Nothing less than deep, fundamental change will do

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We've come too far down a bad road. To accept the status quo, either with reluctance or gusto, is to support: war for profit, systemic corruption, racial, ethnic, religious and economic discrimination and inequality, the ongoing degradation of the environment and the patently unsustainable nature of so much of modern human activity.

It would be a terrible mistake, catastrophic even, to overlook just how serious things have gotten.

World's carbon dioxide concentration teetering on the point of no return

Future in which global concentration of CO2 is permanently above 400 parts per million looms
The world is hurtling towards an era when global concentrations of carbon dioxide never again dip below the 400 parts per million (ppm) milestone, as two important measuring stations sit on the point of no return.

The news comes as one important atmospheric measuring station at Cape Grim in Australia is poised on the verge of 400ppm for the first time. Sitting in a region with stable CO2 concentrations, once that happens, it will never get a reading below 400ppm.

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Meanwhile another station in the northern hemisphere may have gone above the 400ppm line for the last time, never to dip below it again.

“We’re going into very new territory,” James Butler, director of the global monitoring division at the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, told the Guardian.

When enough CO2 is pumped into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels, the seasonal cycles that drive the concentrations up and down throughout the year will eventually stop dipping the concentration below the 400ppm mark. The 400ppm figure is just symbolic, but it’s psychologically powerful, says Butler.

Of course we are also acidifying the oceans, killing off fisheries, laying waste the rainforests, extincting species and fracking the fuck out of the frackable fkn world, all so a bunch of supremely uncaring assholes can profit. At the expense of the rest of humanity. And at the cost of a livable world for future generations.

Compartmentalization has become a useful coping device for Americans. It's much easier not to fall apart or explode if you can put certain facts away in a box where you don't have to look at them or think about them. Increasingly this has become our lot. Lose your mind or fuggedaboutit. Distraction, denial, compartmentalization. How else to cope psychologically with torture, racism, foreverwar, slave labor, raging unrepentant ecocide?

The only meaningful way to seek self-knowledge, individually or as a people, is to pursue a Gestalt, comprehensive, wholistic or Big Picture view of the world composed of as much truth as you can bear. And of course, the unexamined life is not worth living.

The earnest pursuit of truth includes decompartmentalizing and seeking out what might more naturally be assiduously avoided: unvarnished truth in all spheres however shocking or unpleasant. From a philosophical point of view, this is the only place to be. It's now become a practical matter as well. And yes, the truth is tricky, but it's not like it doesn't exist or can't be known.

It's time to get serious about the ongoing ecocide.

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I am unwilling to accept a suicidal status quo. We have to get serious about our perilous reality with regard to our climate/environment/extinction while it still might help. Bernie is the one candidate who sees that clearly and is committed to acting boldly and responsibly without fealty or attachment to the fossil fuel industry or any other. He's the people's climate champion in this race. That's indisputable.

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Speaking for myself, I am fundamentally a humanitarian. I value compassion, kindness and empathy. I like to emphasize all that is best in us. I would like to believe that our better angels do redeem us. I would like to see us survive as a learning and ever-wiser species. I believe we are all better than what's been imposed on us by people who care not one shit about us. We need to recognize the sickness of only caring about money, and not humanity.

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We need to try to have something like a soul again. Not that we were ever all that good at that. Except in individual cases, I guess.

I seek deep humanitarian change and won't settle for anything less. As long as we imprison rather than educate, discriminate rather than liberate, prey upon rather than help, accept a system that defies and defeats democracy with lobbyists, Big Money, superdelegates, etc, etc, as long as we remain a ratrace society with everybody trying to prey upon and profit off of everybody else, a plastic consumer-mad clusterfuck of privilege and injustice and inequality, etc, I will seek to change that system inside out.

That's what's called for. That's why the people are rising up to stand together with Bernie Sanders.

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To hell with perpetuating the system that is laying waste to the earth. Let's go and go hard for the kind of benevolent, peaceful, just, dignified and democratic society and world that all of us deserve to live in – in peace.

