[lbo-talk] Global warming 'past the point of no return'

Gar Lipow the.typo.boy at gmail.com
Fri Sep 16 18:35:36 PDT 2005


On 9/16/05, Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu> wrote:
>
>
> Gar Lipow wrote:
> >
> > You want to be careful on this. It ha been known for some time that a
> > feedback mechanism has set in and a great deal of global warming has
> > been locked in. But such cycles are not infinite. It is not
> > neccesarily too late to stop global warming while we still have a
> > fairly decent agricultural capability - if we start soon. The warmer
> > the air temperature the more vapor capability, the more water in the
> > air, the less in liquid form available for human use.
>
> There is no evidence _at all_ that such a start will be made as long as
> capitalism is the dominant world social structure. That is, we have to
> assume that for at least another 50 years the "input" into global
> warming will continue to rise. It is simply beyond the capacity of
> capitalist states to maintain present rates of carbon production, let
> alone reduce those rates.
>
> Carrol
> ___________________________________

I agree that capitalism is the cause. I refuse to be so hopeless as to take the position that we have to await world revolution to make changes in capitalist behavior. World wide the left is weak, not even existing in many changes. I see no reason to believe this is inevitable or unchangable. Get a strong left movement, even one that is not strong enough for revolution, and you can extract all sorts of concessions from capitalism. It has been done before. I don't see much reason for optimism. But I don't believe any of us are all-knowing enough to give up hope either.



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