OMNI CLIMATE MEMO MONDAYS, #194, SEPTEMBER 2, 2024.

 

OMNI CLIMATE MEMO MONDAYS, #194, SEPTEMBER 2, 2024.  Compiled by Dick Bennett.

Wars and Climate: NATO v. Essential Climate Investment.
Caitlin Johnstone. And the Gaza War.  Critique of Democratic Party.
Overpopulation.  Garrett Hardin.  Living within Limits.
John Bellamy Foster.  The Dialectics of Ecology.

 

“The Earth Can’t Endure NATO’s Ambitions.”

Editor.  mronline.org (8-12-24).

NATO’s growing militarism doesn’t just risk widening war, but is deeply implicated in the mounting climate catastrophe, argues Nandita Lal.

Originally published: Counterfire  on August 8, 2024 by Nandita Lal (more by Counterfire)  |  (Posted Aug 11, 2024).   Imperialism, Inequality, Movements, StrategyGlobalNewswireNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

NATO’s expansionary military targets are deeply at odds with the need to scale down global emissions to avoid deepening the climate crisis. NATO’s goal of dedicating 2% of GDP to military spending is set to exacerbate climate breakdown by diverting billions of dollars away from essential climate investment and significantly increasing CO₂ emissions. . . .

In 2023 alone, NATO members collectively spent $1.26 trillion on their military, an increase of $126 billion on 2022. This staggering sum could have covered twelve years of the promised, and still not delivered, $100 billion annual climate finance to support low-and middle-income countries. Rich, polluting nations are now three years overdue on their commitment to mobilise this $100 billion annually. However, the reality is even grimmer. According to Oxfam’s Climate Finance Shadow Report 2023, while donors claimed to have mobilised $83.3 billion in 2020, the actual value is likely closer to $24.5 billion. The inflated figure includes projects with overstated climate objectives and loans cited at their face value, not accounting for the financial burden these loans place on already indebted countries.

Military expenditures directly contribute to environmental degradation through increased carbon emissions. NATO’s overall military spending in 2023 of $1.34 trillion produced an estimated 233 million metric tonnes of CO₂ equivalent (tCO2e). This is more than Colombia’s or Qatar’s annual GHG emissions. . . .MORE

Caitlin Johnstone.  “The Democratic Party Exists To Make Sure Good People Do Nothing.”  Aug 23, 2024.  [THIS ARTICLE WAS FORWARDED TO ME BY aBEL tOMLINSON.]

 

"The reason I criticize the Democrats so much can be explained in the aphorism “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” The Democratic Party exists to ensure that good people will do nothing.

 

Gaza is such a perfect example of this. When Instagram progressive Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez promulgates the blatant lie that Kamala Harris is “working tirelessly to secure a ceasefire in Gaza,” the result is that people who trust AOC will relax and stop pushing for an end to the genocide. They’ve been told by the congresswoman who’s been marketed as standing as far to the left as anyone can reasonably be that the current administration can be trusted to take care of this thing, so all they need to do to save Gaza is vote for the vice president in November.

 

It isn’t necessary to impose such manipulations upon Republicans, who simply support Israel’s atrocities in Gaza because they believe Muslims should be exterminated and because Israel is going to fulfill a biblical prophecy that will bring back Jesus and send all the heathens to burn in hell. Such manipulations are only necessary to politically nullify the kinds of people who would otherwise see what’s happening in Gaza and move mountains to end this mass atrocity. . . .MORE 
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-democratic-party-exists-to-make

 

An Early Book on Population Growth Encountering Limited Resources.

Garrett Hardin.  Living within Limits:  Ecology, Economics, and Population Taboos.  Oxford UP, 1995.   
Publisher’s description
A critique of traditional economic theories that ignore the basic ecological concept of limited resources.  A prominent biologist, ecological philosopher, and keen student of human population control, Hardin now offers the finest summation of his work to date, with an eloquent argument for accepting the limits of the earth's resources--and the hard choices we must make to live within them.
In Living Within Limits, Hardin focuses on the neglected problem of overpopulation, making a forceful case for dramatically changing the way we live in and manage our world. . . .Hardin points out the hard choices we must make and the solutions we have been afraid to consider. This book is an intellectual feast that enrages, disturbs, and challenges the reader at every page.

A Path to Sustainable Human Development.
John Bellamy Foster.  The Dialectics of Ecology: Socialism and Nature.  Monthly Review P, 2024.

Today the fate of the earth as a home for humanity is in question—and yet, contends John Bellamy Foster, the reunification of humanity and the earth remains possible if we are prepared to make revolutionary changes. As with his prior books, The Dialectics of Ecology is grounded in the contention that we are now faced with a concrete choice between ecological socialism and capitalist exterminism, and rooted in insights drawn from the classical historical materialist tradition. In this latest work, Foster explores the complex theoretical debates that have arisen historically with respect to the dialectics of nature and society. He then goes on to examine the current contradictions associated with the confrontation between capitalist extractivism and the financialization of nature, on the one hand, and the radical challenges to these represented by emergent visions of ecological civilization and planned degrowth, on the other.

The product of contemporary ecosocialist debates, The Dialectics of Ecology builds on earlier works by Foster, including Marx’s Ecology (2000) and The Return of Nature (2020), aimed at the development of a dialectical naturalism and the formation of a path to sustainable human development.