[geo] Occupy Wall Street Goes After Geoengineering
Hi everyone, Whatever your views, it was only a matter of time ... (John Bellamy Foster is editor of the socialist Monthly Review) http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/foster291011.html Capitalism and Environmental Catastrophe by John Bellamy Foster John Bellamy Foster and Fred Magdoff at Occupy Wall Street. Photo by Carrie Ann Naumoff This is a reconstruction from notes of a talk delivered at a teach-in on The Capitalist Crisis and the Environment organized by the Education and Empowerment Working Group, Occupy Wall Street, Zuccotti Park (Liberty Plaza), New York, October 23, 2011. It was based on a talk delivered the night before at the Brecht Forum. Fred Magdoff also spoke on both occasions. The Occupy Wall Street movement arose in response to the economic crisis of capitalism, and the way in which the costs of this were imposed on the 99 percent rather than the 1 percent. But the highest expression of the capitalist threat, as Naomi Klein has said, is its destruction of the planetary environment. So it is imperative that we critique that as well.1 I would like to start by pointing to the seriousness of our current environmental problem and then turn to the question of how this relates to capitalism. Only then will we be in a position to talk realistically about what we need to do to stave off or lessen catastrophe. How bad is the environmental crisis? You have all heard about the dangers of climate change due to the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere -- trapping more heat on earth. You are undoubtedly aware that global warming threatens the very future of the humanity, along with the existence of innumerable other species. Indeed, James Hansen, the leading climatologist in this country, has gone so far as to say this may be our last chance to save humanity.2 But climate change is only part of the overall environmental problem. Scientists, led by the Stockholm Resilience Centre, have recently indicated that we have crossed, or are near to crossing, nine planetary boundaries (defined in terms of sustaining the environmental conditions of the Holocene epoch in which civilization developed over the last 12,000 years): climate change, species extinction, the disruption of the nitrogen-phosphorus cycles, ocean acidification, ozone depletion, freshwater usage, land cover change, (less certainly) aerosol loading, and chemical use. Each of these rifts in planetary boundaries constitutes an actual or potential global ecological catastrophe. Indeed, in three cases -- climate change, species extinction, and the disruption of the nitrogen cycle -- we have already crossed planetary boundaries and are currently experiencing catastrophic effects. We are now in the period of what scientists call the sixth extinction, the greatest mass extinction in 65 million years, since the time of the dinosaurs; only this time the mass extinction arises from the actions of one particular species -- human beings. Our disruption of the nitrogen cycle is a major factor in the growth of dead zones in coastal waters. Ocean acidification is often called the evil twin of climate change, since it too arises from carbon dioxide emissions, and by negatively impacting the oceans it threatens planetary disruption on an equal (perhaps even greater) scale. The decreased availability of freshwater globally is emerging as an environmental crisis of horrendous proportions.3 All of this may seem completely overwhelming. How are we to cope with all of these global ecological crises/catastrophes, threatening us at every turn? Here it is important to grasp that all of these rifts in the planetary system derive from processes associated with our global production system, namely capitalism. If we are prepared to carry out a radical transformation of our system of production -- to move away from business as usual -- then there is still time to turn things around; though the remaining time in which to act is rapidly running out. Let's talk about climate change, remembering that this is only one part of the global environmental crisis, though certainly the most urgent at present. Climate science currently suggests that if we burn only half of the world's proven, economically accessible reserves of oil, gas, and coal, the resulting carbon emissions will almost certainly raise global temperatures by 2° C (3.6° F), bringing us to what is increasingly regarded as an irreversible tipping point -- after which it appears impossible to return to the preindustrial (Holocene) climate that nourished human civilization. At that point various irrevocable changes (such as the melting of Arctic sea ice and the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica, and the release of methane from the tundra) will become unstoppable. This will speed up climate change, while also accelerating vast, catastrophic effects, such as rising sea levels and extreme weather. Alternatively, if our object is the rational one of
