The Reality Of The Climate Change Crisis. IMHO.

You hear a lot of talk these days about climate change. And you see a lot of evidence of it as well. Thousands of wildfires triggered by drought in places like the Amazon, Australia, parts of the US and Canada, even Siberia of all places.

Huge waves of cold and snowfall sweeping from the north into the deep south where that stuff is not supposed to happen. Heavy rains and flooding all over the place.

And at a certain point you have to ask yourself what exactly is bringing this about. And the simple answer is that, while there are a lot of theories floating around, nobody really knows for sure.

Governments all get together and make resolutions to lower carbon emissions because they think that will be a solution.

Countries switch their energy grid to renewable sources and ban fossil fuels because they think that will be a solution.

People almost everywhere are encouraged to shrink their own carbon footprints, although relatively few of them do, because that’s another solution.

But at the same time, you see a world wide political shift to the right, which is the direction of deregulation and tax breaks for the rich and corporations. All of which runs counter to the real objectives that need to be set in order to effectively deal with the effects of climate change.

It’s Not A People Problem

You could ask any individual on this planet right now, and the vast, majority of them would tell you that they want to keep on living on a healthy one and that most of them would do whatever they could to contribute to that goal.

But sit down with the CEO of any major corporation and I guarantee you will get at least 2 things back.

One would be the admission that they are doing all they can to put systems in place to lower carbon emissions in their plants and offices, which is the conditioned PR response carefully crafted by someone like me, only without a soul.

The second thing they would remind you of is that they are in business to create dividends and a warm, fuzzy feeling among their investors. And that they will do whatever they need to do to achieve that because after all, they would not even exist if it weren’t for those good people. Blah blah blah.

The Thing The Corporations Won’t Tell You

Is how much of their profits go to supporting the political system in their counties that keep politicians passing laws that are in direct opposition to actually forcing those companies to behave in an environmentally responsible way.

Yeah, they don’t talk about that. Because if they did, that would be a tacit admission that they are really at the heart of the environmental crisis we are now in.

The politicians they own, need the money they provide to stay in power. The quid pro quo, to use a terribly overused expression, is taking a very conservative stand on any issues that would require these companies to invest capital to substantially lower their carbon footprints and help the world survive.

Neither the companies, which are psychotic by nature, nor the politicians who are slaves to those companies, actually give a shit anymore. This is what profit motive obsession and abject greed will do to you.

This Is The Biggest Challenge We Face

Resource exploration, mining, raw materials processing and manufacturing and the waste that these industries create account for more that 80% of all the man-made pollution on earth.

And because of the ease and relative low cost with which lawmaker influence can be purchased, the vast majority of these corporations see this as a more viable, meaning profitable, alternative to the necessary retooling of their facilities to make them environmentally responsible.

So the biggest challenge the world faces today isn’t really climate change, it’s corruption which is brought about by the psychopathic nature of corporations and the horrendous amount of influence they have on politicians.

This is why you hear, for example, people like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders keep talking about getting the corporate and other lobby money out of politics.

Because they know, as many of us can logically conclude, if you take away the instrument of corruption, the greedy will see nothing in it for them you will have a very good chance of attracting people genuinely interested in doing good for their countries, as opposed to enriching themselves by selling their souls.

Climate change can be managed. Renewable energy can be the resource that powers the world. The fossil fuel and coal industries can be relegated to a minor supporting role in the energy sector. And those energy corporations with all their capabilities can really become players in the new energy industry. Sustainable technologies can be developed to clean up the entire planet.

But that will not happen in an effective way until the political will is no longer profoundly influenced by old school corporate imperatives. And until countries all agree to cooperate with each other in developing and sharing solutions that will benefit us all.

jim out

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