What capitalist industry and commerce has done just in the last three decades, pumping nearly a trillion tons of CO₂ into the air, has no precedent.
Never before in Earth’s history has so much carbon dioxide been added to the atmosphere over such a short period of time.
HEADLINE: Chemical analysis of natural CO₂ rise over the last 50,000 years shows that today's rate is 10 times faster
"The rate of CO₂ change today really is unprecedented," said Kathleen Wendt, assistant professor in Oregon State University's College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences. "Our research identified the fastest rates of past natural CO₂ rise ever observed, and the rate occurring today, largely driven by human emissions, is 10 times higher."
During the largest of the natural rises, carbon dioxide increased by about 14 parts per million in 55 years. The jumps occurred about once every 7,000 years or so. At today's rates, that magnitude of increase takes only 5 to 6 years.
Never in the whole history of Earth has so much CO₂ been poured into the atmosphere in such a short time.
Our rulers are literally conducting an insanely dangerous experiment, making it impossible for anyone to say with any certainty what will happen next. No one knows, because nothing like this has ever been done before.
Today my focus will again be on #degrowth, because the more we all learn, the better each of us can answer questions from others who might not understand the concept of degrowth or who want to know more about it.
If our global society has any chance of turning in that direction, toward true sustainability (not counterfeit ‘Green Growth’) and toward much-needed social justice, it will take all of us working together, teaching, motivating, assisting. YOU have a part to play, a big part, and learning where we must go and can go is the first step.
Now, I harbor no illusions that this will be easy. The plutocrats in charge of everything will strongly resist any suggestion that they should stop chasing after more power, more money, and even greater inequality. The odds of achieving all this peacefully and pleasantly are stacked highly against us.
But we will never succeed if we don’t try.
And even if we fail to achieve global agreement on degrowth in time, which is likely, even if climate chaos accelerates and our complex modern industrial society breaks down — even then, the things we learn now about living more simply and sustainably, more in harmony with our environment, more cooperatively and communally with others, all this knowledge will be extremely valuable to those struggling to survive in the aftermath of collapse.
I think this is the selling point most people miss.
#Neoliberals love telling people that the average person (in wealthy countries) consume at the level of kings from a few centuries ago. But they conveniently leave out that we have less free time than a medieval peasant.
Once basic needs are met, increased consumption provides little increase in well-being. More time though, that is something that can make us all better off.