Capitalism Profits While the Planet Burns

Mar 16, 2015

It may be hard to imagine, given the recent cold that most of us have been living through, but last year was the hottest on earth since record-keeping began in 1880, according to a recent report by scientists who are tracking temperatures at many locations across the world. And the 10 warmest years have all occurred since 1997.

All these findings indicate that the atmospheric temperatures have continuously been increasing at least within the last 130 years. And the pace of this warming is accelerating with every passing year. Scientists predict that continued warming will be utterly devastating to nature, humans and other living beings.

Since the temperature increase coincides with the rise of industrialization, it is very likely that the human activity linked with the industrialization, such as the use of fossil fuels producing carbon dioxide, is at least partially responsible for this global warming.

Aside from the discussion about human activity’s role in global warming, the global temperature is clearly increasing every passing year. Society should clearly be working to address this.

Doing nothing about global warming now is simply risking everyone’s future.

Scientists quite accurately predicted the effects of atmospheric events at the scale of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans years ahead of its devastation. But the federal government did nothing to prepare the people and the city for such hurricanes. Parts of New Orleans were destroyed, and many people were killed or left homeless.

But society is not run to serve a majority of the people. Today, the rich people control and run the society to endlessly enrich themselves. For this reason, they are very hostile toward any proposal for doing something to prepare for a rainy day. They are too busy making record profits now.