For the last several days I have been considering global warming. Trying to see it from both sides. I really am trying to understand what is driving the debate and how it is constructed. My conclusion kinda surprised me. I don’t think that the whole Global Warming “movement” is about “climate change”.
I do think that there are people that feel:
- The world is warming
- That man is contributing to this warming
- That we can do something to reduce this man-made impact
- And that we should do that thing
However, I don’t think that those people make up the majority of this movement. And to the extent that they are in this movement, they are being hijacked into something much much larger than they realize.
On the other “side”, I see very few people whom I would describe as “Deniers”. That is, a group of people who either:
- Deny the world is warming
- Deny that man contributes to warming, if it exists
Instead, what I find are “skeptics”. And I think the term “skeptic” applies more to the “extent and mitigation” rather than to the whole, “are we warming at all” side of the debate. I happen to fall into this “skeptic” camp. That is, I am willing to accept that the planet is warming, that man contributes [in a couple of ways-more on that] and that I remain unconvinced the mitigating solutions are required.
Be that as it may, during my contemplation I found it unimaginable that something like global warming should fall along party lines. Taxes? Sure. War? Sure. Education? Sure. But this? No way. There are simply too many gun loving, huntin-hikin-campin conservatives out there that LOVE the world we live in to make it so. Clearly, then, there is SOMETHING else in this debate that is driving the divide. And maybe it took Copenhagen to make it clear to me.
This isn’t about warming and cooling. Finding solutions to either or proving the data. This is about:
Socialism, the other spectre Karl Marx spoke about, which walks here too, rather it is like a counter-spectre. Socialism, this is the direction, this is the path to save the planet, I don’t have the least doubt. Capitalism is the road to hell, to the destruction of the world. We say this from Venezuela, which because of socialism faces threats from the U.S. Empire.
From the countries that comprise ALBA, the Bolivarian Alliance, we call, and I want to, with respect, but from my soul, call in the name of many on this planet, we say to governments and peoples of the Earth, to paraphrase Simón Bolívar, the Liberator: If the destructive nature of capitalism opposes us, let’s fight against it and make it obey us, let’s not wait idly by for the death of humanity.
History calls on us to unite and to fight.
If capitalism resists, we are obliged to take up a battle against capitalism and open the way for the salvation of the human species. It’s up to us, raising the banners of Christ, Mohammed, equality, love, justice, humanity, the true and most profound humanism. If we don’t do it, the most wonderful creation of the universe, the human being, will disappear, it will disappear.
This isn’t about the climate. This is about something much much more insidious than that.