Our Atmosphere and Life

Carbon that took hundreds of millions of years to form in the earth has been released into our atmosphere in the geological equivalent of an instant. The emissions of our civilization have grown (now exploded) over just this past 200 years, to now exceed 27 billion tons of carbon dioxide, annually. To pretend this isn't having any effect on the 12-mile thin atmosphere which sustains life on earth is to throw all logic and common sense to the wind. It is to succumb to belief in religious superstitions and political fairy tales- about a world where actions have no consequences- where carbon dioxide and methane, colorless, odorless gases- the effluence of industrial and population growth, can be waved off with a smirk of uninformed arrogance.

In these last few years the Capitalists have managed to create of the scientific consensus on climate change a political debate in America- and have won it! How could they do it? Perhaps it should evoke no surprise at all- big business and its political allies mobilized a concerted, well-funded effort to distort climate science. Multinational corporations, policy institutes, and think tanks began skillfully  planting dubious seeds of doubt, using professional deniers, hired outlying scientists, and an array of so-called skeptical bloggers, all  cherry picking the data, to provide ammunition needed to create climate confusion for a public not wanting to face the truth anyway.

And the up-side to this debate victory? Big Energy gets to keep America addicted to carbon-based fuels indefinitely, and the shareholders get to enjoy the continued flow of profits. The monetary scale of what is at stake is enormous- America may have many trillions of dollars' worth of carbon reserves left in the ground- coal, gas, and oil (as it stands, to fully utilize the proven global carbon reserves left in the ground, we commit ourselves to an apocalyptic climate catastrophe).

All the while the effects of Global Warming continue- these last years have seen us enter a new and strange set of weather patterns. The dire warnings from climate scientists from as far as thirty years back are coming true, one after another- and faster than the computer models had predicted. Data shows 37 straight years of above-average temperatures, worldwide. In 2012 our living earth is running a fever, with symptoms which include extra violent tornadoes, in size and frequency previously unheard of- massive hurricanes- and chronic, severe flooding in some areas- with oppressive spreading heat- and desertification over other areas.

It seems no use to plead with the larger society- this majority which refuses to pay attention to the 97% of published peer-reviewed PhDs - the overwhelming consensus of climate scientists who link the huge spike in greenhouse gases  with a much warmer, stormier atmosphere. Of what good is our so-called  representative  democracy if it has brought us to this?

Kalinzskii

The Human Commodity

Capitalism is a system of thought, organization, and action. It is not of course, a product of Christian thought,  but Christian thought has supported Capitalism since its rise beginning around 1700, most especially Protestantism. And to be precise, in actuality, we must say Christian thought supports only the propaganda of Capitalists, a result made possible by the naivete of the Christian mind.

Everyone should understand that the portion of Capitalist thought we address today, is in fact subterranean, not overtly spoken, or written about widely- and belongs to a kind of netherworld, where only a few, a very select few, are consciously aware. This portion of capitalist thought is dark, an outgrowth of the hardness of Nature, and the hardness Nature has created in mankind.

Humanity is  a commodity. People are like Cattle, Corn, Gold, Machines, anything else that can be bought or sold, something of value to be exploited to create more value, that is more money- more wealth. The Capitalist must purchase this human commodity- and for this purchase to produce profit- the price must be right. The cheaper the price, the greater the potential profit. Of course, when speaking of humans as commodities, we mean human labor. So labor must be cheap- and the labor pool must be large for this to be the case. The population must be so large as to produce a reserve pool of labor, so that competition amongst labor occurs forcing its asking price down. Fill the world with people, lower the value of each person, make more money, create more wealth, this is the dark purpose of Capitalism.

Kalinzskii

Belief and Determinism

There are two basic world views in our time: the religious view, and the scientific view. The variations and shades are innumerable, but in the broadest sense these two world views account for most of humankind. As things generally go, people are a mishmash of both, with all the conflict and contradictions which generally go with mishmash thinking.

But for both types belief plays a role that cannot be overstated. I believe in determinism. But the thing is, many religious views also posit belief in determinism- the point being there are philosophical categories which straddle both basic world views.

So, from my perspective, the question of whether life on earth can prevail is already settled- we just do not yet know the answer. Will we come to terms with our complete and inescapable dependence on the biosphere Gaia- and come to terms with her?

It depends on whether we can defeat Capitalism and particular forms of fundamentalist religion: (those which posit the belief that humans are essentially dis-embodied spiritual souls created by a primitive patriarchal deity... and thus privileged relative to Nature).

