breadandcircuses

@breadandcircuses@climatejustice.social

🌏 Born at 312 PPM

Retired NGO executive doing my best to stay informed and raise awareness about environmental crises, climate breakdown, and the rapacious, murderous impact of greedy capitalists and the politicians they own.

Why the name? Back in the day, empires placated their citizens with "bread and circuses." Now we get fast food and apps. But it's all basically the same — distraction from what's REALLY happening.

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breadandcircuses, to random

A proposal has been floated by a group of experts meeting under the auspices of the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

They recommend that we enact a new international crime: ECOCIDE.

The panel defined ecocide as “unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts.”

It's not a law yet. But if it were to be adopted, then those scoundrels at Exxon, Shell, Chevron, BP and the rest of the Big Oil criminals should be prosecuted to the fullest extent, with corporate and personal fortunes being confiscated for use in fighting climate change and making reparations.

MORE INFORMATION HERE -- https://www.openglobalrights.org/it-is-time-to-make-ecocide-an-international-crime/


H/T -- @WBOrcutt

breadandcircuses, to climate

Okay, everybody, for once I have GOOD NEWS! 😍

One of the world's leading capitalists, Bill Gates, says he's optimistic about the future, so you should be too!

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/23/no-chance-of-global-heating-below-15c-but-nuclear-tech-promising-in-climate-crisis-bill-gates-says

Bill Gates says, “I’m still very optimistic that it will be much better to be born 20, 40, 60 years from now than [at] any time in the past.”

Bill Gates says, “At this point, to stay below 2.5C would be pretty fantastic.”

See? There's nothing to worry about. The future looks fantastic!

That means you can just keep on driving, keep on flying, keep on shopping, keep on buying. Do everything in your power to support your capitalist masters — your children and your grandchildren will thank you for it. ❤️

Bill Gates said that, so it must be true.

breadandcircuses, to books

Guess which one...

breadandcircuses, to random

As we look forward to later on this year in the UAE, anticipating another joyous fossil fuel bacchanalia, I'm sure we'll be hearing plenty from our masters about "Net Zero 2050." They'll remind us once again about all those delicious carbon offsets that are going to save the world for capitalism and consumerism, allowing endless growth forever and ever. No need to worry, they'll say, we've got everything under control! 😃


Cartoon by @davpope

breadandcircuses, to climate

When leading climate scientists are asked anonymously or off-the-record what they actually expect we will have to endure in the decades ahead, you'll find they are not very optimistic.

In 2021, the journal Nature conducted an anonymous survey of IPCC authors and received responses from 92 scientists. Their answers suggest strong skepticism that governments will significantly slow the pace of global heating, despite all those fancy promises we keep hearing.

Six in ten of the survey respondents expect the world to warm by at least 3°C by the end of the century. Some think 4°C or even 5°C is where we're headed. Fewer than 5% of these scientists believe we will stay under 1.5°C, which is the optimistic — and totally unrealistic — outcome that politicians and the corporate media want you to swallow.

SOURCE -- https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02990-w

breadandcircuses, (edited ) to climate

Wisdom and anger from Greta Thunberg...

We cannot live sustainably within today’s economic system. Yet that is what we are constantly being told we can do.

We can buy sustainable cars, travel on sustainable motorways powered by sustainable petroleum. We can eat sustainable meat, and drink sustainable soft drinks out of sustainable plastic bottles. We can buy sustainable fast fashion and fly on sustainable airplanes using sustainable fuels. And, of course, we are going to meet our short- and long-term sustainable climate targets, too, without making the slightest effort.

“How?” you might ask. How can that be possible when we don’t yet have any technical solutions that can fix this crisis alone, and the option of stopping doing things is unacceptable from our current economic standpoint? What are we going to do?

Well, the answer is the same as always: we will cheat. We will use all the loopholes and all the creative accounting that we have conjured up in our climate frameworks since the very first conference of the parties, the 1995 COP1 in Berlin.

We will outsource our emissions along with our factories, we will use baseline manipulation and start counting our emissions reductions when it suits us best. We will burn trees, forests, and biomass, as those have been excluded from the official statistics. We will lock decades of emissions into fossil gas infrastructure and call it 'green' natural gas. And then we will offset the rest with vague afforestation projects – trees that might be lost to disease or fire – while we simultaneously cut down the last of our old-growth forests at a much higher speed.

#GretaThunberg #ClimateEmergency #Greenwashing #AntiCapitalism

FULL ARTICLE -- https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/08/greta-thunberg-climate-delusion-greenwashed-out-of-our-senses

breadandcircuses, to random

#Illness #Capitalism

breadandcircuses, to random

Empty calories and mindless entertainment...

breadandcircuses, to climate

Considering what we know about the real and immediate dangers of climate change, how can nearly everyone just carry on with business as usual?

I'd argue there are three reasons:

#1. The majority of Earth's human inhabitants are so busy trying to keep themselves and their family members alive (housed, fed, safe) that they have literally no time to learn about or be interested in climate change.

#2. The small minority (10%?) of humans who have had the privilege of education, who have the luxury of time, and who feel motivated to care about climate change can in fact do very little about it themselves. Sure, they can buy an EV, ride a bike, or go vegan, but none of that will really make much of a dent because of...

#3. The owners and managers of our society — the governments, industries, billionaire business owners, and major media — all of whom have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo, in keeping the stores open, the factories running, the airliners flying, and the cruise ships sailing. The longer our rulers can keep assuring everyone that business-as-usual is just fine, the more money they will make. And they believe (though it's likely a delusion) that with enough money and enough power, they and their descendants will be able to survive and even thrive in the 3°C to 5°C world of the future.

breadandcircuses, to environment

Electric cars are less bad for the than gas/petrol cars. Still bad, but slightly less bad.

Electric cars are GOOD for automakers, because they can keep building and selling cars!

Electric cars are GOOD for the oil industry, because they can produce and sell more petrochemicals used to make , which electric vehicles are loaded with.

Electric cars are GOOD for the asphalt, concrete, and steel industries, because they mean more roads, more highways, more suburban shopping malls, and more factories!

Electric cars are GOOD for capitalists who can fool buyers into believing they're making a carbon-neutral "green" choice, when they're really not.

Finally, electric cars are GOOD for promoting the myth of the endless-growth economy! 😀

breadandcircuses, to atheism

Let’s get personal, shall we? I’ve been here a while now, and as I’m feeling quite comfortable at Mastodon, I’d like to share a bit more about myself beyond my passion for the climate and the environment.

To begin with, I’m a male, he/him, hetero, strongly supporting LGBTQ rights. I’m a baby boomer, born at 312 PPM 🌏, a United Statesian, although I lived in Europe (mostly Hungary) for several years, and traveled extensively for work before retiring in 2012. I’ve never been good at sustaining long-term romantic relationships, and I’ve finally settled into comfortable singlehood.

I like to say I’m made of contrasts.

For example, I’m rather funny and quite personable, but I don’t enjoy small talk and I hate parties. I currently live in the Bible Belt, but I’m an outspoken atheist. While I can easily fit into most social situations, I don’t feel comfortable around large groups and prefer being alone most of the time. I live near two huge military bases, but I detest the USA’s militaristic, troop-worshiping culture. I’m almost always cheerful, which masks my deeply felt existential nihilism. I’m a neat freak, but also rather lazy, preferring fun over work.

I’ll finish up with some hashtags to add flavor...

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