Too Late?

[Brenda]

Climate change denial and the rise of fascism

by Andrew Glikson

but they can be sure that they won't be recorded for their crimes in history -- because
there won't be any history” (Noam Chomsky, 2023, in a letter to the author)

Extreme planetary heating, the failure of effective mitigation and the rise of denial around the world combine to lead to a seventh mass extinction of species. While originally Global warming constituted an unintended consequence of the 18-20ᵗʰ centuries industrial revolution, the collapse of attempts to arrest it in the 20-21st centuries is already leading toward a mass extinction, but the rise of fascist movements and their neoconservative kins is jeopardizing a unified global approach to the climate crisis. Inherently however racist ideology, worship of power, glorification of war, the pride of killing and “honourable” death is not concerned with the fatal consequences of climate change.

With exceptions governments pretend the introduction of alternative energy ─ solar, wind, hydrothermal, hydro and tide ─ is likely to reduce the mining of and emission from fossil fuels, but this has hardly occurred since 2022. Oblivious to the implications of climate science, the concerns of the powers that be hinge on the bottom line, an attitude echoed by much in the population. False claims abound in high places, as exemplified by the chair of COP-28 conference claiming: “there is ‘no science’ behind demands for phase-out of fossil fuels”.

Everywhere, including Australia, carbon counting hinges on domestic mining and emissions to the exclusion of carbon exports. Thus “Oil, gas, and coal exports are not counted when countries tally their greenhouse gas emissions under the Paris Agreement.”

Global empires east and west have become increasingly brutal. Fascism ─ the ideology of death ─ and its neo-conservative (so-called) followers are not concerned with global warming and its consequences, except where it hurts the profit motive. References to “climate change” by politicians constitute hollow words they hardly mean. There are not too many angels left except where the young like Greta Thunberg rebel.

https://arctic-news.blogspot.com/

[SarahD]

1. A big weakness.

Developing alternative energy is not guaranteed to reduce fossil fuel consumption if we insist on consuming excessively.

[Kaleva]

2. China emits as much greenhouse gases as all the other industrial nations combined

Including the US.

The US could achieve net zero emissions and the. world will still be devastated by climate change. Just a few years later then it currently is .

India is on track to bypass the US, current 2nd place holder.

Not only do emissions have to zeroed out but we have to figure out how to reduce the greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere. Some of which , like CO2, can linger in the atmosphere for hundreds of years.

[Think. Again.]

4. Yep...

....not only do we have to clean up our own act, we have to somehow help as many other nations as we can to clean up theirs.

Maybe it is too late.

[Kaleva]

5. I'm operating under the premise that it is too late

History shows that it's almost impossible for nations or peoples to unite and face a common threat until it reached the point where there is no choice and the threat is undeniable. Like waiting until Hitler invaded Poland before standing up to him

[Think. Again.]

6. I've been trying...

...to stay hopeful that we will actually do what needs to be done, but lately I'm beginning to believe that the window of opportunity is currently closing, or has already closed, and any continued optimism is just denial of the fact that we chose to do nothing.

[walkingman]

3. I think so...too late. 😓

Given the never ending worship of corporate greed at any cost and the fact that religion and science are fundamentally incompatible, there is little hope that our planet can escape this assault on the environment.

Our children should be outraged since there is little they can do about this except try to wake up our ruling class.