Climate Change is Real!

But the causes are complex – see this Site for penetrating Insights.

2020 - We begin a new decade swamped by visions of our planet in peril. Australia is in flames: Greenland and Antarctic ice shelves are crumbling; thousands of species face extinction, and millions of humans are at risk of losing their homes as sea levels rise and deserts spread. On top of this, the Amazon basin is suffering from almost unfettered commercial exploitation, causing swathes of the “lungs of the world” to be burned.

At the same time, amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere - the cause of the global heating that threatens to ravage our world – continue to increase unabated . Our future is being threatened in a manner that would have seemed unthinkable only a couple of decades ago.

We are careering towards environmental disaster. It is clear that the climate is becoming more and more violent in many parts of the world. The rampant bush fires in Australia are so severe that even the prime minister, apparently a supporter of coal exports, is being forced to acknowledge that the natural environment is trumping economic advantage.

Behind the growing extremes of climate lie deeper and more sinister forces. It is now certain that human behaviour is a major causal factor. Increasing demands for power have fueled a huge increase in coal-fired generation, but still deeper is the casual assumption that economic growth is a “given” and the higher the growth figures, the more successful an economy will be.

And deeper still is the prevalent assumption that competition, “Freedom” and license to create wealth is a natural right. For the last fifty years or so, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Neo-Liberal economics has been the dominant philosophy, led by the United States, which “won” the Cold War, giving it the right to promote Democratic Capitalism across the world, often by military or financial force.

What we are now experiencing is the results of the Free Market on society – in terms of gross inequality in rich countries, poverty and starvation in poorer ones - and climate change affecting us all.

Of course, there are many countries, organisations and individuals which are forces for good – and the United Nations has woken up to the facts. As an example of good behaviour, we have no need to go further than the Scandinavian countries, Denmark, Sweden and Finland to see clear examples of nations that are taking their responsibilities to the planet seriously. And the recent example of teenager Greta Thunberg and the actions of many young people ought to be an inspiration.

What follows is a series of statements of some of the factors that might make a difference to the world:

We need…

More …

Truth tellers like Greta Thunberg and David Attenborough
Politicians and leaders who understand what is happening to the world and are willing to take action to reconstruct more environmentally friendly societies

Fewer …

Flawed leaders like Presidents Trump, Bolsanaro and Prime Minister Morrison of Australia See The Psychology of Corporate Immorality

Less …

Concentration of wealth and power in a few hands See:
How dominance by wealthy elites ruins economies,
Enemies of the people Part 1, the Media,
and Enemies of the people Part 2, Banks.
Influence in the hands of huge corporations. The Global Banking system is not going to Reform itself
Democracy defeated by the investment banks
Tax avoidance and offshoring IMF article
Fanatical commitment to endless economic growth. What Happens when Markets Go Mad
Neo-Liberalism and unfettered economic “freedom” Neo-Classical Economics has failed Society
Gross consumerism. See Society and the Market, Meaning and Obsessive consumption

More …

Mixed Ownership of assets and wealth
More Co-operatives
More Employee Ownership
More Social Enterprise
Investment for a wide range of stakeholders
Sharing of the tax burden IMF article
International regulation of Big Banks and Corporations Democracy defeated by investment banks, and CRESC Report 2009 “An alternative Report on UK Banking Reform”.