carlos_ariza

Sheril, 10 months ago to climate

It’s okay to feel frustrated, worried, or angry about #ClimateChange.

But then also find ways to contribute toward climate solutions. We all have a role to play.

The science is clear & we know what’s required. We can achieve change. So let’s make it so.

breadandcircuses, 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago) to environment

Geoffrey Deihl, aka Sane Thinker (@gdeihl), carefully analyzes various economic plans to combat climate change, including the Green New Deal, and contrasts them with his preferred option: Degrowth.

This is a fully researched and superbly reasoned article. I'll post a few excerpts below, but I hope you'll read the whole thing.

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Capitalism, particularly neoliberal capitalism and its resulting increased consumption, have pushed the planet to the brink. Nibbling at the edges of the problem is woefully inadequate.

Climate scientists are stunned by the melting Arctic ice sheet, for instance, which is decades ahead of original models. The Antarctic ice sheet is now melting as well. The oceans are currently experiencing an unexpected and shocking temperature rise in a matter of months, not years. Scientists are unsure if this is related to the return of El Niño, or if it could be an entirely new tipping point they were unaware of.

The truth is that without significant, perhaps profound changes to how we live in so-called advanced industrial nations, we’re going to fail to halt global warming at an adequate pace with current efforts, and failure will lead to a crash that none of our sadly popular apocalyptic movies can prepare us for.

We’re in a climate emergency now, the word crisis is no longer appropriate. The strongest possible actions need to be taken as quickly as possible. Delay is death.

We need to dismantle billionaires and accept that we commoners also need to be prepared for changes, as we adjust to living in a gentler way on the planet. We can sacrifice again, as we did during WWII, for an ultimately a better future. We will not save the planet merely by driving electric versions of SUVs that look like the solution in slick advertising spots.

Degrowth recognizes a simple truth. The planet is finite. Infinite growth is an impossibility on a finite world.

Reducing our consumption and ever-growing energy demands is key, if we are to have a future. This is one of the fundamentals the Green New Deal, Build Back Better, and IRA miss. All the batteries in the world will be insufficient if we don’t bring our consumption under control. In addition to building out renewables, we must reduce our energy use. Degrowth recognizes that economic growth without destruction of nature is impossible, and the destruction of nature guarantees our own destruction.

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FULL ARTICLE -- https://geoffreydeihl.substack.com/p/degrowth-the-vision-we-must-demand

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #ClimateJustice #Capitalism #Degrowth