We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Big trouble in the Antarctic has been brewing for a long time

Click here to access article by David Spratt from Climate Code Red (Australia).

In the first half of the article Spratt reviews recent evidence of the dramatic acceleration of the melting of glaciers in West Antarctica beyond what well-established scientists in service to capitalist ruling classes have foreseen. He rightly argues that this has been known and predicted for a number of years by scientists of a more independent mind or position. 

Notice that I have inserted some concepts into his explanation that he does not mention. I justify this insertion because it is clearly implicit in all the reporting that has been published so far about Antarctica and the whole climate destabilization issue. You cannot separate the capitalist system, and the ruling classes that benefit from it, from the issue of climate destabilization and how established climate organizations have reported on it. Because if you took his arguments at only face value, you would have to conclude that he and other like minded people are so much smarter than those connected with more established scientific organizations. In fact, he seems to argue this by repeating in the second half of his article an extract of "what we said back in late 2007" to prove how much smarter he and his friends are.

It seems so crystal clear to me, and others who get little play in the media, that there is a fundamental contradiction between the system of capitalism and climate sustainability. Thus, the class of people who benefit from the system and who have overwhelming control of media (and all other important sectors of most societies) are compelled to downplay or deny this contradiction as long as possible. And scientists are under tremendous pressure to conform to such views or risk losing their careers. 

Without knowing anything about Spratt, I strongly suspect that this type of pressure is also preventing him from explicitly recognizing this contradiction. What is desperately needed for any real change to come about is for courageous, reputable people to make this connection.