I know there is A LOT going on in the world right now, and it was such a relief to see some of the hostages released by Hamas (I hope they are ok!), as well as Palestinian women and children released from Israeli prisons. But the environment news this week has been HUGE and I just want to focus on one key report, which I believe makes the whole “who’s responsible?” issue confusing.
The report, of course is from Oxfam, titled: Climate Equality: a planet for the 99%. All of the coverage (and you’ll see a lot below) is focusing on the top 1% of polluters and here’s an example of one headline: Twelve billionaires’ climate emissions outpollute 2.1m homes.
These are the mega wealthy, the .001% and their emissions come from private jets, super yachts, luxury mansions and on we could go, but it is the political power they hold and where they invest that is really being called out for its extreme contribution to emissions and civilizational collapse.
My only issue with this coverage, is yes, this group ABSOLUTELY makes an outsized contribution to the climate crisis with their personal emissions and it’s beyond time we addressed it. Extreme inequality is a HUGE issue that must be tackled too, but are they really the only one’s responsible?
Here’s the graphic from the report which shows the emissions based on earning capacity around the world. The middle 40% is where I’m questioning the report, or the emphasis of the report, to be precise.
I want to challenge these conclusions and when I mention these numbers to people, they always go and check, so feel free to do it yourself. However, did you know there are 3.8 billion middle class people in the world, which is expected to grow to 4.8 billion by 2030? This means the middle-class is nearly 50% of the world’s population (not 10%), and it’s the largest spending group in the world, sitting in the driver’s seat for increased consumption of goods and materials.
As an example, the mega wealthy aren’t buying so much fast fashion we can see the landfills from space, WE are. They might own the fast fashion companies, but we are the consumers, and we are buying more clothes than we ever have, wearing them less than we ever did, often throwing them away before we’ve even worn them. This is all creating massive environmental devastation.
Of course, the mega wealthy are eating the luxuries our lands, rivers and oceans provide, but the crash of our marine and aquatic life is not because of them (there’s 2,640 billionaires FYI), it’s because there are too many of us who can now afford to eat fish. The deforestation for agriculture, phosphorous released into our water from animal farming, as well as the monocrops to feed agricultural animals, all so we can eat more meat? That’s on us too.
They might own the businesses creating this destruction, but until we stop buying it, will anything change? As an example, there’d be a violent revolution on our hands if McDonalds went plant-based, but that’s exactly the sort of revolution we need in the food game. I always get pushback on this idea too, but if you truly understood the precipice we were at, you’d know these are the sort of moves we need to be making now.
Another big issue is the blame game divides us. We should be able to highlight what billionaires are doing wrong and strongly encourage them to change – because, you know, seriously it’s in their interest, as history shows eventually, they will be brought down – one way or another.
But when we’re focussing all of our rage and vitriol at them, we miss our own responsibility, but we also miss our power from the middle. We, the middle class, drive the global economy and there is a lot of power in 3.8 billion voices, so let’s significantly reduce our emissions and waste, organize our communities to rewild our world, and speak up and drive change worldwide. The billionaires will change when we stop buying what they sell – how can they not?
We need to reinvent our world – how we live, how we consume, and we must live within the balance of the natural world, which requires redeveloping nature consciousness, or we will continue to see our lives degrade, and it’s happening faster now.
Onto the reads!
Donation time
If everyone gave #just10percent of their time, talent, money or voice, we’ll change the world. Can you donate? Why not make a regular donation to the World Food Programme. Or donate to the UN Refugee Program, Medicine Sans Frontier, PowerOf, Kiva.org, Red Cross, and so many more, including urgent fundraising and those supporting animals, like the Soi Dog Foundation. A fabulous organisation I support is B1G1 – check it out and set up an account. It’s a time for giving and taking care of each other.
Content to read
And here’s the content I’ve been reading, listening to or watching. Scan the headlines, read the ones that jump out at you, read, listen to or watch them all. It’s time to pay attention to the information that matters.
