OMNI CLIMATE MEMO MONDAYS, #130, JUNE 5, 2023

 

 OMNI CLIMATE MEMO MONDAYS, #130, JUNE 5, 2023

 Thom Hartmann.  Nationalize the Fossil Fuels Industry.
David Schwartzman.  China’s peace plan, ceasefire in the Ukraine war, negotiations.  
Dick.  Rabbis: study leading to action.

Rabbis.  Study if it leads to action.

 

 THOM HARTMANN.   “Will There Ever Be a Criminal Trial for the People Wilfully Destroying Life on Earth?”  Common Dreams.    May 29, 2023.

[Hartmann makes a case for nationalizing the fossil fuels industry.   Here is the conclusion of his article. To read the entire article go to https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/criminal-liability-for-climate-damage   Thanks to Fran for sending Hartmann’s excellent argument.  –Dick]

Thomas M. Hanna, Director of Research at The Democracy Collaborative and author of Our Common Wealth: The Return of Public Ownership in the United States, compiled most of the data above in a brilliant paper titled “A History of Nationalization in the United States 1917-2009.”

Toward its end, he summarizes brilliantly the case for nationalizing — perhaps only temporarily — America’s largest oil and gas companies:

“In such times of political and economic crisis, policymakers of all ideological persuasions in the United States have never been hesitant to use one of the most powerful tools at their disposal: nationalization of private enterprises and assets.
“This included the Democrat Woodrow Wilson, who nationalized railroads, and the telephone, telegraph, and radio industries (among others), and the Republican Ronald Reagan, who nationalized a major national bank; the Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, who nationalized dozens of mining and manufacturing facilities, and the Republican George W. Bush, who nationalized airport security and various major financial institutions; the Democrat Barack Obama, who nationalized auto manufacturers, and the Republican Richard Nixon, who nationalized all passenger rail service.”

Today’s climate crisis dwarfs the threat of Nazism in the 1940s, Bin Laden’s 9/11 attack, or the massive bank robberies that took place during the Reagan and Bush administrations. 

It literally threatens all life on Earth.

Yet the fossil fuel industry continues to fund climate denial and lobby against any meaningful solutions, as we saw when every Republican in the Senate along with coal baron Joe Manchin killed the $500 billion investment in clean energy the Biden administration proposed in their 2021 Build Back Better legislation.

Squeals of “socialism!” and “Venezuela!” aside, we know how to nationalize industries that are working against our nation’s interests and have done it before, repeatedly. 

And this time it’s not just about saving our banks or fighting a war. This time, it’s literally about saving the world.

Stop Wars to Stop Warming: China’s Peace Plan

David Schwartzman.  “How China can prevent climate catastrophe? Moving humanity toward global ecological civilization.”  Mronline.org (4-12-23). 

As the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report tells us, there is still a chance to keep warming at no more than the 1.5°C target, but tipping points, to climate catastrophes much worse than we are witnessing now, will kick in if this target is breached. It is now crystal clear that ongoing wars, in particular the Ukraine war, create huge obstacles to the global cooperation necessary for any chance of meeting the 1.5°C warming target. Following the lead of China’s peace plan, we should support the call for an immediate ceasefire in the Ukraine war, and for all parties involved to negotiate.   MORE:
https://mronline.org/2023/04/11/how-china-can-prevent-climate-catastrophe-moving-humanity-toward-global-ecological-civilization/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-china-can-prevent-climate-catastrophe-moving-humanity-toward-global-ecological-civilization&mc_cid=012d9a82cc&mc_eid=ab2f7bf95e

 

I read in The Shalom Report that “the Talmud tells the story of a group of rabbis who were hiding in an attic from the Roman Army — for Rome had decreed death for either studying Torah or doing acts required by Torah. The rabbis — turning their endangered lives into a moment of Torah study — began to debate whether it was more important to risk their lives by study of Torah or by acts of Torah. Finally Rabbi Akiba said — ‘Which is greater, study or action? Study, if it leads to action.’ The other sages agreed.”       What would you add?  Study if it leads to significant action?  But maybe that is implied in study, and knowing time is short.     I spent most of my life studying and helping students to study.  But now I agree with Rabbi Akiba.  We do not have time for study without action.  But action for what?  What are the crucial emergencies threatening land and species?   Well, ask yourself what is happening on our planet that could end our brief tenancy?  The answer is…all around us.  The nuclear Doomsday Clock gives us seconds to midnight. Climate warming has also become an emergency.   And their convergence increases the danger.   And the viruseS.      Despair is tempting, but most of us do not want to live in Hell, or give up, lie down, and die.  Looking away to distractions is tempting, but most of us do not choose irrelevance; we want to make a difference knowing what we know.  We can dump the countless diversions and distractions away from coping with the two chief dangers, to concentrate on abolishing nuclear weapons and stopping warming.    Hartmann offers a way forward against warming; the Chinese against nuclear weapons.   Dick  5-25-23