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Bernie Sanders is an avowed socialist and happy with it. To members of the Crimson Crew, he’s “woke,” which is the worst epithet they will consider. Have been it not for the mind-meld between the Democratic Nationwide Committee and Hillary Clinton, Bernie would possibly nicely have been president of the US as an alternative of the Orange Ogre.
On August 21, 2023, The Guardian revealed an opinion piece penned by Bernie Sanders that primarily says the US and China are threatening the very survival of humanity by following a path of mutual antagonism that’s resulting in a brand new chilly warfare. Each needs to be targeted on avoiding an existential local weather disaster as an alternative of bashing one another’s brains in. His phrases are highly effective and resonate with compassion for all humanity. Will they’ve any important impact? Learn them and make your personal judgement. (His remarks have been flippantly edited for the sake of brevity.)
Bernie Sanders Speaks
Cooperation will not be solely in the very best pursuits of all international locations, however is totally needed for the survival of the planet. Local weather change is a worldwide disaster and can’t be solved by anyone nation alone. If the US, China and different industrialized international locations don’t come collectively to dramatically lower greenhouse fuel emissions, the world we depart our youngsters and future generations will develop into more and more unhealthy and uninhabitable.
Now’s the time for a radical rethinking of geopolitics to mirror the fact that worldwide cooperation will not be solely in the very best pursuits of all international locations, however is totally needed for the survival of the planet.
Right here’s the fact. The final eight years have been the eight hottest on document. This yr is on observe to be the most popular yr in recorded historical past, and this previous July was the most popular month on document. Throughout the US, July broke greater than 3,200 day by day temperature information and dozens of American cities broke or tied their earlier day by day temperature information three or extra instances.
However it’s not simply the US that’s coping with document breaking heatwaves and massive climate-caused devastation. China skilled record-high temperatures final month, together with the nation’s all time temperature document of 126ºF (52.2ºC), and up to date flooding has killed about 100 individuals, destroyed almost 200,000 houses, displaced some 1.5 million individuals and induced greater than $13 billion in harm. And it’s not simply that temperatures have been hovering on land. Our oceans have by no means been hotter.
Proper now, 44% of the world’s oceans are experiencing a marine heatwave. Within the midst of this international disaster, there’s each excellent news and unhealthy information. The excellent news is that latest years have seen long-overdue steps to transition the worldwide economic system away from fossil fuels into extra environment friendly and renewable vitality sources.
China spent $546 billion on clear vitality final yr and continues to fabricate and deploy extra renewable vitality than the remainder of the world mixed. By 2030, China could deploy sufficient renewable vitality to primarily energy your entire US electrical grid thrice over. The European Union has laid out a plan to speculate greater than $1 trillion over the subsequent decade in renewables and vitality effectivity, aiming to scale back greenhouse fuel emissions by 55% in contrast with 1990.
Fossil Gas Investments Decline
Importantly, giant sections of the company world have turned away from investments in fossil fuels and are actually spending tons of of billions on sustainable vitality. Altogether, the Worldwide Power Company expects the worldwide group to speculate $1.6 trillion in wind, solar energy, electrical autos, batteries, and electrical grids this yr, in contrast with simply $1 trillion in fossil fuels. This progress has led the IEA to forecast that renewables will surpass coal to develop into the biggest supply of worldwide electrical energy technology by early 2025, a lot quicker than beforehand predicted.
The unhealthy information is that we’re nonetheless falling nicely in need of the sorts of investments wanted to take care of this disaster. We’re nonetheless not shifting quick sufficient to save lots of our planet. The newest report from the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Local weather Change tasks that with out extra pressing motion, the world will go the important thing 1.5ºC (2.7ºF) threshold by the early 2030s, risking a far deadlier future for our youngsters and future generations. The science is obvious: if the US, China, and the remainder of the planet don’t act with larger urgency to dramatically reduce carbon emissions, our planet will face huge and irreversible harm (emphasis added).
Let’s be clear: for the reason that starting of the Industrial Revolution, the US has put extra carbon into the environment, by far, than another nation. Whereas the brand new applied sciences sustained by fossil fuels improved our lifestyle, we laid the groundwork for the local weather calamity the planet is now experiencing.
In recent times, the quickly rising Chinese language economic system has eclipsed the US because the world’s main carbon emitter. Proper now, China is constructing six instances as many coal fired energy vegetation as the remainder of the world mixed — the equal of two new coal vegetation each week. Final yr, they quadrupled the variety of new coal vegetation authorized in contrast with 2021. Present plans will see China add as a lot new coal to its grid as utilized in all of India, the second largest coal consumer, and 5 instances extra coal capability because the US.
