@breadandcircuses

""I don't want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act."

I think those were her most powerful words.

She was completely correct in this regard. Problem of our time has been people not panicking enough. Especially us all who live in the wealthy, industrialized world.

At this point, change won't come from within the system. At least not at a pace as it'd be required to avoid the worst case scenarios.

And sorry to spoil the party, but anything beyond +2°C will be a devastating, terrible scenario. Maybe not for everyone in the global north, but for most of the global south, it'll probably mean death.

And then some politicians and capitalist puppets blather about the need to simply "adopt" to a world of +3°C...I mean, seriously...

Here, have a very conservative prediction of what the various temperatures could actually mean: https://wwfint.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/backgrounder___comparing_climate_impacts_at_1_5c__2c__3c_4c.pdf (WWF source)

And now consider that these are based on what science knows, not what shocks them like the current warming of the ocean, or other effects scientists cannot clearly explain...happening at +1.2° C

Sometimes when I catch some of what media outlets write or listen to some of our politicians, I feel like I'm surrounded by clowns. /sigh

@tmstreet

Yes, people can help climate change by adjusting their habits. But there's something else we can do on an individual level; something that is far more important.

Band together and change our current system.

We won't solve any #ClimateCrisis or #socialinequality under capitalist rule.

The first step towards getting the necessary, drastic changes started would be for the people to take back control over their lives. We cannot change anything if we don't have full control over things. And we need to change a lot. Really a lot.

The idea that #climatechange will be fixed by people eating less meat and driving less SUVs/trucks sounds nice, but is nothing but capitalist propaganda.

As long as a small group of people is allowed to own such ridiculous amounts of money (power) and assets that they can virtually influence any policymaking, they'll steadily sabotage any attempt to fix things. Out of sheer interest to keep their power.

On top of that, these people also count as the biggest CO² emitters on this planet.

@breadandcircuses

@bouriquet

Capitalism needs energy and technological advancement to fuel its growth. And growth is an elementary part of capitalism. You cannot remove it.

And infinite growth on a finite planet does not work. Period

So even if you switch your entire industry to CO²-free energy, and if we ignore all the resources and nature destruction needed to avail this energy, then the economy would still grow, and we'd continuously need more energy.

Add to this the competitive nature of capitalism, where monopolies are the final form in any market section, and you know that you won't be able to act against the owners of those monopolies. Not within the ruleset, at least.

So you're basically stuck with an ever-growing economy ruled by a few mega corporations which quickly absorb all new technologies while constantly searching for new ways of exploitation in order to get ahead of the other mega corporations. 😞

@tmstreet @breadandcircuses

@TobiWanKenobi @bouriquet @tmstreet @breadandcircuses Incorrect. Growth refers to growth of productivity, which refers to higher output per input. Higher carrying capacity of a resource base.

Criticism of capitalism is fine but degrowth is a democidal ideology.

@ostrich

The right-wing is a product of capitalism, Why? Because this system has produced a huge level of inequality while keeping significant parts of societies dumb. At the same time private-funded media and social media (both belonging to capitalists) spread lies and half truths to make an easy buck and to distract from the true issues of society.

In the first place, you cannot even call these people true right-wingers since it's not like they're acting in the interest of their country. Many of the neo-fascists all over the world are networking and supporting Russia's imperial invasion war. Something which does not make any sense for an American nationalist, now does it?

"You don't have to overthrow the whole system to accomplish it either, you just have to overthrow the right wing."

Because of how the system is set up, that demand has no chance of coming true. The right-wing is backed by powerful capitalists. The only chance for you to "only overthrow the right-wing" would be to get most of the other capitalists on your side. Good luck with that.

Of course, you could dampen the negative effects of the capitalist system by enforcing high and significant carbon taxes, death taxes, wealth taxes, etc. But, did you consider why those things haven't been in place for decades?

We actually have a carbon tax in my country. Take a guess how high it is and then look up how high the tax would need to be in order to actually reflect the damage done by CO² emission, and then consider the consequences of it. I'll spoil you: Your demand for such a tax actually aligns with my demand to destroy the capitalist system.

"Incorrect. Growth refers to growth of productivity, which refers to higher output per input."

Growth refers to total growth. It can mean growth through improved efficiency in production, but it can also mean a simple increase of the output to fulfill demand, or exploitation of new markets, for example. You're just redefining growth to efficiency. The underlying financial system of capitalism needs economical growth, but it doesn't care where it comes from.

@bouriquet @tmstreet @breadandcircuses