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It is a parody of democracy that allows such irresponsible and corrupt gluttons to make globally important decisions. (Photo: Shutterstock)
A sophisticated greenwashing industry has been evolving over the last few decades to not just mask the environmental destruction of corporations while passing the blame on to consumers, but to also present the climate crisis as a neutral and natural disaster that is disconnected from a system of inequality. In fact, climate change is a crime being perpetrated against us.
Intimately intertwined with resource plundering by Western transnationals against poor countries, and with economic injustice - the climate crisis demonstrates that those who are running the world should not be. The scalping of forests, the distortion of the oceans, and the humiliating lack of clean air and water are the results of choices made by CEOs and their political lackeys.
Coca Cola, for example, has decided to use 1 million liters of water per day in their Chiapas, Mexico plant to produce that morbid beverage, while leaving locals without water. Pepsi Co, Nestle, and Coca Cola are responsible for their product packaging and for polluting the oceans with plastic. Halliburton was guilty over the giant oil spill in the gulf of Mexico and chose to profit from mass murder and make $39 billion from the Iraq War.
The CEOs making these calculated decisions are hubristic parasites with a fallacy fetish who treat wealth as a game, declaring themselves winners when they have more zeros than whole countries while treading all over our magical habitat in their race for wealth.
The CEOs making these calculated decisions are hubristic parasites with a fallacy fetish who treat wealth as a game, declaring themselves winners when they have more zeros than whole countries while treading all over our magical habitat in their race for wealth. They are selfish, Dunning-Kruger spoon-fed elitists who are so white and male and wealthy that they aren't touched by the problems they create. They are songless vessels who are not capable of making the best decisions for humanity and the planet.
But they aren't incompetent because they aren't intelligent. Rather, they aren't qualified to make these decisions because they do not have desire nor life or educational experience to plan resource use for the benefit of everyone.
It is a parody of democracy that allows such irresponsible and corrupt gluttons to make globally important decisions. The current global system is putting the worst people in charge, and that is the reason why we have climate problems.
We have become accustomed to the fact most of the world does not get to live in dignified housing and that most of us don't have time for a meaningful and creative life. We are shamefully nonchalant at the fact that 46% of the world's population lives on less than $5.50 a day because we've been led to believe that the world is naturally unjust. We've been taught that the planet plunderers, the colonizers and mining corporations that loot whole continents of their natural resources then laugh at the poverty wreckage they leave behind are heroes.
This climate crisis is slowly wrenching us out of such stagnant, suffocating apathy and giving us a deadline.
Punishing the criminals
Most people have seen by now that 100 companies are responsible for 71% of CO2 emissions. If there actually were mechanisms for holding the worst global criminals accountable, I would take those and other companies to court, and charge them with mass crimes against humanity and the planet.
But, while there are in fact some such court cases - for example against oil companies for the impact of rising sea levels and against the US government for failing to protect children against climate change - we all know that these won't go far. And that coal power and the overall ransacking of the planet is legal.
There is no democracy when you can't do anything about the companies polluting your rivers and air. The unbridled power of the big corporations is despotic.
That is what is standing in the way of positive change. Because the resource and intelligence are there. We have machine learning, biometrics, digital twin modeling, the Unreal Engine (photo realistic gaming) and we waste brain resources on developing things like the TASER shockwave systems - so we are capable of solving climate change. It is totally feasible to replace coal power with solar, to build functioning public transport systems, and to make basic healthcare mainstream before we make FitBits and hydration trackers mainstream. Ending state subsidies for fossil fuels - $5.3 trillion globally - would free up funds for a complete transition to renewable energy.
Only the songless vessels stand in our way.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
A sophisticated greenwashing industry has been evolving over the last few decades to not just mask the environmental destruction of corporations while passing the blame on to consumers, but to also present the climate crisis as a neutral and natural disaster that is disconnected from a system of inequality. In fact, climate change is a crime being perpetrated against us.
Intimately intertwined with resource plundering by Western transnationals against poor countries, and with economic injustice - the climate crisis demonstrates that those who are running the world should not be. The scalping of forests, the distortion of the oceans, and the humiliating lack of clean air and water are the results of choices made by CEOs and their political lackeys.
Coca Cola, for example, has decided to use 1 million liters of water per day in their Chiapas, Mexico plant to produce that morbid beverage, while leaving locals without water. Pepsi Co, Nestle, and Coca Cola are responsible for their product packaging and for polluting the oceans with plastic. Halliburton was guilty over the giant oil spill in the gulf of Mexico and chose to profit from mass murder and make $39 billion from the Iraq War.
The CEOs making these calculated decisions are hubristic parasites with a fallacy fetish who treat wealth as a game, declaring themselves winners when they have more zeros than whole countries while treading all over our magical habitat in their race for wealth.
The CEOs making these calculated decisions are hubristic parasites with a fallacy fetish who treat wealth as a game, declaring themselves winners when they have more zeros than whole countries while treading all over our magical habitat in their race for wealth. They are selfish, Dunning-Kruger spoon-fed elitists who are so white and male and wealthy that they aren't touched by the problems they create. They are songless vessels who are not capable of making the best decisions for humanity and the planet.
But they aren't incompetent because they aren't intelligent. Rather, they aren't qualified to make these decisions because they do not have desire nor life or educational experience to plan resource use for the benefit of everyone.
