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A Reality Check From the Brink of Extinction
We can join Bill McKibben on Oct. 24 in nationwide protests over rising carbon emissions. We can cut our consumption of fossil fuels. We can use less water. We can banish plastic bags. We can install compact fluorescent light bulbs. We can compost in our backyard. But unless we dismantle the corporate state, all those actions will be just as ineffective as the Ghost Dance shirts donned by native American warriors to protect themselves from the bullets of white soldiers at Wounded Knee.
“If we all wait for the great, glorious revolution there won’t be anything left,” author and environmental activist Derrick Jensen told me when I interviewed him in a phone call to his home in California. “If all we do is reform work, this culture will grind away. This work is necessary, but not sufficient. We need to use whatever means are necessary to stop this culture from killing the planet. We need to target and take down the industrial infrastructure that is systematically dismembering the planet. Industrial civilization is functionally incompatible with life on the planet, and is murdering the planet. We need to do whatever is necessary to stop this.”
The oil and natural gas industry, the coal industry, arms and weapons manufacturers, industrial farms, deforestation industries, the automotive industry and chemical plants will not willingly accept their own extinction. They are indifferent to the looming human catastrophe. We will not significantly reduce carbon emissions by drying our laundry in the backyard and naively trusting the power elite. The corporations will continue to cannibalize the planet for the sake of money. They must be halted by organized and militant forms of resistance. The crisis of global heating is a social problem. It requires a social response.
The United States, after rejecting the Kyoto Protocol, went on to increase its carbon emissions by 20 percent from 1990 levels. The European Union countries during the same period reduced their emissions by 2 percent. But the recent climate negotiations in Bangkok, designed to lead to a deal in Copenhagen in December, have scuttled even the tepid response of Kyoto. Kyoto is dead. The EU, like the United States, will no longer abide by binding targets for emission reductions. Countries will unilaterally decide how much to cut. They will submit their plans to international monitoring. And while Kyoto put the burden of responsibility on the industrialized nations that created the climate crisis, the new plan treats all countries the same. It is a huge step backward.
“All of the so-called solutions to global warming take industrial capitalism as a given,” said Jensen, who wrote “Endgame: The Problem of Civilization” and “The Culture of Make Believe.” “The natural world is supposed to conform to industrial capitalism. This is insane. It is out of touch with physical reality. What’s real is real. Any social system—it does not matter if we are talking about industrial capitalism or an indigenous Tolowa people—their way of life, is dependent upon a real, physical world. Without a real, physical world you don’t have anything. When you separate yourself from the real world you start to hallucinate. You believe the machines are more real than real life. How many machines are within 10 feet of you and how many wild animals are within a hundred yards? How many machines do you have a daily relationship with? We have forgotten what is real.”
The latest studies show polar ice caps are melting at a record rate and that within a decade the Arctic will be an open sea during summers. This does not give us much time. White ice and snow reflect 80 percent of sunlight back to space, while dark water reflects only 20 percent, absorbing a much larger heat load. Scientists warn that the loss of the ice will dramatically change winds and sea currents around the world. And the rapidly melting permafrost is unleashing methane chimneys from the ocean floor along the Russian coastline. Methane is a greenhouse gas 25 times more toxic than carbon dioxide, and some scientists have speculated that the release of huge quantities of methane into the atmosphere could asphyxiate the human species. The rising sea levels, which will swallow countries such as Bangladesh and the Marshall Islands and turn cities like New Orleans into a new Atlantis, will combine with severe droughts, horrific storms and flooding to eventually dislocate over a billion people. The effects will be suffering, disease and death on a scale unseen in human history.
We can save groves of trees, protect endangered species and clean up rivers, all of which is good, but to leave the corporations unchallenged would mean our efforts would be wasted. These personal adjustments and environmental crusades can too easily become a badge of moral purity, an excuse for inaction. They can absolve us from the harder task of confronting the power of corporations.
The damage to the environment by human households is minuscule next to the damage done by corporations. Municipalities and individuals use 10 percent of the nation’s water while the other 90 percent is consumed by agriculture and industry. Individual consumption of energy accounts for about a quarter of all energy consumption; the other 75 percent is consumed by corporations. Municipal waste accounts for only 3 percent of total waste production in the United States. We can, and should, live more simply, but it will not be enough if we do not radically transform the economic structure of the industrial world.
