TO ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE, QUIT FOCUSING ON GLOBAL WARMING

                                                                                        

Earth Day has passed, but the task of saving the Earth continues. Since the annual observance of the first large scale People’s conference on the environment has become in many cases a memorial to past victories and in others a celebration of greenwashing, it’s true purpose now may  be to inspire us to take the time to reassess our strategies for accomplishing our most important goals.

As world temperatures continue to hit record highs year after year since the turn of the century, an increasing number of climate change skeptics are admitting that global warming is real. The problem is that most resisted the idea in the first place because it was too frightening.
Now they look for reasons to argue it is not an emergency. The problem is not that they are too frightened to face the reality of the human consequences if they are wrong: they are clearly capable of believing what they want to believe. Despite the scientific consensus that the phenomenon most of them denied until recently is real and caused by human activity, they are still willing to bet their children’s future that they are right and the vast majority of the scientific community is wrong. Therefore, it behooves those of us trying to get something done about climate change to start using some different arguments.

Naomi Klein pointed out in This Changes Everything that the real fear that is causing so many people to be in denial is the recognition that any real solution short of a miraculous scientific breakthrough would require violating the first commandment of free market theology:

“The government shalt not mess with the right of transnational corporations to extract the maximum profit out of their activities regardless of the environmental and other human costs.”

If we want to generate support for serious action to halt dependence on fossil fuels, we need to come up with arguments that do not depend on violating the dictates of the imaginary free market that most Americans believe real. Those who cash in on their gullibility have convinced them that regulation is root of all economic problems. In truth of course, it is the lack of rules to assure truly competitive markets that has undermined the stability of traditionally defined capitalism faster than its inherent flaw of requiring continuous growth would have alone. Perhaps they can be educated eventually, but getting people to question the almost religious belief that capitalism as they understand it is the ideal economic system cannot be done in time to save the planet from almost certain destruction. Here are a few arguments for getting off fossil fuels that do not require abandoning free market principles.

The costs of maintaining the world’s largest military should be added to fuel costs

My favorite argument is one that should appeal to the millions of Ron Paul fans who agree with his isolationism. Far from accepting the neocon use of the term as an insult, they recognize that refusal to engage in war for corporate Empire is consistent with real conservative principles. Making the case that US foreign interventions in recent history have been mostly about gaining control of fossil fuel resources is not difficult. This reduces the competition that is supposed to keep prices low in free markets. On top of that, around 50% of the US discretionary budget is spent on a military that acts as the muscle for the oil and gas oligarchs when the US has no real global rival. These wars have created a costly domestic surveillance system that is an affront to the rights of a free people. It is hard to see how any real conservative could object to ending the support of global conflicts for access to fossil fuels. In the process, it would also cut the tremendous amount of fuels used by a bloated US military.

Free market principles predict that prices will inexorably rise

This argument is simpler and easier to understand for those who don’t think deeply about politics or economics. It is obvious that as long as our dependence on fossil fuels continues, accessible supplies become more expensive. Prices will rise, especially when demand begins to exceed extractable supplies. This cycle of rising prices might have already happened if not for the slowdown in the global economy the banksters produced, even if it would have still been obscured by Saudi Arabia’s decision to overproduce as a weapon against an Iran desperate for oil revenue. Americans loathe any rise in gas prices. If they know that the increases would continue indefinitely and that the Wall Street types who have repeatedly wiped out their wealth before demanding to be bailed out by taxpayers were the chief beneficiaries, their loyalty to the system might be shaken.

Fossil fuels are protected from free market influences by the government it has corrupted

Everyone knows government has been corrupted by fossil fuels and other special interest money in politics. Making them bear the true costs of our dependence on fossil fuels can help turn the tide in favor of renewables in the market. Oil and gas are hardly subject to free market forces when they are subsidized by US taxpayers to the tune of $37.5 billion per year. Worldwide, that figure might be as much as $1 trillion. And these subsidies do not begin to cover the real costs of pollution and health care costs paid for by localities in affected areas. Despite these advantages, renewables are increasingly becoming competitive in a variety of markets, even without subsidies. One expert estimated that sometime this year, solar will become cheaper than fossil fuels in half the states. Renewables are already cheaper in Australia, most of the developing world and 42 of the largest 50 cities in the US. How much faster could we reach emissions goals if fossil fuels were not so heavily subsidized?

How can fossil fuels compete with free energy?

Some authors point out that individual rooftop solar does not produce energy as cheaply as either fossil fuel- or renewably generated power, but this does not change the fact that after upfront costs are paid, power is free to the homeowner or municipality that owns public buildings powered by solar. In addition, it can generate income from the sale of excess energy generated. It pays for itself, and with falling prices does so much faster than just a few years ago.  That should be a big inducement for those to whom the issue of addressing global warming is purely an economic one. In addition, the idea of freeing ourselves from the grip of an industry that isusually monopolistic should appeal to the free market true believer. If it destroys the centralized power industry, so what? That is what is supposed to happen in a free market when an industry becomes obsolete. In the process, the number of jobs produced will dwarf those lost. The only losers in this scheme are those who are so determined to see every penny of profit they can squeeze from a dying planet that they refuse to minimize their losses by getting out before it is too late.

