


Cindy Wallbridge
Oct 11, 2023
France
Categories:
Democracy, Citizen Participation, Climate Change
THE USUAL STUFF – FRENCH GOVERNMENT ENACTS LEGISLATION:
“In becoming carbon neutral by 2050, with a 40 percent reduction in fossil fuel use by 2030. This law will allow France to impose strict emissions regulations on its four remaining coal-fired power plants, in order to effectively shut them down by 2022.”
THE “OUT OF THE BOX” STUFF -
“After three years of being called “out of touch,” Macron (President of France) is deciding to, very literally, give power back to the people. Not all broad environmental legislation is coming straight from the lips of the president, however. In a bold move, in 2019 the French government selected 150 citizens at random to be part of a citizens’ assembly on climate change.
Since Macron addressed the group in January 2020, these everyday folks have been working on proposing concrete strategies to reduce carbon emissions in France. Their policies will be put to parliament, unfiltered.
These 150 citizens published their conclusions in June 2020, as France was coming out of the first wave of the Covid-19 epidemic. Their 149 proposals are divided into five key areas: consumption, production, and work, travel, housing, and food. On June 29, Emmanuel Macron announced that he accepted all but three of the proposals and would have them transferred “without filters” to Parliament to be translated into legislation.”
HOW DID THE “OUT OF THE BOX PROCESS” WORK?
“As soon as the convention’s proposals were made public, the main industrial sectors targeted by the “citizens” - particularly the automobile, aviation, agrochemicals, and advertising industries - launched a major and ultimately successful lobbying offensive to discredit them. In the final version of the bill, some proposals were abandoned, others postponed, or had their scope reduced, were made voluntary instead of compulsory, exemptions were added, etc. Nothing much remained of the original ambition of the 150 “citizens”.
WHY THIS IS NOT A SAD ENDING AND WHY CITIZENS WILL NOT GIVE UP:
“We have gained new awareness regarding the climate emergency: the Earth can survive without us, but we cannot survive without it."
"We invite economic stakeholders to take more proactive action to promote ecological transition, by making this issue an opportunity to substantially rethink our ways of producing and consuming, and to encourage better distribution of wealth. The climate emergency dictates that we make difficult yet vital decisions: let’s be creative.”
There is much to learn from this story. Having worked in, and with, local governments most of my career, there is a real fear of giving the citizens power, such as Macron did here. Give them a voice and then they have expectations and that can bode badly for politicians that are unable and/or unwilling to follow through with action. Big monied interests often fund, lobby and influence local political campaigns and careers similar to what happens at a national level in democratic countries. Individuals express their interests, in part, through the election process. Businesses don’t have that vote and they express their interests through monied approaches. It produces a tension that some people say is a natural part of the democratic process. Others say it is often covert and destructive to the democratic process.
Notwithstanding that, the notion that citizens can still have a ‘town hall’ democratic process to discuss and vote upon sensitive issues, such as climate change, is an important one and one worth pursuing in any community. There are ways to defuse the tension described above. Forums that include citizens and business interests help to build mutual understanding of each others’ concerns. Role reversal exercises, of which there are many good ones, may build connections between people and issues and build solutions not considered. Learning the fine art of negotiation is a worthwhile skill for everyone, local citizens and business people alike. A good facilitator, moderator, mediator, or negotiator can be very helpful in jump-starting it.
The process of getting people together with different viewpoints is essential to democratic governance, and teaching people to participate thoughtfully, meaningfully, and intentionally builds strong citizenship skills that benefits a local community, in the long run, to build a successful, thriving and resilient hometown. And the youth would be a good addition to the process and it could help foster the same citizenship skills. This sows the seeds to create good leaders of the future to ensure our community’s well-being after the generation in power is long gone. There are many organizations and institutions throughout the country that can help structure a program. Given the strife that was recently felt in many democratic governments over the recent past, isn’t it time we started to build a meaningful approach to dealing with our polarization right here in our hometown?
Originally published November 19, 2021.
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