Someone rebuked me for saying out loud what everyone knows: WE NEED A PEACEFUL NONVIOLENT REVOLUTION IN GOVERNANCE, SOCIETY, AND ECONOMICS. It's not only me saying that. Here's what the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program wrote in October 2022: #ClimateSky #GreenSky
Here's why: politics is not working. It is not taking timely action on climate issues, and it isn't solving social issues. It does not serve us well. I sat on a bus behind two elderly ladies ten years ago, and they knew this back then. Everybody knows! Full report here: unep.org
So why aren't we doing it? People are scared of change. But this is silly - it's childish. Discontinuous change is coming one way or another. If we don't act upon what we know, climate tipping points are likely to throw Earth systems or human systems into utterly unpredictable chaos. Better we act. And yes, I'm aware the actions we have taken have reduced predicted warming from over three degrees to around two to two and a half, and that's marvellous. AND IT IS NOT ENOUGH. In 2018 the IPCC wrote that "rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society" were needed.
They were right in 2018 and they were right in 2022. And they are still right now. There's little point giving up on 1.5⁰C. Do you know why? If you roll over that readily on this goal, the goalposts will move before we get to the next goal, and 2⁰C will drop away from sight just as quickly. We must grasp the nettle on this. If we don't, who will? Our children? Their children? Do you think this gets easier in a 2⁰ or a 3⁰ or 4⁰ hotter world? No, it doesn't, it gets harder - as those milestones pass they will bring with them increasing disruption to society, agriculture, and ecosystems. There is a madman in the Kremlin trying to threaten Europe, and a madman in the White House causing international chaos and terrorising the US population. What do they have in common? They LOVE fossil fuels. Enough of the world being ruled by people who want to burn, baby, burn. We need to stop "business as usual" and stop pretending that our societies are functional and civilised. They aren't. You only have to walk through any major European city to know this. You will meet homeless refugees everywhere. If you walk far enough you'll find yourself amongst the housed poor. This society is not civilised for them. It isn't civilised for the disabled. It isn't civilised for children who are suffering mental health problems and suicide at previously unknown rates. And what we see now is nothing compared to what we will see in ten or twenty years if we choose not to act. As climate heating and resultant changes will force millions of people to move just to survive, and due to our inaction and fears. We need to have a sustainable international order not based on mutually assured destruction. We need to stop creating wasteful crap and stop doing bullshit jobs. We need to stop giving our data, lives and money to big tech, to the billionaire bros - the ones who think going on jollies to space and building multi-million dollar Hawaiian bunkers are appropriate ways to use natural and human resources in the face of climate, ecological, and social breakdown. When we stop making and using wasteful crap and doing bullshit jobs, and pretending that last century's government operating system is fit for this century, do you know what we'll discover? TIME! We can reboot to healthy societies, with public abundance and private sufficiency, and enjoy time. The five day working week is bullshit. Total BS. It is cancerous outgrowth of capitalism. It steals lives. It is stealing your life. David Graeber, the anthropologist, found forty percent of people said their jobs were "bullshit" and YouGov polled 37% of Brits saying their work was "meaningless" I would guess that's an underestimate. Neoliberal thinkers have tempted people into thinking work is fabulous. It's a grind for most people. If we can cut out the 40% that's bullshit, meaningless crap .. that means everyone can work three days a week. Cut out the waste and maybe that's two. Time! Time to spend nurturing your children, playing music, enjoying hobbies, learning new things, exploring yourself and your world. It is entirely probable that we can stick within 1.5⁰ as a twenty year average, and have much richer lives than we do now. This isn't about sacrifice: it's about freedom. Freedom from what? Do you know the thing that really upsets me? It's this: we aren't moving forward now, and we haven't been for fifty years. Not politically. We've been moving backwards. We got hypnotised by consumer goods, multiple TV channels, watching home renovation shows, Netflix, and ... ... while we weren't watching, the wealthy came back. After WWII the wealthy were taxed into the ground in modern democracies. The money they and their forebears stole from you and your ancestors was taxed back into the commons. It was used to build schools, roads, housing; to build society. And they weren't happy, so starting in the 70s they spread toxic doctrines: that people are selfish (they mostly aren't); that greed is good (greed makes the world ugly); that the rich deserved what they got for hard work (it isn't hard work being rich and they didn't make the money - workers did). Neoliberalism is the theory that the best at playing the game should make the rules of the game. Does that sound fair? No! Because it isn't fair: it's a setup, a con job. It's THEFT. The wealthy came back from their landed estates and pushed this doctrine to prominence, to orthodoxy, and gorged. And when the rich gorge on the workers, only one thing can result, and that's feudalism. We have a neo-feudal system now, where the rich get ever richer, and everyone else gets ever poorer. We have moved backwards politically by around a hundred and fifty years in the last fifty. Time to look again. You know how annoying it is that you have to go through filling out a whole bunch of details on a website when you just want to buy a T-shirt? There's a solve for that. Your data could be your data, shared only when you wish, and only for the purposes you choose. Tim Berners Lee has a solve that ... ... does that. You probably haven't heard of it because it would put Facebook and Google out of business. There's some more time for you. There are SO MANY ways we waste time that we now have the chance to reclaim. Government welfare programs are predicated on a lie and a con. The lie is that ... ... only the "deserving" poor should get support (everyone deserves enough). The con is capitalism demanding a pool of unemployed people be available on demand to keep the machines turning. That's it. Those two things dictate how we do welfare. Universal basic income trials show time and again ... ... that given the basics, people work more, are happier, and are healthier. So instead of wasting resources having people process the unemployed, and bully them into work, instead of wasting the buildings they work in and the power to run them, and etc etc etc, maybe we just pay everyone? ... so we don't make a whole damn thing of it? That includes you ... nobody is going to choose not to work when work has dignity and isn't a grind. Well, a few might, but not many. And maybe they'll make great art instead, or write wonderful novels, or invent the next big thing. We can't pretend ... ... having a small percentage of people being non-productive is worse than the waste we have now. Eventually nation states will wither into the background, but there will be a transition period where they are needed. They won't be top-down affairs as they are now though, as power must be shared.
Anarchism isn't chaos. It is nothing to be scared of. It is the natural state of humankind. It is probably how we humans lived through most of our history, with the last ten thousand years likely an aberration. In Rojava in Eastern Syria anarchism has been the working reality for over a decade. Anarchism is work. We have to choose it and make it work and keep it working. We have to tend it like a garden. But with all that time, that's not a problem. And it is essential for the next stage of human development - as unless and until we have a society of human flourishing, things will repeat. I like the root of words - often there's some meaning there we can learn from. Anarchy is one of those words. It's meaning has been deliberately poisoned in the common understanding. It's not about Mad Max scenarios (what we get if we don't act). Anarchy means 'no rulers': it doesn't mean no rules.
So how would you have a peaceful nonviolent revolution and start dealing with climate change? That's not impossible. And when I say revolution I don't mean overthrowing any governments, because that won't work. If you do that the bullies will take over, and society will collapse anyway. They are .. .. very much needed to be part of this transition. We need to move fast yet mindfully - we need to know the goal. I don't have all the answers but I can draw a sketch of what I believe and you can draw yours. The goal is a society that provides a good basic living standard for everyone, ... nourishes people in community, has great public services, lifelong learning chances, so our lives are time rich, and we have no wealthy people (in the way we have now) because one person's wealth is always built on the backs of others labour, and conspicuous consumption is bad for the environment. Yet everyone would be rich in terms of enjoying more freedom, having more time, having access to great facilities and transport, and having more opportunities to learn new things, study, research, explore, and play. This is not a utopian fantasy - our society is messed up! We are so wasteful! We need peace. I'll not post more here today. The Easter message from Francis.
www.catholicnewsagency.com
Sometimes being a revolutionary is the only rational response.
Neo-Liberalism has made work............not so fun
To be clear: I don't know all the answers. I am, however, really good at asking the difficult questions. Sir Isaiah Berlin said that makes me a philosopher - and unlikely to be in harmony with the status quo. But that is a "them" problem - not a "me" problem. I want to know what you think. Some of my historically awkward questions (and tentative answers). Why do we have war? (Answer: we empower egoistic elephants). Why do we have poverty? (Answer: so the wealthy can indulge themselves). Why do we progress so slowly? ( Answer: because vested interests profit from the delay).
