14. Climate Memo Mondays 3-15-21
The next
Protest to Celebrate the UN Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty and to Stop the
University of Arkansas Nuclear Weapons Program is Tuesday, March
30th, at 12:30 P.M. We will protest at the entrance to the U of
A, at the intersection of M.L.K. Blvd & Razorback Rd (1417 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Fayetteville). Please JOIN US AND FORWARD THIS ANNOUNCEMENT.
The Pandemic: Half a million lives lost in U.S., more than the two World
Wars and Vietnam War combined.
Mronline.org (2-27-21).
Posted Feb 26, 2021 by Eds.
Originally published: Countercurrents by Countercurrents Collective (February 23, 2021). Empire , Health , Human Rights , Ideology United States Newswire coronavirus , COVID-19 , Deaths , pandemic
Over
half a million people have died of coronavirus in the U.S. Grasping the
enormity–half a million people gone–is difficult to visualize. | more… Sentence after sentence of the dismal
statistics, followed by a similar report on declining US life-expectancy, ending with a chronology
of the pandemic. A handy short article,
but darker than Pres. Biden reported yesterday 3-11 with vaccinations rapidly
increasing. --D
‘The U.S. has been obstructionist in chief in Global climate talks’. Mronline.org
(2-21-21). CounterSpin
interview with Basav Sen on rejoining the Paris accords. | more… Posted Feb 20, 2021 by Janine Jackson, who interviews Sen. Originally published: FAIR (February 10, 2021) .
Basav Sen is director of the Climate Justice project
at the Institute for Policy Studies. Climate Change , Imperialism United States Interview Basav Sen , CounterSpin , Paris Climate
Agreement.
“The United States has
been obstructionist-in-chief in global climate talks—by, for instance, refusing
to accept the principle that wealthy countries who have disproportionately
benefited from industrialization driven by fossil fuels, and therefore are both
much wealthier than much of the Global South—countries in Africa and Latin
America and parts of Asia and the Pacific—but also are much more responsible
for the cumulative greenhouse gas emissions for the last more than 100 years. .
. .
And therefore, the wealthy countries which have been
industrialized for a long time, and which have been responsible for a disproportionate
share of those
emissions, also share a disproportionate amount of the blame for climate
change.
And for those two
reasons, the fact that, No. 1, they are more responsible for the damage, and
No. 2, they can afford to pay for the damage, means that they owe the Global
South for the effects of climate change; they owe the Global South to be able
to transition their economies away from fossil fuels, and to adapt to the
effects of climate change that are already occurring. And the United States has
been a roadblock against accepting this principle, and committing the level of
funding that is needed for the Global South to address the climate crisis.
And the U.S. has also adamantly opposed a binding global agreement, which is one
of the main reasons why we ended up with the toothless nonbinding Paris accord,
in which countries make voluntary commitments to reduce their greenhouse gas
emissions. And, obviously, we need a mandatory global agreement to deal with a
crisis on this level.”
WHAT SHALL WE CALLTHEM, THOSE WHO OFFERED
DOUBTS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING THAT ALLOWED
THE FOSSIL FUELS INDUSTRY’S OFFICIALS AND INVESTORS TO COVER UP THE
CATASTROPHIC TRUTH, AND ENABLED THE MAJORITY GENERAL PUBLIC TO LOOK ASIDE?
By Dick Bennett
Dog, cur, viper, reptile, snake in the grass,
rat? I would not insult these creatures
by the comparison.
Rapscallion, knave, caitiff, bounder,
blighter, bastard, SOB? They are
accurate terms, current in Shakespeare’s time, old-fashioned and possibly
weakened today. We need current language
commensurate with species extermination.
And remember the industry and their scientist supporters knew.
Deceitful, underhanded, misleading, false,
liar, mendacious, untruthful, sly, cunning, scheming, guileful, sneaky,
double-dealing, duplicitous, phony, cheating, betraying, double-crossing. th
Villain, wretch, evildoer, miscreant,
blackguard, rogue, rascal, cad, scalawag, malefactor, scoundrel? Treacherous, perfidious, dishonest,
unscrupulous, corrupt, crooked? Some of
these descriptors are getting close.
Evildoer, yes. Villain. Malefactor too. Perfidy.
We are dealing with crimes against humanity, mass criminality: premeditated crimes that are hidden and have
killed millions of humans and will kill billions, and have made already
thousands of other species extinct
with thousands more to come, unless we humans stop the warming. The IPCC reports warn that our time for
effective action has narrowed to a dozen years, but the greedy humans,
stimulated by their self-regarding, capitalist economic system, continue to
delay action.
“…to knowingly alter [the special conditions of life our planet offers]
in a manner that threatens humanity and other life forms, simply so a few very
large corporations can continue to make record profits, is not just
unacceptable, or unethical—it would be the most immoral act in the history of
human civilization: not just a crime
against humanity, but a crime against our planet. We cannot be passive bystanders. . . .” Michael
Mann, The New Climate War (7-8).
Suggested reading:
Carter and Woodworth. Unprecedented
Crime.
James Hoggan with Richard Littlemore. Climate
Cover-Up.
Michael Mann. The New Climate War (with excellent notes, and 2 other books: The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars and
with Tom Toles, The Madhouse Effect).
David Michaels. Doubt
Is Their Product.
Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway. Merchants
of Doubt.
TAKE ACTION
Contact Pres. Biden and his climate officials—John Kerry,
et al.
What are the real
prospects for the transformative policies actually needed to combat climate
change in the years ahead? What will Biden’s much-touted green jobs initiative
do in practice? And how has the fossil fuel industry responded to Biden’s early
moves, and will it continue to dominate policy and global temperature will
continue to rise? Does Biden understand
the urgency?
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