Indigenous populations are taking the lead in protecting the environment.
By Shane QuinnGlobal Research, July 31, 2018
Url of this article:
https://www.globalresearch.ca/
The
rate of global species extinction is today roughly what it was 66
million years ago, after an asteroid six to nine miles across careered
into south-eastern Mexico, quickly wiping out the dinosaurs and much
else. The force of the asteroid, which struck the planet at the end of
the Cretaceous period, was over a billion times stronger than the atomic
bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
Now, the human species is approaching the destructive equivalent of this asteroid. Due
to expanding human activity, scientists estimate that each day
extinction is being inflicted upon 150 to 200 species of plant, insect,
bird and mammal.
The
earth has indeed not witnessed the current level of extermination in
over 65 million years, when 75% or more of all species were wiped out.
Except for adaptable creatures such as leatherback sea turtles,
crocodiles and sharks, no animal weighing more than 25 kilograms (55
lbs) survived the asteroid’s legacy. Its collision resulted in the
global extinction phenomenon of “impact winter” whereby, upon hitting
Mexico, enormous volumes of sulfur, ash and dust rose into the
stratosphere, spreading globally and blocking out most sunlight. It is a
similar consequence expected to that of nuclear war, something humans
have been very fortunate to avoid so far.
Unfortunately,
the “dinosaur asteroid” struck a vulnerable area, the shallow waters of
Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, which greatly exacerbated its impact.
Global temperatures decreased by as much as 47 degrees Fahrenheit (26
Celsius) which halted photosynthesis, the critical process that all
plants and other organisms such as plankton depend on. It was a death
knell for species across the spectrum. Even the seemingly invulnerable
apex predator Tyrannosaurus rex – which was present in what is today the
western United States – was doomed within years because of the
disappearance of its plant-eating prey, including the Triceratops.
It is revealing that the human race is now rivaling this onslaught. By doing so, humans are placing themselves at peril as they eliminate the environment upon which they rely on to survive. Much
of the blame for the increasingly harmful effects can be laid at the
door of the world’s rich states, many of which are located in the West
such as the US, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Switzerland, Germany,
Belgium, etc.
The
human assaults upon the earth have sharply risen in intensity over the
past 40 years – as the deadly era of corporate neoliberalism, aided by
compromised governments and media, pushes countless species over the
edge. The wealthy nations most responsible for the crisis have wrought a
new geological age upon the globe, the Anthropocene, which can be
traced to the Industrial Revolution beginning in Great Britain in 1760.
The
Anthropocene is the era in which humans are overwhelmingly impacting
the climate and environment. The most serious outcome of this global
assault is climate change, which is rapidly worsening while reducing to
derision conservative and pseudo-scientific forecasts. Should current
government policies continue, it bodes ill for the condition of the
world by the year 2100. Based on current trends a recent study from the
medical journal, Lancet Planetary Health, reveals that 80 years from now
150,000 people in Europe are expected to perish annually due to heat
waves.
Despite
the threats, in which climate change and nuclear weapons cast a shadow
over everything, there is barely a word of warning coming from
establishment circles. For many months, front page news has been focused
on the nonsense of “Russian meddling” in the US election and “Brexit
negotiations” – while subjects that define the earth go unmentioned or
cast to the shadows.
Over
the previous four decades governments, mainstream media and television
networks have surrendered to the growing power of financial institutions
– whereby the public has little input in the information they receive.
One need only open a major newspaper today to find 20-page supplements
dedicated to business or property, while a fraction of that is afforded
to world news events.
The
situation is further exacerbated by the ongoing decline of intellectual
culture in the West. Influenced by abundant commercial propaganda,
large sections of first world populations have been diverted towards
superficial consumerism, distracted by the latest technology and other
fabricated wants. Traditional, and important activities, such as the
reading of books and other literature has become a rarer sight. In March
2018, it was reported that one in four Americans had not read a single
book within the past year. This has been a continuing trend across the
West and is already having serious implications, leading to the “decline
of the public intellectual”.