“If your food comes from the grocery store and your water from a tap you will defend to the death the system that brings these to you because your life depends on it,” said Jensen, who is holding workshops around the country called Deep Green Resistance [click here and here] to build a militant resistance movement. “If your food comes from a land base and if your water comes from a river you will defend to the death these systems. In any abusive system, whether we are talking about an abusive man against his partner or the larger abusive system, you force your victims to become dependent upon you. We believe that industrial capitalism is more important than life.”
Those who run our corporate state have fought environmental regulation as tenaciously as they have fought financial regulation. They are responsible for our personal impoverishment as well as the impoverishment of our ecosystem. We remain addicted, courtesy of the oil, gas and automobile industries and a corporate-controlled government, to fossil fuels. Species are vanishing. Fish stocks are depleted. The great human migration from coastlines and deserts has begun. And as temperatures continue to rise, huge parts of the globe will become uninhabitable. NASA climate scientist James Hansen has demonstrated that any concentration of carbon dioxide greater than 350 parts per million in the atmosphere is not compatible with maintenance of the biosphere on the “planet on which civilization developed and to which life on earth is adapted.” He has determined that the world must stop burning coal by 2030—and the industrialized world well before that—if we are to have any hope of ever getting the planet back down below that 350 number. Coal supplies half of our electricity in the United States.
“We need to separate ourselves from the corporate government that is killing the planet,” Jensen said. “We need to get really serious. We are talking about life on the planet. We need to shut down the oil infrastructure. I don’t care, and the trees don’t care, if we do this through lawsuits, mass boycotts or sabotage. I asked Dahr Jamail how long a bridge would last in Iraq that was not defended. He said probably six to 12 hours. We need to make the economic system, which is the engine for so much destruction, unmanageable. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta has been able to reduce Nigerian oil output by 20 percent. We need to stop the oil economy.”
The reason the ecosystem is dying is not because we still have a dryer in our basement. It is because corporations look at everything, from human beings to the natural environment, as exploitable commodities. It is because consumption is the engine of corporate profits. We have allowed the corporate state to sell the environmental crisis as a matter of personal choice when actually there is a need for profound social and economic reform. We are left powerless.
Alexander Herzen, speaking a century ago to a group of Russian anarchists working to topple the czar, reminded his followers that they were not there to rescue the system.
“We think we are the doctors,” Herzen said. “We are the disease.”
315 Comments so far
Show AllHail to the NEW RISING STAR SECUPPS on cspan
I think Brian and cspan should be congratulated
for bringing to our attention this rising star of the
mary matalan (sp?) school of lit-rature or literat-ture.
I've been wasting my time on mark hertsgaard,
frances fitzgerald, john kenneth and his son, james
k.. It makes me cringe to remember all of those kevin phillips books, charles beard morris berman earl and merle black philip agee larry j kolb david korten naomi klein amy and david ; scheer,pilger, chalmers, ritter,parry, fidel, kucinich, jacoby, dean, geo crile,
hedges, auerbach, tarpley, cockburn, klare, stansfield
turner, moyers, mcchesney, ovstrovsky,rubenberg, rollins ,regan, nader, bork, fisk, hiro, kinzer, ghazvinian,
juhasz, bugliosi, copeland, stockwell, hiatt, kinzer, crispin miller, hourani, haig, bork, rollins, philo and berry,
bovard, blum, bloom, kunstler, et al.
who knew I had only to erect a website, get head
shots and wade into the fray, like some gnu tucckner
coulster mylroie colberster...share a sexy piece de resistance with a newly wed talkshow host (my tongue brian, is entirely in high chicque) and I could be the toast of hollywood East.
your admirer, benning
ps but who would have guessed bin laden and
grover norquists quisling bushpuppet would share the same philosophy...to bankrupt usa and eliminate
social security before the hippies get to collect it...
nuff said well done roger ailes.
Remember jim jimi janis and john, sacrificed on the
altar of the religious and culture wars... turning a liberal pandemic into a "centerright country" in the space
between carter and obama. BY design or happenstance?
"intelligent design" i'll wager.....by gahd, turning a sows ear into a silk purse overflowing with ali babas gold
in front of our very eyes, all for them and none for us.
what a miracle control of the magic military budget is !
say hey negroponte.
Hats off, benning. Visionary poetry that cuts like a knife.
!!!
What in the hell are you talking about?
Tres Bien Benning, would that all were sighted as thee.
I've (od'd?) postulated, Pistolated with a .44 on a .38 frame
that the CIA wasted Jimi & Janis, and in Paris did the same,
only 27 years within our midst;
the System frightened by the songs they sang.
