In Episode 147 [26] of the CounterVortex podcast [27], Bill Weinberg notes the recent statement [28] from the UN Environment Program that "only a root-and-branch transformation of our economies and societies can save us from accelerating climate disaster." Studies from similarly prestigious global bodies have raised the prospect [29] of imminent human extinction [30]. An International Energy Agency report [31] released last year warned [32] that new fossil fuel exploration needed to halt by 2022 [33] in order to keep warming within the limits set by the 2015 Paris Agreement [28]. Adoption of new technologies and emissions standards [34] does mean that CO2 emissions from energy generation (at least) are likely to peak [35] by 2025. But the IEA finds [36] that this would still lead to global temperatures rising by 2.5 C above pre-industrial levels by century's end—exceeding the Paris Agreement limits, with catastrophic climate impacts. And the catastrophic impacts, already felt [37] in places like (just for example) Chad and Cameroon [38], win but scarce media coverage [39]. Climate-related conflict has already escalated to genocide in Darfur [40], and possibly in Syria [48]. The oil companies, meanwhile, are constitutionally incapable of writing off the "stranded assets [49]" of vast hydrocarbon investments. Climate protests in Europe—at oil terminals [41] and car shows [42] (as well as, less appropriately, museums [43])—do win some attention. But the ongoing resistance [44] to still-expanding oil mega-projects in places like Uganda and Tanzania [45] are comparatively invisible to the outside world. The dire warnings from the UN and IEA raise the imperative for a globalized resistance with an explicitly anti-capitalist politics. Listen on SoundCloud [26] or via Patreon [46].
Production by Chris Rywalt [50]
We ask listeners to donate just $1 per weekly podcast via Patreon [46]—or $2 for our special offer [51]! We now have 49 subscribers. If you appreciate our work, please become Number 50!