Bishop Hill That German report
Jun 3, 2011 Climate: Parliament 
H/T to Patagon for pointing us to an English translation of the WGBU report and for making these excerpts from it.
Sustainable strategies and concepts must be developed for this in order to embed sustainable global development in transnational democratic structures, to formulate answers to the 21st century questions regarding global equity and distribution of resources, and, not least, to be able to claim world-wide legitimacy.
This means concrete academic search processes, for example by global governance theoreticians, international law experts, cosmopolitans, transnationalists and philosophers of justice to formulate legitimate and realisable norms, rules and procedures which, all together, could form the basis of an ideal global social contract. This would be something of a quantum leap for civilisation, on par for example with the transition of the feudal systems to constitutional states and democracy.
The WBGU views this structural transition as the start of a ‘Great Transformation’ into a sustainable society, which must inevitably proceed within the planetary guard rails of sustainability.
One key element of such a social contract is the ‘proactive state’, a state that actively sets priorities for the transformation, at the same time increasing the number of ways in which its citizens can participate, and offering the economy choices when it comes to acting with sustainability in mind. The social contract also encompasses new forms of global political will formation and cooperation. The establishment of a ‘UN Council for Sustainable Development’, on par with the UN Security Council, and the forming of international alliances of climate pioneers between states, international organisations, cities, corporations, science and civic organisations, would be examples of this.
The WBGU has developed the concept of a new social contract for the transformation towards sustainability – not so much on paper, but rather in people‘s consciousness
[Patagon comments: reeducation comes to mind]
The WBGU’s Transformation Strategy
The great transformations the human race has so far experienced were, for the most part, the uncontrolled results of evolutionary change. The challenge, unique in history, with regard to the upcoming transformation into a climate-friendly society is advancing a compre-hensive change for reasons of understanding, prudence and providence. The transformation must be anticipated, based on scientific insights regarding the risks of continuing on high-carbon development paths, in order to avoid the ‘standard historic reaction’, a change of direction in response to crises and disastersFor another, the transformation needs a powerful state, counterbalanced by extended participation on the part of its citizens.
must address four major challenges:
...
Traditional contract philosophy presupposed the fictitious belief that all members of a society are equal. Considering the disproportionate distribution of resources and capabilities in today‘s international community, we must have effective, fair global compensation mechanisms in place.The contract has to bring two important new protagonists into the equation: the self-organised civil society and the community of scientific experts.
The new social contract is an agreement to change: the global citizenship consents to expecting innovations that have a normative link to the sustainability postulate, and, in exchange, agrees to surrender the instinct to hang on to the established The guarantor in this virtual contract is a proactive state that involves its citizens in future decisions requisite to the agreement of sustainability targets.
It is by no means the case that the contract calls for a merely superficial or even resigned acceptance on the part of civil society: rather, the civil society is acknowledged as an active partner with shared responsibility for the success of the transformation process, and mobilised, thereby legitimising the process. The concept of a proactive state is therefore indelibly intertwined with the acknowledgment of civil society, and the innovative forces in the economy, in science and in administration.
A central element in a social contract for transformation is the proactive state with extended participation in a multilevel system of global cooperation. It entails two aspects, frequently thought of as separate or contradicting: on the one hand empowering the state, which actively determines priorities and underlines them with clear signals (for example with bonus/malus solutions), and on the other hand, giving citizens more extensive opportunities to have a voice, to get involved in decision-making and to take a more active role in politics. A powerful (eco-)state is often thought of as restricting the autonomy of the ‘man in the street’, whilst at the same time, any meddling on the part of the citizen is viewed with misgivings as a disturbance factor to political-administrative rationality and routines. A precondition for a successful transformation policy, though, is the simultaneous empowerment of state and citizens with regard to the common goal of sustainable policy objectives.
Reader Comments (66)
Memo to self: look up 'Anschluss'.
A New Word Order...
Wondered where Obama and call me Dave had got their inspiration from. This must be bed time reading for the politically savvy!
Is it easier to read in german?
If only "The Sun" newspaper would pick up on this story
"The transformation must be anticipated, based on scientific insights"
this is the fundamental folly of this paper and others like it. Great changes are not at all easy to foresee. In 1897 a meeting of well meaning architects and town planners in New York despared that cities would be unlivable by 1930 due to the massive build up of horse manure in the streets. They were ten years from the invention of a practical automobile but could not foresee it. Same goes today.
Who in 1950 could foresee the internet, the mobile phone, twitter and google? Reading the old science articles there is a pile of BS about each of us having flying motorbikes. Things turned out different, they usually do.
Nik
All good professors, one and all.