"And this could be a good time" ~ ChoQosh, Chumash Elder. A good friend.
Billionaires, and the millionaires such as Tony Blair they fund to support their interests, will not advocate for policies which defund them - however anti-science this makes them.
"The Wonderful World of Tony Blair", Dispatches, Channel 4 Television, exposed his dealings and profiteering from his role as advisor to 'The Quartet' - the EU, USA, Russia, and the UN. His links with Middle East oil money were exposed. He needs to be ignored by @teamlabouruk.bsky.social on #Climate
"Fucking hell, our climate is a crisis" ~ Greg Jackson, CEO, Octopus Energy.
"Fucking hell," says Jackson, "our climate is a crisis and one that is far more important than the temporary gas crisis."
Rich people want to distract you into hating foreigners ...
Rich people want to distract you into hating foreigners
What works? Non-violence works.
If you're serious in wanting to do what it takes to solve this problem, you should take some time to learn about what strategies have been most effective in stopping authoritarian takeovers. Historically, nonviolent resistance is much more effective than violence, and there are good reasons for it.
You will be an indentured serf, and so will your children, and their children, if the billionaires get their way.
Lutnick: "It's time to train people not to do the jobs of the past, but to do the great jobs of the future. This is the new model where you work in these kinds of plants for the rest of your life and your kids work here and your grandkids work here. We let the auto plants go overseas."
They want us to hate each other.
Indeed
This made me laugh too, and when I say politics is broken, and money is not real, and we need to revolutionise the way we *think* about these things, well, here's a great example. Tinkering cannot fix this. It just goes offshore or into bitcoin if you don't get radical.
Honestly, this made me laugh out loud (maybe it was more of a horrified cynical rattle). Points for honesty!
Oh this is funny, and in the next poast you'll see I predicted such reactions in 2008 - seventeen years ago. "Eat the rich" has to be metaphorical: it is their ability to leverage the labour of others for privilege we need to eat - the rich likely don't taste too good 😊
WATCH: “What about the rich? Do they get shot? It’s like they’re making Wall Streeters walk out onto the ice in the East River… class warfare… eat the rich.” @cnbc.com hosts Joe Kernen & jim cramer hilariously struggle to process Zohran’s win — made inevitable by the greed they exalt.
"For these reasons we need to develop compassion not just for the starving, but for the super-rich, bankers and politicians too, because if we are to solve the underlying ecological and economic issues - which can not be separated - these people will be experiencing more change than any of us." ⬆️🧵⬇️
It seems more than they 'don't agree with their worldview' — those taking power can't argue with the science of climate change — it is that they will pay most for the inevitable social and economic changes a response using the precautionary principle demand. I wrote about this in 2008 (link in alt).
Link here. ".. the stickiness of the status quo was greater than I imagined."
Honestly, I thought that was the moment — I wrote about it in The New Statesman. I don't believe my thinking was ahead of its time .. the stickiness of the status quo was greater than I imagined.
www.newstatesman.com
This ⬇️ is the mad thing about America. You've been brainwashed into thinking socialism means life will be worse. What makes you think America can't do civilised social programs better than anywhere else? Why is the ambition so low? This is a long 🧵 - about 51 poasts up there ⬆️ coming soon ⬇️ too. This is why climate and social justice require a social revolution. More specifically, us treating the environment as 'external' and as a wastebin has created a pressing need to move faster on decarbonisation, but that alone will not do. For more on all that, do look up ⬆️🧵
Earth is trapping much more heat than climate models forecast – and the rate has doubled in 20 years. Article in @theconversation.com by Thorsten Mauritsen @stockholm-uni.bsky.social Steven Sherwood UNSW Sydney & Benoit Meyssignac Université de Toulouse #Climate theconversation.com
theconversation.com
We need a social revolution to match the ambition of the industrial revolution. Climate justice and social justice go hand in hand.
The industrial revolution brought much progress. We should have begun transitioning 30 years ago from fossil fuels, but the industrial giants sowed disinformation and misinformation. We need a social revolution to change how we do things and do them rationally. Free markets alone do not free people.
