We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Extreme Weather Is a Thing of the Future: So Says The IPCC, and We Should Believe Them

Click here to access article by Astrid Caldas from Huffington Post.
A new IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report obtained by the Associated Press emphasizes that extreme weather events are "a noticeable aspect of climate change" and states that there is a 2 in 3 probability that man-made greenhouse gases have exacerbated recent extreme weather events. The report also states that climate scientists are 99% certain that there will be more extreme heat than cold, and the main concern associated with that is increased precipitation in the form of heavy rainstorms, since evaporation increases in a warmer atmosphere, which will hold more moisture.
Our planet Earth is also rebelling against the capitalist system. The problem is that its rebellion will destroy us all regardless of whether we were on the right side of the capitalism-climate issue.