Will this new social contract with global citizenary involve the use of the judicial system and some form of global police in order to persuade the 'man-in-the-street' to sign up?
What's that about Godwin's Law again?
I imagine the authors are wondering why the phone hasn't rung.
Once we've transformed, do we all go back to constitutional states and democracy?
Why do Germans allow themselves to be stereotyped?
Advocating the rise of a powerful eco-state will send shivers down the spines of their neighbours.
[Snip]
I think I feel another 'Enabling Act' coming on.
Isn't this just "Technocracy" rebord for the 21st century, from Wiki-bloody-pedia...
"The technocracy movement is a social movement, which arose in the early 20th century, that proposes replacing politicians with scientists and engineers who have the technical expertise to coordinate the economy."
Under the section of 'Transformation Education', "......................educational institutes should increasingly teach sustainability-oriented knowledge, and the skills necessary for lifelong learning and systemic thinking."
In politics systemic thinking is a trait of an authoritarian compartmentalised mindset.
Worrying, deeply flawed and as with all megalomania, shrouded in semi plausible concepts and abstruse language, the aim is the same though, power and control through political lies and quasi science - AGW the wonderful new vehicle.
And! It must go that: If the science of propaganda cannot achieve world dominance, then, the science of war can.
I've said on numerous occassions on this forum that the global warming scam is not about global warming at all. It is in fact aimed at re-distribution of wealth. Think Gordon Brown's "Carbon Debt" comments after the Copehagen conference, and you get where I'm coming from. This means the "West" pays massive amounts of money to the "third world".
These two phrases in the above translation give it away..."global equity " and "we must have effective, fair global compensation mechanisms in place".
Successive government and UN initiatives have failed to see any real sustainable growth in the third world, particularly in regions such as Africa. Promised financial aid from governments worldwide remain just that, promises. So the answer is to think of a method of revenue generation i.e. Carbon Tax imposed by governments in first world economies and then syphoned off for redistribution via the EU and UN.
This is intellectual nonsense:
The inherent contradiction (introduced in the preceding paragraph) is partially obscured by the verbiage, but it is there.
It requires continuous agreement between state and citizen about the goals and means used to achieve them. This is impossible in practical terms. The supposedly legitimised state will of course over-rule dissent.
It is a crude blueprint for crudely totalitarian eco-politics.
"[A] ‘Great Transformation’ into a sustainable society" sounds like the new slogan for Marxism.
"Considering the disproportionate distribution of resources and capabilities in today‘s international community, we must have effective, fair global compensation mechanisms in place." Say no more.
What it comes down to --
big word, bigger word, biggest word to support small thought, smaller thought, smallest thought; all for the purpose of putting people like us in charge of people like you.
Edenhofer is, like Schellnhuber at the Postsdam Institut für Klimate PIK
(see: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/11/18/ipcc-official-“climate-policy-is-redistributing-the-worlds-wealth”/ )
"Sonderweg"
'kni' 'ell! These contempory Germans are more dangerous than that 'itler's mob. Arbeit macht Fryday, indeedy.
Or............Kraft durch Freude
Scary. This really needs to be picked up by the MSM but sadly many probably agree - BBC springs to mind.
Other than the obvious "frightening"...
What always happens is that the monster that these people create always eats it creators. Almost without exception.
[Snip]
As my dearly departed mater used to say: "They will be first up against the wall."
There is always someone more sociopathic/psychopathic than you.
Be careful what you wish for...
"on par for example with the transition of the feudal systems to constitutional states and democracy"
Sounds like a move in the opposite direction to me!
Don't say we weren't warned ...
Stacheldraht, mit Tod geladen,
ist um unsere Welt gespannt.
Drauf ein Himmel ohne Gnaden
sendet Frost und Sonnenbrand.
Fern von uns sind alle Freuden,
fern die Heimat, fern die Frauen,
wenn wir stumm zur Arbeit schreiten,
Tausende im Morgengraun.
Sings well to the final movement of Beethovens 9th,
like the EU anthem.......
.......odd that.
No real difference between this mob and the Mayan nobility, 'Give us your loot, sacrifice your life and everything will be ok dear plebs'.
When everything wasn't ok the plebs revolted and the Nobility were kicked out.
I imagine you'd get this kind of drivel out of many of the climate watermelons if you got them drunk enough to drop their guard a little.
Shudder to think that these folks would commit this to paper and publish it while, at some point in the process, presumably being sober enough to recognize what they're doing.
[Snip] you're right: intellectuals are the first to get shot after the "revolution," once they've served their purpose.
Leviathan reincarnate - and in a new suit too!
We can be sure the new Leviathan will ensure that life will be nasty, brutish and short.
