Follow your money
It’s not in the streets #
Perhaps this post is late by a few days. All it took to shift the situation was the second largest fires in recorded history. But it was there for all to see - Channel 9 News actually mentioned climate change in relation to a real world event before cutting quickly to footage of a baby Koala suckling on a bottle, rescued from the inferno that engulfs the country. A victory of sorts.
Coverage of climate change by a large portion of the media is eye-rollingly bad. If October’s Climate Strike or November’s IMARC protest were covered at all it was in relation to disrupted traffic flows through the CBDs.
In Australia 2020, Vietnam era mass protests suffer from a failure to control their messaging. Instead the gathering of tens of thousands of worried citizens in major cities is edited, manipulated, pounded flat, reconstituted, overdubbed and chopped into a malleable paste that can conform to any mould.
I read the news today #
In Australia we suffer from some of the highest concentration of media ownership and so most of us get our news from places unsympathetic towards climate change: from television (66% of Australians) or through the Murdoch press (59% of print sales). Those that could be inspired or provoked to action are kept firmly insulated from the spirit of any protests and experience them simply as an anarchic disruption to business-as-usual. The culprits are depicted as wild-eyed and shaggy haired extremists - freeloading dole bludgers that couldn’t get a job even if they had a work ethic.
Social media that once promised to be the grass roots alternative to media monopolies is a cesspool of denial, conspiracy theory and general misinformation. Last week I saw a Facebook post by a person I went to high school with suggested that the bushfires were caused by chemtrails spraying flammable accelerant. He was a regular kid when I stood next to him in assembly for 6 years.
There is a spanner in the democratic machine and it prevents truth, scientific fact and legitimate concern from proliferating amongst the population. Unless this is overturned no protest of any size, character or intensity on the ground will translate to political action in the high tower. The media functions as an insulating layer, impenetrable by sound on the ground no matter how loud or shrill or urgent.
Put your money where your mouth was #
The democratic process is constipated. What now? Australians concerned about climate change have a devastating weapon at their disposal at they have to do is use it. This political death star was handed to Australians by the Keating Government in 1992 in the form of compulsory superannuation.
Today Australian Super Funds add up to a total of $2.9 trillion making it the fourth largest pension fund holder in the world.
To put this in perspective - it means that Australians could buy and sell mining magnate Gina Reinhart 209 times or easily buy Apple, Google, Microsoft and Amazon. Even someone like me who has spent half his twenties travelling the world not earning a living still has more super now than I’ve ever had in savings. Imagine the power of that en masse.
If the tower will not listen to words it will sure as hell listen to even a tiny fraction of $2.9 trillion. The issue is that very few Australians are aware of how their Super is invested. It’s worth considering just how many Australians that took to the street to protest climate change have their super money actively working against these goals.
Knowing what your money is doing is made deliberately difficult by the Super funds themselves, many of which refuse to disclose how and where your money is invested. Yet the relationship between Super funds and their customers is far more direct than voters and politicians. If your super fund isn’t performing transparently then the answer is simple - move to another fund who is.
In the past Superannuation divestment has had a profound impact on carbon intensive project’s ability to get off the ground. Do you think the major Australian banks did not lend Adani money because they care about the environment? Think again. It was only after a successful campaign for divestment that banks reconsidered funding for the project - which forced Adani to self fund the Carmichael mine
It’s also smart #
If the bushfires have shown us anything it is that the political climate can change much faster than the actual climate. This means there is a profound risk associated with fossil fuel investments - many of which are artificially propped up by subsidies to prevent stranded assets. As with the car industry in 2017, subsidies can be removed on a whim causing an immediate withdrawal of foreign investment and crash of local industries.
Yesterday BlackRock the world’s biggest fund manager announced a plan to dramatically reduce its exposure to thermal coal. The downstream impact of this decision is yet to be felt, but it shows there is only so much subsidies can do even if the political will to keep them survives catastrophes like the fires. Should the wind change rapidly and subsidies be removed or the market shift suddenly - then investors with substantial exposure to fossil fuels stand to lose a lot of money. That’s the super that you have earned throughout your entire working life losing value if we act on climate change. It’s a precarious situation to be in financially.
Moving on up #
The steps to act are:
- Find out which Super fund you’re with
- Head to Market Forces
- See what your Super fund is doing
- If it’s not what you want switch to one that is
- Tell your friends
- For extra points - you can move your insurance, your bank to cause a ruckus
Tune in to the Beyond Zero Emissions Radio show on 3CR on February 3 at 5pm and I will take you through how to change your Super - note that I am not a professional financial advisor so please seek professional financial advice before changing your superannuation fund