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, November 2, 2014

UN Climate Change Report Delivers Stark Warnings

Click here to access article from the Associated Press via the Canadian Broadcasting Company.

I first learned of this report while watching a TV news broadcast early this morning on ABC (American Broadcasting Co.). The talking head casually read off a brief summary of the latest IPCC report issued by the United Nations following a conference of scientists associated with this body who have been meeting in Copenhagen. It was like he was reading the daily weather report. 

It's clear to me that our masters in the One Percent have no intention of meeting the threat of climate destabilization. To do that they would have to give up the system that delivers them the opiates which make them high--power and wealth. Whether there are sufficient numbers of the Ninety-Nine Percent who are aware of the threat and who want to save human habitat for their children and grandchildren is anybody's guess. In any case, time is rapidly running out. 

It is hard to be optimistic about the chances of success given the views of various spokesmen prevalent in the center of the Empire. As I see it, there are four main positions. First, there are the corporate sponsored representatives in Congress who still are mostly in denial:



Second, there are the more liberal opinion leaders who mouth their concerns about climate change, but play it safe by advocating reforms such as more green energy, conservation, and carbon trading schemes.

Third, there are corporate representatives that claim that we can have climate stabilization, a growth economy, profits, and jobs. These are the hardcore addicts of the capitalist system. From the Carbon War Room website:



Then there are the rest of us in the Ninety-Nine Percent who range across this spectrum and even further. We are divided, confused, and more focused on the immediate concerns of finding a job, or fear of losing the existing one, paying bills, paying off our loans, etc.