Photo by Ian Stauffer on Unsplash

We know how to blunt the deadly effects of climate change. We need to slash fossil fuel use. Yes, there is more we should do…or perhaps more accurately, less.

We should substantially reduce the amount of useless crap we produce — which would cut energy use, pollution, and toxicity in our biosphere.

We know what to do — but are allowing “leaders” to deploy excuses instead of solutions.

The reasons for our failure is that we live under a system and culture that, by its nature, speeds our species to doom. I’m talking about corporatism. The for-profit corporation is a dominating psychopathic entity that destroys everything, including human lives and the habitability of the Earth, in pursuit of ever-greater profits.

An elective government awash in corporate money isn’t going to protect the Earth any more than a totalitarian regime running a petroleum-laden state. Both must be defied and overruled by sensible people.

Peanuts Wisdom

Our corporate-diseased culture promotes itself, not the well-being of people, of animals, or of our planet. A better understanding of human beings and their proper role comes from Charles Schultz in an old comic strip I’m quoting (probably paraphrasing) from memory.

Charlie Brown and Linus are talking.

Linus: “Why are we here on Earth?”

Charlie Brown: “To make others happy.”

Linus: “To make others happy?”

Charlie Brown: “Yes. To make others happy.”

There is an uncomfortable pause.

Linus: “What are others here for?”

We are not on this planet to maximize shareholder returns. We are not here to be productive in the sense of producing the maximum value of commodities at the lowest possible cost — perhaps minimizing our own wages. We are not here for “the economy” or “growth.” Nor are we here to serve any “deity” — and, we notice, that every deity is a story controlled by people attempting to exploit the deity for personal power and wealth.

No. We are here to make each other (and ourselves) happy. And we can do this by being kind to each other and protective of the Earth and all the creatures who inhabit it.

What Does This Mean For Each of Us and For the World?

We need to change the culture and to stabilize the climate. We must do this, largely, as a constructive and creative act. I don’t mean to suggest that we fail to oppose acts of climate abuse, or to oppose the institutions and rules that promotes this abuse.

But I am suggesting that we most focus on our actions, not on reactions. We must do things that embody the values needed. These will include speaking out fearlessly, treating others with kindness. This includes ridiculing the absurd ideas being used to deify the corporation, the idea that “greed is good” or that wealth in any way relates to virtue. (In fact, for the most part, the relationship is inverse.) We need to drown out the deadly views and deadly culture by embodying a better world view and a better culture.

We cannot change everything and everyone all at once. But we can change our immediate surroundings and experiences right away, in a BIG way. Making this positive change, and putting it into the world, is the challenge that the old order cannot defeat. It cannot win people over with cruelty when the offer of kindness is on the table. It cannot win people over with destruction when creation is also on offer. It cannot blind people with religion or ideology or politics when all of those are poisoned with petty greed and lust for power, and when a gentle honest humane culture is the obvious alternative.
Help Build This Vision, Culture and Climate Sense

There is a change underway. Pockets of this change are everywhere, but yet it’s hard to see. People, large numbers of them, fully understand how hollow our civilization has become. We (and they) see that leaders everywhere are incapable of addressing the challenges we face. Indeed, in practice, our leaders are supporters of climate doom. They are adversaries to every sensible caring person, including their own families and grandchildren.

They are killing our common planet to serve corporatism.

We cannot focus on the people who server the engines of death, but we can and must stop any and all actions detrimental to our planet. We must build a community of caring people, and invite our adversaries to side with their grandchildren and join with us.

We won’t get everybody. But we don’t need everybody. I’m betting that at least one out of eight people on the planet care about the Earth and our common future. That would be a billion people. That would be more than enough, much more, to wash away the stupidity that’s been controlling things. That will be more than enough to upgrade civilization, preserve the Earth, and make life so much better for nearly every creature living here.

Join me, and others, at the next Virtual Climate Party. These events are social and strategic meetings to build awareness and plan actions to make a better world. And then, to carry out those actions forming an unstoppable movement for good.

Thank you for reading.