Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 55 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing
OpEdNews Op Eds    H3'ed 10/28/18

Hurricane Florence Hits the Carolinas: A Natural Occurrence--An Unnatural and UNNECESSARY Disaster

Follow Me on Twitter     Message Revolution Newspaper
Become a Fan
  (6 fans)
Part I: A "Monster Storm" Fueled by a Monstrous System

For days there was near nonstop coverage of Hurricane Florence on the major TV networks. But one rarely--if ever--heard the words "global warming" or "climate change." And you never see this kind of extensive, visceral coverage of the storms and disasters battering other parts of the world.

Hurricanes are not created by climate change. But global warming fueled by the profit-driven burning of fossil fuels and other workings of the system, is heating up the atmosphere and oceans. Based on extensive scientific study, MIT Professor Kerry Emanuel argues that climate change causes hurricanes and other storms "to become much stronger and reach peak intensity further north, heightening their potential impacts on human lives in coming years." "Climate change, if unimpeded, will greatly increase the probability of extreme events," he said.

Scientists are cautious not to directly causally link warming temperatures or rising ocean levels to any particular storm or its magnitude, but a basic underlying theory holds: The warmer the ocean, the more moisture can be drawn into storms. This can make them more massive and powerful. The warmer the air, the more moisture it can potentially hold. This can make the deluge or rain even greater when storms hit land. Rising sea levels--thanks to warmer waters and melting ice--tend to lead to higher surges of water coming on land ("storm surges"). These are usually the deadliest and most destructive part of a hurricane.

Climate change has also weakened global air currents. This means some hurricanes may linger longer over land, potentially dumping much more water. In this context, it is estimated that Hurricane Florence was 50 miles wider and dumped 50 percent more rain due to the overall effects of global warming.1

The existence of global warming has been scientifically demonstrated over and over. This is a lopsided world divided between imperialist countries like the U.S. and Europe, and the vast sections of oppressed nations of the world, the "Third World." In this kind of a world, the effects of global warming such as increased droughts and famines, rising sea levels and extreme weather events will disproportionately impact the poor and the oppressed--and are now contributing to tens of millions of refugees fleeing parts of the Third World. The rulers of this country have been well aware of its catastrophic dangers for at least three decades.2 Yet they've been unwilling and more fundamentally unable to do anything to really slow--much less roll back--this unprecedented, existential threat to humanity!

This has been true under Democrats like Obama. He put some curbs on greenhouse gas emissions and negotiated the Paris agreement on climate change, but these steps come nowhere near halting the acceleration of global warming. Meanwhile, he significantly stepped up U.S. production of the very fossil fuels driving global warming!

The Trump/Pence regime also announced it would withdraw the U.S., the world's second largest emitter of greenhouse gases, from the Paris agreement--insufficient as it was--thus giving a green light to other countries to do so as well. They are officially censoring climate science from government agencies, denying the science of global warming, blatantly ignoring and even pooh-poohing the incontrovertible findings of scientists and the overwhelming evidence for global warming, and deliberately tearing up environmental regulations and literally pouring gasoline on our burning planet.

Despite the science of global warming being undeniable and its effects devastating, why are the capitalist-imperialists unable and unwilling to solve what is arguably the greatest crisis that's ever faced humanity? Because their system is based on privately owned blocs of capital compelled to compete with each other for profit and advantage, and nations competing for domination on a world scale. This unfolds, not in an organized or orderly fashion, but "anarchically" with unpredictable effects, based on the compulsion all these capitalists have to "expand or die." This means each of them has to beat their competitors or be driven under. And this drives the competition for cheap sources of labor and energy, control of resource-rich parts of the world like the Middle East and parts of Africa, and for markets for their commodities and exports.

A concentrated manifestation of this is that the U.S. military, a key instrument of enforcing imperialist "world order" and America's interests, is--as an institution--the single largest consumer of oil in the world. As long as this dog-eat-dog insanity is in command, this system is totally unable to undertake the massive investments and radical restructuring of the economy including transportation and industry that could really address global warming and climate change.

That would radically and immediately change after the revolutionary seizure of power and the establishing of the new socialist state in North America.

Even though global warming is a "global" problem, establishing a radically different socialist economy based on the principles of sustainable socialist development would start to make a big and immediate difference. This, after all, is the country with the largest capitalist economy and dominance over large parts of the world, the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and it is expending a disproportionate share of the world's resources and energy (nearly five times its share of the world population).

The world's largest machine of death and destruction--the U.S. military--will no longer exist, with its hundreds of bases around the world, wars of aggression, and massive infrastructure with its environmentally destructive effects. The armed forces of the socialist state will be radically different in line with defending the state, a profoundly internationalist orientation and the goals of emancipating all of humanity.

In terms of the economy, state ownership of the major means of production--factories, transport networks, land, resources, etc.--would become the primary form of economic ownership. Centralized planning would set the overall guidelines for the economy--and unleash decentralized initiatives on this basis. These guidelines and economic decisions based on advancing the world revolution overall, meeting social needs, and "Protecting, preserving, and enhancing the ecosystems and biodiversity of the planet for current and future generations." This would require, as the CNSRNA puts it, the new society to

frontally and comprehensively confront and address the critical environmental emergency threatening humanity and the other species and ecosystems (the complex webs of interacting and interrelating life) in its development of a socialist economy, in all spheres of government and social activity, and in its international relations, will apply itself--and the initiative, knowledge, energy and creativity of the masses of people who make up and are the backbone of this Republic--to addressing this environmental emergency, in its various dimensions...3

Doing all this would involve really thorny challenges and contradictions--for instance, just to start with:

  • how to work with other countries and lead forward the worldwide struggle against global warming when most other parts of the world may still be capitalist,
  • how to meet the needs of the people without destroying the environment and exploiting whole sections of humanity,
  • struggling with people for different and "lower" consumption levels as the economy is re-oriented, and
  • how to deal with the potential devastation caused by the violence and destruction inflicted by the former capitalist ruling class during the revolution.

It may well be likely that some of the effects of the destruction on the environment are irreversible or difficult to transform in the short term.

Next Page  1  |  2  |  3

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).

Rate It | View Ratings

Revolution Newspaper Social Media Pages: Facebook Page       Twitter Page       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram Page


Revolution newspaper/revcom.us, the voice of the Revolutionary Communist Party, provides the foundation, guideline, and organizational scaffolding for the whole process of carrying out our strategy for revolution. Through publishing works of (more...)
 

Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Follow Me on Twitter     Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

Under the Radar: Constructing the Gallows of All-Out Fascist Repression in the U.S.

An Empire of Exploitation, a World of Misery, and the Revolution Humanity Cries Out For

Refuting the Biggest Lies About Communism, Lie #3: The 1917 October Revolution in Russia was a "coup" staged by Lenin...

New Nightmare Looming for the Middle East: U.S. and Israel Escalate Threats of War on Iran

How Hurricane Florence Hit the Poor, the Oppressed, and Immigrants Hardest

The Murder of Markeis McGlockton and the Epidemic of White Supremacist Assaults on Black People Sweeping America

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend