A train collision, a toxic derailment and thousands killed in an earthquake: How cost-cutting led to disaster in Turkey, Greece and Ohio

A train collision in Greece, a toxic derailment in Ohio, and thousands killed under collapsed buildings in Turkey – February 2023 was a month marked by tragedy across the world. What unites those affected by these disasters is a feeling of injustice and a demand for change within the governments and regulatory bodies that they see as responsible. As blame is passed around, the people of these nations see a common theme: cost-cutting, profiteering and a lack of respect for workers rights and civilian safety. 
As the dust settles after a month of tragedy across the world, those left grieving the loss of family, friends and fellow citizens, and fearing what the future holds, are questioning who is to blame for their loss. Residents of Turkey and Syria watched as buildings toppled and crumbled around them, people in East Palestine, Ohio, were left fearing the air they breathe, and Greeks awoke to the tragic news of a train collision which took the lives of dozens. These disasters are varied and spread across Europe, Asia, and North America, but they are linked by a common theme. They were – largely, if not entirely – avoidable. In each affected country, people have come out to protest what they see as government and regulatory failings, blaming a thirst for profit and the cost-cutting which goes along with it.
Neglected infrastructure and outdated equipment in Greece
Last month, in the Thessaly region of Greece, a passenger train and a freight train collided, resulting in the deaths of at least 57 people – many of whom were young students. This tragedy whipped up great anger among Greeks and particularly young people who had lost fellow students and felt a sense of solidarity with those who had been the victim of, as they see it, governmental failings.
Protests broke out as the news hit the population, soundtracked by calls of “murderers!” towards the officials and the centre right government who many Greeks hold responsible. Metro and rail workers immediately organised a strike through their unions, showing anger at a problem that had been placed at their door through years of apathy and neglect directed at their sector.
Those who wish to deflect from the government’s responsibility claim that the tragedy was the result of human error, which is reflected in the arrest of the stationmaster responsible for the affected section of railroad on the night of the collision. But as the unions see it, the people involved were never given a fair chance at operating safely. The stationmaster, Vassilis Samaras, according to his lawyer, shares this view. As they see it, they are partly responsible, but were working under difficult conditions – he was the only staff member responsible for the region as his colleagues had already gone home – and with a barely functioning signalling system.
Protesters highlight outdated rail infrastructure in the Mediterranean country (Photo: Nick Night / Unsplash)
Protesters and unions have called the government out on staff shortages, outdated equipment and underfunded infrastructure, with the overarching problem of cost-cutting at every opportunity. One such protester, Stelios Dormarazoglou, explained how he understood the disaster:
“Everyone knows that if the Greek state had wanted, this accident could have been prevented. My own son worked on upgrading the signalling system – nine years ago. Ever since it’s been stalled because companies are only ever interested in profits.”
The Greek president, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, has pledged to do all she can to modernise the Greek railway system and introduce automated safety systems, but for many Greeks this is too little too late.
Overworked railroad workers in Ohio
On February 3, thirty-eight cars of a Norfolk Southern freight train passing through East Palestine – eleven of which were carrying hazardous materials – derailed and ignited into a 48-hour-long blaze. This resulted in toxic and carcinogenic materials being pumped into the air and seeping into the ground and waterways. While people within a one-mile radius were evacuated, this is seen as a feeble response to an environmental disaster which should never have taken place.
The bulk of health concerns from residents of East Palestine and the surrounding area relate to the release of vinyl chloride into the surrounding environment. It is reported that upwards of 40,000 fish and animals have died as a result, including family pets as far as 10 miles away. While no people died directly as a result of the derailment, residents of the town report rashes, headaches and coughs, and live in a state of anxiety surrounding the long-term health and environmental consequences of the pollution.
