5 April 2023 musings on climate change

A piece in Counterpunch by Stan Cox, Tinpot Legislators, details a problem worthy of note:

Republican state politicians, wielding a lot more than mean tweets, are intent on waging all-out war against private companies that don’t cater to the oil, gas, and coal industries.

Here is the substance of Cox's complaint:

Market-based measures alone won’t bring about the precipitous decline in greenhouse-gas emissions that, in terms of extreme weather, the planet is screaming for ever more desperately. For that, urgent, direct action would be needed to suppress the extraction and use of coal, oil, and natural gas.

It goes without saying that coordinated nationwide action of that sort would be unimaginable in the American political universe of 2023. Even governors and legislatures determined to reduce carbon emissions can only achieve so much, given that their states exist in a national climate-policy vacuum and often share borders with ones in which increasingly authoritarian state legislatures are violating the local autonomy of communities and municipalities by force-feeding them fossil fuels.

Cox is a writer worth knowing. He's affiliated with the Land Institute and has written books such as The Green New Deal and Beyond, a treatise on climate change that recommends degrowthist solutions and measures such as participatory budgeting.

At any rate, Cox's complaint is reminiscent of a Omar El Akkad's novel American War, a speculative-fiction work set in the year 2075 in which parts of the United States have seceded because they did not want to ban the use of fossil fuels. I remember that some critics thought the premise was outlandish -- who would want to secede from the US over fossil fuel use? Cox's exposition makes El Akkad's futuristic premise look pretty reasonable.

At any rate, it serves to note that Cox's complaint about "increasingly authoritarian state legislatures" sticks as well, and so, for instance, you have the Tennessee House, which moved to expel three legislators because, presumably, they engaged in a protest, which (last I heard) was a Constitutionally-protected activity. How about those Tennessee legislators! They must be CPAC people -- you know, the ones who profess such a deep and abiding loyalty to the US Constitution while at the same time attempting to establish their own private dictatorships.

And with the legislatures one recalls the President whose actions were most directly responsible for putting them in office -- I refer, of course, to Barack Obama, whose proxies bankrupted the DNC so that it could be taken over by Hillary Clinton proxies. During Obama's tenure, one might remember, the Democrats lost more than 900 state legislative seats to the Republicans. Thanks Barack! You set the gold standard for the current Democratic Party policy of looking desperately for ways to avoid doing anything to mitigate climate change while at the same time professing a common belief in "science."

Meanwhile, of course, drilling in the newly-defrosted Arctic has achieved a victory in Alaska - they can now build the roads they need to complete the project. The existing system, however you want to define it, proves itself once again incapable of mitigating climate change. We will need a new one once this one collapses.

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Bob In Portland's picture

The energy industry is about to take it on the chin with the events in Ukraine. The US is planning on supplying energy, mostly natgas from fracking, to Europe. That's why 10-15 years ago the industry began building terminals to move gas to Europe. It would have gone more smoothly if they'd had Hillary as Pres instead of numbnuts, but nevertheless, we are at a point where, between sabotage and sanctions, Europe doesn't have much choice.

This is only a short-term solution because when the rest of the world is paying a lot less than American natural gas. Eventually someone in EU will figure this out.

How this plays out with the Rethug dickheads in state capitals I don't know. I would hope that they lose power here in the US too.

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The Liberal Moonbat's picture

@Bob In Portland The whole thing makes me livid (then again, what in the last 23 years hasn't?); Europe should do whatever it takes to avoid REWARDING U.S. POLLUTTERRORSISM (you know, like the opposite of 'eco-terrorism', which I've been a lifelong sympathizer of provided it's not stupid shit like punching down at Van Gogh?). Organize, like, long bucket-brigades from Russia (and pay the brigadiers, so that does a little Keynesian double-duty!); ship it in on trains, SOMETHING! Obviously far less energy-efficient, but NOBODY who's willing to do what BidenCorp and their local quislings did should be, well, left alive, let alone REWARDED.

FFS, Germany is the place where the event happened that led to the doctrine "We Don't Negotiate With Terrorists"™!

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In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

snoopydawg's picture

@The Liberal Moonbat

provided it's not stupid shit like punching down at Van Gogh

Stupid shit indeed. If they were serious about taking on the fossil fuel industry they would be going after them and their CEOs and shareholders instead of the obnoxious crap they are doing to art work and their hands by glueing them to the street. What does that accomplish except for a lot of pain for the idiots? Seriously who thought that up?

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Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?

Cassiodorus's picture

@snoopydawg -- that all anyone is really doing to mitigate climate change is waiting for the present-day world society to collapse so that a new one can rise from the ashes and maybe they'll have a chance with the new one if they can only hold on for dear life through the process.

I don't see any point in blaming anyone -- people are, in general, trapped in the matrix of capitalist social relations, with not much of a way out. The most obvious sign of this is the vast proliferation of homeless people everywhere, and the absurdity of paying rent in this day and age. But really, across the board, you can see the increasing desperation of those who must pander after your money for a living. In such a world, who has time and energy to deal with climate change? The task is too daunting.

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“When there's no fight over programme, the election becomes a casting exercise. Trump's win is the unstoppable consequence of this situation.” - Jean-Luc Melanchon

earthling1's picture

with a suitable atmosphere to regime change and then plunder their air and ship it back here.
It's what we do.
s/

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Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

The Liberal Moonbat's picture

@earthling1 I have heard people predict:

- The Terminator
- Mad Max
- The Matrix
- Blade Runner
- GATTACA
...but you've just added a new one to the betting pool:

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3 users have voted.

In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!