And got 2 for 1's; dead counter culture icons-and dead from drugs.
Here baby, this shit is straight from China. Bro, This from TLeary himself. Jim sweetheart, here's the Pernod....
OD's made to order
and caskets tailor made,
by the cee eye of aye
for rock stars, laid
into early graves.
America, America,
God shed his Grace on Thee
"Any social system—it does not matter if we are talking about industrial capitalism or an indigenous Tolowa people—their way of life, is dependent upon a real, physical world. Without a real, physical world you don’t have anything. When you separate yourself from the real world you start to hallucinate."
Ahem! Hedges here shows his ignorance of the true nature of Indigenous beliefs. This is why white men need to allow Native Peoples to speak for themselves.
I hear you, Stone, but you might want to tell us your interpretion of "the true nature of indigenous beliefs" vis-a-vis the dependence or independence of the "real," physical world.
/cm
Cee, I hesitate to speak for other Tribes and Peoples, they best can do that themselves. As for myself, I do not feel it proper to state my beliefs on the internet. These beliefs are taught to us from childhood and are not so easily understood by those living in the dominant culture. Suffice it to say that Hedges got it wrong and should refrain from representing himself as knowledgeable of Native beliefs and understandings. Hedges is a Christian and Christian doctrines are not the stuff of Traditional Native beliefs.
I hear you again, Stone, and I would like to invite you and Leea who just responded to you, to write me at miracleyes1sd@aol.com
For about four or five years I have had an idea that is in the form of a personal commitment brought into action. This action derives from a teaching that every tribe, culture, nation acknowledges and is in their own language. It is a universal ethic.
I envision a growing, gentle movement that could transform everything, ... beginning with the people who mindfully and commitedly practice this teaching.
Timing is everything [that's a former p.r./advertising person talking], and the time is now, and I sure could use some feedback, some help and some supportive people pretty much on the same page.
peace, cm
Yes excellent point and my guess is it's the reverse of what Chris is trying to say and understand. It is the material world that is in it's entirety dependent on the spiritual world. Our material world is a giant hallucinatory byproduct of our separation from the creative spirit of nature, god and therefore our own nature, and rather than having nothing, we have nothing but disease.
Leea, see above reply to Stone. peace, cm
"Any social system—it does not matter if we are talking about industrial capitalism or an indigenous Tolowa people—their way of life, is dependent upon a real, physical world. Without a real, physical world you don’t have anything. When you separate yourself from the real world you start to hallucinate."
Chris Hedges didn't say this. Derrick Jensen did. And were you to read his work, you would know that he does not speak for anyone but himself, unless they have asked him to, or have given him permission to do so. He is one of the most respectful people I know of in regard to respecting peoples.
It also seems that you would destract from the actual topic by leading a discussion on proper discussion etiquette, rather than discuss the issue at hand - the fact that we actually need a planet to live on - however one wishes to state it.
This is not a topic on being politically correct. But alas, you have managed to garner several repsonses from others who also would rather not look at what is being presented here and apparently would rather use this as a springboard for their own. The topic of leela - and the western attempt at interpreting eastern philosophy/spirituality might best be practiced thru silent meditation....(one can hope.)
I remain unimpressed by most of those who are self identified and would present themselves as some sort of eastern spititual teachers. If one is somehow comforted by the existentialism that says "nothing physical is real", perhaps Mr Jensen might suggest: let me smash your hand with a hammer and comfort you with the notion that your physical suffering is an illusion. If your faith is strong, you'll no doubt let me continue repeatedly yes?
This is what is happening to the planet. Right here. Right now. It is being repeatedly beaten to a pulp. To say it is illusion is cowardess. It permits inaction, or the "act" of "bearing moral witness™" to the destruction. While you feel morally and spiritually superior, the world dies...
Our world view's differ. Your words demonstrate a shallow and incomplete understanding of Native beliefs. I do not expect you to understand them because your world view is based upon science. The Western world view of Science has led to the decline of America in a short two hundred thirty years. Native Peoples have existed on this continent for fourteen thousand years and possibly more. Sometimes a little perspective helps to clarify one's reality. The Native world view is based upon Spirit and is enduring and sustainable.
"I do not expect you to understand them because your world view is based upon science."
WTF? Where are you coming up with this? Where is the "science" in my post? You seem somewhat assuming of what I know and don't know. What I beleive or don't believe. This tone seems less than what some with deep spiritual principles might express.