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Echoing the accusations made by those in Greece, residents of the area and railroad workers argue that this disaster was avoidable and was the result of underfunding, overworking, and a lack of respect for safety regulations. Ron Kaminkow, the general secretary of Railroad Workers United, made clear his feelings of where responsibility lies:
“Without a change in the working conditions, without better scheduling, without more time off, without a better work-life balance, the railroad is going to suffer… it’s just intrinsic, with short staffing. Corners get cut and safety is compromised.”
Between 2018 and 2020, railroad jobs were cut by 40,000. This added great strain to already overworked employees, not helped by the fact that they receive no paid sick leave, forcing workers to either work through illness or lose wages. They can also be disciplined and eventually let go simply for taking time off. This added stress for the workers is even more insulting, as the six main railroad companies in the United States reported $22 billion in profits over 2022.
The toxic cocktail of working through illness, punitive measures for time off, increased workload due to staff cuts, and the resulting low morale, means railroad workers are far from being able to do their job to the required standard. This, evidently, can result in disaster when working with dangerous cargo.
Leo McCann, chair of the rail labor division of transportation trades department, summed up the general feeling, saying:
“The railroads are more interested in profitability and keeping their return on investment up and their numbers down so they can satisfy Wall Street, and they just live behind this shield hoping nothing will happen.”
Buildings crumble and collapse in Turkey
While nothing can be done to prevent the occurrence of an earthquake, the Turkish authorities were not naïve as to the inevitability of such an earthquake taking place. The nation, which straddles the European and Asian continents, is the meeting place of three tectonic plates: the African Plate, the Arabian Plate and the Anatolian Plate. This leaves the area highly vulnerable to severe earthquakes.
85,000 buildings collapsed as a result of the magnitude 7.8 earthquake, claiming almost 50,000 lives and injuring and additional 115,000 in Turkey. As the initial shock settled and rescue efforts began, people started to wonder why some buildings collapsed while others stood and saved those within.
Many nations, such as Japan, who are plagued with the same problem take strict measures to minimize destruction and casualties, mostly through building regulations which require contactors to construct earthquake-proof buildings. This was also the case in Turkey until 2019 when the Erdogan government retroactively legalised thousands of buildings which did not meet earthquake construction standards. In order to avoid adapting these substandard buildings and ignore regulations for new buildings, owners and contractors had only to pay a fine to the Turkish government, putting money before the lives of thousands.
Around 75,000 buildings in the earthquake zone had been affected by this change in law, and when the disaster struck many crumbled under the stress, leaving those within or passing by trapped, injured, or dead. Turkish engineers and architects had warned that this relaxation of the law was putting lives in danger, but they were ignored, and their voices drowned out by those who saw only economic growth.
The lax regulations and resulting tragedy are not just the result of profiteering, they are also due to a hunger for political power. A large part of Erdogan’s electoral success is down to his promise of more jobs and more homes for the Turkish people via a massive construction drive. But many of the country’s residents did not receive the homes that were promised – thanks to an obsession with profit and growth and the resulting neglect of regulations and building standards, they received tombs. Läs mer…

New study: Corporate profits drive up inflation in Australia – not higher wages

A recent Australia Institute report has shown that profiteering is the source of the country’s high inflation. This is in contrast to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s fearmongering claims that higher wages are the main threat to economic growth and security. The report highlights the need to control excess profits and artificially increased prices in order to protect the purchasing power of workers, and argues that increased wages should not be feared.
We’ve all heard the argument before—if wages increase, prices must increase to cover those wages, and the end result will be inflation. This theory is referred to as the ‘wage-price spiral’. It is often wheeled out to shut down any demands for fair pay, and particularly for the raising of the minimum wage. Contradicting this argument, a study by the Australia Institute has found that inflation is more the result of a ‘profit-price spiral’, with 69% of the nation’s inflation being attributed to excess profits.
