Lessons from COVID-19
The COVID-19 worldwide pandemic is one of the biggest worldwide challenges modern society has faced in the past 70 years, but it pales in comparison to the challenges we face from the current climate emergency. Is COVID-19 in fact one of the horrible results of global warming? Had it previously been dormant waiting for the right conditions when its environment changed? I doubt we will ever know, and while it is pure conjecture to assume it was caused by global warming, scientists know of many diseases that have been reintroduced due to the warming affects on our planet caused by greenhouse gases.
This global pandemic has highlighted the disparities among people's ability to survive a short amount of time without some sort of safety net. What it has shown is that individual countries' decisions don't just affect those countries, they affect the world. The invisible lines of demarcation on our planet separating boundaries of nations do not separate disease, global warming, or any of the disastrous effects the climate emergency has on us.
Imagine:
A world where we are all working together as humans, for humanity, and where the outbreak of a new strain of coronavirus is treated globally instead of piecemeal by individual countries, states or provinces, and cities. All of the available resources around the world are focused on the outbreak. Equipment, PPE, beds, healthcare workers, any and all infrastructure needed to address this as quickly as possible is pulled together from around the world, instead of being hoarded by individual countries, regions, or cities in anticipation of a threat to come. Instead of individuals and organizations looking to profit from the scarcity of essential items needed to combat this disease, with no monetary system there is no motivation of personal profit. Instead, everyone realizes that hoarding only hurts other humans on our world, and it is all but nonexistent. Instead of conflicting information about the numbers, death rates, spread, etc... actual numbers and information is readily available and transparent for the entire world.
Imagine:
There are no individual countries worried about their individual economic systems. There is no need to bail out companies or stabilize economies with an influx of money to citizens unable to work. Instead, the focus is on everyone possible working in ways which help the immediate situation. Manufacturing PPE including face shields, respirators, masks, body suits, ventilators, emergency hospital facilities with all of their needs and beds, etc.... Instead of individual countries each working on their own vaccines, therapies, and other treatment options all of the people involved, around the world, are sharing information freely and openly in order to advance science as quickly as possible to solutions. There are no threats from a heads of state implying the virus is an act of espionage from another country or rival faction. Individual nations don't have to worry about closing borders to other nations, as the entire world works together to keep the virus contained.
Imagine:
A world where we don't have monetary systems stealing a large portion of our productivity and enabling so much suffering. Imagine a world where everyone works together toward global goals instead of individual countries fighting each other for opportunities!
Imagine:
Instead of the elected officials helping large corporation profit from a pandemic, they were vested only in helping the citizens?
From "A Revolutionary Solution":
CHAPTER I
A NEW DIRECTION
The climate crisis is here, and has simultaneously catapulted us into earth's sixth mass extinction event. It is the largest and most urgent threat humanity has ever faced. Many say it is now too late to fix, but there is a direct, thoughtful, and obvious way forward that will work in everyone's best interest. The goal is to save the human race and the remaining life on our planet. Unfortunately, the societal constructs of nations and money continue to destroy the only true wealth we have – our environment, our planet. Consider this your invitation to explore this text and discover how you can engage in the struggle for earth's restoration.
I am beside myself with grief over the destruction of our beautiful, magnificent, astounding home we call earth. I love it with all my heart. I do not know if the suggestions presented will result in solving our seemingly inevitable demise, but I can't see any other way forward. That which has been tried and continues to fail must be disregarded and discarded. We must keep pushing hard, making changes to our society as a whole. We must change some of the very deepest beliefs people hold with regard to money, politics, nationalism, religion, and basic human instinct.
How many more years do we have left to maximize profits before they are meaningless in the face of the destruction of our coastlines, forests, oceans, clean air, and water? How long will civilization remain civilized as countries around the world collapse? Will we suffer a world with everyone fighting for survival against each other or can we work together to implement global solutions to the climate emergency?
The ideas promoted in this book are logical, reasonable, and necessary. They actually address a staggering amount of issues on a global scale. Unfortunately, the changes required will not be easy. If they were, I believe we would already be there.
CHAPTER II
ON THE BRINK
We are very near the point of no return. People have told tales of the world's end since before the first written words on cuneiform tablets. Until very recently, our demise couldn't have been at our own hands. Today, we face not just that possibility but can document and project how humans are heading and will likely continue down the path to self-extinction.1,2 I am not talking about nuclear annihilation of life on earth, although that is still quite possible. The ever-increasing impacts of the climate emergency we are in will most likely be the cause of our disappearance from the Earth. The food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe are all nearing a tipping point. This is not from overpopulation. It is the climate crisis we currently face and its likely ramifications that force our hand.