[Snip]
I see it's written in that universal language of the beaurocrat, so all bare the most dedicated read a couple of lines, then switch off & go and watch Neighbours or footy!
@ James P
Exactly, it's Maoist - a Great Leap Forward into backwardness.
"The concept of a proactive state is therefore indelibly intertwined with the acknowledgment of civil society, and the innovative forces in the economy, in science and in administration."
We've seen what the innovative forces in the economy can do
We've seen what the innovative forces in science can do
"Innovative forces in administration" - now THAT scares the living daylights out of me...
Complete and utter guff. Deport the lot of 'em to an isolated island that's of sufficient size and abundance to support, by their own measures, their ideal social structure and leave them to it.
It is a translation, but not as we know it.
What transnational democratic structures are there? They are either transnational or democratic. There is no global demos. Claiming world-wide legitimacy isn't the same as having it and being granted it through undue deference by elected representatives is not the same either.
A social contract between us and whom? The quantum leap would be backwards, back to feudalism with the State as the Lords, as evidenced by
What if we choose not to co-operate?
The first act of a powerful state will be to limit the authority of the individual and of non-State organisations.
The public will be 'consulted' and have a myriad of choices but those choices and consultations will be entirely within the small sphere of eco-mentalism.
What if we choose not to co-operate?
This makes their dream nothing more than a charade. Citizens empowered to live their lives on the hamster wheel of their choosing but getting off the wheel will not be allowed.
Welcome to the Gleichschaltung.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleichschaltung
All
I'm snipping any Nazi references.
@bh
Your site, but it was about history. So very disappointing. if people cannot distinguish between history and beliefs.
And you started this thread.
Nebojsa Nakicenovic, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Inge Paulini, Claus Leggewie, Sabine Schlacke, Stefan Rahmstorf, Renate Schubert, Jürgen Schmid, Reinhold Leinfelder, Dirk Messner.
I wonder if they've thought of trying stand up?
Rib-ticklers one and all.
Jiminy
The thread was about a report produced by a German advisory commitee on climate. We can talk about the implications without discussing Second World War history, which will just make the thread deteriorate.
An earlier post mentioned that a couple of the signatories to this toxic nonsense were based in Potsdam, which, pre-unification, was in East Germany. Does anybody know how many of these learned professors won their doctorates in Honecker's workers' paradise, as a matter of interest?
BH
He Who Ignores History is Doomed to Repeat It.
Halfway through the second paragraph I lost the will to live!
One thing that always unites such 'ideas' if from the left or from the right its the idea its being done in the peoples 'interest' or 'own' good' and these guys are right on the money on that front , while democracy is set aside leadership will of course be in the hands of 'right thinking ' people , funny how is always happen to be the same people that are pushing the idea in the first !
KnR
Indeed. Totalitarian thinking. Unites Right and Left every time.
This is very scary stuff, IMHO. But it seems to be (you should pardon the expression) right in step with the UN's "Global Compact" - and its "Ten
CommandmentsPrinciples", three of which pertain to (you guessed it!) Environment:Here's a description of the Global Compact's kinder, gentler "Caring for Climate" initiative:
It goes without saying that the UNEP (United Nations Environmental Program) - parent of the IPCC - has a finger in this particular pie, as well. And be sure to follow the link to the oh-so-inspiring Statement from these "climate caring" businesses. Here's the preamble:
In my travels throughout this depression-inducing maze, I also came across a suggestion that there should be a UN "Sustainability Council" with similar status to the UN's "Security Council" ... but my mouse can't seem to find it again :-( So you'll just have to take my word for it, for now!
Heine said "Germany is nothing but every individual German is much, yet the Germans believe the reverse to be true".
Why do you think that such totalitarian garbage as others before came out of the Germans. It must have to do with toxic cucumbers.
George Steiner
First, you advance an argument in isolation. Is Germany alone is this? The only nation to fall prey to 'totalitarian garbage'?
History tells us this is not so.
Second, a number of people have died of what looks like food-borne infection from an novel strain of E. Coli. This is desperately sad, and not the ideal material for anti-German sentiment.
Britain would never fall for totalitarian garbage....... until now, that's what you achieve with castrating education, manipulation and downright lying in the classroom - dumbing down the populace and this was always the goal.
The thinkers from uncle Erich's blissful holiday camp in the DDR - ask Potsdam-prop have done a good job in our schools, I mean AGW is manna from Socialist 'heaven', it's so good it has to be: a Marxist utopian doctrine.
Then there is diversity, Multikulti, equality [ha - that's a good one - "we're all equal brother, 'cepting some of us are more equal than you!"] and the all encompassing control default - PC.
Easy to start, just stop teaching HISTORY.