Charles Hugh-Smith Of Two Minds You want to reduce CO2? Then trigger a global depression that
reduces global consumption of everything by 50% and destroys 95% of the
phantom wealth owned by the global elites trying to monetize the air.
I recently asked What’s Left to Monetize?, and longtime correspondent Mark G. provided the answer: the air we breathe, via carbon taxes and markets for trading carbon credits, i.e. financializing / monetizing Nature to benefit the few at the expense pf the many.
Here’s Mark’s commentary:
You asked, "What’s left to monetize? It appears the answer is 'very little.'" I respectfully disagree. The Biggest Enchilada of all is left.
Air. Specifically carbon dioxide, CO2. We just have to figure how to get
the yokels to agree to pay for that which was formerly free. Got it!
First we browbeat them into believing its evil and that we have to tax
it to save all life on Earth. Then, following in the finest traditions
of the degenerate late medieval Catholic Church, we’ll commission
sellers of "Indulgences" to allow sinning at ever rising prices. a/k/a
"Carbon Credit trading". This doesn’t require any value added and the
profits on "buy zero sell high" are limitless. This is the specific outline and the very same agencies that so
love financialization of all kinds, $2 trillion dollar student debt to
sustain obscenely paid college administrators and academics, endless
academic credentialism and huge Hipster Cities sitting on container
ports and mediating the China Trade, are all promoting this
financialization of CO2 as hard as possible. This is why a nullity like the Paris Climate Accords continues to
be pushed even after its proven every way possible that a) the biggest
emitters like China and India won’t adhere to them and b) even if they
did the prescribed regimes will do nothing anyway. And its why I "don’t believe" in it. Or rather, its why I believe its just the next and biggest financial scam.
Improving eco-efficiency within a capitalist growth-oriented system will not save the environment.
On the western borderlands of Montreal's well-to-do Outremont district and the ultra-hipsterised and gentrified Mile End lies an expanse of land where the University of Montreal is currently building a new science campus. Just across is Parc-Extension, one of Canada's poorest and most densely populated neighbourhoods and a port of call for many newly arrived immigrants.
The new campus has been touted as
a model of "sustainable development". It boasts LEED-certified
buildings to reduce environmental impact, rainwater collection
structures, energy-efficient lighting and heat recycling, infrastructure
for electric vehicles and bikes, lots of greenery, and overall, a
minimal carbon footprint. A number of tech companies, including
Microsoft's new AI Hub, are moving in and are expected to further enhance the "eco-efficiency" of the area.
The unspoken expectation is that once the green
new campus is completed, capital and economic growth will naturally flow
into the area. This means nearby neighbourhoods will get "revitalised",
especially the poorer ones, like Parc-Extension.
Thus, immigrant-owned grocery stores, halal
butcheries and community centres will soon be replaced by vegan chain
restaurants, hip vintage clothing joints, organic food stores and
coffee-shops galore, as landlords push out poor tenants to make space for more well-to-do ones.
In the process, the implicit socio-economic
violence behind gentrification will be invariably "greenwashed" and
presented as development that would make the area more "sustainable",
"beautiful" and "modern".
Unfortunately, creation by destruction is what
capitalism does best, and its damaging practices are anything but green.
This market-driven "sustainable" vision of economic activity,
ecological-conscious diets and "hipness" within modern capitalism
reinforce inequality and still hurt the environment.
Before I proceed further with my argument, I should mention that I am an academic, living in a "hip" part of Montreal and
engage in activities that follow a particular aesthetic ethos, all of
which make me very much a part of the reality I critique below. My
aim is not to moralise, but rather to highlight the dangers of a
political and economic system that profits from deceiving perhaps
well-meaning self-proclaimed progressive folks into believing that a
greener, more efficient capitalism is possible.
The following list of demands has been circulating among French social media users in recent days. We do not know its exact origins or author(s), but it seems to have first appeared here on December 5th. You'll have to click on the image to enlarge it if you want to read it in French. We've translated it into English (in summary, not word-for-word) below...
Gilets Jaunes' List of Demands
Economy/Work
A constitutional cap on taxes - at 25%
Increase of 40% in the basic pension and social welfare
Increase hiring in public sector to re-establish public services
Massive construction projects to house 5 million homeless, and severe penalties for mayors/prefectures that leave people on the streets
Break up the 'too-big-to-fail' banks, re-separate regular banking from investment banking
Cancel debts accrued through usurious rates of interest
Politics
Constitutional amendments to protect the people's interests, including binding referenda
The barring of lobby groups and vested interests from political decision-making
Frexit: Leave the EU to regain our economic, monetary and political sovereignty (In other words, respect the 2005 referendum result, when France voted against the EU Constitution Treaty, which was then renamed the Lisbon Treaty, and the French people ignored)
Clampdown on tax evasion by the ultra-rich
The immediate cessation of privatization, and the re-nationalization of public goods like motorways, airports, rail, etc
Remove all ideology from the ministry of education, ending all destructive education techniques
Quadruple the budget for law and order and put time-limits on judicial procedures. Make access to the justice system available for all
Break up media monopolies and end their interference in politics. Make media accessible to citizens and guarantee a plurality of opinions. End editorial propaganda
Guarantee citizens' liberty by including in the constitution a complete prohibition on state interference in their decisions concerning education, health and family matters
Health/Environment
No more 'planned obsolescence' - Mandate guarantee from producers that their products will last 10 years, and that spare parts will be available during that period
Ban plastic bottles and other polluting packaging
Weaken the influence of big pharma on health in general and hospitals in particular
Ban on GMO crops, carcinogenic pesticides, endocrine disruptors and monocrops
Reindustrialize France (thereby reducing imports and thus pollution)
Foreign Affairs
End France's participation in foreign wars of aggression, and exit from NATO
Cease pillaging and interfering - politically and militarily - in 'Francafrique', which keeps Africa poor. Immediately repatriate all French soldiers. Establish relations with African states on an equal peer-to-peer basis
Prevent migratory flows that cannot be accommodated or integrated, given the profound civilizational crisis we are experiencing
Scrupulously respect international law and the treaties we have signed