Re: [geo] Occupy Wall Street Goes After Geoengineering
- Original Message - From: Josh Horton [mailto:joshuahorton...@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, October 31, 2011 03:20 PM To: geoengineering geoengineering@googlegroups.com Subject: [geo] Occupy Wall Street Goes After Geoengineering Hi everyone, Whatever your views, it was only a matter of time ... (John Bellamy Foster is editor of the socialist Monthly Review) http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/foster291011.html Capitalism and Environmental Catastrophe by John Bellamy Foster John Bellamy Foster and Fred Magdoff at Occupy Wall Street. Photo by Carrie Ann Naumoff This is a reconstruction from notes of a talk delivered at a teach-in on The Capitalist Crisis and the Environment organized by the Education and Empowerment Working Group, Occupy Wall Street, Zuccotti Park (Liberty Plaza), New York, October 23, 2011. It was based on a talk delivered the night before at the Brecht Forum. Fred Magdoff also spoke on both occasions. The Occupy Wall Street movement arose in response to the economic crisis of capitalism, and the way in which the costs of this were imposed on the 99 percent rather than the 1 percent. But the highest expression of the capitalist threat, as Naomi Klein has said, is its destruction of the planetary environment. So it is imperative that we critique that as well.1 I would like to start by pointing to the seriousness of our current environmental problem and then turn to the question of how this relates to capitalism. Only then will we be in a position to talk realistically about what we need to do to stave off or lessen catastrophe. How bad is the environmental crisis? You have all heard about the dangers of climate change due to the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere -- trapping more heat on earth. You are undoubtedly aware that global warming threatens the very future of the humanity, along with the existence of innumerable other species. Indeed, James Hansen, the leading climatologist in this country, has gone so far as to say this may be our last chance to save humanity.2 But climate change is only part of the overall environmental problem. Scientists, led by the Stockholm Resilience Centre, have recently indicated that we have crossed, or are near to crossing, nine planetary boundaries (defined in terms of sustaining the environmental conditions of the Holocene epoch in which civilization developed over the last 12,000 years): climate change, species extinction, the disruption of the nitrogen-phosphorus cycles, ocean acidification, ozone depletion, freshwater usage, land cover change, (less certainly) aerosol loading, and chemical use. Each of these rifts in planetary boundaries constitutes an actual or potential global ecological catastrophe. Indeed, in three cases -- climate change, species extinction, and the disruption of the nitrogen cycle -- we have already crossed planetary boundaries and are currently experiencing catastrophic effects. We are now in the period of what scientists call the sixth extinction, the greatest mass extinction in 65 million years, since the time of the dinosaurs; only this time the mass extinction arises from the actions of one particular species -- human beings. Our disruption of the nitrogen cycle is a major factor in the growth of dead zones in coastal waters. Ocean acidification is often called the evil twin of climate change, since it too arises from carbon dioxide emissions, and by negatively impacting the oceans it threatens planetary disruption on an equal (perhaps even greater) scale. The decreased availability of freshwater globally is emerging as an environmental crisis of horrendous proportions.3 All of this may seem completely overwhelming. How are we to cope with all of these global ecological crises/catastrophes, threatening us at every turn? Here it is important to grasp that all of these rifts in the planetary system derive from processes associated with our global production system, namely capitalism. If we are prepared to carry out a radical transformation of our system of production -- to move away from business as usual -- then there is still time to turn things around; though the remaining time in which to act is rapidly running out. Let's talk about climate change, remembering that this is only one part of the global environmental crisis, though certainly the most urgent at present. Climate science currently suggests that if we burn only half of the world's proven, economically accessible reserves of oil, gas, and coal, the resulting carbon emissions will almost certainly raise global temperatures by 2° C (3.6° F), bringing us to what is increasingly regarded as an irreversible tipping point -- after which it appears impossible to return to the preindustrial (Holocene) climate that nourished human civilization. At that point various irrevocable changes (such as the melting of Arctic sea ice and the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica, and the release
