Where do this year’s record-breaking, uncontrollable wildfires everywhere - even making British European tourists flee for their lives - now leave us? writes Alan Debenham.
It’s all part of the rapidly developing climate catastrophe soon to become irreversibly worse unless everyone makes happen an urgent revolutionary change to a low-carbon, low-greenhouse gas economy: currently, not only is there little evidence for it, but many political leaderships are heading in the opposite direction.
Even UN secretary António Guterres is now using the language of "global boiling" rather than "global warming" for his warnings about our future.
Why is radical decarbonisation not happening, even though it can be done and, most importantly, things can be turned around in time?
Here three negatives interact.
First, we’re talking about fundamental change in lifestyle across the whole world, something never done to date (ordinary people will not be able to cope, while super-rich elites will maintain the naïve belief that their wealth will keep them safe).
Second, what’s needed runs directly opposite to how our greed-ridden, growth-addicted, capitalist economy now operates, with millions relying on super-rich ‘trickle-down’.
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Third, whilst government remains firmly controlled by super-rich family dynasty ‘investors’, there’s little hope of the close co-operation and shared ‘commonwealth’ essential to stop global boiling.
Neoliberals see the present small authoritarian government, with low taxes and little regulation, as essential to their free-market profits and keeping a stable society.
In Britain, any unexpected risk of a seriously radical Labour government taking over – e.g. under Jeremy Corbyn in 2017 – was soon crushed by ‘super-rich investors’ hell-bent on halting any ‘socialist’ justice and equality.
More so now, with city centre large street protests being restricted by new laws, with police and security forces having added powers and equipment for control, plus heavy prison sentences for small acts of non-violent direct action.
The underlying problem of the capitalist market economy simply not being able to act fast enough to handle climate breakdown makes it ‘convenient’ for crisis deniers and domineering fossil fuel industry propaganda to hold sway and tell people no action is required, especially if it’s costly.
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