Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Cancun climate change talks disappoint global expectations

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

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Cancun climate change talks disappoint global expectations

from the Committee for the Abolition of Third World Debt (CADTM).

The title of the article would probably be more accurate if "hopes" were substituted for "expectations". As the concluding paragraph states:

In Cancun the world´s governments were under an obligation to find solutions to the climate crisis and offer answers that could guarantee the survival of humanity - but they were not up to the task. The results from these climate change talks show that the profit motive still trumps life itself and threatens the very survival of the planet.

The tragic fact remains that as long as the "profit motive" (capitalism) rules, there can be no progress in efforts to maintain a climate that can sustain human and other life forms. Therefore, we have no other choice than to replace this system with one that can permit sustainability.