Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumThe fate of the Earth
Climate change, after all, looks to be natures slo-mo version of nuclear war.
Nation of Change
By Tom Engelhardt - January 27, 20206
SOURCETomDispatch
... And although, in the midst of winter, this country isnt burning, we do have something else in common with those Australians: a nation being run by arsonists, by genuine pyromaniacs. After all, earlier in his coal-fired career, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison brought a literal lump of coal into that countrys parliament, soothingly reassuring the other members that this is coal. Dont be afraid. Dont be scared.
In the election he won in 2019 (against a Labor Party promoting action on climate change), he was in big coals back pocket. And like our president, his government has been messing with international attempts to deal with the climate crisis ever since. Again like our president, hes also been an open denier of the very reality of climate change and so one of a crew of right-wing global leaders seemingly intent on setting this planet afire.
... And heres what I began to wonder on this newest version of planet Earth: Are we all in some sense Australians, whether we know it or not? I dont mean that as an empathetic statement of solidarity with the suffering people of that land (though I do feel for them). I mean it as a statement of grim fact. Admittedly, it wont be fire for all of us. For some, it will be rising sea levels, flooding of a never-before-experienced sort, storms or heat waves of a previously unimagined ferocity, and so on.
Still, right now, Australia is our petri dish and unless we get rid of the arsonists who are running too many countries and figure out a way to come together in human time, were likely to enter a world where there will be no fire fighters to save us (or our children and grandchildren). Climate change, after all, looks to be natures slo-mo version of nuclear war.
More here
https://www.nationofchange.org/2020/01/27/the-fate-of-the-earth/
CrispyQ
(36,509 posts)They could do it in one congressional session. But they don't. They deny and obstruct as the planet burns. Tell that to young people who say they won't vote for the democratic nominee if it's not who they want.