"Markets know best" is a dumb dogma. The economics doesn't begin to stack up - and never did. We must dump neoliberal policies and get down to some well-advised planning for how we build the good life for all people. This is an ongoing thread 🧵 of mine and others' thinking. Look up ⬆️ and down ⬇️
It's an inevitable result of the neoliberal dogma that "markets know best". They don't, and governments giving power to them for the last fifty years is stupid and economically and environmentally illiterate. Oh well, at least we don't live under oligarchy. bbc.com
www.bbc.com
Annie disturbingly lays bare the kind of nonsense thinking that emerges from our economic and political elites. Look up ⬆️ and down ⬇️ - this is a Mega-thread 🧵 on climate, society, politics, and the need for a revolution in how we think and act and organise.
The problem is that this issue appears difficult to solve and it will truly need a revolution in thinking, and one that most people find hard to fathom, and that makes it frightening. The default position of the human brain is to seek homeostasis. Try and become ever more comfortable with change. 🧵
Mary understands that the only way to save the planet from climate catastrophe is revolution. Be like Mary. *Note: there is no need for violence to solve our problems because violence and coloniser mindset *is* the problem.
Another reason we need revolutionary thinking and action: the rich want to burn the world down and start again. They want to do that as the only way to solve for climate and social problems is not to have wealthy people. We cannot afford their emissions or the way they steer politics.
Public opinion is lead by leaders. Sociologist Robert D. Putnam stated plainly in a recent interview with The New York Times "The Interview" podcast that division (cause of slowness) is lead from the top. French philosopher Bruno Latour theorised as to why progress is so slow. pca.st
George Carlin understood where we were at and where we might be headed. Twenty years ago he was educating audiences, waking them up to the way consumerism, politics, economics, and education are used to manipulate and control people - and the need for change.
Weird connected world in which we live, I post about us not being able to afford the way the wealthy steer politics (to help themselves and their friends) .. and this pops into my feed. President Zuckerberg anyone? Has he screwed Facebook badly enough you get the point? So back to the core argument here. We need to revolutionise the way we do things because the way we do things doesn't work. Now, in the USA, that system has delivered to power an oligarchy class of ethno-nationalist pseudo-religious "Christians" seeking to deliver the apocalypse. It's not good. ⬆️🧵⬇️
It's a sham. The purpose is to speed climate change and eviscerate the poor. People need to understand the real point not just the harm to industry and pocket books. You won't rid yourselves of the cancer without naming it.
They are all good with dead grandmas too. Useless eaters grandmas. Why is America not rising up? MAGA and progressives ought to agree on this much: the system is not working.
BREAKING: 1 in 4 nursing homes say they will be forced to close if Republicans pass Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill. No grandma should be kicked out of her nursing home so that Mark Zuckerberg can buy another Hawaiian island.
Rise up. "A system built to keep people hungry" is not the foundation for a civilised society.
Not just excess, it’s a system built to keep people hungry so the rich can keep feasting. But the masses are waking up. Powerful video…
When I said rise up I wasn't taking to the climate. ".. the consilience of evidence from surface temperatures, climate models, forcing changes, ocean heat content, and earth energy imbalance all point toward .. global warming accelerating".
Is global warming accelerating? Over at The Climate Brink I argue that the consilience of evidence from surface temperatures, climate models, forcing changes, ocean heat content, and earth energy imbalance all point toward yes: theclimatebrink.com
www.theclimatebrink.com
Remembering is not enough. We need a revolution. Thread 🧵 ⬆️
I saw history sanitisation fails at Auschwitz in 94. The Rwandan genocide was on TV and the sign saying "we must remember so it never happens again" showed remembering isn't enough. And the world got worse. Now we are here, with indiscriminate killing in Gaza, and concentration camps in the USA.
Valentenya sees the need for radical reimagining our ways of being. "These are our tasks to maintain our civilisation". I would go further, that this is how we create a civilisation worthy of that moniker, as what we have now barely qualifies.
We need to rapidly rebuild democracy, transition to sustainable economic systems (including rapidly replacing fossil energy with RE) and care for country better (esp protect habitats). These are our tasks to maintain our civilisation; now stop overthinking and get to it!
People wonder why Brexit happened? It was facilitated by Russian influence techniques and American right-wing capital. What interests do they share? Oil and power. "Drill, baby, drill". Yup. The same people who put Drumpf on the throne of America in the stolen election paid for Brexit. Thread ⬆️🧵⬇️
The weakening of Europe had a purpose — it wasn't simply vandalism. Europe is the bastion of progressivism, and both US and Russian oligarchs saw Europe as an existential threat to their worldview, so they tried to destroy it. Brexit was their Trojan horse.