I do not know if you would call my desire to fight for those people (human and non) who cannot fight for themselves, to fight for the planet (you know.... the theme of the article?) to be science based or not. I call it love. I call it respect. Those seem sorta spiritual to me....at least I am trying at them.....
I also know that Native beliefs did not preclude a passionate spirit of physical resistance. Many fought for their beliefs, and the right to live the way they knew works. To deny this fighting spirit seems dismissive. It would almost seem to dishonor the sacrifices made by those who gave everything they had, to try and protect their way of life.
Are you implying that Native Americans did not physically resist? Because I know different. Native Americans were not pacifists.
I also know that I cannot possibly understand the spirtitual nature of how they lived. I do know that generally, nature based peoples, respect all things nature based, and did not view what we might call inanimate as less worthy of respect than any other being. So the respect for the physical is definitely present here as well. And not just respect. Reverence.
I cringe when I feel that people are presenting an all or nothing case - "Native beliefs" were such and such (which of course coincidentally matches up with the person(s) saying this).
I also cringe when I am talked down to. For example:
"Sometimes a little perspective helps to clarify one's reality."
I feel that you have projected onto me some past conversation you may have had with someone who cannot envision the world in a natural state. Someone who has science as a religion perhaps? But this is not me. The number, speaking in years, that I have found thru reading, in regard to how long native peoples lived on this continent range from your 14,000 years, to much, much longer. Try 60k. Now that's sustainable in my view....
Ironically, this is Derrick Jensen's view of sustainability. The Tolowa (referenced in the article?), were the native people who lived on the land where he lives currently. They existed there for millennia and then some.
So perhaps some of our worldview may be similar. Sustainablilty = a long time....
But to preach to me as though I couldn't possibly understand(let alone have even ever considered this deeper understanding you think you have) is a bit supercilious dontcha think?
You don't know what I know. I don't know why you would even try to tell me what I know and how I experience it. This is the language of the dominant culture -talk at people, tell people what their experience is, rather than ask. Y'know...like as in a conversation? Two-way?
Lastly, why is it that folks continually comment not on the article or the themes therein, but rather, on their own world view and how what they beleive is better than whatever was written about? It's off topic at best. Self centered is more like it.
Glen, I was responding to your words, not you personally. Sorry if I offended you, that was not my intent. Glen, Native Peoples do not often share their beliefs with non-natives because of past experience. Our beliefs are just too different to bridge the gap of understanding. Much of our traditional beliefs are based upon careful teaching and experience through revelation, for lack of a better word. It is a life long journey and perhaps many lifelong journey's toward understanding The Great Mystery. Native Peoples have seen how non-natives butcher our beliefs, so many of us do not share. There is a great divide between the Western World View and the Native World View. Inevitably when non-Native people attempt to express their understanding of our beliefs they get it wrong. We as Native Peoples define who we are, not others. We have no need of the Government telling us we are Native, especially a genocidal Government like the U.S. Government. We strongly resist the descendants of the invader's perpetual attempts to tell us who we are and are not, or, to wrongfully represent our history or beliefs. We and we only speak for ourselves. I am not attempting to romanticize our Peoples but merely defend our right to speak for ourselves and to challenge inaccuracies. We of all Peoples understand the hardships thrust upon The Earth Mother today and we also understand Her seeking to find Her balance. Remember we lived in a respectful and harmonious relationship with The Earth Mother here for many thousands of years. There are a few exceptions and we paid a price, but generally we lived in harmony.
Our Native Warrior Societies are greatly misunderstood and speculated about. It is best not to attempt to understand us through non-Native writings or presentations. Also remember that it is not possible to pluck or cherry pick a ceremony from the whole and to properly experience or understand it. Just this week three people perished in an ill fated Sweat Lodge ceremony presented by a non-native plastic shaman. My People respect other people's paths to Creator. We Traditional People do not attempt to perform Christian ceremony. Christian's however, disrespect us greatly by attempting to participate in our Traditional Ceremony. Their participation represents a form of cultural genocide. So our's is a struggle to survive and maintain our sacred and non-sacred cultural beliefs. After all, ninty-nine percent of us were eliminated in the greatest genocide in the world in the last five hundred years, The American Genocide. So please try to understand that we consider you brothers and sisters too and yes, in spite of the continuing genocide, understand that we are all connected. We attempt to exist in respect and love, not hatred. So perhaps this little paragraph will help you and others to understand a little better. I hope so.
Dear Stone-
Thank you for your response.
I guess all I can really say to this is that I feel that I understand cultural appropriation as much as is possible for someone who is decended and by default a member of the wetiko. This is what I meant by saying that, "I also know that I cannot possibly understand the spirtitual nature of how they lived." I was not raised in it.
There is not much really in my heritage that I find appealing. Which obviously leaves me wanting. Wanting leaves me searching.
I do know that because of cultural appropriation, by this cannibal culture, that Native Peoples have been burned time and time again. I know that Native peoples have not always been as guarded against this. And I know that there are many who are still open. Some of them will inevitably be burned because of the very zeitgeist of civilization. Some will/may not be. Yes. The genocide continues.
I still feel confused, that out of this tiny excerpted article, the thing you latched onto seems to have to do with the notion that Derrick Jensen, a non-Native voice, is suggesting that Native Peoples had a sustainable way of living in the world. I have read his work extensively (x6 or 7 books), and know that what he is suggesting is not cultural appropriation. As a matter of fact, he rails against this. If ever their were a white guy who will not tresspass w/o permission into anyone elses world, it is Derrick. I've never seen anyone go to the lengths that he does in attempting to respect those who's respect is due.
So I am wondering, do you consider it cultural appropriation for him to even be saying that Native Peoples lived sustainably?
I haven't come to my current view based on "non-Native" writings alone.
Some Native authors I have read:
George Tinker
Vine Deloria jr
Winona La Duke x3
Leslie Marmon Silko x2
Ward Chrurchill x4
Linda Hogan x2
I also read "Black Elk Speaks" and came away feeling like not only did the person who attempted to understand what Black Elk was speaking to likely botch the job, but that I too, will probably never be capable of understanding the way Native Peoples related to the world. But then again, I do not identify with how "My own" culture relates to life either....
Glen, do you believe that doors open for all seekers? I do! I know many who have abandoned their beliefs in favor Eastern beliefs. I have also been told that Traditional Jews have a belief system based upon Nature. We are all awakening and finding or improving our paths. In the past, non-native people have been adopted into Native Tribes and transformed. I can tell by your emotion that you will be welcomed in the place that you belong. Continue to purify yourself and seek Creator's guidance and your path will be laid before you. If you believe that the Native ways are your path then seek the guidance of an Elder. It will take time and great patience before anyone opens up to you personally. Most will walk away. Eliminate your ego, suppress your own words, listen, and speak when spoken to. Avoid plastic shamans. If there is a Rez or Territory near you volunteer your help there and let others get to know you. Many have tried but very few have succeeded. Virtually everything you learned in the Western way will be turned on it's head. Speak with Traditional Elders, not Christian Elders. Traditionals live the old culture. Christians Natives have been assimilated excepting non-sacred cultural traditions. Enjoy your journey wherever it may lead you.
Scientists are not the enemy. They follow evidence and don't take anything on faith- like a detective or animal tracker. They have been treated as a minority, burned as witches by bible-believers and bullied as nerds even by other minorities. Surely the path to truth cannot be through blind belief in spirits or gods?
I don't mean to compare their plight to that of Native Americans of course. Peace.
The excesses of wealth and corporate power were addressed by the French on Bastille Day, by the Bolsheviks in 1917, by Mao, by FDR when he took America off the gold standard, by Fidel when he nationalized the rum factories. Can godless capitalism be "managed" ? At least the FDR solution was less bloody than the others and did not depend upon a Pearl Harbor event. However, rapacious corporations have learned how to use the public media to thwart public information systems and to control the public opinion that FDR successfully mobilized. If public airwaves were restored to public utility, corporate misinformation could be combated and education for the public good disseminated. Advertising revenues could be taxed and some of the airwaves could be reclaimed by eminent domain or emergency necessity. Time is short as Hedges points out.
Elmwood: FDR adjusted the gold-standard rate during The Great Depression, with some controversial, but sound policies. In 1971 Richard Nixon totally eliminated the Gold Standard and our dollar bills have been riding on "faith" ever since.
First reference below on Google: a short, breezy history of the Gold Standard; many other references.
www.moneygirl.quickanddirtytips.com/money-gold-standard.aspx
/cm
"We have allowed the corporate state to sell the environmental crisis as a matter of personal choice when actually there is a need for profound social and economic reform. We are left powerless."
