Surviving Capitalism (Not) : ‘The Collapse of Western Civilization’

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

Monday, July 21, 2014

‘The Collapse of Western Civilization’ — A View From The Year 2393

Click here to access this book review by Joe Romm from Climate Progress.

How would a historian in 2393 write about this century if we continue self-destructively ignoring climate science — and as a result modern civilization as we know it had collapsed 300 years earlier?

That’s the question answered by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway in their excellent and unique new entry in the emerging Climate-Fiction genre, “The Collapse of Western Civilization: A View From The Future.”

An ironic quote from the book:

To the historian studying this tragic period of human history, the most astounding fact is that the victims knew what was happening and why. Indeed, they chronicled it in detail precisely because they knew that fossil fuel combustion was to blame. Historical analysis also shows that Western civilization had the technological know-how and capability to effect an orderly transition to renewable energy, yet the available technologies were not implemented in time.

The reason for this developing tragedy is simply that capitalist ruling class's were thoroughly addicted to the power and wealth supplied to them by their system and their highly advanced technology that enabled this class to thoroughly colonize most minds of their subjects with their ideology and complete submission to their authority. With such power they have made the extinction of the human race nearly inevitable. Although in reality this history as yet to play out, it appears to me that the planet's 99 Percent will not be able to successfully challenge their rule before catastrophic climate destabilization sets in.