Climate Change - Economic Elites - Holding Humanity Hostage

PREFACE

This is part 5 of my multi-part Essay Series on Climate Change. Again, this was originally published at TOS, but I have cut the up original, edited it and have changed some things a bit editorially (broadened vocabulary, less expletives). I'm just being upfront about it's "content" differences with the original at TOS.

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Part - 1 The Blind Leading the Blind
Part - 2 Systems Overload
Part - 3 Permafrost
Part - 4 Politics as Usual


Holding Humanity Hostage

Multinational corporations and the world billionaire class are holding humanity hostage. These two forces keep the status quo in place. Both hide large sums of money (trillions) in tax havens across the planet, and both exploit people, and nations, for their own personal profit through "free trade agreements".

But more importantly, they hold tremendous political power that can effectively cripple government's ability to act, not to mention load them up with debt in the process, with the predatory financial product they sell to our city, state and federal governments. Can anyone say Flint, Detroit, Chicago, Puerto Rico? (Hello, financial crisis of 07-08???)

According to the Global Risk Index(16):

The Global Risks Report 2013 analyses 50 global risks in terms of impact, likelihood and interconnections, based on a survey of over 1000 experts from industry, government and academia.

Snip

This year’s findings show that the world is more at risk as persistent economic weakness saps our ability to tackle environmental challenges. The report highlights wealth gaps (severe income disparity) followed by unsustainable government debt (chronic fiscal imbalances) as the top two most prevalent global risks.
(bold emphasis mine)

Did you “get that”? (let is sink in an simmer a while)

The top two global-risks, are inequality and unsustainable debt. Our current national government debt is over 19 TRILLION. Cities all across our country are loaded with unsustainable debt.

Only one of our (former) presidential candidates has correctly diagnosed the greatest threat to saving humanity, the Billionaire class (Oligarchy).

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Because the Billionaire class holds such vast political sway within our country, but even more so with other countries, meaningful legislation to mitigate or reduce green house gas emissions typically get watered down or never get enacted. We have scientific studies(17) proving that our government enacts legislation that benefits the top 10%, and the bottom 90% have a statistically insignificant impact on legislation.

Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence. The results provide substantial support for theories of Economic-Elite Domination and for theories of Biased Pluralism, but not for theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy or Majoritarian Pluralism.
(bold emphasis mine)

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Capitalism - Run Amuck

As a result of this lopsided impact on government policy, which enacts legislation to benefit the “Billionaire class”, who own and run the energy industries, media, disturbingly, governments across this planet are actually working at cross purposes of mitigating climate change, by subsidizing the fossil fuels industries by over 5000 times what they are “pledging” to contribute to global climate change efforts. This is completely and utterly, not only absurd, but fucking insane. (if we are to save humanity)

From the World Resource Institute(18):

Meanwhile, greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, loss of natural resources, and other environmental problems cost the global economy $4.7 trillion annually.

Wooh...wait a minute...in Part - 2 of this series, I pointed out ...

Nut shell = oil production in the US has nearly doubled during Obama's time in office, from around 5 million barrels per day to 9 million.

In part - 4, I pointed out...

Think about it. 100 Billion dollars a year might seem like a lot of money, which it is in a certain context, but, it pales in comparison to the amount money governments around the world spend to subsides the fossil fuels industry, which the IMF estimated(13) at $5.2 trillion US dollars in 2015.

Hmmm, lets do that math as they say...

$100 billion set to "mitigate the effects of global climate change, compared to $5.2 trillion in energy industry subsidies, PLUS their $4.2 externalized costs and our result is...., not to be alarmist, but... HUMANITY's EXTINCTION! (Ed, give the man a cigar...)

Capitalism it's self is an impediment to making any real progress because we are too concerned about costs and profits, while ignoring the mass human suffering already taking place. Whenever our political or business leaders discuss climate change, it is always with the underlining assumption, capitalism will not fundamentally change, and the quest for never ending profits will continue.

Considering that hedge fund managers can demand 100% repayment of predatory loans, while a country's people starve, and are stripped of any means, political or otherwise, to be able to save themselves from their status as a 3rd world country, not to mention the devastating effects climate change is having on their country, and population, is a darn good example of the kind of indifference to human suffering our world billionaire class displays on a routine basis.

