Is the coronavirus now encircling the globe Mother Nature’s desperate attempt to stop rampant capitalism from destroying sentient life on the planet? With most of the world’s political leaders still blatantly committed to abetting the reign of terror by the multinational corporations -- and with so many workers dependent on capitalism for their livelihood – … Continue reading There’s a much worse global pandemic than Covid-19: global capitalism
Environment
After Covid-19 passes, our future will depend on whether governments prevent or permit more environmental vandalism by large corporations
Recent photos taken by astronauts in the orbiting space station show an amazing improvement in Earth’s atmosphere. The sharp reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from factories, motor vehicles, ships, planes and fossil fuels reveals a planetary surface whose clarity had been obscured by industrial pollutants. This long-delayed abatement of global warming stems from the Covid-19 … Continue reading After Covid-19 passes, our future will depend on whether governments prevent or permit more environmental vandalism by large corporations
Is Covid-19 Mother Nature’s latest effort to rid herself of the virus of humankind?
Back in the 1970s, chemist James Lovelock, with his associate microbiologist Lynn Marguilis, developed what they called the Gaia hypothesis: the theory that our planet is a sentient organism dedicated to promoting and protecting all forms of life. Gaia is the ancestral name of the primal Earth goddess, whose regulation of all organic components of … Continue reading Is Covid-19 Mother Nature’s latest effort to rid herself of the virus of humankind?
Repeated failure of climate summits portends a bleak future under unchecked capitalism
Delegates to the recent Climate Change Summit in Madrid failed to muster a consensus on future action to curb global warning. Despite extending the meeting an extra day, desperate efforts to reach an accord were stymied by delegates from two of the largest countries: the United States and Australia. It’s no coincidence that both U.S. … Continue reading Repeated failure of climate summits portends a bleak future under unchecked capitalism
Protests against climate change increase, but blame still put on wrong miscreants
Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old environmental activist, made headlines at the recent United Nations climate summit. In a fiery speech, she berated the world’s governments for their persistent failure to curb climate change. “How dare you steal my dreams and my childhood with your empty words?” she demanded. Greta is one of the more prominent young … Continue reading Protests against climate change increase, but blame still put on wrong miscreants
Deliberate deforestation of the Amazon exposes anti-climate capitalism
The outbreak of thousands of fires in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest starkly exposes the refusal of the world’s business and political leaders to take the threat of climate change seriously. For the past 30 years, at successive climate summits, they have piously pledged to curb greenhouse gas emissions, never really intending to make more than … Continue reading Deliberate deforestation of the Amazon exposes anti-climate capitalism
Earth’s inhabitants now stranded in a leaking neoliberal “lifeboat”
For the past 50 years, the world’s most renowned ecologists, climatologists, and other scientists – including more than a hundred Nobel Prize winners – have been imploring corporate and political leaders to curb global warming before it rises to catastrophic levels. “Planet Earth is finite,” they warn. “Its ability to absorb wastes is finite. Its … Continue reading Earth’s inhabitants now stranded in a leaking neoliberal “lifeboat”
Global warming rise is unstoppable while capitalism blocks prevention
The tenacious refusal of the world’s business and political leaders to heed the warnings of climate scientists about global warming raises the stark possibility that it may already be too late. The tipping point beyond which concerted preventive action becomes impracticable is just twelve years away, according to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. … Continue reading Global warming rise is unstoppable while capitalism blocks prevention
Capitalism worst possible economic system for a planet ravaged by global warming
Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates, and men decay. --Oliver Goldsmith. Twenty years ago, I wrote an op-ed in which I described free-market capitalism as “the most unjust and barbaric economic system ever devised, and one that now oppresses and abuses most of the world’s people.” I was scorned … Continue reading Capitalism worst possible economic system for a planet ravaged by global warming
CEOs, politicians no more likely to heed scientists’ latest global warming deadline than they were all their previous alarms
With few exceptions, the world’s economic and political leaders are not long-term thinkers. The CEOs seldom look beyond the next business quarter, the politicians beyond the next election. If they do occasionally peer into the future, it is usually to anticipate the increase of their profits and power. They assume that the reign of global … Continue reading CEOs, politicians no more likely to heed scientists’ latest global warming deadline than they were all their previous alarms
The Nonagenarian's Notebook 