Is the refusal to look below the surface and question the roots of the unprecedented ecological emergency contributing to the rapacious global capitalistic system?
Clearly, an “us vs. them” mentality, which characterizes both the ruling authoritarians on the right and the powerless ideologues on the left, is exacerbating the climate crisis.
Transnational oligarchs, and metaphysical forces that few are willing to face, are pulling the strings of the puppet regime in power in the United States. Thinking within that box, or the box of this or any nation, keeps us imprisoned within psychological walls of the system.
Why are Trump and his cabal accelerating man’s destruction of the earth?
It goes beyond the tired truths of greed and power. Much less the delusion that the climate/ecological crisis is a hoax, or that the market will invent technological fixes.
So it’s no use churning out boilerplate neo-Marxist half-truths about the ruling class, while holding out hope against hope for a mass movement of workers that will destroy capitalism and replace it with “eco-socialism.”
The domination and destruction of the earth by a global system based on obscene degrees of power and wealth in the hands of the few is undeniable. But the “us vs. them” mindset has about as much effect on the capitalistic tsunami crashing over people as blinking buoys on a roiling ocean.
Indeed, the notion that “we,” the virtuous people on the left, will bring about a just and harmonious nation (much less world) when the workers can wrest power from the ruling elites, is risible.
Without a psychological revolution that ends the tyranny of the profit motive and power flowing from egoism and greed, a different ruling class will repeat the same basic pattern, just as it did in the Soviet Union and has in Russia.
Wherever one sits on the political spectrum, we all agree the system is rotten. Therefore the core problem is not simply the system, but so-called human nature. Taking power as a given, as both the right and the left do, perpetuates the structures and dynamics of rapacious capitalism.
Let’s take a specific example. Why are proponents of geoengineering on both the right and the left pushing the idea of intervening on a planetary scale with technologies such as using particles injected into the stratosphere to reflect sunlight away from earth?
Advocates of “stratospheric aerosol injection,” or SAI, on the left say, “After centuries of accidental fossil-fuel geo-engineering, shouldn’t we deliberately explore interventions to cool the planet and give the energy transition breathing room?”
Note the dubious premise of “giving the energy transition breathing room.” Scientists say SAI could well produce the opposite effect, and hasten catastrophic tipping points.
Placing a thumb on the scale, SAI promoters disingenuously argue: “We have already altered the planet. Through greenhouse-gas release, we’ve disrupted Earth’s energy balance, triggered feedback loops, and pushed key systems closer to collapse. In effect, we have already geo-engineered the climate — just without intention, governance or regard for consequences.”
According to that logic, because humans have unwittingly geo-engineered the earth, we should intentionally continue to do so, rather than radically change our way of thinking.
Some progressive geo-engineering proponents equate “anti-vaxxers and chemtrail conspiracy theorists on the right” with those who “argue there is a ‘moral hazard’ even to acknowledge we might need tools beyond mitigation.” Drawing such a false equivalency attests to the fact that these are not serious people.
Engaging in faulty reasoning from false premises, the underlying assumption is that what humans have done is just bad geo-engineering, rather the planetary destructiveness from arising from humankind’s divisive and fragmenting consciousness.
Can technological intervention on a planetary scale be effective and equitable, or will it produce even more disruption of the climate, more extinction of animals, and more human inequality?
A more honest and nuanced approach comes from the perspective of the global south:
“The global south is at the forefront of the climate crisis. Our regions are experiencing wildfires, heatwaves, droughts, floods, and storms that are becoming more frequent and severe. Together with rising seas they exacerbate existing inequalities and pose significant challenges to development and public wellbeing.”
The emphasis is entirely different: “Solar geo-engineering is not a solution. It won’t stop ocean acidification or end our dependence on fossil fuels. At best, it’s a temporary bandage…if it is ever considered as part of a planetary emergency response, we must not let it be shaped behind closed doors. Climate justice demands a transparent approach.”
As important as climate justice is, we must delve deeper. The true context for reflecting on geo-engineering is the instrument we have used to plunder the planet, the instrument proponents are planning to use in the same way to attempt to halt runaway climate disruption — the mind that separates things from nature and divides people into “us vs. them.”
Can geo-engineering restore balance, or even “give the energy transition breathing room?”
All technological fixes people attempt without first transforming the way we think at the emotional level are destined to increase the fragmentation of the earth and hasten the collapse of its seamlessly interconnected systems.
So-called higher thought is inherently separative. The Earth is intrinsically whole. Can the separative functions of thought remedy the fragmentation that the unintelligent use of thought has wrought? Obviously not.
The human brain has another, latent potential — for insight. The question is, can it be sufficiently awakened in time?
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