Catholic bishops up for a bit of revolutionary socialism (the only outcome that fixes climate goals and social justice goals - see first posts in this thread 🧵, waaaay up there ⬆️)
Catholic bishops representing more than 800 million people across the Global South, for the first time in history, issued a joint statement demanding an “ambitious implementation” of the Paris Agreement. news.mongabay.com
news.mongabay.com
UN expert urges criminalising fossil fuel disinformation, banking lobbying. "Elisa Morgera argues that the US, UK, Canada, Australia and other wealthy fossil fuel nations are legally obliged under international law to fully phase out oil, gas and coal by 2030". Here comes the sunshine revolution.
www.theguardian.com
Another happy warrior who understands the links between the bullshit jobs that are capitalism's second largest product - after waste including CO² - and the inevitable climate collapse our dumb, anachronistic system will lead to. More about that further up this longb thread. ⬆️🧵⬇️
Food prices will go up until we finally stop the #bullshitjobs "economy" from baking our planet. We are headed for global food shortages and the total collapse of our civilization. As societies inevitably and invariably collapse once they run low on food.
www.theguardian.com
The dumbest lie they told me at school was that we live in a democracy. By age thirteen I'd decided to call it a "shamocracy". I don't recall if I saw that portmanteau somewhere or invented it, yet anyone thinking this is anything other than a sham democracy likely needs their noggin examined.
Protesting didn't get us far because we don't actually live in democracies. If we want change, we need to create it ourselves. #FreePalestine #GazaHolocaust
@emergencybod.medsky.social gets the big picture. To be honest, I think most do - what to do about it seems more up for debate. Meanwhile kids learn in crappy schools, our communal infrastructure is woefully inadequate, and the billionaires get richer by the day. It's compound interest.
Billionaires shouldn't exist. That money they are hoarding should be spent on schools, hospitals, roads, bridges, universities, community centres, outreach programmes, fire stations, green initiatives, parks, sustainable food projects, botanical gardens, free clinics, youth shelters...
We are in a war of language, and a war of the truth.
"Too many people in power or with platforms 'have not yet understood that we’re in a war of language – and a war of the truth – about the climate,' she added. 'And too few of us are actively standing in the way of that'." theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com
We are in a radical transformation. ⬆️🧵⬇️
"The material basis of the global production, consumption and information systems are being remade. One doesn’t have to be a Marxist to think that will imply a radical transformation in global politics." Historical materialism stay winning though? 🤔 phenomenalworld.org
People are clever enough. Human flourishing must be set free. ⬆️🧵⬇️
People are clever enough. That’s why the Atlas network channels billion$ into the disinformation project to bamboozle us. What we need is better tactics to counter disinformation; starting with rejecting the enemy’s language and bringing it back to science. So no more “net zero” or focusing on 🐄. 👍
Just because Suzuki thinks history has ended, doesn't mean history has ended. Francis Fukuyama learned this the hard way. ⬆️🧵⬇️
Old, white man "ends conversation" by having the last word, as if his old, white status is the ultimate mark of authority. I read the Suzuki interview. Just because Suzuki thinks history has ended, doesn't mean history has ended. Francis Fukuyama learned this the hard way.
"We need revolution. Can you have a peaceful revolution? I don't know." Yes David, we can have a peaceful revolution. That *IS* the revolution we need.
"Doomers are ridiculous".
Doomers are ridiculous. It’s never too late to make the world better than it would have been.
Going round in circles? Stop that. You'll give yourself a headache.
Someone rebuked me for saying out loud what everyone knows: WE NEED A PEACEFUL NONVIOLENT REVOLUTION IN GOVERNANCE, SOCIETY, AND ECONOMICS. It's not only me saying that. Here's what the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program wrote in October 2022: #ClimateSky #GreenSky
Let's throw a donkey in the works* * no animals were harmed in mentally forming this poast. Oh no! He's created a loop with an escape clause. How does the matrix respond to "non standard behaviour"?
