When Queen Elizabeth II died September 2022 , her Word Charles III became the new magnate of England . Immediately , newspaper headline advised on how he could stigmatize himself as the clime king . Publications laud him as the potential “ activist king ” or echo his works as the “ climate prince . ”
It ’s true that , liken to other public build or wealthy celebrities , Charles has a jolly impressive resume of caring about the surround . He ’s been championing environmental causes since the 1970s and has been touting crunchy practices likecompostingfor decades . In 2021 , as Charles was traveling to the UN climate crown , the Washington Postbranded him“the 21st century ’s first eco - king . ”
But Charles III is not your clime king . He is a wealthy humans who read private fountain and was born into a robust decree kin . He ’s now the front of a nation facing risingincome inequalityand more peril and expiry fromclimate variety - link up extreme weather . Any action mechanism he ’ll take on climate as Martin Luther King will be ornamental , at best . His job as royalty will be to maintain the condition quo — which is the last thing we need as the earthly concern keeps getting hot .
God save the planet.Graphic: Vicky Leta (Shutterstock)
The ways Charles talks about climate give some penetration into how he cerebrate about it as an emergence . Take themessagethe then - Prince of Wales record for a conference on saving the sea . “ We have run across univocal evidence that plastics are not only polluting our waters but are entering our intellectual nourishment chains and our bodies , ” he said in the address . “ We are quite literally poisoning ourselves . ”
It ’s a fine - enough sentiment , but , crucially , we are n’t poisoning ourselves . corporation owned and go by the world ’s wealthy few are the unity doing the toxic condition . They ’re supported across the world by permissive government insurance policy . And the multitude who are most touch on by their dirty crimes are poor people and people of color — not wealthy elites like Charles .
As the head of the royal family , Charles III will unluckily be called topolitical neutrality . He can support his favored causal agency , but he is confine in straight - up calling out the dodo fuel company and politics that have made our climate crisis potential .
And his personal life inescapably differentiate him as part of the world ’s most rich and muscular — the very people who are the most responsible for for mood variety . Charles ’ personal net Charles Frederick Worth is estimated to be about600 million pound . His life-style and the lifestyles of his fellow ultra - affluent produce over1,000 timesthe CO2 emission of the bottom 1 % of earners .
UK leadership does seem to be aware of the optics of a immense internal celebration for an extremely rich military personnel in these trying time . Saturday ’s coronation is being touted as “ sustainable , ” with a shorter itinerary than Queen Elizabeth II ’s coronation back in the fifties . But the festivities are still speculated to be upwards of 50 million pounds ( more than $ 62 million ) , the Guardianreported .
Plus , the instance often trotted out to frame Charles as a climate guy can be a little cringey . In a 2021 interview withthe BBC , he described how his 1970 Aston Martin lean on asurplus of white wine and milk whey from cheese making , which , hey , is passably cool ! But the average someone does not have time nor the fund to retrofit a machine to melt down off biofuels made with pino grigio . And his exuberance for low - emissions vehicle does n’t seem to extend very far : In 2022 , theTelegraph reportedthat Charles III had take more than 20 individual flights ( including several whirlybird ) to forefend traffic . No amount of whey byproduct or remnant wine-colored is fit to make up for the emission from individual fountain and helicopters .
King Charles III is inheriting the throne during a pivotal time for global climate action . It ’s a huge responsibility , but he is not among those on the frontlines of the problem . mass displacedby wildfiresand victim ofheat wave throughout the UKdon’t demand more words — they involve activity that Charles wo n’t be able to take on as baron .
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