One month in and 2014 is already a ‘banner’ year!
37 consecutive years of above average global temperature. Worst ever drought in California (pic, more pics). Worst ever floods in the UK. Near 50ºC heat in Australia. Winter extremes across North America and up to 20ºC below normal, but much of the Arctic more than 20ºC above normal. And Pakistan might run out of water in a month, or so.
A few new reports
Ocean temps spiked in 2013 (very bad). Salt-water fish extinction is anticipated by 2048. The richest 85 people have as much wealth as the poorest 3.5 billion. Alberta tar sands air-pollutants have been greatly underestimated, and there’s 7,300-miles of mercury contamination.
Various pipelines have leaked or exploded (here’s a just-revealed 2011 cover up). U.S. rail spilled more oil in 2013 than in the entire previous 37 years combined. Yet the Keystone XL pipeline push marches on thanks to collusion / cover up / conflicts of interest. Shipments of Canadian crude oil across North America have jumped from 539 carloads in 2009 to 160,000 in 2013. And the annual total of global ‘consumption’ plus ‘production’ fossil fuel subsidies could be as high as $1.9 trillion.
Meanwhile
With the Super Bowl and holiday consumerism / waste / excess / indulgence behind us, led by the Big Oil EXtraction industry, the Sochi Winter Olympics will continue the betrayal / deceit and DIStraction of the masses from reality. Get ready for hyper-nationalistic fervour and more turbo-charged corporate promotion of everything that’s wrong with the world, presented as wholesome, honourable goodness for your benefit / well-being, when the truth is quite the opposite.
From widespread corruption in the tens of billions of dollars, to human rights abuses, homophobic violence / intolerance, environmental damage and censorship, those (countries, politicians, promoters, advertisers, athletes, even we as viewers) who participate in / enable / decline to stand against the Sochi Olympics are also complicit in the mass murder of thousands of stray dogs.
AND, there’s considerable risk that, be it from protests, local conflicts, terrorism, or state oppression, people could die (more). Many have already been made to suffer in the lead up. Yet mainstream media stokes, baits and drools for tragedy because of the boon it would be to viewership and sales.
Difficult as it is to communicate, absorb and process, let alone accept, and as shrill / alarmist as it may sound…
Our shared atmosphere is on an accelerating course to reach a state of potentially unsurvivable global climate extremes during the lives of today’s children and teens. (Compilation: 4ºC by 2060s or sooner catastrophic / incompatible with organized civilization.)
Clear, present impacts ALREADY displace millions / KILL hundreds of thousands each year, and compromise the lives of billions RIGHT NOW.
But nothing, not morality, not risk to lives, not record weather disruption, can be allowed to stand in the way of the great, imperial / corporate / fossil fuelled greed, production, consumption and profit machine.
At any and all costs — in this case $51 billion (with 40,000 soldiers!), more than all previous Winter games combined, and which doesn’t even include related advertising ($500 billion!), promotion and travel (by the way, to fly is a very bad thing for anyone to do) — it is decreed: The Hunger Games must go on.
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