The costs of converting are less than cleaning up the mess

There is an increasing willingness in the corporate media to admit that the costs of dealing with the global climate change that sane people now admit exists will be astronomical. It is getting more difficult to believe the lies about these costs with each passing year. Some of these costs will be born directly by the taxpayer, such as replacing vulnerable military bases on coastlines such as those in Virginia that are already experiencing significant impacts. In addition to the expense, this means that climate change is becominga real national security risk. Unlike those cited as the reasons for America’s obsession with getting involved in conflicts in the Mideast and North Africa. Those who aren’t swayed by the immorality of these wars may care about the cost.

This argument of course only belongs on this list if it does not challenge free market economics. Admittedly, for the government to spend money to try to save the planet would have an effect on the competitiveness of fossil fuels compared to renewables. Climate experts also believe this will require a massive government investment comparable to fighting WWII. If the effect is to devastate the fossil fuel industry and strand trillions of dollars in potential profits, it is a hard argument to sell. We can only hope that by making climate deniers think about these other issues, we can wake them up to the fact that if they are wrong, the consequences will be much worse than doing what scientists are telling us we need to do.

IN THE GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS

Today, people around the world will celebrate Earth Day. Founded in 1970 in the United States by environmental activist Senator Gaylord Nelson in response to the Santa Barbara oil spill disaster in 1969, it went global in 1990. Today, grassroots events in nations around the planet are coordinated by the Earth Day Network. The hope is that by expanding the network of people working to save the planet, we can reach a critical moment when a tectonic paradigm shift will occur and human consciousness will be changed forever, with each of us understanding our role in preserving our legacy to our children.

It is important to realize the significance of the network model for grassroots social change. This is the only means by which we will be able to save the human civilization from the consequences of living in completion rather than taking a note from nature and establishing a cooperative world community. Powerful corporate forces have resisted the establishment of an Earth-friendly globalized community based on locally based green economies. These eco-terrorists are themselves a network dedicated to stopping the rise of any resistance to their plan to control the Earth in a corporate-run New World Order. Against such enemies organizations are vulnerable to attack and will inevitably be overcome without a grassroots movement of activists behind them.

Earth Day is dedicated to educating ourselves about how we are dependent on the environment and the ways in which we are threatening human existence by our failure to exercise good stewardship over it. Common themes at earth day events are organic gardening, self-sustaining food supplies, recycling, alternative energy and working to preserve and protect resources, most notably clean water.  In recent years the idea of a steady state economy has become more widely recognized as central to responsible environmental policy and a sustainable future for all of us.

The population bomb has continued ticking decades after it became apparent that the Doomsday Clock had entered the 11^th hour. A world economy driven by corporate Empire has thoroughly infected the human collective consciousness with the idea that prosperity depends on endless growth. Given the finite resources of the planet, this model is not based in reality but in the fantasies of wealth and power of the corporate elite, the self-styled Masters of the Universe.

This moment has been anticipated by science fiction writers for decades, most recently in the movie Avatar. This popular movie showed the clear choices before us. We can allow the humanity-denying alien life forms that are corporations to subjugate others to feed the voracious appetites of citizens of Earth who currently have access to those resources or we can recognize our collective power and fighting back. It is our job to use educational efforts such as Earth Day to call on our fellow citizens of the industrialized world to join the struggle of the Peoples of emerging nations. All of us have a stake in the outcome of the worldwide battle for control of the resources upon which we all depend.

Social change is dependent on political change. Grassroots social organizing is critical for advancing the evolution of thinking that will give rise to the change in the human collective consciousness necessary for us to save the planet. This in itself is not enough. We must translate this change in consciousness to a change in the political leadership in Washington, Beijing, New Dehli and Moscow. Of these the key is to end corporate control of the government in the United States.

Always a powerful threat to democracy, corporate interests seized control of the US government when a smiling Reagan assured us that government is the problem and not the solution to the problems facing each of us. His paean to corporate rule was misguided and dangerous. The people of the United States, reeling over a world oil crisis calculated for political advantage  more than profit, willingly rejected the long tradition of rule by the People and ceded control of the government to the self-serving corporate agents who had engineered the crisis.

Thirty years after Reagan’s election the Supreme Court ruled that corporations not only have the rights of citizens but that as “persons” they have the right to buy the loyalty of members of Congress. In providing unlimited, untraceable funds to their Puppets to pay for the hideously expensive propaganda campaigns that determine the collective beliefs of otherwise apathetic voters, they have created a system of corporate welfare that is bankrupting the US and destroying life spiritual and physical of the People of the Earth. The result is pandemic disease, starvation, endless war and an unfolding environmental disaster.

There is a way to save the planet. It is for environmentalists, anti-war activists and health care activists and social justice advocates of all causes to join in reaching out to suffering Americans to convince them that they can and must end corporate control of their government to save themselves and all of us from Hell on Earth. The means to so this is by building a movement to demand a Constitutional amendment to abolish corporate personhood. Every major change in the Constitution that has led to steps in the direction of a more perfect representative democracy has depended on the people of the United States in joining together in the cause of justice for all.

Today, the United States is the only world superpower with the ability to determine whether the world will become a democratic one or one suffering the yoke of slavery in a fascist New World Order. The last world war was a devastating one in which the Peoples of the various nations were pitted against each other in mortal combat.

Today we must wage the war to end all wars. This must be a peaceful, democratic revolution because violence would lead to the death of freedom by giving the corporate masters the excuse they would need to impose permanent world police state. Without the freedom to determine the collective destiny of the People of the Earth against the will of  international corporate terrorists, the battle to save the Earth will fail. If we let that occur, we cannot be forgiven for what we have done to our children and all future generations.