We know — and our rulers certainly know — that if we are to have any hope of preserving even a limited version of today’s complex modern society, greenhouse gas emissions MUST go down, swiftly and urgently.

But instead, emissions continue going up and up and up. It is literally suicidal.

So, WHY haven't we stopped burning fossil fuels?

Because there are profits to be made. Huge, massive, irresistibly tempting profits.

In a sane world, these actions would be seen as criminal.

Perpetrators like fossil fuel executives, their financiers, and the politicians who enable them, would be arrested, charged, tried, and convicted, with assets forfeited to pay for mitigation and reparations.

But we do not live in a sane world.

#Politics #Economics #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateJustice #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual #Degrowth

For those who haven’t seen it before, here is my review of The Climate Book, by Greta Thunberg…
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I've read dozens of books about climate change, and this one is easily the best. It's packed with information, written to be accessible for anyone from high school (or a bright middle school student) on up, and most importantly it does NOT shy away from the true severity of our situation and the imperative need not only for individual action but for system change.

It's stunning to me that a young woman who just turned twenty years old was able to pull together such a massive project — coordinating the submissions of more than a hundred scientists, activists, and educators — while also writing a large part of the content herself. A truly amazing accomplishment.

This essential work should be in every school library and in every home. It will remain relevant for years to come, I believe, because although there certainly is plenty of data, mostly it's about *ideas* which will never age.
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bookwyrm.social/user/BreadAndC…

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #CO2 #Emissions #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual #ClimateAction #ClimateJustice

Cory Doctorow: The Swerve

People are already getting really badly hurt, and it’s only going to get worse. We’re poised to break through key planetary boundaries – loss of biosphere diversity, ocean acidification, land poisoning – whose damage will be global, profound and sustained. Once we rupture these boundaries, we have no idea how to repair them. None of our current technologies will suffice, nor will any of the technologies we think we know how to make or might know how to make.

These boundaries are the point of no return, the point at which it won’t mat­ter if we yank the wheel, because the bus is going over the cliff, swerve or no.

Focus on the swerve.

locusmag.com/2022/07/cory-doct…

HN discussion: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3…

#ClimateChange #GlobalWarming #BusinessAsUsual #TheSwerve #CoryDoctorow #LetsRoll #MassCivilResistance

Cory Doctorow: The Swerve

We’re all trapped on a bus. The bus is barreling towards a cliff. Beyond the cliff is a canyon plunge any of us will be lucky to survive. Even if we survive, none of us know how we’ll climb out of …

^{Locus Online}