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

Friday, August 5, 2016

Alaskans Witness Collapsing Mountains, Shattered Lives

Click here to access article by Dahr Jamail from TruthOut.

The dramatic evidence of anthropogenic climate disruption (ACD) is everywhere in Alaska and nearby areas, but you wouldn't know it by following corporate media. Jamail in the early part of this report interviews students from Alaska who are studying in Washington state and they are frustrated by a total lack of concern evidenced by their fellow students when they try to tell them what is happening in Alaska. It seems that if corporate media doesn't report ACD, then it simply isn't happening.
"It's frustrating to experience this stuff first hand, and then [go] to college and meet folks who aren't even aware of this," he said. "I think the media is a big part of the problem, people just aren't paying attention because it's not in the news enough. I'm interested in climate change at my university, but there are a limited number of classes on it you can even take."
I think capitalist agents have long recognized this phenomenon of naiveté among American consumers of information (if something is not reported on TV, then it ain't happening!) provided by corporate media, and they are intentionally playing down the destabilization of the climate (along with the imperial adventures of the US) simply because capitalism requires growth and growth depends on relatively cheap fossil fuels. Whereas before they attacked scientists' findings and individual scientists who found strong evidence of global warming and its relationship with the burning of fossil fuel, nowadays they are ignoring the dramatic evidence of ACD that is becoming so obvious that they can't deny it any longer.