Kalinzskii

The Mythos of Democracy.

All high ideals ultimately fail us. We humans, in the aggregate, for all our exceptionalism, remain deeply flawed, and thus, we continually fail to build a just and equitable society. Demonstrably, human nature eventually defeats and perverts every noble intention. Wrecks litter the landscape of history- and each effort at purposeful utopia devolves to dystopia.

In the West, the democratic ideal reigns supreme, despite the unreal status of its historical application; but of course, the western democracies are an obvious reality- and seem to represent a kind of progress- yet the actual state of affairs belies that the democratic ideal has been only a cover for an omnipresent plutocracy- a plutocracy at times apparently beneficent, but persistent  with its own opaque agenda- captured conceptually, neatly, and absolutely, by the single word: Capital.

Furthermore, this power structure of the West is not monolithic; it is to the contrary, fragmented, competitive, and even after a manner of speaking, ephemeral. Its concrete manifestation is to be found in the vastness of accumulated and concentrated wealth, of real property-

sadly, democracy on the ground is an illusion, and stands as a product of a supreme propaganda- a high ideal only, and probably useless for the goals of deep ecology...

Kalinskii

The United Nations.

World Capitalism has failed humanity and egregiously damaged the vast biodiversity of our planet. Thus this political economic system must be dismantled and replaced with a Global Socialism. As part of this process the now out-dated notion of the nation state, with complete sovereignty, must be relegated to the past, and a new World Government established based on the United Nations. The traditional values of Western Civilization must be superseded and a new higher, more enlightened set of values established based on deep ecology.

Deep ecology is defined as respect for life- a depth reverence for life which comes with the recognition and appreciation for the value of the entire biosphere of the earth. It is this biosphere as a living system which allows for the existence of the biodiversity of individual creatures and forms. This biodiversity must be restored and protected and nurtured for the good of all living things and it is the living system which must constitute the highest value against which all other values are formulated.

These are the measures which will be necessary to save our living mother earth- Gaia. And with her salvation comes the salvation of humanity.

Kalinzskii

The Madness of Western Civilization.

Regard with your attention this strange community madness which characterizes our present civilization. The source of this madness is known and perfectly understandable. The madness springs from the human condition itself- and has arisen out of our deep evolutionary past- with the long memory of want and struggle. The early desperate struggle for survival was hard- and created a hardness in man. This hardness did not leave human nature after the arrival of success and ease. Rather, the hardness persisted over the many generations and the millenia- to continually generate a compulsive need for activity and acquisition. This is the primal source of the obsessive neurotic condition called greed.

Our civilization was built upon this hardness. Yet this hardness, which enabled our species' survival while we were few and weak, moves now to provide also for our eradication- along with the greater part of life on earth.

Hardness is now transformed into madness, having produced its crowned achievement- the political economic system we know as Capitalism. And now, Global Capitalism as a system marks at one and the same time both the apex and nadir of Western and World Civilization.

Kalinzskii

Our Garden of Eden.

The riches of the earth provide us with a true Garden of Eden- generally human life could be of superlative quality- so especially in comparison with the dismal reality of today. The comparison of what the physical and spiritual comfort level for all of us could be- with the situation as it today is- should, after reflection, be persuasive to anyone with an abiding compassion. In our time, more than one billion people live under-nourished each day in an utter and abject poverty. And most of these hungry people are children (!) all the while as our enormously wealthy capitalist culture abides self-satisfied.

Obviously, despite an earth of such abundant resources, our global economic system has failed to meet the needs of the world's population levels. Early on, two significant points should be noted- first, this present economic system is inherently unable to provide for the welfare of the billions living in underdeveloped nation-states; and second, no economic system can make this provision at the present increasingly explosive levels of population growth.

There are simply too many people in the world today, and the condition of want and privation for the millions and millions stands now only to get ever worse.

So, what then is to be done to counter this massive suffering- this massive degradation of human and life dignity?

Kalinzskii

Begin the Malthusian Commentary.

This is to begin my commentary of looking at the path of history- and of looking to the future also. My motivation is the love of life- all life- life as a living system, as the biosphere of this good living earth- our Gaia.

And this is how the commentary proceeds- as a tale of our humanity not as historically mythologized, rather as a portrait of seared truth, supported by all our science, and in juxtaposition to all our religion.

The malthusian commentary is a lonely discourse generated by rage- but always, in the posture of a sure and directed righteous wrath-

and so we begin.

Kalinzkii