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Australia Institute calls wage-price spiral ‘economic fairy-tale’
For many people, the wage-price spiral argument provokes suspicion. Inflation is all around, but wages don’t seem to have risen in line and surely can’t be to blame for higher prices. In Australia, inflation reached a year-over-year rate of 7.8% by the end of 2022. This has resulted in a major hit to the real purchasing power of working Australians.
Australia faces a macroeconomic slowdown due to higher interest rates, which means job losses and even greater income losses in the coming months—all while the nation reports an unprecedented upsurge in business profitability. These profits are shown in the report to be the result of businesses increasing prices well beyond incremental expenses for their own purchases. The institute states that:
“new empirical evidence confirms the dominant role of business profits in driving higher prices in Australia – not wages.”
They argue that the focus of monetary policy by the Reserve Bank of Australia on wage restraint is misplaced and unfair, and that more attention should be given to the artificial inflation of prices by businesses. Dr Jim Stanford, the researcher behind the report, said:
“we’ve been told a story that workers need to restrict wage growth and accept a permanent reduction in living standards in order to fight inflation. This report shows that’s an economic fairytale.”
Report’s major findings suggest profit-price spiral
The Institute’s investigation found that as of September 2022, Australian businesses had increased prices by a total of $160 billion per year above their higher expenses for wages, taxes, and other inputs.
Had those excess profits for Australian-made goods and services not been engineered through increased prices, average annual inflation since 2019 would have been 2.7% per year, as opposed to the reality of 5.2%. This would have also meant that such harsh interest rate hikes would not be necessary, and Australians would have been spared the worst part of job losses and a cost of living crisis.
Despite this empirical evidence, the Reserve Bank of Australia, who conduct monetary policy within the nation, repeatedly refer to the dangers of a wage-price spiral and make almost no reference to the role of excess corporate profits in driving inflation. In their most recent statement from February 2023, the Reserve Bank mention wages 75 times and profits only once. This is despite the fact that corporations have increased their profits much faster than the nominal growth of Australia’s economy, and have benefited from the acceleration of inflation since the pandemic.
The report states that the focus by the Reserve Bank of Australia on suppressing wage growth in their anti-inflation policy and ignoring the role of record profits:
‘blames the victims of inflation, while ignoring its perpetrators, and will impose further needless harm in coming months through further real wage reductions, and quite likely an economic recession.’
Profits grow while inflation’s victims suffer
This story is far from limited to Australia and is being played out across the world. As workers struggle to cover skyrocketing costs, energy companies and big businesses post record-breaking profits. Workers not be taken for fools by their employers and governments, and should continue the fight for higher wages and a share of the profits which they generate, at the expense of greedy owners and investors. Läs mer…

Scotland makes historic first ‘loss and damage’ payment to climate change-stricken Malawi

Scotland has become the first nation to provide ‘loss and damage’ funding having pledged a total of £7 million to date. The decision comes after an agreement between 200 nations at last year’s COP27 summit to give financial help to developing nations most impacted by climate change. Differing from immediate emergency aid, the money is intended to rebuild resilient communities which have been devastated by climate disasters.
Scotland have already provided hundreds of thousands of pounds from a £2 million pot to Malawi, with the money being used to build resilience in the most vulnerable communities, and have pledged a further £5 million to similar projects from April 2023.
The ‘loss and damage’ breakthrough
November 2022’s COP27 summit, while criticised by many climate activists for not producing radical enough agreements, is credited with at least one big win for climate justice. That victory is the recognition of the concept of loss and damage and the agreement between 200 nations to compensate those who have fallen foul to climate disasters. While money has long been funnelled towards methods of mitigation such as preparing vulnerable nations for higher temperatures and rising sea levels, little has been done to compensate communities who have already lost everything to climate change. This is why the agreement among wealthy nations to compensate poorer nations for loss and damage is hailed as ‘historic’.
The agreement to deliver money to those affected areas is not only financially important, it is symbolic of an acceptance of the fact that developed nations are disproportionately responsible for the damage caused by climate change. While it appears that these payments amount to reparations, actually using the term makes developed nations uneasy and is perhaps too direct of an acceptance of guilt. They prefer, regardless of the reality, to frame these more as solidarity payments.
