At last Climate Change has been in the news recently thanks to Extinction Rebellion and their protests in London and around the country. For this alone they have my support because for far too long it’s an issue that given the chance by the establishment has been swept under the carpet. Also recently it’s been fantastic to see so many young people taking part in the School Climate Strikes around the world.

There are many issues out there that we have to sort if we are going to change society. But a fundamental one is Climate Change because we literally can’t go on in the direction we are traveling in because eventually it will kill the off the human race. And time is fast running out, the days when we could tinker around at the edges are long gone.

Don’t get me wrong we can all help. There are small steps we can all do. Use our cars less, travel by plane less, plant a tree in the garden for example. But the situation is so critical now it’s going to take more and Governments and big business have got to do a gigantic amount more and they have proven themselves incapable of doing it. Climate Change has been in the news for over 30 years now and nowhere near enough has been done about it. In fact Climate Scientists have suspected it for a lot longer indeed back to the 1950’s and 1960’s. The big Oil companies heard about it in that time but chose to ignore it and indeed spread misinformation about it. This for me is one of the most important points. Just think about this for a moment. The big Oil companies knew about the possibility of Climate Change from at least the 70’s and probably long before that but the only thing they did was try to convince that there was no truth to it. That is the failure of Capitalism in a nutshell because vested interests always come first even before the planet. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/exxon-knew-about-climate-change-almost-40-years-ago/

I say this because it’s the unfettered unregulated Neoliberal Casino Capitalism we have had the last 40 years that has made the problem of Climate Change even worse and made it so difficult in fact  impossible to make the adequate changes we need to help combat it. The urgency of the problem hasn’t been met with the urgency it needs. Because we live in a society where greed and obscene profit are good and everything is looked on in the short term. So specifically the fossil fuel companies and generally Capitalism itself haven’t been able to do the sort of changes necessary because making profit is the number one priority that overrides anything else. The concept of Climate Change itself has been seen as a nuisance in the wheels of finance and big business where making money today is so much more important than what might happen in decades time.

And so unforgivably we have wasted too a large degree the last 30 years. Opportunities have not been took and now it’s obvious to most people there is a problem. And yet we still have Climate deniers and skeptics and they still appear on TV and Radio spouting their rubbish. The most famous of course is the current President of the USA Mr Trump himself but there are others. I liken them to modern day Nero’s because what they are doing is burying their heads in the sand. Of course there’s a very strong reason they chose to ignore the mounting evidence. Because any sort of measure to combat it would interfere with the present system of making vast profits from things that are killing the planet.

This is the crux of why nowhere near enough has been done in the last 30 years. The Climate deniers have spread their lies to delay anything being done so the big global Oil companies can just carry on with business as usual. These people have no conscience or are just so blind they can’t accept what is in front of them. Anything that threatens the current order is ignored and belittled. The Polar caps are melting, the weather around the world is getting more unpredictable and extreme, more floods, more heatwaves and more droughts all having an impact on food production. Not too mention our relentless destruction of the tropical rainforests which are the lungs of the planet and species being killed off every year.

And all for what? More vast profits and new markets and more growth. To me there’s not a greater argument for a different way of doing things, for a new system of living. What we need is Democratic Socialism where people and the planet are put first not excess profit for the few. Where everything is produced for need not profits and where we aren’t all bound by what the big oil companies want. This might all sound like a pipe dream to some but the truth is if we carry on like we are we will end up destroying ourselves. You can’t get more short term than this.
https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change-global-warming-end-human-civilisation-research-a8943531.html?amp&__twitter_impression=true

I’ve always been optimistic that we wouldn’t destroy ourselves. The Human race is very adaptable and basically not self destructive. When people say it’s people who have done the damage I point out yes but it’s the system we are living under that drives the destruction. So now the 1% are so happy with how society works for them they aren’t just going to give it up just like that. That’s the problem we have got not just as a nation but the world and this is where Extinction Rebellion come in and the School Climate Strikes too. Because we are in a environmental crisis, a crisis of the Capitalists making not ordinary people and time is fast running out. That’s why I welcome what they are doing. Some people have been moaning about the disruption they are causing. Well we will get more and more disruption in the coming decades because of Climate Change if we carry on in the manner we are doing.

Now I’m no Scientist but I think when the United Nations warn we have 12 years left to limit Climate Change catastrophe as they did last year we need to take action. But still Governments and big business aren’t treating it as the emergency it is. And the truth is they can’t properly because they are hamstrung by the inherent flaws in Capitalism itself. It cannot raise to the gigantic challenge that is needed to try and limit the damage. The damage it has caused to a massive degree. They haven’t listened to Climate Scientists and they haven’t listened to the people. So we the people are going to have force the change required from below. This is the biggest challenge to face mankind.  And we are being held back by the system we live under not helped. Extinction rebellion and the School Climate Strikes can’t be the end of the protests. Because if we all are to have a future on the planet they have to be just the beginning.