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This is normal to them!

I've tried to shy away from detailing many of the most horrifying aspects that climate change will inflict on our planet, like pandemics from new diseases (actually old ones that have been frozen in the permafrost, like Anthrax that has sprung up in Siberia) and our ineffective ability to respond to out breaks. The disruption to food production, famines, mass starvation, resource and water wars, not to mention the ever persistent threat of “terrorism”, as all our political and TV pundits claim is our number one enemy. (face palm)

We only have a very short window of time to get this right and save humanity. I'm talking 10 years or less. What have we accomplished over the last 25 years? Sure, we have some new tech, but the political will, has not only decreased, but the denial of climate change is higher than it has even been. We can’t take the risk of wait and see or let’s let the markets decide.

Not only that, but one of the leading energy companies, Exxon(19), who in the 80's was actually a pioneer in cutting edge climate change science Unknw , has been funding climate change denial think tanks for the past couple of decades, all the while receiving billions in annual government subsides, tax breaks, write off, loop holes, not to mention the utilization of tax havens reducing needed tax revenues to mitigate climate change.

Just take a look at the crimes Chevron has done in Ecuador...
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(We, as a society, might have to go back and re-imagine the law(s) regarding what Crimes Against Humanity is, is...)

The top 1% in America has a carbon foot print thousands of times higher than the global average. America it's self is one of the worst producers of carbon dioxide emissions, and we are not doing nearly enough to have an impact on reducing our footprint nor rising global temperatures.

Irony and Cognitive Dissonance

It's rather ironic our military recognizes that Climate Change as the greatest threat to our national security, but fail to address that our military is one of the largest consumers of fossil fuels or how to effectively deal with that conundrum. With over 7000 military installations world wide(20), we're going to have to re-think about our military's role in the world.

Among the future trends that will impact our national security is climate change. Rising global temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, climbing sea levels, and more extreme weather events will intensify the challenges of global instability, hunger, poverty, and conflict. They will likely lead to food and water shortages, pandemic disease, disputes over refugees and resources, and destruction by natural disasters in regions across the globe.

Snip...

Our first step in planning for these challenges is to identify the effects of climate change on the Department with tangible and specific metrics, using the best available science. We are almost done with a baseline survey to assess the vulnerability of our military’s more than 7,000 bases, installations, and other facilities. In places like the Hampton Roads region in Virginia, which houses the largest concentration of US military sites in the world, we see recurrent flooding today, and we are beginning work to
address a projected sea-level rise of 1.5 feet over the next 20 to 50 years.

Apologies, but... WTF?

we are beginning work to address a projected sea-level rise of 1.5 feet over the next 20 to 50 years.

BEGINNING? WTF? We should have been doing this, gee, 25 years ago.. Diablo

Nut Shell

There are 3 essential, systemic constraints on humanity in "mitigating" climate change, much less, effectively coming to terms with the kind of concentrated, global mobilization efforts that are going to be required to save humanity. (imho)

The billionaire class is holding humanity hostage, just like the TBTFB (who are the billionaire class) did when they crashed our economy, destroyed million of jobs, made billions in bonuses, and looted trillions of dollars in the process.

The politicians that prostitute themselves by giving "speeches" for more money in two hours, than the average American will make in their entire life time, that help Sheppard legislation that is designed specifically to exploit the 3rd constraint, Capitalism it self.

The for profit motive, not the need for innovation, is the bane of humanity's existence, otherwise known as greed, which is the heart and soul of the ruling Oligarch class.

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References:
16 - World Economic Forum
17 - Perspectives on Politics, Volume 12, Issue 3
18 - Inside Climate News
20 - D.O.D. 2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap

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Lily O Lady's picture

in 2000. Gore was apparently too outspoken about climate change to be allowed the bully pulpit. Thus the press gave him very negative coverage while Bush was depicted as a man of action with his sleeves rolled up. The fix was in before the voting even started, IMO.

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

the Republican Party than to the Constitution of the USA.

Your point is a good one though: With all the lies and coverups of human induced climate change people who get their news from tv and newspapers are scammed out of information that the oil companies, the pentagon, and politicians know but won't act on(or in the case of the pentagon, their acts are top secret). I think Gore did lose votes on the issue but still polled half a million more than W Bush and did win the election.

