Climate Change Will Kill Us All - But There's Some Hope
Climate change will kill us all in a matter of decades. Even Stephen Hawking has said that earth may become like Venus with sulphuric acid raining from the clouds. Not a pretty picture. Yes, big action is needed to avoid that dystopian future. But that big action can begin with each of us. I interviewed the founder of 2020 Or Bust - an organization devoted to making major changes in the next 2 years. I hope you find this interview as important as I did.
Keep Fighting,
Lee
I appreciate your honesty in dealing with climate change in a grown up way that confronts the real threat of near term extinction. The only way to save the planet is to overthrow capitalism on a global scale. Late stage capitalism, or suicide capitalism as I call it, has finally brought humanity and all life on the planet to the very brink of catastrophe.
I would suggest at some point that you interview Dr.Guy McPherson or Derek Jensen. Both have faced huge criticism, indeed death threats, for telling it as it is. The culture of late stage capitalism is insanity personified with its addiction to turbo consumerism.
The vast majority of people appear unable to comprehend that infinite economic growth is impossible upon a planet of finite resources.
I have spent over 30 years active in the socialist/labour movement and have written and studied its history. Sadly, it too suffers from the same failing as it promises rising living standards for all based upon the democratic ownership and management of the means of production by the people. On a planet of infinite resources it just might work.
I know many will say that I am a pessimist and that the future has not written yet which is true up to a point. Marx once said the job of socialists is to try and analyse the objective political and economic situation facing the mass of humanity not laugh or cry at a situation.
Stop Cutting Down Trees, Every year, 34 million acres of forests are cut down. Timber harvesting in the tropics alone contributes 1.4 billion metric tons of carbon to the atmosphere.
And when purchasing wood products, such as furniture or flooring, buy used goods or, failing that, wood certified to have been sustainably harvested. The Amazon and other forests are not just the lungs of the earth, they may also be humanity's best short-term hope for limiting climate change.
Your guest seemed like a nice guy, but I'm not feeling too optimistic given his presentation and the website of his org...well, I wasn't optimistic to begin with, but....basically this society is not prepared for what is coming, and he's right, this situation is not being taken care of. What needs to happen IMO should not be purely focused on individual choices even if we start there.... we need to begin localizing food production, move money out of the large banks, and create local support networks for resistance, then use a general strike to gain leverage to make specific demands of the Govt, including shutting down much of the US military industrial complex, the largest oil consuming entity in the world, and appropriate the funds of that money hog along with money used to spy on and SWAT US citizens to instead go for things like tree planting / habitat restoration, localized food production, reproductive services, and whatever R&D and tech implementation would be considered feasible. This also assumes people are willing to stop having children, which is going to have a greater impact than no meat consumption, and which may become a more popular idea as the crops start to fail. (BTW, not all meats are the same, as chicken is considered to be much more CO2 friendly than beef, but locally produced is also key. ) Anyway, so yeah....see you in the apocalypse. I'm sure you'll make it hilarious!
"even Stephen Hawking" 🤣 Thats where i stopped reading!