Climate Change Is Threatening To Dethrone Politicians
Politicians are bought. That much is clear by now. It doesn’t matter how moral or just they start out; if they want to take power and create the change they envision, they have to compromise and bend in order to secure funding to campaign. Each democracy has this problem to a different extent, but they all have it. This is half the reason climate action has been so lethargic over the years, as oil billionaires are some of the world’s largest political donors, giving them massive sway over our governments. But, as climate change starts to bite, this trend is reversing, as some significant donors are threatening to pull funding over climate inaction. But is this a singular event or the first domino to fall?
This all started with British billionaire John Caudwell, who is worth $2.8 billion, according to Forbes. He is a hard-line Brexiteer, and a significant player in the vote-to-leave movement. Over the years, he has become so entangled with British politics that he was the largest donor to the Conservatives during the last 2019 general election. Yet, in a recent interview with The Sunday Times, he said, “If Rishi [the UK Prime Minister] sticks to this, would I donate to the Conservative Party? Absolutely not.” What has made him so angry that he has not only pulled funding, but wouldn’t even vote for the party he has spent a fortune to get into power?
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