Hedges is off his game today. We are NOT left powerless at the hands of corporations. The journey through a woods with no paths is taken one step at a time. People have the POWER to choose their way and it does make a difference. Making the choice NOT to consume from International Corporations is a very effective method of reducing their power to negatively alter the planet. Remember this! When you walk a more sustainable path, doors of understanding and opportunity will open to you. Follow these doors of guidance and we will emerge from the woods as a better people living on a better planet. Walk this way and you will understand.
I like your post Stone, very well said, thank you.
okay, i dare you too try this, and I am not joking here at all, goodnight fools, hello friends!
http://www.realitysandwich.com/quantum_realm
Municipalities and individuals use 10 percent of the nation’s water while the other 90 percent is consumed by agriculture and industry. Individual consumption of energy accounts for about a quarter of all energy consumption; the other 75 percent is consumed by corporations. Municipal waste accounts for only 3 percent of total waste production in the United States.
This excerpt needs to be expounded on backed by tangible facts and figures and put forward so that all can see it. This must be made common knowledge. It is not.
How exactly is 90% of the water used by corporations? Let us see, show the people how all this water is being used.
Show us how corporations are using 75% of the energy and producing 97% of the waste.
We need this stuff shown to us on film, on the tv, on billboards, in our faces! It must be done through visual means and hammered home continuously. It must be done. Pressure must be put on broadcasters to put this stuff on tv.
People need to see it ON TV to get properly concerned. They are not. I try to tell my greenie neighbors and friends to stop listening to NPR and tune in to Democracy Now! or the excellent "Radio Ecoshock Show" (out of Canada), and they laugh at me. Call me a communist or a "debbie downer" because they are unaware of all the truth they are missing out on.
Badges of moral purity will be handed out at our local beach on Oct 24 as these greenies will gather en masse, polluting for a good cause; the parking lot holds hundreds of SUVs. All attendees pledge to walk home, leaving their behemoths behind forever. not really.
Hargrove 9:45 --------- Good analysis ! " Ask, and it shall be opened unto you"
And walking this path also deprives the corporate dictatorship of much of its lifeblood ; money.
Your neighbours are essentially co-opted, manipulated into collusion with corporate interests. They're praying that little changes like buying a Prius or hanging washing out to dry will preserve their status quo. They don't want to deal with the necessary radical changes to their lives, either. Watch the surprise on their faces when they'll have to. They're scared of what they know has to come. And it will all be your fault.
"Not me!" thinking.
Corporations and corrupt government couldn't care less about our protests. Sabotage is a minor inconvenience and militancy is just another excuse to erase the Bill of Rights.
The choke point is money.
FREE AMERICA
REVOLUTIONARY (DIRECT) DEMOCRACY
Corporations and corrupt government couldn't care less about our protests. Sabotage is a minor inconvenience and militancy is just another excuse to erase the Bill of Rights.
The choke point is money.
FREE AMERICA
REVOLUTIONARY (DIRECT) DEMOCRACY
When a friend asked me why I supported Nader instead of Obama or Clinton I told him it's because I've identified Corporations as the greatest threat, not "terrorists".
Take a look at ANY survey asking Americans what issues they care about most.
Corporate Power is nowhere to be found.
Global Climate Change barely cracks the Top 10.
I, like a great many of you here, along with Mr. Hedges are 1% 'ers.
We're the 1% who have correctly identified the root cause of most of our country's problems: Corporate Power.
If we were today able to control even a small portion of the country's mass media it'd take us at least ten years to inform the public to the degree necessary for even minor corrective measures to take place against corporate power.
And that is almost certainly too long to prevent climate disaster.
Ghandi said his protests would not have been successful without a press reporting the events accurately to the world.
Which is why I've been saying on this site since day one:
Whoever controls the media controls the country. Period.
Corporate power understands Cygnus' point about the role of the media very well. That's why they own it.
100,000 people protesting at the White House may or may not be reported. Protesting at NBC Today show might be a more appropriate site.
Do a google news search of "Fairness Doctrine".
You'll find the articles against run about 500 to 1.
Visit a left-wing website when the subject of the Fairness Doctrine is discussed.
You'll see swarms of trolls more frightening and larger than swarms of bees.
Without control of the media the right-wing corporate agenda would be shed like a diseased skin and a majority of the last five Presidential administrations would be in jail.
