The Climate Crisis Crossed its Rubicon This Summer.

The climate crisis crossed its Rubicon this summer. We are as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz said, "not in Kansas anymore. The rapacious greed of the entitled class drove the world into a hostile place where the environment is in riot and society is unforgiving to anyone not from the top 20% of income earners.

It's like living in a disaster blockbuster movie where we aren't the stars of the film and so are more than likely destined to die.

Toxic fog from forests burning across the Canadian north in June polluted much of the air in North America. For days, the skies were copper toned, the air gritty and tasting of fug. Sunlight from the fires dimmed days in effected areas to the intensity of a 40 Watt light bulb in a windowless hotel room. The fires are still burning and will burn until snow begins to fall in early October. But summer is far from done.

Half way into July and the phrase out of the frying pan and into the fire comes to mind. The northern hemisphere feels as if it boiled over with an intensity of a kettle sputtering scalding water onto a hob.

One-third of America is buckling under this heat- while offshore of Florida, the ocean has warmed to the temperature of bath water- brewing the mother of all hurricane seasons.

Television meteorologists said the first week of this month marked the world's hottest days since the start of weather record-keeping 150 years ago. Europe is under an extreme heat warning so intense it should warrant airports closing and tourists told to stay home. Instead, the news media interview vacationers toughing it out in the noonday sun- and quote Noel Coward's "Mad Dogs and Englishmen"- normalising the abnormal so as not to harm the tourist industry.

Ordinary, people like you and me are attacked from all sides because neither the environment nor the economy is our friend. Our lives and livelihoods are under threat. Heat Alerts, Flood Alerts, High Wind alerts, and mobile phones that chirp tornado warnings in regions that- in the before times were not prone to these weather events.

But the denialists in the pay of the 1% keep us off guard like they did during Covid. 38% of Americans must skip meals because they can't afford food during this cost of living crisis. But according to the right wing, the real threat is Trans Women and the public washrooms they use.

In Britain and Canada, around 30% of the population fights a daily, losing battle to keep itself fed and housed under regimes where the needs of the 1% dominate all other concerns. Rents have never been higher, and interest rates are now at their most in 21 years driving more people into insolvency, homelessness, ill health or suicide. Queues at Foodbanks are now as deep as queues for Taylor Swift or Beyoncé concert tickets. Yet we are told by the political classes, our economies are vibrant, strong and forever creating the wealth society needs.

The earth isn't well and probably in need of palliative care. It doesn't phase us. We think because a human invented delivery food apps, technology can save us from the malevolence of capitalism. Stay hydrated and airconditioned whilst you shop or work is the government's message as we face down the horsemen of this climate apocalypse.

We think we are safe or getting to safety because we have our COP, Paris Accord, and our Carbon taxes. All of which were corrupted by Big Oil, The Saudis and anyone who profits from a carbon emitting economy. At best they are fixes that keep capitalism plodding along, not humanity. We can't save the planet by switching to electronic vehicles, no more than a person can switch to low-tar cigarettes to live a long, healthy life. It's not an intermediary step. Simply another means to make the few wealthy. It's a fraud that keeps us as ill-informed as passengers on the Titanic who believed enough lifeboats for everyone on board was unnecessary for an unsinkable ship.

The environment coughs and wheezes like a miner with a black lung. It has difficulty regulating its temperature to our advantage. She's sick, maybe not dying as we understand it. But the earth can not carry us as once it did. The future awaiting us is perpetual hurricanes, flooded coastlines, fire storms, toxic smog events and authoritarian governments owned by the 1%.

Is there a way to reverse course? Yes, there is. But it requires us to renounce growth, consumerism and capitalism. I don't think we have the courage or empathy to make it happen. I hope I am wrong.

As always, thank you for reading my sub stack posts Your subscriptions to Harry’s Last Stand keep the legacy of Harry Leslie Smith alive and me housed which is always a struggle during this cost of living crisis era. So if you can join with a paid subscription which is just 3.50 a month or a yearly subscription or a gift subscription. I promise the content is good, relevant and thoughtful. Take Care, John

Photo by Cristofer Maximilian on Unsplash