It's not active choice but passive acquiescence for the majority of the people in the world, but the top 30-40% in the North and the top 20% in the South, the classes and strata whose words and deeds shape politics as usual, it's far more than mere acquiescence, for they actively seek to prevent the rise of any alternative, though most of them are not fully conscious of what they are doing either.
In any case, as far as climate change* is concerned, it is too late to reverse or even slow it down, for politics as usual stands in the way of any change.
BTW, I wrote that "[o]ther things being equal, choosing capitalism (beyond the peak of Fordist industrial development) usually means suffering more inequality and more insecurity for the sake of higher productivity and faster economic development, and choosing socialism usually means enjoying less inequality and less insecurity at the cost of lower productivity and slower economic development"; but I meant to say, "Other things being equal, choosing capitalism usually means suffering more inequality and more insecurity for the sake of higher productivity and faster economic development, and choosing socialism (beyond the peak of Fordist industrial development) usually means enjoying less inequality and less insecurity at the cost of lower productivity and slower economic development." The main point here is to understand the trade off: either way, you can't have it all.
* <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/03/science/03climate.html> March 3, 2007 U.S. Predicting Steady Increase for Emissions By ANDREW C. REVKIN
The Bush administration estimates that emissions by the United States of gases that contribute to global warming will grow nearly as fast through the next decade as they did the previous decade, according to a long-delayed report [the United States Climate Action Report] being completed for the United Nations.
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According to the new report, the administration's climate policy will result in emissions growing 11 percent in 2012 from 2002. In the previous decade, emissions grew at a rate of 11.6 percent, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
The report also contains sections describing growing risks to water supplies, coasts and ecosystems around the United States from the anticipated temperature and precipitation changes driven by the atmospheric buildup of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases.
Drafts of the report were provided to The New York Times by a government employee at the request of a reporter. The employee did not say why this was done, but other officials involved with producing it said they have been frustrated with the slow pace of its preparation. It was due more than one year ago.
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"Since 1990, for every 1 percent increase in emissions the economy has grown about 3 percent," Mr. [Myron] Ebell [Ebell, who directs climate and energy policy for the Competitive Enterprise Institute] said. "That's good, and it's better than the European Union's performance."
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The draft report contains fresh projections of significant effects of human-caused warming on the environment and resources of the United States and emphasized the need to increase the country's capacity to adapt to impending changes.
Drought, particularly, will become a persistent threat, it said: "Warmer temperatures expected with increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases are expected to exacerbate present drought risks in the United States by increasing the rate of evaporation."
Water supplies in the Northwest and Southwest are also at risk. "Much of the water used by people in the western United States comes from snow melt," the report said. "And a large fraction of the traditionally snow-covered areas of this region has experienced a decline in spring snow pack, especially since mid-century, despite increases in winter precipitation in many places." Animal and plant species face risks as climate zones shift but urbanized regions prevent ecosystems from shifting as well, according to the draft report.
"Because changes in the climate system are likely to persist into the future regardless of emissions mitigation, adaptation is an essential response for future protection of climate-sensitive ecosystems," it said. -- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>