Very smart words. I agree with you. Just because the odds are against us doesn't mean we stop trying. Once we have discovered the truth, then comes the hard part of telling others and helping them to wake up too. I think the population that is like you and me is more up to 3% now. It has just been this past year that I woke up and have been educating myself on this issue. I will be the first one to admit I have a lot to learn but the important thing is that I woke up from my zombie mode and have joined the ranks of those of you who woke up before I did to the truth.
Yes, we need to have some media on our side that is telling people the truth and not lying to them. Right now, we have blogs and websites like Common Dreams. We have Air America who is telling people about climate change and other issues, though some of us with older computers can't seem to get Air America anymore on our computer that truth is that Air America is helping to wake up the average American to the truth on this issue.
I am a member of the Green Party so I believe in third parties. I think that those of us in the Green Party need to really get more active in the political process. There is no reason why we can't elect someone to Congress. Bernie Sanders of VT is an Independent so why can't we elect someone from the Green Party too?
I think the answer is that we need to start putting some of our words into action. We need to really get out there and find qualified people to run for political office and then work our tails off to get them elected. We can make real change happen if we work at it and show people by our actions that the Green Party is an avenue that they can believe will be part of the solution and not just a party that is not going to really work at electing people to Congress and other political office.
how about, whoever controls/wins the youth, a la HR education, controls the future. Teachers, as a change agent, are a close second to parents/family & ahead of media & peers!
Most teachers are too busy preparing for "standardized tests"
Frightening. But then, nothing will happen until we are all truly fightened. And by then it's too late. Meanwhile, self interest, greed, consumerism, global capital, et al will continue unabated. We really are shopping ourselves to death- but ain't it wonderful? Look at all the stuff we have! It's been said that if you want a nightmare vision of the future, go to an industrial city in China- see where we're all heading. But they make cheap goods to fill the wall mart shelves.
As a Canadian, I'm ashamed of my own countries more than dismal record on climate change- we did sign on to Kyoto, then steadily increased our emissions ever since. The oil sands in Alberta is one of the biggest sources of green house gases on the planet- to supply you with oil and us with money. And that, in the end , is what its all about- oil, money, and narrow self interest. Canada is helping to lead the way to climate catastrophe. You can thank the Conservative government of Stephen Harper for that.
Does anyone in the rich countries care about rising sea levels and little brown people in the Maldives? Hell no. They'll find someplace else to vacation. The waves inundating New Orleans? Hey, just gods way of slum clearance and payback for gay rights apparently. Rising cancer rates? More profit for health insurance companies. Desertification and widespread starvation in sub saharhan africa? Natures way of thinning the herd.
Want a real tune in? Corporations are already far advanced in figuring out how to PROFIT from increasing global warming? Hows that for disater capitalism?
Bill in Canada
I agree with your sentiments, but I stopped at this: "It's been said that if you want a nightmare vision of the future, go to an industrial city in China- see where we're all heading." I have been to some industrial cities in China, and I have to tell you that they are generally better than industrial cities in the US, and far better than most industrial cities in the developing world. The US, with places like Detroit and St. Louis as well as other dying industrial cities, has its own nightmare version of the future. You do not need to travel to the other side of the world to see the future. It is in your own back yard.
This week it is corporate power and what is it going to be next week? Nothing is going to be solved until we address the real problem of overpopulation. It really doesn't matter who or what is changing the environment it is the fact that as it gets worse more and more people are going to suffer greatly and that is a terrible way to cut human populations to a real sustainable number.
Corporate power is the main cause of overpopulation. You can't solve overpopulation overnight even if nobody reproduces for another year. What do you plan to do?
No, of course a year isn't sufficient!
What's needed is no more than 0.5 child per person for at least the rest of this century. If we do that, each generation will be half the size of the one before it. So if we have 6G people now, we can have 3G in 2050, 1.5G in 2075, and 750M by 2100. The world can probably sustain 750M people at a rich and dignified level, though in a European, not US, style.
We can reduce the population and still have the same crisis. I came across similar problems encountered when I studied world history. There's plenty to feed 10 billion people on this planet as far as I can tell. The capitalist ruling class needs to be reined in and we must rationalize our consumption. That's a quick and healthy fix. What you propose takes too long beyond our lives.
I think the RULING CLASS is perfectly capable of exterminating who and how many they want to exterminate, don't you?
Just a matter of starving this population or that population and creating wars or disasters or shooting people up with vaccines that have egregious side effects or creating diseases that decimate populations.