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

RantingRooster's picture

is on track, imho, to insure humanity doesn't survive. Not like some grand conspiracy or what not, just since the truth is not important, like CC doesn't really matter.

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Steven D's picture

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"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott

RantingRooster's picture

love that movie..

Thanks brothers

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mhagle's picture

Facebook next.

So grim, but excellent Ranting Rooster!

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Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

In 1995, in his Nobel acceptance speech(for his work on discovering what was causing the depletion of the ozone layer) Paul Crutzen said, it was now "utterly clear that human activities had grown so much that they could compete and interfere with natural processes." Elsewhere he concluded that earth was now in a "no-analogue" state operating well outside the range of natural variability..."
Eminent people and institutions have concluded that since 1945 capitalism has caused runaway emissions of greenhouse gases. Most of the people who work in the field and are willing to put their names on the research are leftists because liberals and conservatives are too invested in the system to tell what they know.

Capitalism creates "an irreparable rift in the interdependent process of social metabolism" which inevitably leads to ecological disaster...Karl Marx

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

RantingRooster's picture

But this...

Capitalism creates "an irreparable rift in the interdependent process of social metabolism" which inevitably leads to ecological disaster...Karl Marx

I think he's correct!

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the idea of humanity as an integral part of the planet. There was no science of ecology then so some of his wording never made it into the field and seems stilted now but it was ground breaking and provided theses that proved to be fertile areas for research. He was very interested in farming methods and land use patterns too.

Barry Commoner is an example of a scientist who got it right but it disturbed Big Capital so his work was marginalized.

Thanks for this series of essays.

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

We now have a local low power radio in Columbus OH , 94.1 on the FM dial. They feature Democracy Now, Thom Hartmann and others.

There is a climate show Radio EcoShock and today it featured an interview with a Canadian climate scientist.

For a long time, CO2 was going up 1% per year. In the last couple of years it has been around 4 or maybe even 5. The amount of new carbon is coming from the earth as the global temperature increases. Forrests cleared for farming and the logs rot. Released from soil as temp go up. Methane stored under ice or in permafrost.

A heated earth has turned the corner. Even if we stopped putting carbon fuel into the atmosphere today, CO2 levels would still go up for some time.

Which makes it more urgent for humans to act on it.

Meanwhile, did you hear about the latest crap from Trump or another bunch of republicans who are voting for Hillary?

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WoodsDweller's picture

CO2 is now over 400 ppm (parts per million) year round. 1% of that would be an increase of 4 ppm. It's going up fast, but not that fast.
A typical rate of CO2 increase in previous warming events is on the order of 1 ppm per CENTURY. We're currently forcing it at about 2.5 to 3 ppm per YEAR. Does that make a difference? Probably.
Last year (2015) human emissions allegedly declined (I have my doubts, I suspect China lied about their numbers again), yet CO2 levels increased by another record amount. Where is it coming from?
What you are referring to are called positive feedbacks. The Earth naturally sequesters carbon in a number of ways. A very few (fossil fuels and calcium carbonate deposits on the ocean floor) are extremely stable over geologic time. Most of the carbon stores however are loosely held and release when the temperature rises. For example, as the climate warms and dries forests burn at a greater rate and release their carbon stores.
The other side is that carbon sinks become less effective as temperature rises. Photosynthesis stops in C3 and C4 plants (most of them) at 38C (100F). They quit absorbing carbon and start emitting it. The concentration of CO2 in seawater is a complicated balance that depends on temperature. As the temperature rises less CO2 is removed from the air and dissolved in the water. Eventually it gets warm enough that it comes out of solution and returns to the air.
Indications are that positive feedbacks have kicked in and that we have lost control of the process.

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"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

RantingRooster's picture

exposed just how behind the curve we are. This...

Even if we stopped putting carbon fuel into the atmosphere today, CO2 levels would still go up for some time.

While it's not a laughing matter, the term permafrost sounds like a topping for donuts...but the Arctic has already passed the 1.5 C number in the Paris agreement.

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Lenzabi's picture

Methane is escaping all the time now from the arctic zones. The scientists admitted that they sugar coated things when they made a statement and that was because they knew how denial is strong here, but that will not work now. The situation is such that we should have been doing something such as a WW-II style mobilization effort decades ago.

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So long, and thanks for all the fish