how I discovered what is meant by a just transition

What does a just transition mean? Being a supporter of Greenpeace gets me a subscription to their newsletter, one such newsletter I received contained a link to a film about something called a just transition? This piqued my interest as it appeared aimed for North Sea oil and gas workers. Having at one time been in that industry and still many friends and family in that industry, I was interested to find out what this film was about? After watching it I could not work out what the message was or who it was aimed at? It seemed to be aimed at people like me who worked for climate criminals, an encouragement to get new work in environmentally friendly workplaces, the message seemed to be saying that the oil and gas industry were bad employers anyway, which is fair enough, I left the industry with a bad impression of the employers throughout this industry so; I couldn’t agree more, I suppose it had been a growing disillusionment for me at that time, I was becoming increasingly concerned about climate change, But; what hit the last nail in the coffin lid for me was, when I had taken part in strike action over working hours, that strike failed due to my fellow workers not being in the union, along with the employers being able to use a strike bursting loophole called fire and rehire, which meant I got a letter from my employer saying that by removing my labour I had dismissed myself! I would be getting taken into a personal meeting with my supervisor and asked why? I wasn’t signing my new terms and conditions contract of work, I thought long and hard about that decision to sign or resign? In the end I made myself a dice which landed on a side which I had written - sign save like hell while working one more year then cycle round the world, this is basically what I done, except the continuation of the cycle the pandemic and becoming a climate activist has put a hold on the cycle trip,

The climate activist part of my life began at COP26 with me getting involved in the just transition movement and then just stop oil, I do this work for free it actually costs me money, I don’t get paid for doing anything for any group. I am doing this willingly in penance for my crimes against the climate, the damage I have done to the earths rapidly changing climate, will condemn future generations to a literal hell on earth, this knowledge shames me into trying to give something back, simply apologising is no longer enough, I openly apologise even though like most people the damage I done was mostly in ignorance, I no longer have that excuse and neither does my former employers, they know the damage the industry is doing and they should be paying for the workers in oil and gas to be transitioned into green industry’s

I discovered at the conference on a just transition that; I was being very narrow minded to think this movement was all about north sea oil, it is a worldwide just transition movement in all industries, the health industry agribusiness industry even worldwide firefighting unions! were in attendance, there was representatives of countless workers co-operatives unions and federations, all there to discuss a way that workers could be mobilised into stopping- or more accurately trying to slow down the rate of climate change, with a move away from corporate exploitation of people and planet, workers can be transitioned into doing work geared toward sustainable regenerative ethical global solutions, to maintain a liveable planet for ours and many other endangered species right now We environmentalists cannot stop the harm on our own, we need workers and industry champions to start this just transition, in my opinion this is where the slogan is failing because; the workers I have spoken with, cannot see that environmentally friendly jobs will ever give a decent wage, to be fair on them this was my initial thoughts, it certainly seemed to be the way it came over from union officials at a conference I attended on it, if people are going to get a just transition in jobs away from the fossil fuel industry, then we need to get the labour movement, via trade unions and workers federations over to the environmental goals required to slow this rapid climate change, this has been made difficult by he media and government who persistently turn workers against environmental activists, they say we are a threat to jobs! this has led workers in general into believing they need to continue the harm in order to earn money, one delegate at the conference I attended actually voiced this in an open way, this trade union representative stood up and said, the people waving the green flags should start waving red flags also, this seemed (sadly to me) to further descend into a them and us situation! where; the waving of the red flag was much louder than the waving of the green flag, this unhelpful divide is hindering the opportunity for both these flags to come together, then face as one the people truly responsible for environmental and social collapse, make them pay for the just transition and start it right away

I cannot get any of my former colleagues to even sign a petition to end our reliance on fossil fuels, this is mostly due to them being afraid of losing their jobs, they see no alternative to this addiction on fossil fuels and its products, even while faced with diminished working terms and conditions and wages dropping while the cost of living rises, these fellow workers see no alternative but to go cap in hand to mega wealthy oil companies, some even asking for overtime while the companies cut jobs, these workers should be demanding alternatives to longer working weeks and longer working lives, change is coming wither we like it or not, the workers in the fossil fuel burning industries have the skills, to for example insulate their homes install solar panels and/or wind turbines in their homes freeing themselves of a reliance of energy use from multinationals, we could be living in utopia! Instead; we are sleepwalking our children into a rapidly warming world destined for financial ruin and worldwide societal collapse, The net zero targets set by governments worldwide mean that a transition away from fossil fuels will happen much sooner than the industry workers are prepared for, the vast profits made by oil and gas giants, at a minimum should be paying for training into new areas of work away from extraction and pollution and into renewables rewilding upcycling etc, there is lots of solutions to stopping the harm that this addiction to burning fossil fuels is causing, we are like junkies who know our habits are killing us, we need help to wean ourselves of it, and that help should be paid for by the dealers who have us hooked on a poison, give us back the money you have stolen from future generations, we can then put that money to causes for the greater good, if they dont do this NOW. then these billionaires and curropt politicians should face a court trial for criminal damage, A friend of mine just paid twelve thousand pounds for solar panels for his home, he works in oil and gas his home is big enough and well insulated, these panels will pay for themselves within five years and then he will earn money from them, he has a big enough garden to grow some food, the billions of pounds worth of oil that has flowed into his work from the north sea, could have/should have paid for his whole community and everyone in it to own a self-sufficient home and sustainable clean transport, is it too late to start? If we continue to allow the elites of society to destroy everything by their continued pollution, then yes soon it will be too late to even start! As the physics of climate change will destroy the world as we know it