Pardon my cynism, but my rose-colored glasses really fell off last night. See my longer post below re The Bilderberg Group et al. And it was not a new subject, just that what has been happening since Mr. Obama got elected is an eye-opener.
/cm
Yes, the ruling class is capable of exterminating but same with just controlling without exterminating. I'll need to read that book you referred to on Bilderberg Group. I barely heard of it.
The feudal overlords, both secular and religious, need to be eliminated. There's no rational basis for a 'rein-in' policy when we're talking about creatures that provide no benefit while being a constant, deadly danger to all high-order life on the planet. As Cee says (above), as long as they're in power they can kill us with impunity.
I do really think you need to review your ideas about Earth's carrying capacity. You might think 10G people can be fed, but there's more to life than mere existence. Who exactly would benefit from Earth being that overloaded, apart from the predator class?
You're right, I'll have to look closer at the numbers. It depends on what people get fed on this planet.
Your assuming an oil based economy to feed 10 Billion. Very unlikely in the future. This oil economy (transportation, production, distribution) is the basis for sustaining current numbers. As Jensen points out very clearly, we have far exceeded the carrying capacity of the planet with oil.
Sustainable communities won't sustain 10Billion
I thought people lived before the age of oil. I don't see the relationship between oil and overpopulation. Luxury from oil I get it but I don't see oil being the basis of sustaining the current population numbers. People in poor countries use less oil.
How MANY people lived at one time before 'the age of oil'? That's the key question, and the answer should scare you as much as it scares others:
1950: 2.5G worldwide
1900: 1.7G
1850: 1.3G
1800: 1.0G
Everyone will agree that 'the age of oil' started somewhere during that period. I would put it around 1925 (2.0G people), myself, when automotive technology became complicated enough that cyclecars started dying out, roads began to be asphalted, railways began switching from coal-fired steam to diesel, and aeroplanes began being used for cargo and passenger cartage.
People in poor countries use less oil, it's true. And they die at vastly greater rates, too, unless they rigidly control their population size. That's where the famines are, the plagues, the everyday grinding misery, and the genocides. By the '60s, the human-populated parts of sub-Saharan Africa were devoid of most small non-human species: they'd been hunted down, killed, and eaten because decent, humane people like Dr Schweitzer kept human children from dying instead.
It's an either-or proposition. Either we limit our population by limiting pregnancy, getting rid of feudalism, and intentionally building a world in which all can live full, dignified lives amid natural spendor, or we're finished. Them is the choices, there ain't no others.
Ok, I can see where you refer to the population numbers rising and where it can be interpreted that oil dramatically increased the rate. But to suggest that changing from oil to alternative sources will result in dieoffs cannot be confirmed. My problem with the Malthusian pessimists is just like the anti-abortion freaks, they have no interest in helping to take care of the existing lives at stake. Most of them would much rather use anything to prop up their "it's the end of the world" talk and harass and torture others. All this does is help the ruling class thrive and laugh at us. I still believe things can be worked out more humanely. The population numbers is the last thing to worry about and I'm not buying it.
Well, I'm not your standard 'Mathusian pessimist' in that case, since the reason *why* I'm so hot for a reduction in births is that I don't want *living* people to die of system collapse.
Hypothetical people who are never conceived suffer no trauma that we are aware of, so I hold not brief for them. People who've been born *do* suffer and die as well as causing suffering and death in others through competition. I think we have a positive obligation as human beings to prevent such suffering, die-off, and extinctions of humans and non-humans alike.
We *might* have the necessary, if we pull our fingers out soonest, to get rid of feudalism and keep all living humans and non-humans alike going til we either solve the climate crisis or it solves us. But there's no guarantee that we do have enough of the necessary. As far as I can tell (I'm open to better information) it will take absolutely everything each of us has got for the rest of our lives and probably the lives of our children and grandchildren.
This is a *war* we're in, a whole-world war with powerful, psychopathic enemies and plenty fifth-columnists, but no non-combatants except the youngest human children and the non-humans. It's going to make WW2 -including the atom bombs, Dresden, and Coventry- look like a neighborhood fence dispute. That's what some people here still aren't getting: we either treat this situation fully seriously and put everything we got into seeing it through together, or we're finished.
I'll ask again a question you didn't answer earlier: who exactly would benefit from allowing the population to rise to 10G (or for that matter, 7G)? Who? Exactly who?
Many Global poverty and food organisations state the only thing that causes hardship is the poor distibution of food and resources.
With renewables and fair management of resources the earth can easily maintain the present and possibly future populations.