Let's try democracy. Let's try really valuing human life instead of just paying lip service to it as we go merrily along on our bombing and polluting way. Let's seize this rare opportunity to take a giant step forward. A giant leap for humanity. And most importantly, make this last ditch effort to protect and mitigate the damage if not rehabilitate this complex and delicate atmosphere which we have so long enjoyed...and abused. Let's hope not to the point of no return. It's way past time to get dead serious about this.

It's certainly no time for the same old shit.

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It's no measure of health to be well adjusted to a sick society. Krishnamurti said that.

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We all know that it's time for big change and new priorities. Let's do it. For the love of us all.

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This is serious, folks. The plight of humanity and the ecosphere that sustains us is at stake.

Bill McKibben: ”...the planet is happy that Bernie Sanders is running for president...”

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Bill McKibben hard at work to save the ecosphere

And I think I might speak for at least a few other environmentalists who feel the same way. Here's why.

[Speaking of Bernie Sanders] First, he's a stand-up guy. When we told him about the Keystone Pipeline in the summer of 2011, he immediately set to work helping us block it. He strategized, he used his bully pulpit in the Senate to spread the word, and he devoted staff time to pressuring the State Department. Contrast that with, say, Barack Obama who was mostly silent about climate change his whole first term, and managed to make it all the way through the 2012 campaign without discussing it. Or Hillary Clinton, who after initially saying she was "inclined" to approve Keystone has gone entirely mum on the most iconic environmental issue of our time. Who showed up in New York for the People's Climate March? Bernie Sanders. Who said, straightforwardly in today's official announcement, "the peril of global climate change, with catastrophic consequences, is the central challenge of our times and our planet." That would be Bernie Sanders.

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If you missed this, please take a look: How you can help Don Siegelman

Here we come, California!

Western states, here we come. Let's turn up the heat on the GOTV, everybody check your status. Here's some important information on voting for Bernie, state-by-state:

voteforbernie.org

Everybody out West, check your voting status ASAP to ensure that you get to vote.

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Warning, California voters!

Some people have been tricked into registering with the AIP (rightwingers), thinking they were registering as independents. Check to be sure you are registered either as a Democrat or No Party Preference or you won’t be able to vote for Bernie in the primary.

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Let’s show Bernie and the BNR some love.

The Bernie News Roundup is a voluntary, non-campaign associated roundup of news, media, & other information related to Bernie Sanders' run for President.

Visit the BNR group page to join or find past editions.

Visit The Bernie News Roundup Website!

Sign Up, Donate, Volunteer @Bernie's official page.

More information about Bernie & The Issues @ feelthebern.org

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I'll pop in at TOP and rec you up there also.

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Happy Friday.

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Musically for elections:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgubG-MOPT4

My anthem.

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ZimInSeattle's picture

I have been getting increasingly unnerved about the way the weather has been acting here in Seattle. Today it will be over 80 degrees. We had 4 days in a row in April that were over 80. This just does not happen here. Usually we have rain more or less until early July. The seasons are changing fast and far to many people still have their heads up their asses.

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"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." - JFK | "The more I see of the moneyed peoples, the more I understand the guillotine." - G. B. Shaw Bernie/Tulsi 2020

But I was driving around the Seattle area today and at one point the car thermometer said it was 98 degrees outside. It is usually accurate.

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kharma's picture

Thanks OPOL.

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There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties.. This...is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.--John Adams

Lookout's picture

Leave it in the ground! Bernie is the only one who is pushing for a Carbon tax. I'm still working and hoping. I appreciate all your efforts OPOL and the many folks here at c99.
ice cap.jpg

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Cassiodorus's picture

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

stevej's picture

that the destruction of the Democratic Party may be the only way forward. The Party has shown its true colors insomuch as it will fight any slight movement to the left with everything at its disposal while allowing lurches to the right without as much as a murmer of disapproval.

Time to face the uncomfortable fact that the DNC and all of its offshoots and its entire PR wing need to be treated as as much of an enemy as the GOP.