Meanwhile,
also high on the rich list of culpable states are the oil nations of
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, all backed by
the West despite having dire human rights records. In one of the great
ironies, should the reliance on lethal fossil fuels like oil continue,
states like Saudi Arabia and Qatar will become desolate wastelands in
years to come. Its citizens are already suffering unduly from the very
substance their countries’ elites have grown affluent on.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest exporter of oil, is forecast to
expect a three to five degree Celsius rise in temperature by the end of
this century, making an already sweltering country virtually
uninhabitable for humans and much else. Last summer in Saudi Arabia,
record temperatures of 127 degrees Fahrenheit (53 Celsius) were recorded
in central and eastern parts of the country.
All
of the above states have grown rich by their continued plundering of
natural resources, therefore increasing the responsibility they now bear
to the planet. In another great irony, leading the way in protecting
the world are the so-called “primitive” indigenous populations, who seek
to preserve habitats by keeping fossil fuels like oil in the ground,
where it belongs, and protecting rainforests.
For
the past five centuries, the Anglo-Saxon and other European races have
exploited continents such as Africa and the Americas, acquiring riches
at the expense of others. Today, one can witness the horrendous behavior
of the far-right Italian government – which refuses to accept migrants
from African countries that Benito Mussolini invaded in the 1930s and
1940s, such as Tunisia, Egypt and Ethiopia. Following Fascist Italy’s
attack on Ethiopia in 1935, Mussolini’s forces killed tens of thousands
of its inhabitants, yet an Ethiopian immigrant is now barred entry to
Italy.
In
the US, Donald Trump’s administration is rejecting people fleeing from
Central America – migrants departing countries such as El Salvador and
Guatemala, which have not recovered from the Ronald Reagan-backed
invasions of the 1980s. Nor are many from Honduras now allowed
citizenship in America. This despite a 2009 US-supported coup which
helped turn Honduras into one of the poorest and most violent countries
in the world. Hondurans are also suffering due to worsening climate
change, despite hardly contributing to the problem; the US is further
accountable as it produces the second highest greenhouse gas emissions
on earth.
Ireland,
a crucial ally and outpost of American corporate power, has also become
a major culprit in regard to climate change – having long had among the
worst climate records on the European continent. With a population well
below 10 million, Ireland emits more carbon emissions than 400 million
of the planet’s poorest inhabitants, which is over 5% of the entire
human population. The disreputable behavior of Irish governments, in
their attempts to shift climate responsibility onto others, has largely
been shielded from public eyes by establishment centers.
However,
some light has been cast on the dark workings of power by Ireland’s
chief climatologist, John Sweeney, one of the few critical voices heard
coming from the abyss of silence. Sweeney wrote recently that Irish
government figures were “begging for concessions on every available
front at EU negotiations for the period 2020-2030… The reason for this
unseemly performance is that the people of Ireland have lost political
control of climate change policy to powerful vested interest groups. Our
negotiating position is determined not by the needs of our children and
grandchildren, but by the short term needs of those who can exert most
influence”.
Sweeney,
emeritus professor of geography at Maynooth University, has accused the
state’s politicians of “freeloading on the efforts of others”, calling
Ireland “a delinquent country” for failing to reduce its carbon
emissions which are actually rising. The pattern can be seen elsewhere.
In the case of America, most senior Republican Party members deny that
climate change is even occurring – while they pursue policies such as
ongoing extraction of oil and coal that quickens the race to the
precipice.
American
politicians may ridicule climate change in public, with Trump himself
describing it as “a hoax”, but whether they do so in private is another
matter. There is ample evidence to suggest the American president
believes that climate change is taking place. For instance, why was
Trump so insistent that a large wall be built to protect his golf resort
on the west coastline of Ireland? Because of deteriorating climate
change, the area is clearly vulnerable to rising sea levels and
worsening Atlantic storms, as Trump was very likely informed. His
proposal for the 38,000 ton wall was approved last December despite
serious environmental objections.
As
can be seen again, the corporate ideology is based on attaining
short-term profits (“jobs”) at whatever the cost, even if it results in
unremitting harm to the planet.
* * *
Truth in media is a powerful instrument.
Global
Research is a small team that believes in the power of information and
analysis to bring about far-reaching societal change including a world without war.
Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on Globalization will not be responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect statement in this article.
Copyright © Shane Quinn, Global Research, 2018
