OMNI CLIMATE MEMO MONDAYS #239, JULY 14, 2025.

 

OMNI CLIMATE MEMO MONDAYS #239, JULY 14, 2025.  Compiled by Dick Bennett.

Chop Wood, Carry Water,
EcoWatch.  Make FF Disinformation a Crime, Ban FF Lobbying and Advertising.
Climate and Capitalism
Brett Christophers.   Why Capitalism Won’t Save the Planet.
Sean Creaven.    Pandemics in the Corporate Age.
John Bellamy Foster.  Socialism and Nature.

 

I’ve discovered Chop Wood, Carry Water, which is packed with climate-related news; e.g., Americans who think global warming is happening now outnumber those who think it is not by a ratio of more than 4 to 1 (69% versus 15%);  Pope Leo XIV held a special Mass in the gardens of the Vatican’s new ecological educational center, calling on people to change their mind about what is causing “the world to burn” and urging Catholics to “hear the cry of the poor.”

EcoWatch
“UN Climate Expert Urges Criminalization of Fossil Fuel Disinformation to Protect Basic Human Rights.”  EcoWatch (7-8-25).

United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights Elisa Morgera on June 30 presented a new report to the General Assembly calling for the criminalization of spreading disinformation regarding the climate crisis, as well as a complete ban on fossil fuel lobbying and advertising by the industry.

 

 

Read More

Climate and Capitalism
For librarians, bibliographers, and anyone wanting to think outside the capitalist box, Climate and Capitalism offers us alternative reading.  In each no., in addition to the articles, Ian Angus gives us his “Top Ten List” of books.  (“These are my 10 favorite books among the many excellent works included in my Ecosocialist Bookshelf columns in the past 12 months. In alphabetical order by author.”)  Here are some of his picks for Dec. 10, 2024. 

Brett Christophers.   THE PRICE IS WRONG: Why Capitalism Won’t Save the Planet.
Why isn’t the world moving to end emissions and stop fossil fuels? The problem is not that transitioning to renewables is too expensive, but that saving the planet is not sufficiently profitable. Brett Christopher argues that the global economy is moving too slowly toward sustainability because the return on green investment is too low. He argues we can only advance by taking energy out of the private sector.

 

Sean Creaven.  CONTAGION CAPITALISM:  Pandemics in the Corporate Age.
A major contribution to ecosocialist theory and analysis. Using the metabolic rift framework, noted Marxist philosopher Sean Creaven critiques corporate-capitalist control of the economy, the state, and science, and the grave consequences this has on global public health policy, the ecological crisis of sustainability, and zoonotic pandemic events such as COVID-19. Not an easy read, and not cheap, but highly recommended.

 

John Bellamy Foster.  THE DIALECTICS OF ECOLOGY: Socialism and Nature.
As with his previous books, Foster focuses on the concrete choice we face between ecological socialism and capitalist exterminism. He explores the complex theoretical debates that have arisen historically with respect to the dialectics of nature and society, and the radical challenges represented by emergent visions of ecological civilization and planned degrowth.