I know what I'm wishing for .. well, it isn't exactly a wish. It's more of a promise. Nothing else matters. You might still deliberately misspell things, or use inappropriate words, to throw a donkey in the works 🤔
Aaargh! Nested loop hell.
Let's throw a donkey in the works* * no animals were harmed in mentally forming this poast. Oh no! He's created a loop with an escape clause. How does the matrix respond to "non standard behaviour"?
The world turned upside down ..
«rather than consider the consequences of our economic model on the planet, we worry about the impact of global warming on GDP. It's the world turned upside down.»
It's interesting to discover a film that has 90% of the answers. This though is a form of hopium too. They state upfront that vested interests will fight change, and don't see quite how dangerous those forces are - how invested they are in the outcome they favour. youtube.com
"Peaceful revolutions happen regularly".
Peaceful revolutions happen regularly. There have been 50 peaceful, non-violent revolutions in the last 40 years. Research shows that when 3.5% of the population protest, the military lays down arms and strongmen lose their power. The military does not want to brutalize their neighbors, kids, elders
Great little video of David Graeber on bullshit jobs. Imagine the time this could free up to engage in meaningful things or play.
If you don't have time to read the full book Bullshit Jobs, here is a super short clip about Bullshit Jobs giving the basics.
This is climate vandalism. They know this is toxic to planetary health.
Exclusive: Leaked documents detail Trump's plans to open East and West coasts to offshore oil drilling. yahoo.com
www.yahoo.com
This is social vandalism. They know this is toxic to human health.
While the top 1% control $54 TRILLION (not a typo)
And it's just the start - if we don't change tack.
They have zero intent to face climate science reality — or take necessary action. This guarantees billions of deaths, if left unchallenged. A few million from aid cuts is the start of a much more horrific path. It is the logical outcome of the view they hold that "Some animals are more equal .. ".
Rushkoff knows.
Nicely done by Douglas Rushkoff. archive.rushkoff.com
archive.rushkoff.com
"When we survive together, we thrive together."
The opposite of surviving together is "some animals are more equal than other animals" and if you believe this, we have to take all restrictions off - I live under a king who is there because ancestors killed people. I need the ability to kill him and reign if that's your game.
Data shows wealthiest 0.1% of the US burn carbon at 4,000 times the rate of the world’s poorest 10% theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com
"Some animals are more equal than other animals" part II
The rich are responsible for an outsized share of carbon emissions — the top 10% account for 48%. And the gap is growing. Since 1990, the richest 1% have increased their share of emissions by 13%, while the poorest 50% have seen theirs fall by 3%.
A continuation of this neverending thread 🧵 look up ☝🏻 look down 👇🏻 as things get added when they're found. Article in "Nature" - Why the euros cannot afford the rich.
"Some animals are more equal than other animals part III" #NoKings #ThisIsAmerica The neverending thread 🧵 look up ☝🏻 look down 👇🏻 as things get added when they're found.
"Radical" action needed.
grist.org
Bringing this thread 🧵 back to ours roots, we need revolutionary thinking to get back on track.
We've been trapped in an epistemic crisis that most people fail to register. It is the root cause of every other crisis from war, to climate change, to the undermining of democracy, and mis/disinformation in its many forms. Our stories about reality are fundamentally flawed.
We are literally playing with fire. The rich know this. They're betting on it.
We are literally playing with global fire by overheating the planet with fossil fuel pollution.
insideclimatenews.org
And now we're playing with nuclear weapons. Oh joy.
One deranged decree, and 30 years of global restraint go up in radioactive smoke. He doesn’t even know which department controls nuclear testing. (It’s the DOE, not the DOD.) These people are so dangerously ignorant, they could end the world by accident. When will Republicans say enough?!
"The window to act on climate is rapidly closing .."
The window to act on climate is rapidly closing. Our new 2025 State of the Climate report is just out. Read the full report here: doi.org @michaelemann.bsky.social @dwallacewells.bsky.social @georgemonbiot.bsky.social @ecowarriorss.bsky.social
Bill Gates is not a climate denier but he is a climate delayer .. textbook. ".. we will have the tools we need if we focus on innovation. With the right investments and policies in place, over the next ten years we will have new affordable zero-carbon technologies ready to roll out at scale." < BS
Billie Eilish. "Why are you a billionaire?" Damn good question Billie, damn good question.
