Mastodawn

Bread and Circuses

Don't blame people. Don't blame the whole world. Blame those who actually deserve it.

Blame the leaders of business and government in the world's richest nations. They are the ones actively destroying our climate and environment.
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Four wealthy nations — the United States, Canada, Norway, and Australia — account for the majority of planned oil and gas expansion over the next decade, according to new data published by Oil Change International.

The analysis, titled 'Planet Wreckers', notes that if those four Global North nations stopped their planned oil and gas extraction, 32 billion tons of carbon pollution would stay in the ground instead of being burned and released into the atmosphere where they fuel planetary heating. That's the equivalent of three times the annual global emissions created by burning coal.

"A handful of the world's richest nations remain intent on leading us into disaster. This is not just hypocrisy. It is a death sentence for communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis," Oil Change International's Romain Ioualalen said in a statement.

"It is sickening that countries with the highest incomes and outsized historical responsibility for causing the climate crisis are planning massive oil and gas expansion with no regard for the lives and livelihoods at stake," Ioualalen added.
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➡️ https://www.commondreams.org/news/oil-change-report-planet-wreckers

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual

Green Roc Thoughts 6d ago

@breadandcircuses We could have had free energy but someone got in Nikola Tesla''s way.

Andy Wootton 6d ago

@breadandcircuses Blame Reform in the UK. They are campaigning to re-open coal mines that were closed for very good reasons. Filth is free. Microsoft are building data centres in the sea, for AI we don't need to warm that up instead of paying for solar cooling.

Andrew 🏳️‍🌈 💻 🧦6d ago

@breadandcircuses Since those four nations are democracies, we can blame the people of those nations, as they have the ability to change their governments policies, but choose not to.

@amca In democracy the final result is always a compromise. You need a sole ruler to accomplish anything, but [...] We all know that a sole ruler is much worse than a democracy and the result will certainly not please you. Look around at all the sole rulers and you will find your answer.

Andrew 🏳️‍🌈 💻 🧦6d ago

@fenixmaster But how much of a compromise it is depends on how popular the issue is. If the popularity is close to 50/50 for/against climate change action, then, yes, there would have to be huge (possibly ineffective) compromise. But if 90% of the population is behind it, and basically willing to strike the nation to achieve every single item of climate action they want, then no compromise is necessary. The percentage for might not even need to be anywhere that high to achieve uncompromised climate action.

@amca In my country the climate change is popular at the left side of the political spectrum and most the the middle and right/far right are against and they want to let the oil burn, burn burn. Most of the ruling parties where right and middle, so democracy is nice but the issues are strongly linked to parties. I wish it was as easy as you write it down. Right and far right are popular in this era. Only people wit a conscience vote left (social).

Andrew 🏳️‍🌈 💻 🧦6d ago

@fenixmaster It's the same here in Australia. Too many (most?) people don't really want the consequences of climate action, they want the status quo to maintain their lifestyles, and fuck the future generations.

Andrew 🏳️‍🌈 💻 🧦6d ago

@fenixmaster My preference, blue sky dreaming, is that countries, in proportion to the per capita total carbon pollution, would voluntarily (perhaps with incentives) reduce their population. With less carbon polluting lifestyles, there is less global warming, and less environmental pollution of all types, so that more people in the world can have a better lifestyle (although probably not as good as a top developed nation lifestyle). But that's as unrealistic as wishing significantly more people cared more about climate action. 🤷🏻‍♂️

QwikStop Haderach 6d ago

@breadandcircuses sorry it’s a death sentence for all oxygen based life on the planet. 5 degrees and oceanic plankton and similar organisms, which provides 50% of the oxygen for the planet, die. It’s not just losing nice coastlines and limited communities, as horrific as that is.

firstprimate 6d ago

@breadandcircuses

Jonathan Schofield 6d ago

@firstprimate horribly perfect

Roy Brander🇨🇦6d ago

@breadandcircuses

Actually, I DO blame a whole world of people buying cars, and buying homes with gas furnaces in them, and taking transcontinental vacations.

Without them, the "plotters" would have no market to pay for their plots.

millennial falcon 6d ago

@RoyBrander @breadandcircuses quite right. it is a shared and complex responsibility. leverage must be applied in many places simultaneously to shift this one. targetting one thing or another has not been working.

Phogna Bologna 5d ago

@falcennial @RoyBrander @breadandcircuses at the same time, it's hard to blame the huge majority of people that are lower income families who have to buy used gas cars and rent houses they can't retrofit.

Roy Brander🇨🇦5d ago

@bransonturner @falcennial @breadandcircuses

The whole complaint is about consumption; poor people are more likely to be on public transit, and in multi-family housing that's inherently more heat-efficient, if they're so poor.

But the bottom 50% of the income distribution is basically excused from the complaint anyway: the upper 50% do about 80% of the carbon.

(I live in a city packed with big SUVs with one occupant.)

an actual bus 5d ago

@RoyBrander @breadandcircuses Damn straight. We *all* have a duty to resist being part of this machine as much as we can.

Ravensrod 🫖 🍰6d ago

@breadandcircuses
I still blame thatcher 🤬

Queen of Teacups 6d ago

@ravensrod @breadandcircuses Yes. She was the trial run.

Ravensrod 🫖 🍰6d ago

@JMacfie @breadandcircuses
And that crap b movie actor, when the republicans decided to see if the US electorate were gullible enough to vote for moron

Queen of Teacups 6d ago

@ravensrod @breadandcircuses So true. So tragic, also.