We must collaborate together so we can not only save the planet, but the human race, as well, with all of its good, kind, just, heroic, selfless, generous, industrious, ingenious, and loving qualities. And, no, those not-so-great attributes will not disappear. I believe, however, they could diminish to the point of having little sway on most people. We are getting a little ahead of ourselves, though. Let's take a look to see how we arrived at this point in our history. We will shed some light on how we can fix the climate crisis before it is too late.
Throughout history, whether we have been tribes with chieftains, monarchies with kings, republics, totalitarian regimes, dictatorships, or democracies, those with the most wealth have held the power. Those who've been wealthy have often exerted great influence on or have been the politicians who create and amend laws. This always results in the wealthy having vastly more rights than the poor. Moreover, the rights to food, shelter, clothing, transportation, health (healthcare), old age, education, and career are all typically dependent upon our ability to pay. There is some basic (and flawed) reasoning to this.
Almost everyone is taught that if you work hard, you will earn your rewards. The harder you study and the better your grades, the better job you'll get, and the more you will earn. If we were all truly given equal opportunity, equal footing, and equal rights this would be sound logic. Unfortunately, many factors contribute to a very unequal amount of opportunity for people all over the world. We know raw intelligence, physical ability, and health are all variable, and affect our ability to be financially successful, but often the most important variable to success is wealth.3 Those born into families who have disproportionately more wealth than others are already disproportionately more likely to have the means to create their own financial success. This does not discount the many stories of those who "rose from nothing to great financial success," although they are the rare exception and not the norm.
Growing up, I remember my mother saying, "the rich get richer, and the poor have children." That was in the early 1970s. As of 2015, the wealth of the top one percent was a staggering 50 percent of all wealth in the world.4 That number keeps rising, and the gap between rich and poor keeps widening. The top one percent earned 82 percent of all the income in the world in 2017.5 The January 2018 corporate tax cuts in the U.S. were so heavy, the cycle of consolidation of wealth from the many to the few ballooned, all while the American people were told that the tax cuts would help them.
The U.S. is not the world, but, with regard to the greed for wealth and power, it is far from alone. Most people agree that consolidation of wealth, greed, and political corruption are a common problem throughout the world. They also tend to throw their hands up at a solution. "You can't fix greed," they say, or "All politicians are corrupt." I hear these declarations too often. I don't believe the majority of politicians are corrupt to begin with or go into politics for selfish reasons. The problem is the current constructs of most of the world's societies, which not only tolerate greed and corruption, but encourage and celebrate it. Politicians, lobbyists, and corporations are all financially rewarded for it.
Throughout the history of human civilization, there have been countless recurrences of wealth consolidation by the few. These have always been followed by uprisings of the many, often with large numbers of people dying in conflict. Eventually, in the new and improved government, only a few are in control again. Unfortunately, those who govern next are soon corrupted by power and greed.
These cycles of consolidation of wealth, repression, and subsequent uprisings have continued to present day. Gandhi once noted, "The Earth provided enough to satisfy every man's need, but not for every man's greed." The hopes and dreams of countless idealists, reformers, politicians, and well-meaning leaders have been repeatedly devastated throughout history by greed, power, and corruption. The only way to prevent this cycle of destruction from continuing is to realize that what has been tried in the past will not fix the problems we face today.
We live in a world where currency is king. You can literally buy anything if you throw enough money at it. A rare car, an island, a country, a politician, an election, a fellow human being! A planet? We see money at the heart of so many problems we face today. It is a tool of servitude, of slavery, of poverty, of working harder to "succeed" while we compete against our fellow humans instead of working together toward common goals. Now, at the height of rampant inequality, our earth's ability to keep supporting life is on the brink of collapse. This is largely from man-made pollution. If we don't do something different, the climate emergency, no matter the cause, will most likely disrupt civilization on earth beyond recognition.
Drastic steps are necessary if we are to survive at all. With no "Planet B", every single person's life in the world is under imminent threat. We are at a major tipping point for the history of all humans, and likely all life on earth. The way things have worked in the past is no longer an option. We can't sit idly by waiting for someone smarter to figure it out, or for our elected leaders to show us the way. Scientists have been showing us the hard evidence for years, but our elected leaders are not making the changes needed to avert catastrophe. We must now make extraordinary changes in how we govern in order to introduce the urgent changes required for the human race to survive.
This diary is from my new book: "A Revolutionary Solution" and companion website: https://arevolutionarysolution.com where you can explore more on this topic, and download your FREE copy today! For a free paperback copy please KosMail me.