George Monbiot has found a good wedge into the establishment’s perverse inconsistencies — and, yes, I have contributed to the crowdfunding campaign — but it doesn’t go far enough. The wedge has to be driven into the heart of the problem, which is the psychopathic creed of the corporations: profit at any cost!
A very powerful essay from George Monbiot.
Today and tomorrow I am posting essays that have nothing to do with dogs! Today, I am sharing George’s gloom about the future, tomorrow I am sharing our human capacity for incredible ingenuity and technology.
Because I sense we are a species of two extremes; the very mad and the very clever!
I don’t have an answer but I can share these two essays.
Today, I give you George Monbiot’s essay Suing For Survival.
ooOOoo
Suing For Survival
Our legal action against the government aims to shut down fossil fuels
By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 4th March 2020
Our survival is not an afterthought. The defence of the living planet cannot be tacked retrospectively onto business as usual. Yet this is how almost all governments operate. They slap the word “sustainable” on damaging projects they have already approved, then…
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Wibble 
I wholeheartedly agree and sadly had my own experience in the USA, battling a pipeline for 3 years from being built next to my home. It was a slap-in-the-face wake-up call to the rights we do not have in America that we thought we had. I’ve long said, the only way Big Business (whether it’s Oil & Gas, Pharma, Agri, etc.) will pay attention is through money. STOP buying their products and they may finally take notice. Yes, revolting but true — it’s become profit before life in medicine too.
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Big Business rules the coop at present; their omnipotence has snuck up on humanity. We need to recognise what the problem is before we can do anything about it: it’s the rules governing corporations, which mandate that the corporations must turn a profit, no matter what the cost. We need to change those rules (preferably before they kill us!).
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Do you have a proposed solution? With greed ruling the Market, so many have become deaf, dumb and blind, not to mention governed by a reckless loss of common sense, that I wonder if your suggestion is even possible.
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I wonder the same thing. As I see it, the solution is to curb the power of the corporations. The problem is that they have the politicians in their pockets… and we ‘the people’ keep on voting in the same brand of duplicitous bastards every time. The game is rigged against us… until we have a ‘none of the above’ option on our polling cards, which would allow us to highlight the need to change the rules, I don’t see an answer :(
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I’ve longed for a none of the above ballot option. I’m sorry to say for how long that’s been. The choices only seem to worsen.
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Thank you very much, Mr. P.
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Thank you for highlighting such a timely and important article!
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Learning from dogs? My dog used to sleep for 12 hrs a day and licked his own balls. My neighbours dog likes to roll in poo. Not sure I should be doing that…then again, everyone would definitely keep a 1 metre distance so no Coronavirus risk!
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I see your point. But dogs don’t gang together and formulate social constructs like corporations that then turn around and bite them in those same protuberances. Nor do they create umpteen billion tons of plastic waste and throw it into the oceans… and so and so on…
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And too be honest Monbiot did himself no favours by going through that phase where he (naively) thought Hinkley C would be a good idea, that it would be built on time and on budget (despite all the evidence to the contrary) and that the Tories won’t use it as an excuse to cut subsidies to renewables or ignore climate change targets all together. All they need to do to avoid being sued is to move the goal posts, which they can do more easily out of the EU (something he also naively thought might be good for the environment). In short, He strikes me as the sort of person who falls for telemarketing scams.
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I can’t say you’re not wrong on all counts. But he is at least trying here to address the situation. Your point about moving the goalposts is well made; we ‘the people’ will need to be on the ball to try to prevent such cynical manouevring.
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It’s always about the Elite, and profit Colin, and the susceptibility of the consumer… Who after all fill these pockets with our consumer habits… We buy stuff we do not need, China and other overseas places pumping out pollution because our demand for cheap and wider profit margins… We pay a percentage on every Energy Bill that is Green Tax which is supposed to be going to helping Climate Change.. Have you seen these Energy companies come up with a collective solution yet?
The problem is none of these companies are prepared to co-operate for the good of the planet.. They are all about Competition and profit … They do not care its not their problem… They leave it for the next generation and so on..
We have to wake up or be shaken up… And at the moment I think Mother Earth will shake many more before she’s done..
Sending thoughts your way…. And I love your passion…
Enjoy the rest of your week my friend..
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So true! … and timely: my next post (imminent) touches on this very topic.
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:-) looking forward..
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I wonder why the environmentally conscious buy from Amazon who is polluting Mother Earth through more trucking and packaging for consumers to discard…than support their local retailers who are being put out of business by the corporate giants. Is it a case of “it’s them, not me?” When we point one finger, three are pointing back at ourselves… Too quickly, the Mom and Pop stores have been replaced with the “convenience” of home delivery…think of all those trucks coming in and out of neighborhoods. “Convenience” seems to be a sneaky marketing word we should be paying more attention to and reading beneath the fine print to recognize what it really means.
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Totally agree my daughter has a small high Street store and I always support locally. Grow my own food and recycle etc.
Responsibility all begins with looking in the mirror.
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You are so right on. I, too, grow a garden, recycle, and support local as much as I can. Sadly, many of them have gone out of business, leaving one “no choice” than to purchase otherwise. I’m a long-time proponent of choice and do not like having mine revoked.
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Here’s to choice, may we all choose well… 💚
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As someone who has just self-published an eBook on Amazon, I feel those fingers pointing at me. And I did it for ‘convenience’: I wasn’t prepared to go to the trouble of trying to find a regular publisher who would consider my work worthy of being published. Guilty, as charged; and yet, I did it because I didn’t see an alternative.
Having said all that, the march of progress is hard to stop; what we need is leaders who recognise these problems and act to protect society from itself. We don’t have leaders like that; possibly part of the reason is that some actions they would be obliged to take would be unpalatable to the majority. Catch-22.
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Oh, I do not think you are guilty as charged. Rather than self-publishing “for convenience,” as I believe it can be a daunting task, I think you did it for having an opportunity. :-)
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Well, thank you for the vote of confidence! ;)
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Pingback: Are corporations psychopaths? | Wibble
If amazon stuck to books — especially or particularly e-books and Audible— they could be considered helpful in that way.
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That’s a fair point.
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Just came back here some four years later, and I had forgotten the very powerful arguments made by you, Colin, and the others, made then. Still very struck by your charge that the oil companies are trying to shut down the AMOC (Gulf Stream) on purpose. Don’t know why that hadn’t crossed my mind before especially as Jean was of that opinion.
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Oh, I don’t think that the fossil fools are deliberately trying to shut down the AMOC. Though perhaps I’m being naïve: there are obviously evil people on this planet who don’t give two hoots about anyone but themselves. One only needs to read the Merchants of Doubt to see that.
On the other hand, I’m certain that there are those who wouldn’t bat an eyelid at dis- and misinforming to delay action to prevent the AMOC tipping point happening. Especially if their bottom line depends upon it. Greed rules.
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