A popular – and valid – criticism of international organisations and agreements is their tendency to make promises without any meaningful follow-up action, or as Greta Thunberg put it:
“we have now had thirty years of blah blah blah, and where has that led us?”
The first nation that has stopped talking and started acting with respect to loss and damage payments is Scotland, who have pledged a total of £7 million in funding. The first nation to receive funding is Malawi, a country that has suffered greatly from the effects of climate change.
Climate change is devastating Malawian communities
One of the great injustices of climate change is the disproportionate damage caused to developing nations. Despite carbon footprints that often pale in comparison to their developed counterparts, such nations tend to be warmer and drier, and therefore more susceptible to climate disasters with less money available to combat the fast-growing issue. One such example is the south African nation of Malawi. Malawi is particularly prone to long periods of drought and devastating floods.
In 2015 flooding hit the Malawian village of Mambundungu – a recurring problem for those living in the area. Village Chief Isaac Mambundungu looked around him and saw homes submerged, children being swept away, and reported that:
“Even the crocodiles that are found in the river would come and attack the people. So when we saw this, we decided to move to higher grounds.”
So villagers rebuilt elsewhere, with less fertile land available for crops, and tried to defend their new homes as best they could with what resources they had available, but more flooding came and the new location suffered a similar fate. This is a story repeated across the nation in which 80% of people live and work off of the land.
Scotland pays loss and damage reparations to climate change-stricken Malawi
The Scottish government, led by a left-wing Scottish National Party and Green Party coalition, has dedicated funding to a mixture of projects across the country. A large proportion is going towards rebuilding villages across Malawi such as Mambundungu. Elsewhere, around £500,000 has been dedicated solely to rebuilding the Mphatso preschool in Ngabu, which was partially destroyed by flooding in 2022. In addition, seven-kilometres of flood embankments are being rebuilt along the Phalombe River. Money is also being used to build flood defences around the Mbenje cemetery, where floods frequently wash away graves and those buried within them. Residents of Mbenje tell that this is a relatively new problem, and one which they have faced with much distress. Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera commented:
“It has made huge differences in the people and their livelihoods because they are given a hand up, so the resilience we talk about becomes a practical issue.”
And emphasised:
“Describing the money as aid is wrong, it should instead be seen as countries taking responsibility for climate change together.”
But how is this any different to aid which is already provided by NGOs? Ben Wilson, a representative of one of the charities chosen by the Scottish government to deliver the allocated funds, stated:
“Often that aid and those aid workers then leave because they go on to the next disaster – and there always is a next disaster. This money is coming in at a later stage when the communities have already received that immediate support. But it’s giving them what they need to build back, to build that resilience, but also to get their lives back on track.”
Loss and damage funding is long overdue
But this should not be perceived as an act of benevolence. Regardless of hesitance from developed nations to frame the loss and damage agreement as a vessel for reparations, that is what it is. Scotland, along with the rest of Britain, was at the forefront of the industrial revolution. They set the ball rolling which led us to where we are now, and profited greatly in the process. The industrial revolution is also intrinsically linked to colonialism, a practice which ravaged much of what is now the developing world and left it ill-prepared for the challenges it faces today. So it is only right that these payments be made, and crucial that other developed nations follow suit. Läs mer…

Vegan pies, shirts made from coffee grounds, and fan urine-based fertiliser: how Forest Green Rovers became the world’s first carbon neutral club

Third tier English football club Forest Green Rovers are grabbing the footballing world’s attention through their climate friendly practices. The world’s first carbon-neutral club have a fully vegan half-time menu, shirts made from recycled coffee grounds, and are now fertilizing their fully organic pitch with the urine of away fans. They lead the way in a sport so vulnerable to climate change that it stands as an existential threat.