It’s no nice secret the Chinese language authorities is enterprise many insurance policies that we and the worldwide group ought to oppose. They’re cruelly repressing and interning the Uyghurs, threatening Taiwan and stifling freedom of expression in Tibet and Hong Kong. China has bullied its neighbors, abused the worldwide buying and selling system, stolen know-how and is constructing out a dystopian surveillance state.
The US is rightly organizing its allies to press Beijing on these and different points. However organizing most of our nationwide effort round a zero-sum international confrontation with China is unlikely to vary Chinese language habits and can alienate allies and companions.
Most significantly, it may doom our planet by making local weather cooperation inconceivable between the world’s two largest greenhouse emitters. We have to transfer in a daring new course. Current historical past offers some instructive examples.
The Previous And The Future
In 1962, when the US and the Soviet Union stood on the verge of nuclear warfare, President John F. Kennedy and the Soviet chief, Nikita Khrushchev, got here collectively to forestall mutual destruction. Just some months later, with the nuclear disaster because the background, President Kennedy proposed to the Soviet Union an arms reductions plan which might change the confrontational dynamic that had introduced the world to the brink. Even arch anti-communists like Nixon and Reagan made daring gambits to scale back tensions, fearful of worldwide annihilation. We face an identical dynamic in the present day, going through collective disaster if we don’t change course.
Right here is the insane dynamic that have to be modified. In recent times, each the US and China have enormously elevated their navy budgets. The US now spends some $900 billion on the Pentagon, greater than the subsequent 10 nations mixed. China, with the world’s second largest navy finances, spends nearly $300 billion. Regardless of spending these large quantities on “protection”, each international locations are shedding the warfare in opposition to the local weather disaster.
The US has skilled huge floods, fires, drought and excessive climate disturbances, which have value us tons of of billions. The latest flooding in China alone will value that authorities tens of billions. Into the long run, scientists inform us that nice cities like Shanghai and New York shall be underwater if we don’t act successfully in opposition to the local weather disaster.
Bernie Sanders Has A Radical Concept
So right here’s a “radical” thought. As a substitute of spending huge quantities of cash planning for a warfare in opposition to one another, the US and China ought to come to an settlement to mutually reduce their navy budgets and use the financial savings to maneuver aggressively to enhance vitality effectivity, transfer towards sustainable vitality and finish our reliance on fossil fuels. They need to additionally present elevated assist for growing international locations who’re affected by the local weather disaster via no fault of their very own.
Now, I do know that institution politicians in each international locations will inform me how naive and unsophisticated I’m to supply such a suggestion and they’re going to present one million causes as to why it will possibly’t be accomplished. My response is that this — go speak to the individuals in Vermont who’ve misplaced their houses due to unprecedented flooding and the households in Hawaii who misplaced family members within the latest fires. Go speak to the greater than 1 million individuals in China who’ve been displaced by catastrophic floods. Go speak to the individuals in southern Africa who’re ravenous due to the horrible drought and floods they’re experiencing or farmers all over the world who can now not develop their crops due to water shortages.
Maybe most significantly, go speak to the tons of of thousands and thousands of younger individuals in each nation on earth who’re shedding hope, questioning whether or not they need to even have youngsters of their very own, given the large challenges the local weather disaster poses for a traditional life.
Nelson Mandela famously remarked; “It all the time appears inconceivable till it’s accomplished.” If we’re to save lots of the planet, now’s the time for daring motion. Let’s do it.
The Takeaway
Bernie Sanders is an idealist. Is that an issue? After all it’s. People are programmed to be acquisitive, to worth greed over generosity, to worry “the opposite,” and to be patriotic quite than pan-humanists. Fascism is on the rise all over the place, from Florida to Hungary, Italy, and Spain. Saudi Arabia is coping with an inflow of immigrants by chopping them to items with bullets fired from machine weapons.
It’s a tricky time to be an idealist, a conundrum that brings to thoughts an episode of WKRP in Cincinnati through which a radio station supervisor debates the morality of John Lennon’s Think about.
It’s not that people don’t have the power to plan methods to scale back dangerous emissions from fossil fuels and transition to a zero emissions economic system. They completely do. It’s that people lack the power to work collectively, shoulder to shoulder, to realize the best and finest objective of our species.
Walt Kelly, the cartoonist who created the cartoon Pogo, stated it finest. “We have now met the enemy and he’s us.”
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