The Game is Up

Capitalism has been bankrupt for a long time, but its inability to deal with global warming is a wonderful example of just how bankrupt it is. Game over on global warming? highlights this well.

What is the first proposal that the article makes, even if only in "jest"? That all American abandon their cars for bicycles. The EPA administrator says, "As a citizen, each of us has an opportunity to make a difference." But then their own statistics later on reveal this common attitude, i.e. that individuals should have to suffer and sacrifice for the greater corporate good. Motor traffic and transport account for 7.3% of global emissions. Power plants, however, account for 39%. Seems a little obvious that we should start with the big dogs, but then energy companies are a major component of the ruling class, so we cannot expect them to sacrifice themselves (and by sacrifice, we mean take less profits).

They hint at one way the U.S. is trying to solve the problem today — "If the rest of the world returned to the Stone Age." Maybe U.S. foreign policy is more forward-looking that we realized. By returning Iraq and Afghanistan to the stone age, we are helping to stem global warming. Who's next? Any volunteers?

But we've seen where the U.S. and the rest of the imperialist powers stand and how far they are willing to go. The war in Iraq is about oil and the control of that oil-producing region. Another chunk of our foreign policy is about preventing Iran and North Korea from developing nuclear energy, thus keeping them dependent upon fossil fuels — another article in today's paper reports that a deal might be in the making with North Korea to supply them with oil in lieu of the two light-water reactors they were promised over a decade ago. And blame continues to be heaped upon China; how dare they try to expand their economy so recklessly? The second suggestion, of course, was that the "Chinese could close all their factories."

Real change requires large-scale action. People cannot "give up" their cars simply because of this problem. Real alternatives have to be produced, and we see here in L.A. how, despite the glaring need, even the "transportation" mayor is dragging his feet on putting in real mass transit and doing it now. Every proposal a capitalist politician puts forth is an attack against working people, an enforced sacrifice so that corporate profits might be protected for a little while longer. This system offers no solutions for humanity, only for itself.

Protecting the Cattle Industry

Three separate bills have been introduced to address the E. coli issues that arose last year with spinach and lettuce here in California (Bills would target unsafe farming of leafy greens). The bills basically call for more restrictions, inspections, and accountability for those "farmers" producing leafy greens.

The problem with this is that E. coli is a bacteria that lives in the intestinal track of mammals. Last I heard, leafy greens were plants that grow out of the ground, now out of a mammalian hind end. Since the focus of the laws is the greens growers, it seems an obvious maneuver to avoid blaming the people who should be responsible for keeping E. coli out of the water and fertilizer supply. Another example of good old fashioned American blaming the victim.

Even if the cause of these particular outbreaks is not directly attributable to nearby cattle farms, it doesn't negate the fact that more people in the U.S. die or get sick from E. coli because of infected beef than from anything else, but somehow those stories aren't big news.