracy, while seeking alliances and coalitions with those sharing related goals and visions.
The ECOPEACE versions of the four green pillars are:
Science[36]
▪ Rational, logical, holistic, synergistic polices. An appreciation of; science; philosophy of science; the scientific method; the limits of science; the demarcation issue of; non-science, traditional knowledge, proto-science, fringe science, anti-science, pseudo-science, the abuses and misuses of science, and; the need for rigour and vigour in the pursuit of proper scientific knowledge. This is all necessary to be informed correctly regarding the dangers to society, our environments, ecology and economies, and in finding and campaigning for appropriate remedies.
▪ Environmental sustainability includes other sustainable practices in the ecological, social, economic, political, built-environment, urban, rural, agricultural, energy areas etc.
▪ Peace is based on freedom, equality, justice, just transitions, fairness, absolute rights, responsibilities, duties and obligations to others and our environments.
▪ Consensus decision making and an extensive democracy of multiple complementary components, including but not limited to; parliamentary reforms, participatory, direct and consensus democracy. An increase in democracy means allowing space for divergent views; Participatory democracy means people get together and discuss issues; Direct democracy means deciding directly on policy instead of electing representatives to make those decisions for you; Consensus decision making means prioritising areas where there is most agreement, where there are no substantial objections based on common principles and values. An extensive democracy means all forms of democracy working together. This means improvements should also be proposed to the present parliamentary representational system, as well as proposals on how to include other democratic forms.
The election of public officials other than politicians and the right of recall of any elected appointee at any level through appropriate referenda could make vast improvements. The tender process could be in the form of an open transparent public auction where bidders can be vetoed based on conflict of interest and other democratically agreed conditions.
South Africa has ‘weak’ public participation processes where decisions are not made by the participants themselves. This process can be strengthened.
Economic barriers to participation in elections must be dismantled. Funding of parties must be transparent and within seemly limits. Campaign expenditure and wasteful proliferation of posters must be limited.
Inevitably political parties are criticised both by other opponent parties and disafected members or supporters. The ruling ANC threatened to revoke the electoral position of ECOPEACE Party for protesting against the eThekwini Municipal Council together with community members from Merebank. ECOPEACE helped in the election of Merebank local councillor Raja Naidoo who was assassinated.[37][38]
ECOPEACE is a member of the Socialist Green Coalition.[39]
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