"If you are a billionaire, why are you a billionaire? No hate, but give your money away, shorties" consequence.net
consequence.net
No human is illegal. Borders do not matter to the wealthy, yet with their power and influence they convince the ordinary person that borders are vastly important. Why do they do this? Look up, about fifteen posts in this thread 🧵 ☝🏻
No human is illegal.
Mmm. Was further back .. it's a long 🧵.. Saved you the trouble. "Rich people want to distract you into hating foreigners" - Gary Stevenson.
Rich people want to distract you into hating foreigners
Everything other than this is noise.
#ClimateSky #GreenSky James Hansen presenting his thoughts on climate sensitivity from 22m36s. m.youtube.com
Some animals ...
Important episode, the point about how we've moved from social media hacking attention to AI hacking human attachment is huge. youtube.com
"Don't sit this one out ..." Carl Sagan saw the coming moment. 🧵 "In the UK the top ten percent of energy users use five times more than the bottom ten percent. So equity is absolutely at the heart of the climate agenda. Until we start to have that dialogue, about the deep inequities in our society, we will continue to fail on climate change." - Kevin Anderson.
Short interview on the BBC Today programme with Amol Rajan, discussing the upcoming Brazil COP and how the so-called “cost of living crisis” is being (mis)used by leaders and high emitters to avoid taking meaningful action on climate change. Starts at 2.36.30. bbc.co.uk
www.bbc.co.uk
The paperless office has lead to a tripling of adminstrative jobs. Weird huh?
Please take a minute to scroll through this—and share it. It's the story of our time. The Authoritarian Stack: How Tech Billionaires Are Building a Post-Democratic American—And Why Europe Is Next. authoritarian-stack.info
www.authoritarian-stack.info
In reality, the "economy" is an insignificant part of the environment. This economic lie is behind a great many issues of overuse and misuse of the natural world and resources. 🧵
It would help to get the relationship between economy and environment right before modelling outcomes. Current models treat the environment as an unlimited trash can - an insignificant part of the economy. In reality, the "economy" is an insignificant part of the environment. Garbage in ...
For any friendly billionaire seeing this, who doesn't get Nick Hanauer and his "pitchfork economics" enquiries, this is it. You cannot control the guards in your bunkers, nor put an electronic collar around the neck of every human being. There WILL be a reversion to the mean, so take part, or don't.
The answer O'Leary seeks is that the market overprices capital and underprices people. It will revert to mean, or pitchforks.
It seems so preposterous, unbelievable even, that grown up billionaires would be building doomsday bunkers. - Douglas Rushkoff article linked about ten posts up the thread 🧵 ☝🏻
Thiel is attempting to build an electronic collar around everyone's necks. He is the antichrist he speaks of adamantly, not Greta Thunberg, not coordinated work for the good of all humanity, and not another amorphous idea. Christ was a man, and Thiel is too; human, faulted, and full of human fears.
Palentir have been given the data to integrate, supposedly for the purpose of finding fraud and waste. It is notable that Thiel is on record aiming to become “the default operating system for data across the U.S. government.” since 2020. It would appear that Musk is helping out in no small way.
finance.yahoo.com
The thread 🧵 of life. Look up, look down. We need a revolution to free up human intelligence and unfold a future of flourishing not servitude. ☝🏻👇🏻 Let's make something new, whereby no longer is "strength and courage strangled by envy, greed for power, fear of change."
And I speak of spiritual suffering! Of people seeing their talent, their work, their lives wasted. Of good minds submitting to stupid ones. Of strength and courage strangled by envy, greed for power, fear of change.
Pitchforks or ..
"Bill Gates can get f*cked and we should stop listening to him on climate." True - and no billionaire can try to dictate form any longer. A reckoning of centralised versus decentralised power is coming.
This is an absolute banger of a takedown of Bill Gates' latest memo from an apoplectic @jigarshahdc.bsky.social, who brought a box full of receipts. [tl;dl version - 'Bill Gates can get f*cked and we should stop listening to him on climate'] It's my fave so far of a lot of excellent reax. 1/n
open.spotify.com
Because they know we can solve poverty and planetary problems only by ending plutocracy.
