Cooking the planet

A World to Win
A Planet to Save 

World Meteorological Organisation figures show global temperature for 2016 is 1.2C above pre-industrial levels and will set a new high for the third year running. 

“Because of climate change, the occurrence and impact of extreme events has risen,” said WMO secretary-general, Petteri Taalas “Once in a generation’ heatwaves and flooding are becoming more regular.”  The WMO said human-induced global warming had contributed to at least half the extreme weather events studied in recent years.

“It is almost as if mother nature is making a statement,” said climate scientist Michael Mann, at Penn State University in the US. “Climate change is not like other issues that can be postponed from one year to the next,” he said. “The US and world are already behind; speed is of the essence, because climate change and its impacts are coming sooner and with greater ferocity than anticipated.”

Let’s imagine for a moment a different system. One where a world body, elected and democratic, using scientific and expert input and governed by decisions of people’s representatives, would manage resources for the benefit of all; where human knowledge and skills would be brought together in cooperation, not competition, to solve the problem of safe and environmentally responsible development, or, perhaps, it would be decided against doing anything at all in the Arctic and reorganizing society to cope with alternative technologies and life styles; where making profit did not dominate all aspects of life, restricting what needs to be done for the benefit of all because a huge portion of the wealth created had to go into the pockets of the few who owned the means of producing and distributing wealth; where common ownership of those means is used to provide all the necessities – food, water, housing, health care, education, for every human being. If you can imagine that, then you can imagine socialism, the system that is the next big step forward for human progress.