Name the Damn Perp

By Thomas Neuburger

Poor wretches that depend on greatness' favour dream as I have done, wake and find nothing. —Shakespeare, Cymbeline

I want to pause our coverage of our masters’ atrocities for a simple reminder: When discussing the climate problem, name the perp.

An explanation.

Thanks to a tweet by David Wallace-Wells, we find this article in the UK Telegraph:

It’s too late to save Britain from overheating, says UN climate chief Humanity has missed its chance of keeping global warming below 1.5C and it will take “heroic efforts” to stay below 2C this century, the scientist leading the global effort to understand climate change has warned. Jim Skea, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said a failure to sufficiently curb carbon emissions had left the world on track to warm by 3C by 2100. This average masks variations between land and sea, with western Europe and the UK facing even greater warming – perhaps as much as 5C by the end of the century.

There are several problems with pieces like these.

First, we’ve seen too many of them. If every word of what’s printed above is true, it still wouldn’t move the needle of concern a single inch toward action.

Second, these numbers are low. Two degrees warming this century, with a maybe on five? We’re headed for five for sure — +5°C above pre-industrial times — and possibly more.

Red is the IPCC’s conservative “business as usual” scenario

The only thing stopping that train will be early industrial collapse, and I wouldn’t count on that (though I wouldn’t bet against it either). Consider CO2 emissions since 1850:

And here’s the same chart zoomed to after 1950, when the post-Depression, post-World War II boom kicked in:

Is anyone stopping this? The dip in 2020 is the Covid-caused industrial crash, beyond our control. The one before that is 2009, the hangover from after the wealthy took down the world. This is what halts the train of industrial production, not thoughtful decisions.

‘Humanity’ Has Missed Its Chance?

But the greatest problem with this piece, and with so many like it, is where it puts the blame.

Humanity has missed its chance of keeping global warming below 1.5C

Humanity has missed its chance? A reminder: Humanity doesn’t vote, hasn’t had a vote in years. Humanity is the victim, not the perp.

Davos Man votes. The rich who run the world, who own all the governments Washington isn’t bombing, droning, hating on or disrupting, those people vote. Davos Man, his boards, his bankers, enablers, bought politicians, that’s who reaps the wealth from all those emissions. That’s who decides whether they stop or continue.

Humanity’s just a passenger on this train. If you don’t want what the rich already want, your wishes are dreams. If you depend on the favor of the great, your dreams are empty, entertainments at best.

And so with the climate crisis: To blame “humanity” hides both cause and solution. The rich are running this world into the ground — because they can, because it keeps them in charge, because they want total control more than they want any kind of future for the cattle we call “humanity.”

To the super-rich — and I don’t say it lightly — “humanity,” people, are things, tools to be used. Humanity holds no more value in the eyes of our lords than the people of Gaza hold for Tony Blinken:

Blinken Approved Policy to Bomb Aid Trucks, Israeli Cabinet Members Suggest

Or drivers hold for those who get wealthy at Ford:

Psychopaths, one and all.

Name the Damn Perp!

So articles like the above, while mostly accurate, are pointless. They sing to the unlistening and powerless.

If you want your song to be heard, sing to the rich, people with actual power. And do it with deeds.