How Much Time Is Left To Stop Climate Change?

image source: the guardian

We've known for generations now that climate change is a reality. We know the mechanisms involved (greenhouse gases, carbon emissions, ocean acidification and more). But still, capitalism (whose lifeblood is cheap and abundant fossil fuels) continues unabated, utterly indifferent.

Oh sure, the bourgeoisie meet and pontificate with numbers. Gambling addicts, they play with data and statistics, interested in seeing just how close to the razor's edge they can dance the sick ritual of profit, before the planet suffocates. Paris Accord! Kyoto Protocol! Intended International Commitments!

Meanwhile, Trump said "fuck it" and backed out entirely. He could care less. Oh. And fuck rivers, too.

But how long do we have? The Guardian reports a more optimistic scenario of about 12 years. But it needs to be emphasized that these numbers are not objective. They are guess work. The formulations of, ultimately, soothsayers. Pretty spot on sometimes, sure. But soothsayers nonetheless. What I mean is that we are dealing with massive and incredibly complex systems, planetary in scale and multi-faceted in its variables. Climate change isn't something you can just crunch up on a calculator. It's guess work.

And these sociopaths want to take it as 'nature'.

"You say I can party on this knife for how much longer?"

They've got us around the throat, trapped in the sinking ship. "Dance! Be happy! Isn't this great?! Isn't this enough? Keep on going! Keep on working! You want a new TV, right? So work, you prol!"

Truthfully, it could all change. The entire potential of global labor, united in the goal of ensuring the survival of our species in a hospitable environment, could stop this crisis overnight.

But that requires capitalism to end. That would require logical, rational, planned economies. That would require an end to the bourgeois myth of the individual.

The only simple solution here is this: capitalism cannot survive without destroying the climate. Profit requires both wage slavery (the working class) and the abundance of natural resources. Any metabolic consequence to the labor process (waste) cannot be accounted for in the accumulation of profit. It needs to be left to the management of the governments where the labor process occurs. I'm discussing waste and garbage. If all production was taxed, truly and really taxed by this, that would cut so deep in to the bottom line that profit was be compromised. Add to this the entire revamping of all production (e.g. a plastic bottle no longer being plastic, but biodegradable. This requires not just new materials, but new machines. Entire facilities would need to be revamped)

These sociopaths will continue on as the ship sinks. We're strapped in. Either we bring back that mighty guillotine, or we can kiss the planet goodbye.