It is a parody of democracy that allows such irresponsible and corrupt gluttons to make globally important decisions. The current global system is putting the worst people in charge, and that is the reason why we have climate problems.
We have become accustomed to the fact most of the world does not get to live in dignified housing and that most of us don't have time for a meaningful and creative life. We are shamefully nonchalant at the fact that 46% of the world's population lives on less than $5.50 a day because we've been led to believe that the world is naturally unjust. We've been taught that the planet plunderers, the colonizers and mining corporations that loot whole continents of their natural resources then laugh at the poverty wreckage they leave behind are heroes.
This climate crisis is slowly wrenching us out of such stagnant, suffocating apathy and giving us a deadline.
Punishing the criminals
Most people have seen by now that 100 companies are responsible for 71% of CO2 emissions. If there actually were mechanisms for holding the worst global criminals accountable, I would take those and other companies to court, and charge them with mass crimes against humanity and the planet.
But, while there are in fact some such court cases - for example against oil companies for the impact of rising sea levels and against the US government for failing to protect children against climate change - we all know that these won't go far. And that coal power and the overall ransacking of the planet is legal.
There is no democracy when you can't do anything about the companies polluting your rivers and air. The unbridled power of the big corporations is despotic.
That is what is standing in the way of positive change. Because the resource and intelligence are there. We have machine learning, biometrics, digital twin modeling, the Unreal Engine (photo realistic gaming) and we waste brain resources on developing things like the TASER shockwave systems - so we are capable of solving climate change. It is totally feasible to replace coal power with solar, to build functioning public transport systems, and to make basic healthcare mainstream before we make FitBits and hydration trackers mainstream. Ending state subsidies for fossil fuels - $5.3 trillion globally - would free up funds for a complete transition to renewable energy.
Only the songless vessels stand in our way.
A sophisticated greenwashing industry has been evolving over the last few decades to not just mask the environmental destruction of corporations while passing the blame on to consumers, but to also present the climate crisis as a neutral and natural disaster that is disconnected from a system of inequality. In fact, climate change is a crime being perpetrated against us.
Intimately intertwined with resource plundering by Western transnationals against poor countries, and with economic injustice - the climate crisis demonstrates that those who are running the world should not be. The scalping of forests, the distortion of the oceans, and the humiliating lack of clean air and water are the results of choices made by CEOs and their political lackeys.
Coca Cola, for example, has decided to use 1 million liters of water per day in their Chiapas, Mexico plant to produce that morbid beverage, while leaving locals without water. Pepsi Co, Nestle, and Coca Cola are responsible for their product packaging and for polluting the oceans with plastic. Halliburton was guilty over the giant oil spill in the gulf of Mexico and chose to profit from mass murder and make $39 billion from the Iraq War.
The CEOs making these calculated decisions are hubristic parasites with a fallacy fetish who treat wealth as a game, declaring themselves winners when they have more zeros than whole countries while treading all over our magical habitat in their race for wealth.
The CEOs making these calculated decisions are hubristic parasites with a fallacy fetish who treat wealth as a game, declaring themselves winners when they have more zeros than whole countries while treading all over our magical habitat in their race for wealth. They are selfish, Dunning-Kruger spoon-fed elitists who are so white and male and wealthy that they aren't touched by the problems they create. They are songless vessels who are not capable of making the best decisions for humanity and the planet.
But they aren't incompetent because they aren't intelligent. Rather, they aren't qualified to make these decisions because they do not have desire nor life or educational experience to plan resource use for the benefit of everyone.
It is a parody of democracy that allows such irresponsible and corrupt gluttons to make globally important decisions. The current global system is putting the worst people in charge, and that is the reason why we have climate problems.
We have become accustomed to the fact most of the world does not get to live in dignified housing and that most of us don't have time for a meaningful and creative life. We are shamefully nonchalant at the fact that 46% of the world's population lives on less than $5.50 a day because we've been led to believe that the world is naturally unjust. We've been taught that the planet plunderers, the colonizers and mining corporations that loot whole continents of their natural resources then laugh at the poverty wreckage they leave behind are heroes.
This climate crisis is slowly wrenching us out of such stagnant, suffocating apathy and giving us a deadline.
Punishing the criminals
Most people have seen by now that 100 companies are responsible for 71% of CO2 emissions. If there actually were mechanisms for holding the worst global criminals accountable, I would take those and other companies to court, and charge them with mass crimes against humanity and the planet.
But, while there are in fact some such court cases - for example against oil companies for the impact of rising sea levels and against the US government for failing to protect children against climate change - we all know that these won't go far. And that coal power and the overall ransacking of the planet is legal.
There is no democracy when you can't do anything about the companies polluting your rivers and air. The unbridled power of the big corporations is despotic.
That is what is standing in the way of positive change. Because the resource and intelligence are there. We have machine learning, biometrics, digital twin modeling, the Unreal Engine (photo realistic gaming) and we waste brain resources on developing things like the TASER shockwave systems - so we are capable of solving climate change. It is totally feasible to replace coal power with solar, to build functioning public transport systems, and to make basic healthcare mainstream before we make FitBits and hydration trackers mainstream. Ending state subsidies for fossil fuels - $5.3 trillion globally - would free up funds for a complete transition to renewable energy.
Only the songless vessels stand in our way.