Doug 🌈🇨🇦

@ravensrod @breadandcircuses and she's still dead.

Dahmonium 6d ago

@breadandcircuses Who else do you think is preventing the Palestinians especially Gazans, from exploiting their recently found marine gas field? And preventing the Libanese from exploiting their recently found marine gas field? It's not only about worsening climate changes, which affect the weakest of the world. It's also about keeping them poor. Keeping them under and left behind.

Jacob Urlich 🌍6d ago

@breadandcircuses They trade to live the same as all of us, try to blame a trade and make it obsolete! They are the same as you, and you would do the same- look at the origin of the problems! Listen to open minded people: theguardian.com/environment/20…

How many trade-free products and services are available for THEM? None!

World faces new danger of ‘economic denial’ in climate fight, Cop30 head says

Exclusive: André Corrêa do Lago says ‘answers have to come from the economy’ as climate policies trigger populist-fuelled backlash

The Guardian

Bargearse 6d ago

@breadandcircuses

As one example, I just watched the recent Australian election, some 88% of Australian voters deliberately chose climate deniers as their elected representatives. I find it difficult to articulate what sort of greedy, self absorbed, stupid thinking leads to people doing that but Australia got a taste of what the results of that will be going foward when not long after when a climate change enhanced flood hit Taree, a true "Leopards Ate my Face" moment

Now, if the voter isn't held responsible then how can the CEO of Exxon etal be?

At some stage you'll have to ackowledge this deliberate malfeasance by voters and then hold them vicariously liable for their choices.

@breadandcircuses I'm norwegian, living in the north. We've been brainwashed from a young age that "oil built this great welfare state, and we've gotta keep drilling to sustain ourselves".

It's a toxic half-truth. Oil brought riches yes, but our strong democratic institutions courtesy of the workers movement as well as civic society, is what ensured the riches were actually put to use for the sake of people.

We don't need to pump up another litre of oil or gas to stay rich, the profits from our sovereign wealth fund (although problematic by skimming off of others' hard work, investing in Israel and disregarding human rights) already cover 1/3 of our national budget. Bar societal collapse, which gets increasingly likely with every additional kg of co2e in the atmosphere, we'll keep raking in undeserved dough forever, enough to cover 1/3 of our natonal budget; even without pumping up more oil/gas or putting any more money into the fund.

Just Stop Oil

AbortedOrange 5d ago

@papiris @breadandcircuses man when I hear norwegians say "we can't stop with oil, that's all we have" it's the saddest and most infuriating thing ever.
Like, do you genuinely believe that you, your family, your friends, and every other person you share this country with, plus the country itself, is worth so little and has so little options?
Norway has the riches and political stability to do basically everything, stopping with oil instead of blaming other polluters should be a no-brainer

AbortedOrange 5d ago

@papiris @breadandcircuses

The actual XR Norway campaign is something worth keeping an eye on rn:
https://social.rebellion.global/@XR_Norway/114693202724652310

Extinction Rebellion Norway (@XR_Norway@social.rebellion.global)

Attached: 1 video Join the climate movement from Europe and beyond this August for the biggest action against Norwegian Oil. Ever. 🔥🌎 Together we demand that Europe’s biggest fossil fuel producer PHASE OUT NOW‼️🛢️ 🔗 Go to the links in XR Norway’s bio to register/sign up for an intro call. #extinctionrebellion #climatechange #fossil fuel #phaseout

Mastodon

@papiris @breadandcircuses Alaska could have done this instead of lining pockets to buy votes. Now the gov. is locked into increasing resource extraction to keep up appearances, while the pipeline is threatening to sink into the melting permafrost. Coulda, shoulda, wouldn’t.

hallunke23 🇺🇦

Wasn't Norway the country which mandated that all new cars must be electric?

@papiris @breadandcircuses

@hallunke23 @breadandcircuses Yes, quite successfully so. I think it was 15 years or so ago, we enacted some laws which provided tons of benefits to electric cars (reduced road tax, exempt from road toll, access to bus and taxi lanes, reduced sales tax, reduced parking fees). Those benefits are gradually being rolled back as the electric + hybrid share of new car sales have reached ~93%. Electric-only is about 70%. [1]

Of about 3 million cars currently registered in Norway, about 800k of them are fully electric and another 260k are hybrids. [2]

[1] https://kommunikasjon.ntb.no/pressemelding/18548429/kampanjer-driver-nybilsalget-opp?publisherId=17848801&lang=no

[2] https://www.ssb.no/transport-og-reiseliv/landtransport/statistikk/bilparken

Kampanjer driver nybilsalget opp | Opplysningsrådet for veitrafikken (OFV)

Svært mange hentet ut sin nye bil i mai. Det ble registrert 14 260 nye personbiler, og det er hele 39,1 prosent flere enn i mai i fjor. Så langt i år har 57 142 nye personbiler fått skilter på, og det er 30,6 prosent flere enn i samme periode i 2024.

@papiris @breadandcircuses
You're absolutely right, and what's more you don't have to look far for the counterfactual that proves your point.
Just across the North sea here in the UK, we frittered away the income on tax breaks for the rich. Now we have a strikingly unequal society and UN investigations into the way we treat our most vulnerable.

Merciless Ming 5d ago

@breadandcircuses Would you sell your children down river if you could assure yourself a life of luxury? That's called being a success in the US.