Saving Nature and Human Civilization

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Government Inaction on the Climate Emergency

More than 90% of the countries signing the Paris Climate Agreement have failed to meet their target emission reductions. Some countries, notably the U. S., have instead grown their emissions beyond the worst-case predictions.

BLUNDELL

The original goal was to keep global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees celsius (2.7 degrees fahrenheit). However, national actions that would keep warming below 2 degrees celsius (3.6 degrees fahrenheit) were acceptable. Only three countries are on track to do either of these. Most are on the way to increases of 3 or 4 degrees celsius. Scientist fear that these higher increases will wipe out human civilization.

Government Inaction on the Mass Extinction of Wildlife

At the same time global warming is threatening humanity, global wildlife numbers are plummeting. This itself threatens the survival of human civilization even without the compounding effect of global warming. Under threat here is the soil, the foundation of life on Earth. And in the oceans, the delicate chemical and temperature balance that allows abundant marine life to exist.

The Extinction Rebellion

As the majority of the world’s citizens become aware that both climate and extinction are in danger of spiraling out of control, there are growing efforts to direct our governments to take action. Since the time India separated from the British Empire, we have all known that peaceful demonstration and protest can force major changes. The Student Strike, the progressive politics embodied by the Green New Deal, and The Sunrise Movement are starting to have an impact on government policies. It is essential that these groups welcome and endorse the efforts of the Extinction Rebellion. It is essential that all of us take part in local demonstrations sponsored by these and other groups concerned with avoiding extinction.

 

Photo: Rupert Read

Here are the basic demands of the Extinction Rebellion. I expect these will be expanded in the months ahead:

WE DEMAND:

These demands only represent XR US. They are still in the process of development.

  1. That the Government must tell the truth about the climate and wider ecological emergency, it must reverse all policies not in alignment with that position and must work alongside the media to communicate the urgency for change including what individuals, communities and businesses need to do.

  2. The Government must enact legally-binding policies to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2025 and take further action to remove the excess of atmospheric greenhouse gases. It must cooperate internationally so that the global economy runs on no more than half a planet’s worth of resources per year.

  3. We do not trust our Government to make the bold, swift and long-term changes necessary to achieve these changes and we do not intend to hand further power to our politicians. Instead we demand a Citizens’ Assembly to oversee the changes, as we rise from the wreckage, creating a democracy fit for purpose.

  4. We demand a just transition that prioritizes the most vulnerable people and indigenous sovereignty; establishes reparations and remediation led by and for Black people, Indigenous people, people of color and poor communities for years of environmental injustice, establishes legal rights for ecosystems to thrive and regenerate in perpetuity, and repairs the effects of ongoing ecocide to prevent extinction of human and all species, in order to maintain a livable, just planet for all.

The first U. S. XR (Extinction Rebellion) events begin tomorrow.

5 thoughts on “Saving Nature and Human Civilization”

  2. I agree with most of what you say, but I know there is some genuine humanity out there. Unfortunately true that it is overmatched by the Bigs.

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  3. Well, you seem like a decent dude, so you should try to improve things however you want, and don’t let any of us nihilists rain on your parade.
    However, the degree of naivete here issued by the Occupado-lite Extinction Rebellion spokesnobody is just sad. Protests mean nothing unless they produce action on their demands, and this a recipe for absolutely nothing but an arrest record, overtime pay for the cops and jailers, and mockery from the fascists.
    “The Student Strike, the progressive politics embodied by the Green New Deal, and The Sunrise Movement are starting to have an impact on government policies” – such touching faith in the listening capacities and genuine humanity on the part of our big oil, big tech,big religion.big military, big finance, big academia, big
    pharma, and big fossil fuel websites like WordPress overlords!

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Earth could become as lifeless as Mars. Perhaps we can act in time to improve chances for a few habitats and creatures to survive. That’s why the protest movements are so important.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. The Paris climate accord was meaningless when it was drafted… Likewise, the people who claim ‘membership’ in “Extinction Rebellion” are also meaningless; absolutely powerless over the climate changing. It doesn’t matter anymore what any person or group of people do. Humanity could cease all greenhouse gas emissions today, and the atmosphere will keep right on heating up.

    The Earth is a “runaway warming” period now. “We”, humanity waited too long to take any meaningful actions, our atmosphere has gone past “the tipping point”. There are multiple feedback loops now ongoing that will soon result in the end of Human civilization. The Human race will get to observe all of the life people are dependent upon die off, before the Human race fails completely and goes extinct…

    In the past 18 months the Arctic ocean has been emitting millions of pounds of Methane per day, every single day… This is in addition to the massive amounts of Methane being produced by the decomposing ‘permafrost’; huge areas of which have thawed out now and are no longer re~freezing in winter.

    Methane being approximately 35 times more efficient than CO2 at trapping the suns heat energy; averaged over 100 years. Methane is about 100 times more effective than Carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the first 10 years; all else being equal.

    This springs wet weather and flooding farm lands are a sign, of the beginning of the end for large scale agriculture. The Arctic has heated up drastically as a result of the massive increase in atmospheric Methane. Warmer air can hold a lot more water vapor and “heat energy”, and to put it simply? The Arctic is where our weather gets “loaded up”. 2019 will likely be 4 to 6 degrees warmer on average.

    2020 will double that… 2021 will most likely prove fatal to most agricultural crops and livestock, as the average air temperatures will be above what most life can live in or adapt to… No plants or animals have evolved to live within the temperatures that will soon be the average on Earth. The geochemistry is well understood. “For every Action, there is an equal, but opposite reaction.” Sir Isaac Newtons 3rd. Law of motion is a fact of life. Physics doesn’t lie, and the natural laws of “cause and effect” are always correct.

    Autistic me won’t mind watching the “fall of the American empire”, and Americans dying wholesale. I’ll be thinking that they deserve to die, most Americans. They chose to live as they did, selfish and self centered. Fear based and ignorant in the extreme, most people have always proved themselves to be.

    Autistic me always hated dealing with “other people”.. The “Normies”. The majority incapable of critical thinking and delusional.

    Liked by 1 person

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