- by Anna Pha
- The Guardian
- Issue #2062
“Our challenge is to build a movement powerful enough to overthrow the existing destructive order and begin the task of building socialism,” Hannah Middleton says in Fighting for the Future.
On four consecutive days, the earth has reached its hottest day on record, culminating in a global average temperature of 17.23 degrees Celsius on 4th July. Climate change is descending on the planet and humanity faster than scientists had forecast. The consequences are catastrophic, yet too many governments, including Australia’s, are still doing the bidding of profit-hungry fossil fuel corporations.
The World Meteorological Organisation has declared an El Niño with predictions of rising temperatures with worse to come.
Catastrophic weather events around the world are wreaking horrendous loss of lives, destruction of property, and loss of crops and livestock. Heat waves, drought, floods, wild fires, typhoons, melting polar ice, and rising oceans are set to intensify as governments fail to take the necessary action to slash greenhouse gas emissions.
SEVERE WEATHER EVENTS
After 18 months of drought in East Africa the situation is dire with crops failing and cattle dying because of lack of clean water. Across Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somaliland more than 10 million people are facing severe hunger with conditions set to worsen.
This month in the Caribbean, central America and northern part of South America temperatures are expected to be above normal. With sea levels rising, people living in coastal areas face contamination of freshwater aquifers, eroding shorelines, inundation of low-lying areas and increased risks of coastal flooding. The frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones is increasing.
A relentless monsoon has brought states across northern India under severe flood alerts, as rivers have swept into towns, washing away vehicles, bridges and roads with loss of life.
India, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and other parts of Asia are experiencing sweltering temperatures while South Korea is subject to deadly flooding.
Parts of China are experiencing torrential rain and flooding. 10,000 people were evacuated from Hunan province alone.
Smaller Pacific Islands are watching the contamination of freshwater aquifers, eroding shorelines, inundation of low-lying areas and cultural sites and burial grounds disappear under water.
Last summer was Europe’s hottest on record with extreme heat killing more than 61,000 people between May and early September 2022. This year looks set to be even hotter with temperatures of more than 45 degrees Celsius in some places. According to scientists this year’s extreme weather is only just beginning. People there do not have air conditioning to hide from the heat.
Arctic and Antarctic ice is rapidly melting as these regions experience record high temperatures. It is mid-winter in the Antarctic.
OBSCENE SUBSIDIES
Governments last year poured a record US$1 trillion (AU$1.6t) into fossil fuel subsidies, according to the International Energy Agency. Despite the pledges made by countries at the Paris climate conference, it is business as usual in rich countries as governments do the bidding of fossil fuel corporations.
As environmental collapse approaches, the rich countries that are responsible for the overwhelming amount of greenhouse gas emissions must take responsibility. It cannot be left to governments and corporations. It will take a united, militant mass movement.
“We face a ruling class with a single-minded fixation on profit and power … . The task ahead is monumental. Our actions must be truly historical in their sweep and consequences or we will lose the future. Humanity can opt for the preservation of capitalism or the preservation of a habitable environment,” Hannah Middleton says in Fighting for the Future.
“Our challenge is to build a movement powerful enough to overthrow the existing destructive order and begin the task of building socialism.”
