2023-07-22 12:00:00
The French are concerned about global warming, consider that it should be a priority in government action, but in fact, they still seem reluctant to give up their way of life… This is the main lesson of the latest survey from theinstitut Cluster 17 pour Point. 77% of French people consider that the reality of global warming is correctly assessed or underestimated (only 2% of French people deny this) and 90% of them that it should be the main or one of the main priorities of the government.
However, a majority is not ready to give up eating meat (68%), giving up the dream of a single-family home (77%), or paying more for groceries to encourage local purchases (60%). In other words, the French consider the climate crisis as a priority issue, but are not prepared to assume the costs of the ecological transition in their daily life choices.
political ecology
These results immediately raise questions about the strategy adopted by political ecology, which is more akin to a discourse making it possible to “indicate the virtues” of its enunciator, but which does not always generate concrete actions at the individual level.
READ ALSOFOG – “Political Ecology”: the coming totalitarianism
It is that in reality the French are in a very large majority convinced that it is up to the State to manage the problem and find solutions, even if they remain divided on the question. Indeed, if there is a certain consensus on the observation and level of priorities of the climate crisis, the French are much more divided on the solutions to be provided. The fault line is sociological in nature (graduates and the wealthiest stand out from the rest) and political, with individuals on the right not supporting the same solutions as individuals on the left. To sum it up simply, we can identify, theoretically, four main types of orientation vis-à-vis the climate issue which cover other values and political orientations.
From “green capitalists” to “localist degrowthers”
Starting from the most liberal pole, we can find “green capitalism”, a techno-optimistic trend that trusts the mechanisms of the market and the inventiveness of man to face the challenges of global warming. Like the essayist Ferghane Azihari (columnist at Point) in France, they note that economic development goes hand in hand with the preservation of resources, adaptation to the effects of global warming, and are quick to criticize state solutions, which are less effective than market solutions. READ ALSO Protecting the Mediterranean: a missed opportunity
Proponents of “sustainable development” consider that environmental issues must be taken into consideration in the economic functioning of our societies, but without this being done to the detriment of economic or social growth. This presupposes the mobilization of all types of actors, but also certain State interventions so that the negative externalities of pollution are imputed to economic actors. The solutions of carbon taxation or the creation of emission rights markets are representative of this way of approaching the problem.
The third category, which we call “green planners”, includes those who believe that in the face of the scale of the climate challenge, the state – and the specialists in its service – must be given broad power to organize society in order to respond to it. The idea of replacing the spontaneous coordination of the activities of individuals in society with the state to achieve a collective objective (ignoring individual aspirations) is not new. This is what the socialist economists imagined at the beginning of the 20th century, sometimes pushing the logic as far as wanting to replace business leaders with computers to make nation-wide decisions. In this way of thinking, the State is central, and must guide the behavior of individuals with the stick (taxes, prohibitions, regulations) and the carrot (subsidies, tax deductions, etc.). This posture corresponds quite well to the “ecological planning” proposed by the government, which recently declared that it wanted to reward those who patched their clothes.
READ ALSOCoignard – Ecological transition: Elisabeth Borne in a green hole
Finally, the last family of ecologists, the “localist degrowthers” who believe that the salvation of the planet will come from a profound break with capitalism and growth. Opposed to both economic growth and population growth, supporters of this option propose voluntary sobriety. It would be a question of giving up our needs, reducing our consumption, and going against the current of the evolutions of contemporary society which tends towards the internationalization of flows. It would be appropriate to return to more local human communities, based on local consumption, and escaping the imagination of market society. How do the French compare to all these nuances of ecology?
Ecology is a state affair
According to the grouping that we make according to the answers to the questions of the poll, there would be 12% of indifferent, 38% of supporters of sustainable development, 23% of green planners, 19% of de-escalators and only 4% of green capitalists. Through these responses, we find a striking feature of French political culture: a statism imbued with distrust of the market. Rather than trusting businesses, local communities, or even individuals (as we will see), the French see it as the state’s responsibility to solve problems by telling private actors how to act.
When the French are asked to decide among 6 public policy options, the most popular (27%) is to charge the companies that pollute the most. The second is the implementation of ecological planning (23%), the third is to give up economic growth (19%). The 3 other options which mobilize carbon price mechanisms (tax) or the market or local authorities are ultra-minority. Once again, there is a strong political polarization on this subject. The political option favored by Mélenchon voters is the renunciation of economic growth, while those of Yannick Jadot and Emmanuel Macron favor ecological planning slightly over other options. Right-wing voters are more favorable than average to local and business-related solutions. The voters of Eric Zemmour are distinguished from the others by being more numerous than the others (in particular those of the RN) to consider this issue as secondary. Concerning the production of nuclear energy, eight out of ten French people are for it, and even within the radical left the opinion is mainly pro nuclear (52%).
Not an individual matter
If the French are very concerned about the fate of the environment and expect a lot from the government and companies, are they themselves ready to make efforts in their daily lives?
The answer is, on the whole, negative. They are not ready to do without their thermal car (61%), to pay more for their food to promote short circuits (60%), to give up living in a single-family house (77%) or to give up eating meat (68%). However, a majority are ready to limit themselves to 4 long-haul flights in their lifetime or to give up air conditioning in summer…
READ ALSOIndividual swimming pools, the end of the dream? The level of diploma is enough structuring to account for these attitudes: those who have studied the longest are more ready to make sacrifices for the planet. The left-right divide is also important: individuals on the left are more likely to say they are ready to make an effort. For example, while 6 out of 10 Yannick Jadot voters say they are ready to give up meat consumption, this is only the case for 35% of Emmanuel Macron voters and 15% of Valérie Pécresse and Éric Zemmour voters.
If there is a relative consensus on the climate emergency in France, there is dissension on the solutions to be provided. A majority of French people expect the state to take strong measures to solve environmental problems, or even call for a change in the economic system. But they are much more reluctant to make changes in their daily lives. We come back to a well-known French evil: the nanny-state which relieves its citizens of responsibility, who end up expecting everything from it…
* Guillaume Thomas is a doctor and teacher-researcher in social sciences
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