Following two world cups marred by controversy, years of oil state, oligarch and hedge fund involvement at the highest level, and the ever-rising cost of following the world’s most popular sport, it’s easy to see why many people are falling out of love with football. Swimming against the tide, English League One outfit Forest Green Rovers are the unsuspecting source of a seldom found footballing good news story. While elite clubs across the world flirt with oil state ownership and the riches that come with it, “The Green” have staged an in-house revolution to become the first United Nations recognised carbon neutral football club.
CLIMATE CHANGE AND FOOTBALL
While growing inequality in the footballing sphere is a central concern for those interested in the longevity of the game, many are unaware of football’s contribution to climate change. Sport as a whole has a global carbon footprint equivalent to Tunisia, and football with it’s never ending traveling for away days, continental competitions, equipment manufacturing, and stadiums large enough to host a small city’s worth of people, is the greatest contributor of all.
The emission heavy nature of football is self-destructive. A study in England found that one quarter of English league football grounds will be at risk from flooding every season if global warming continues at its current rate. On top of this, players will be expected to play through exhausting warmer temperatures, and games will increasingly be called off or made impossible to reach for fans because of extreme weather events.
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Those involved in the sport are slowly waking up to the scale of the problem though. In 2015, Carlisle United were forced to close their stadium for three months at a cost of three million pounds due to flooding damage caused by Storm Desmond. When a 2021 study revealed that the storm was 59% more likely to occur because of climate change, the Carlisle manager was quick to push for climate friendly progress.
“THE GREENS” LEAD THE WAY FOR FOOTBALLING PEERS
So how did this club, playing in the third level of English football in front of an average attendance of below 4,000 people, become the first UN recognised carbon neutral football club and grab the attention of the world’s top teams?
Their transformation began in 2010 with the takeover of the club by Dale Vince, a green energy industrialist who wanted to transfer his knowledge and ambitions to a new project. He quickly banned the players from eating red meat, and soon after changed the food available at the stadium to an all vegan menu. In addition, he installed solar panels to the stadium in order to cut emissions, created the world’s first organic football pitch, and even brought in a solar powered lawnmower to maintain it. For the fans, Vince introduced football shirts made from recycled coffee grounds and will only release a newly designed kit every two years. Along with greatly cutting emissions, it removes financial pressures from fans who may struggle to afford the newest design each season.
The most recent eyebrow raising move by the club came in 2022 as they revealed that the urine of away fans would be converted into clean water and fertiliser. A spokesperson for the club said:
“Space mission-inspired closed loop technology will convert fans’ urine into clean water and a concentrated fertiliser product, both of which can be used to keep the pitch in top condition… the award-winning modular units will treat wastewater from the urinals through on-site physical treatment. The modules also have the potential for further treatment options of wastewater from the toilets and handwashing facilities to produce compost and flush water.”
The next move for Forest Green is the construction of their planned Eco Park Stadium, a new home for the club, which is set to be the greenest in the world. It will be built almost entirely with sustainably sourced wood and is to be fitted out with electric car and bike charging stations among other eco-friendly facilities.
FOOTBALL CLUBS MUST SECURE THEIR FUTURE WITH CLIMATE FRIENDLY PRACTICES
The kind of outside the box thinking shown by Forest Green, while easy to laugh at for opposing fans, is what is needed on a mass scale should the football industry wish to curb its self-destructive practices.
Hailed the “greenest team in the world” by FIFA, they have reduced their emissions by 42% since 2011 and have mockingly been called “dirty vegans” by rival fans along the way. This nickname is worn as a badge of honor though, and is one that more clubs should aspire to.
While Forest Green are a shining example of how to operate in a climate friendly fashion, not enough clubs are following suit. Should those from every level of the footballing hierarchy wish to continue playing as they have for well over 150 years, they will need to accept progress and make the switch to a cleaner way of operation. Läs mer…