Scientists have been ringing the alarm bells about climate change for decades now, but the message, which is barely filtering through into the public consciousness, has yet to do anything to reverse the destructive path that human civilization is on. There are perhaps many reasons for this, but the crux of the matter is corporate capitalism and it’s control of the political process. Corporations are driven by the logic of maximizing profits at all costs, including costs to society and to the environment, and politicians are driven by the logic of catering to these corporations, on whom their political careers depend. There is therefore something inherently destructive in corporate capitalism, and the increasingly disturbing data on climate change that scientists are collecting reveal the enormous challenge human civilization now faces: a) reform of the economic system or b) apocalypse. Three recent articles take up this theme from slightly different angles, all well worth reading. They are as follows:
1. Capitalism and the Destruction of the Earth: Six Theses on Saving the Humans (Richard Smith)
2. How Science is Telling us all to Revolt (Naomi Klein)
3. The Future must be Green Read, Black, and Female (Robert Jensen)