Sad that it has come to this.

Always appreciate your work OPOL

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“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” -Voltaire

If she is, the only thing it will do for me is make me angry at her. Sherrod Brown was traitor enough.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

She's doing what Keith Olbermann is doing: talking only about Trump and how horrible he is. Acting like neither Hillary nor Bernie exist.

That's actually one form of Hillary support, especially if it's coming from the political or pundit class.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

stevej's picture

with the added bonus that it lets all establishment Dems off the hook - they get to avoid being on the infamous Clinton shitlist

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“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” -Voltaire

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

Cory Booker.

RW, plutocratic, and black.

Also dapper and superficially charming.

And loved by the mainstream press.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

stevej's picture

- the thinking persons Harold Ford Jr

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“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” -Voltaire

gendjinn's picture

The first thing they should teach in civics class is to always be watching the politicians eyes.

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

VP short-list, and that he discussed it with her, when she met with him at his residence last winter.

Apparently, she warned him that he would have a difficult time getting 'progressives' on board, unless he changed his finance-friendly stances.

(Heard this yesterday on XM.)

Mollie


Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.--Lao Tzu
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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

stevej's picture

but my expectations of her are very low at this stage.

She is the only female Dem senator that hasn't outright endorsed Clinton AFAIK so I suppose there is that.

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“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” -Voltaire

Who are unwilling to recognize the seriousness of the situation and the need for everybody to take responsibility for the very large consequences of their votes.

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Beware the bullshit factories.

It's great to see you posting here.

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Great seeing you. It's been a while.

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featheredsprite's picture

is to unhook our lives from the Big Money. We'll have to liberate ourselves one snare at a time. If we can separate our elections from Big Money, it would certainly help.

Some things can't be accomplished on the individual level, such as "Leave it in the ground." Establishing oil/coal free energy will require a collective effort.

Instead of fighting wars, we could help people supply their water needs. This would require a large investment, again a collective effort, but it wouldn't be as expensive as war.

And the list goes on.

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Life is strong. I'm weak, but Life is strong.

jorogo's picture

Even if supplying clean water, or improving any infrastructure, or developing renewable energy sources was more expensive than war, there would be a positive return on those investments. The only return on investing in war is a negative one....more war.

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"If I sit silently, I have sinned." - Mossadegh

WaterLily's picture

For all of you on FB who are interested in joining -- or at least following developments around -- Occupy DNC Convention, here's the link to join its public group.

As always, thanks OPOL!

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It is 90 degrees here in east Texas. August will be a killer.
I just delivered my garbage to our county facility. I held up the line while I put paper here, plastic there, cans somewhere else. At least the folks behind me were clients/friends of mine, and they said they would try to be more conscientious about recycling.
I make more effort to clean the earth than the richest corporation in history.
Pretty shitty, huh?

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Cassiodorus's picture

Or at least an independent run!

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

The Aspie Corner's picture

Shows just how far they've fallen since March 15th. If I ever do post anything there ever again, it'll be to let followers of my disability diaries know I'm now here.

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

Lenzabi's picture

In regards to the establishment's "incrementalism", it is going to be the death of us. the Climate Change 800lb gorilla in the room is looming larger, and we need major sweeping changes, not baby step crumbs.

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So long, and thanks for all the fish

Hillbilly Dem's picture

You magnificent bastard, you!!!!! Love your writing.

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"Just call me Hillbilly Dem(exit)."
-H/T to Wavey Davey

One magnificent bastard to another.

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eloquent as always, and right on!

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okforahuman

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murphthesurf's picture

OPOL-
Thanks for posting here...
a couple more diarists from top come over, and I
won't have to go there anymore Smile

Peace -
Murph

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I just read yet another article, at BBC, illustrating the scope of the cornucopia of catastrophes we are experiencing.

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OPOL glad your here as well; I wonder if the 1%ers have their own Elysium or some deep underground complex where they and all politicans are going when climate change end game comes. All they care about is profiteering no matter the cost

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