This is insane. 🤦♂️ Why do tech giants like Elon Musk and Bill Gates keep on saying such dumb things about climate change? They have access to the best possible experts, who could actually teach them something, if they would only ask and listen…
And why would we want to end plutocracy? It isn't wealth envy. I don't like people who are comfortable UNALIVING CHILDREN they somehow blame for something.
Trump and Musk decided to kill them in numerous ways in their hundreds of thousands already by shutting USAID. But it's ok because they aren't white Christian American children* *It's not OK.
And yes, I know not all plutocrats kill children, but you're wrong. They do. Their existence is the product of a sick society that is comfortable trading the lives of some for the excess and wealth of others - it is the inescapable mathematics of this form of obscene capitalism. The natural state of humans is to be caring, compassionate, and to share. Only the lies of the powerful keep us from this certainty - to realise our nature and live beautiful lives in community with each other. There is enough in the world to feed, clothe, house, and educate all - if we avoid greed. Socialism is .. avoiding greed beginning the dogmatic driver of economic activity. Socialism is .. how the world will unfold, despite the best efforts of the plutocrats.
Socialism is what they called public power. Socialism is what they called social security. Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations. Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people. —Harry Truman, 1952
Ooh look. Now they're trying to sell you Thiel's electronic collar because "China bad".
gizmodo.com
Thiel is attempting to build an electronic collar around everyone's necks. He is the antichrist he speaks of adamantly, not Greta Thunberg, not coordinated work for the good of all humanity, and not another amorphous idea. Christ was a man, and Thiel is too; human, faulted, and full of human fears.
"Burning trees is not a climate solution". Perhaps fewer data centres would be progress? Perhaps raising the level of solar deployment in the UK fourfold, to that of Germany or the Netherlands would be progress?
Burning trees is not a climate solution
www.theguardian.com
Nation states and war.
Plus ça change... #RemembranceSunday #WW1 #Lestweforget
This is what a billionaire who cares does: they work hard to not be a billionaire.
MacKenzie Scott
How's your nervous system today?
You should hate wealth hoarders for sabotaging everyone's nervous systems.
"How a powerful few are locking the world into disaster." There is nothing inevitable about this - the future is not yet written.
policy-practice.oxfam.org
I don't know what these people are about, so no endorsement, yet this is true: FEAR IS THE REAL VIRUS
Rojave, anarchy hard at work governing by rules not rulers. #NoKings
It's the wokest place in the world. 👩🏾 Women co-lead everything. 👨👩👧👧 Communities make decisions for themeslves. 💰 No-one pays taxes. 🤝🏾 Prisons are being replaced with mediation. But now Islamists are trying to abolish it. This is the story of Rojava. �
This is the #Climate crisis. This is the affordability crisis. This is the problem. Inequality on the scale we allow it now is antidemocratic, anachronistic, and simply does not reflect reality. The great man theory of history is bullshit. Self-made billionaires? - bullshit.
There is one overriding political problem, from which all others follow. Until it is addressed, every policy advanced by governments is window dressing. theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com
As I wrote at the beginning of this long thread 🧵 ... we must face up to the fact we have to think and act in ways that are completely alien to most people and do so quickly. We need a revolution, or, as @beeeeeeel.bsky.social words it, "a vast transformation".
Project Drawdown’s overview is brilliant — and overwhelming. Seeing all these solutions in one place makes the scale of change brutally clear. We’re not facing a few tweaks but a vast transformation that most people still underestimate.
Thread 🧵 within a thread 🧵. When will we put money in it's rightful place?
When will we put money in it's rightful place? The job of money is to facilitate the good life for all; not to deliver more of itself to those who have lots, and none to those who need most. I quit merchant banking in 1990 after investing the equivalent of $500bn to annoy the owner of the target 1/n
The future is unwritten. What future will you choose?
"This promise of an AI future, is really just a collective anxiety that wealthy people have about how well they're gonna be able to control us in the future." - @tressiemcphd.bsky.social with an absolute mic drop moment about AI bullshit. Incredible words. Listen to all of it!
"Economic inequality is at the heart of all of humanity's major problems .. " I would say it is the cause of many minor ones too.
Every goddamn word of this ⬇️ "Economic inequality is at the heart of all humanity’s major problems, but the wealthiest refuse to confront a system that benefits them." theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com