Canwin as a group needs to decide whether it is an all inclusive group that works only by consensus, or a democratic organisation that runs and makes decisions on the strength of the majority. The debate we are having (or indeed not having) about the climate change bill is an important case in point.

The climate change bill is not – as some would have us believe – an immutable piece of proto-legislation. It is a declaration of intent, however imperfectly formed, which expresses some of the issues that got many of us fired up enough to join this group in the first place.

And now that we are actually being called on to DO SOMETHING – several people are actually running for the hills. It is like something out of a Monty Python sketch. Are we the Judean Peoples Front? or the Peoples Front of Judea? I personally am fed up with the interminable debate over semantics. Who cares if the bill is not perfectly worded? It’s never going to make it into law unchanged anyway. Virtually no legislation ever does.

We have had an opportunity to support a broad climate movement initiative and we have sat on the sidelines wondering if the full stops and the commas are in the right place.

Democracy is never simple, but in my opinion we are not going to get decisions on important issues affecting group policy if we have to attempt to reach consensus. We are in danger of becoming irrelevant if we don’t make these decisions. I haven’t got time to do irrelevant.

andrew General