Planetary emergency
Populists seek dividends from a climate change backlash (ft.com)
France warns people off Black Friday clothes deals – BBC News
World facing ‘hellish’ 3C of climate heating, UN warns before Cop28 | Climate crisis | The Guardian
WA firefighters on edge as severe weather warning forecasts gusty winds for bushfire zone – ABC News
Amazon region hit by trio of droughts in grim snapshot of the century to come (phys.org)
World’s biggest iceberg is on the move | CNN
CO2 readings from Mauna Loa show failure to combat climate change | Environment | The Guardian
Amazon region hit by trio of droughts in grim snapshot of the century to come (theconversation.com)
Gripped by drought, this French island is running out of drinking water | CNN (ampproject.org)
Global warming on course for 2.9°C, UN report warns | News | Eco-Business | Asia Pacific
Ethiopia drought: Fifty die of hunger in Tigray and Amhara amid aid freeze – BBC News
‘I thought climate change was a hoax. Now I’ve changed my mind’ – BBC News
A glimpse of optimism on climate change | The Hill
Concerns raised as Zika warning issued (thephuketnews.com)
MEPs call for militaries to be more transparent in reporting emissions | Euronews
For Climate, Protecting Forests Is Way Better Than Planting Trees – Mother Jones
More Than Half Of Europeans Are Cutting Down Meat, Study Finds (plantbasednews.org)
Climate conspiracy theories flourish ahead of COP28 (phys.org)
The Fossil Fuel Industry Has Been Infiltrating U.N. Climate Talks for Decades | The New Republic
2023’s extreme weather raised olive oil, beef, and blueberry prices – Vox
Worrying news – ozone layer not recovering after all (cosmosmagazine.com)
Economic models buckle under strain of climate reality | Reuters
Earth briefly surpasses key climate threshold for first time (usatoday.com)
This Climate Solution Rocks: Crushed Stone Helps Farmers Capture Carbon (newsweek.com)
The World Has Already Ended.docx (google.com)
Brazil records its hottest ever temperature – BBC News (ampproject.org)
Climate Scientists Fear the “Uncharted Territory” Earth Has Entered | Atmos
Climate on track to warm by nearly 3C without aggressive actions, UN report finds | Reuters
Opinion | Why 2% Is the Most Dangerous Number No One Is Talking About | Common Dreams
Humanity’s End Was Determined from the Start (collapse2050.com)
Earth passes 2°C of warming on hottest day ever recorded | New Scientist
Climate Equality: A planet for the 99% – Oxfam Policy & Practice
Wildebeest and wolves: The secret weapons against climate change – BBC Future
Coastal river deltas threatened by more than climate change, study shows (ampproject.org)
The Amazon’s record-setting drought: how bad will it be? (nature.com)
Earth just passed a feared global warming milestone for the first time – The Washington Post
At least 21 dead in torrential Dominican Republic rains (phys.org)
Bill Gates, the Murdochs, Pitbull: Which celebs take the most private jet flights? | Euronews
Southern US to be soaked by needed rain at the expense of tornadoes (accuweather.com)
Taylor Swift appears out of breath at Rio concert – BBC News
Clouds can both help and hinder climate change | The Week
Water crisis: Area families see wells run dry as drought expands | News | thedailynewsonline.com
Taylor Swift postpones scorching Rio de Janeiro show after fan’s death | Reuters
Arctic News: Arctic Ocean Heatstroke (arctic-news.blogspot.com)
Global politics
Israel’s Palestinian prisoner release a ‘window of hope’ in West Bank – BBC News
Thai hostages: Relief for woman who feared boyfriend died in Hamas attack – BBC News
Israel-Gaza: Families’ relief as hostages released – BBC News
Gaza ‘most dangerous place in the world to be a child’ – UNICEF (msn.com)
Gaza races to disinfect refugee shelters as disease starts to spread (telegraph.co.uk)
Gaza hostage deal: what do we know? | Gaza | The Guardian
Netherlands’ Refusal to Remove Statues Speaks to Sense of Historical Victimhood (foreignpolicy.com)
Global News Podcast: Anti-Islam populist leads in Dutch exit polls on Apple Podcasts
Dutch election: Anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders wins dramatic victory – BBC News
Nitrogen wars: the Dutch farmers’ revolt that turned a nation upside-down | Farming | The Guardian
Javier Milei: Argentina’s far-right outsider wins presidential election – BBC News
Ukraine war: The Russians snitching on colleagues and strangers – BBC News
Disabled people must work from home to do ‘their duty’, says UK minister | Benefits | The Guardian
Britain is broken. What will fix it? Lots and lots of money | George Monbiot | The Guardian
Donald Trump Ally Responds to Rape Accusations (newsweek.com)
If Democrats Ran Red States Fewer People Would Die (hartmannreport.com)
US court rolls back key voting rights protection – BBC News
Trump rocked with nightmare consequences of leaked testimony (ampproject.org)
US ex-President Jimmy Carter’s wife Rosalynn dies aged 96 – BBC News
Business and technology
The Secretive Industry Devouring the U.S. Economy – The Atlantic
What Really Took Down Airbnb – The Atlantic
Why Shopify is Bursting with enthusiasm for carbon removal – Ketan Joshi
The Chaser’s guide to suing for defamation
Chasing a different China Dream, young digital nomads head for the hills | Reuters
OpenAI researchers warned board of AI breakthrough ahead of CEO ouster, sources say | Reuters
Omegle: ‘How I got the dangerous chat site closed down’ – BBC News
Twitter CEO Keeps Getting Texts From Colleagues Telling Her to Resign (futurism.com)
Sam Altman returns as CEO OpenAI – The Verge
Media Confidential: James O’Brien on the media figures who “broke Britain” on Apple Podcasts
A.I. Could Replace CEOs–and They Know It | Inc.com
OpenAI staff demand board resign over Sam Altman sacking – BBC News
Social issues
‘It Snowballed’: How a Knife Attack in Dublin Led to a Riot – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
The Sociopaths Among Us—And How to Avoid Them – The Atlantic
Post-Thanksgiving snow threatens to put skids on travel in Midwest (accuweather.com)
A Thanksgiving Message from Seven Amazing Native Americans – Project 562 Blog – Project 562
The Gray Area with Sean Illing: The case against free will on Apple Podcasts
Menopause And Dementia Risk: Here’s What to Know – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Red-wine headache explained – and it is not about volume – BBC News
UNSW sex offenders report unveils shocking number of men attracted to children, teens (smh.com.au)
Opinion | The Startling Evidence on Learning Loss Is In – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Passion/humour/history/celebs
Hampshire villagers bring street’s apostrophe catastrophe to a full stop | Hampshire | The Guardian
Davis Cup Finals 2023: Novak Djokovic seals Serbia’s win over Great Britain – BBC Sport
World’s oldest known wooden structure found in Zambia | Popular Science (ampproject.org)
So, what did you read? What jumped out at you? Or share with me what you’re reading? I love that!
Cheers
Andrea
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Uncommon Courage: an invitation
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