I have to say I spit my coffee across my IPad screen when you wrote something like, ‘Many people do not have a robust understanding of the climate crisis!’ I nearly lost it again just writing that sentence. Gotta love you for being so kind. My statement is, ‘too many people are in Climate Crisis denial, many people are simply immobilized and feel helpless in the face of the climate Crisis… and then we have our fearless leaders who ignore it, deny it, throw paper towels at it, suggest ‘raking the forest floor like the Finn’s and Swede’s and actually are doing all they can to make things worse in a very robust manner, 1) Feed wars across the world, 2) Every day the military dumps tons of exhaust fumes and other crap into the air and the oceans, 3) tell lies about safer ways of producing energy (windmills leave their stands at night and rape white women just like immigrants, 4) destroy nature by, oh, destroying the Gas Pipeline that created the greatest ecological disaster in history (methane), and 5) Find ways to still yank oil and coal out of the ground so that we can destroy even more air and water and land. No robust understanding must be the kindest and most understated comment of all time!!!
My husband just texted me that his coworker said at lunch 'I don't understand why these hurricanes are getting so much bigger and worse" and he had to bite his tongue to keep from responding that maybe she should watch something other than Fox News. (I have heard probably no fewer than 5 different news reports in the past two weeks on EXACTLY why hurricanes, particularly in the Gulf, are growing in severity.)
It has galled me for a long time that recycling is pushed on "consumers" as a required route to saving the planet, when, as you suggest, there are bigger, systemic factors that must be changed, e.g. the packaging industry, to really fix things.
I agree with you, Joshua, and the new vision we need includes both environmental and social justice narratives which, in my view, are intimately linked.
Ideas like a just transition and Green New Deal are excellent and articulate aspirational places to begin.
Come on over to the Green Party. Find your state or local party and help us build. The Democrats refuse to think big and outside, leftward pressure is desperately needed.
Thank you for your writing, your essay is brilliant. Your writing is beautiful and I really enjoyed reading it.
I wish you could have discussed the means we can use to present and built these bigger ideas, because I find it increasingly difficult. Amongst the people in my life that are interested in politics, it is very easy to reach this systemic understanding of the world, but amongst other people I always find myself at a loss of resources : people don’t really want to invest the time into these big ideas, and I think that is partly why conspiracy theories work so well. They fit within a TikTok.
Perpetual war!! In the last year the United States has sponsored, funded, and armed wars throughout the world. Greatest of all Israel. The pollutants from 24/7/365 bombing has upped global warming... & It's still going strong. Now we're planning on going nuclear? Not to mention the years of Ukraine. The US has gone insane planning global strive to steal minerals and other assets... more war. It's not just war alone, it's drill baby drill and fracking... as fuel for war... or to sell to other countries (never Americans, we don't count). Our government and it's capitalist keepers are totally to blame. Thank you Ronald Reagan for opening Pandora's box 🤬
I think there is a historical analogue for carbon footprints if we imagine we are looking back at ourselves from the future (possibly after omnicide occurs). For the average person, their carbon footprint is like the physical footprint of a dinosaur we’ve found in fossils. That dinosaur may have been a bit too hungry relative to the available food, in fact we know some were and their population suffered. Corporations and owners of capital on the other hand… are like the goddamn asteroid which hit earth and led to the EXTINCTION of dinosaurs.
I have to say I spit my coffee across my IPad screen when you wrote something like, ‘Many people do not have a robust understanding of the climate crisis!’ I nearly lost it again just writing that sentence. Gotta love you for being so kind. My statement is, ‘too many people are in Climate Crisis denial, many people are simply immobilized and feel helpless in the face of the climate Crisis… and then we have our fearless leaders who ignore it, deny it, throw paper towels at it, suggest ‘raking the forest floor like the Finn’s and Swede’s and actually are doing all they can to make things worse in a very robust manner, 1) Feed wars across the world, 2) Every day the military dumps tons of exhaust fumes and other crap into the air and the oceans, 3) tell lies about safer ways of producing energy (windmills leave their stands at night and rape white women just like immigrants, 4) destroy nature by, oh, destroying the Gas Pipeline that created the greatest ecological disaster in history (methane), and 5) Find ways to still yank oil and coal out of the ground so that we can destroy even more air and water and land. No robust understanding must be the kindest and most understated comment of all time!!!
My husband just texted me that his coworker said at lunch 'I don't understand why these hurricanes are getting so much bigger and worse" and he had to bite his tongue to keep from responding that maybe she should watch something other than Fox News. (I have heard probably no fewer than 5 different news reports in the past two weeks on EXACTLY why hurricanes, particularly in the Gulf, are growing in severity.)
He should tell them that anyway.
The current crisis we are in now as a clear and easy to understand path on how we got here.
It has galled me for a long time that recycling is pushed on "consumers" as a required route to saving the planet, when, as you suggest, there are bigger, systemic factors that must be changed, e.g. the packaging industry, to really fix things.
Capitalism and settler-colonialism are the root causes of climate change
Yep.
You wrote: "Waffling or supporting fracking while declaring that you take the climate crisis seriously won’t cut it."
Exactly.
Here's my recent post on that subject:
https://kollibri.substack.com/p/the-environment-and-the-election
I agree with you, Joshua, and the new vision we need includes both environmental and social justice narratives which, in my view, are intimately linked.
Ideas like a just transition and Green New Deal are excellent and articulate aspirational places to begin.
Thanks for posting.
Come on over to the Green Party. Find your state or local party and help us build. The Democrats refuse to think big and outside, leftward pressure is desperately needed.
PetroCommunism Now!
And check out my stack if you have never heard of petrocommunism.
Thank you Josh
Would my way of thinking work or would that be filed under “illogical”? https://substack.com/@adamcheklat/note/p-150864383?r=4m50jk&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
Thank you for your writing, your essay is brilliant. Your writing is beautiful and I really enjoyed reading it.
I wish you could have discussed the means we can use to present and built these bigger ideas, because I find it increasingly difficult. Amongst the people in my life that are interested in politics, it is very easy to reach this systemic understanding of the world, but amongst other people I always find myself at a loss of resources : people don’t really want to invest the time into these big ideas, and I think that is partly why conspiracy theories work so well. They fit within a TikTok.
Perpetual war!! In the last year the United States has sponsored, funded, and armed wars throughout the world. Greatest of all Israel. The pollutants from 24/7/365 bombing has upped global warming... & It's still going strong. Now we're planning on going nuclear? Not to mention the years of Ukraine. The US has gone insane planning global strive to steal minerals and other assets... more war. It's not just war alone, it's drill baby drill and fracking... as fuel for war... or to sell to other countries (never Americans, we don't count). Our government and it's capitalist keepers are totally to blame. Thank you Ronald Reagan for opening Pandora's box 🤬
💯 all of this
I think there is a historical analogue for carbon footprints if we imagine we are looking back at ourselves from the future (possibly after omnicide occurs). For the average person, their carbon footprint is like the physical footprint of a dinosaur we’ve found in fossils. That dinosaur may have been a bit too hungry relative to the available food, in fact we know some were and their population suffered. Corporations and owners of capital on the other hand… are like the goddamn asteroid which hit earth and led to the EXTINCTION of dinosaurs.
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