By sabotaging Bernie Sander’s primary campaign, the Democratic National Committee seems to have committed suicide and destroyed the Democratic party. USA’s mass media were also responsible for the stolen primary, and for Trump’s election to the US Presidency. Bernie was the people’s choice, and he would easily have defeated Donald Trump. Americans suffering from economic hardship would have been given the reforms that they crave. But faced with a choice between Hillary and Donald, they chose Trump, who seemed to promise something other than the arrogance that they had been experiencing at the hands of the Beltway establishment.
Donald Trump’s worst characteristic is his denial of anthropogenic climate change. The participants in the current UN climate talks in Marrakech are extremely worried about the effect that his election will have on the viability of the Paris climate agreement. In his campaign speeches, Trump has stated in his campaign speeches that, if elected, he would pull the United States out of the Paris agreement.
The problem with mobilizing public opinion on the climate issue is that the worst effects of a disastrous increase in global temperatures lie in the distant future; but to avoid them, action must be taken immediately. The huge subsidies currently given to fossil fuel companies must be abolished, or, better yet, shifted to the support of renewable energy.
In the long-term future (in several hundred years) climate change threatens to produce ocean level rises which will drown most of the world’s coastal cities, and which will wipe out countries such as Bangladesh and Holland. At the same time, increases in temperature will make large parts of India and Africa uninhabitable.
Hope that catastrophic climate change can be avoided comes from the exponentially growing world-wide use of renewable energy and from the fact prominent public figures, such as Pope Francis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Elon Musk, Bill McKibben, Naomi Klein and Al Gore, are making the public increasingly aware of the long-term dangers. Short-term disasters due to climate change may also be suffucuently severe to wake us up.
We must work with dedication to save the future for our grandchildren and their grandchildren, a future which we share wilh all other living creatures on earth. We must accept our responsibility for the long-term future of human civilization and the biosphere.
Some suggestions for further reading
http://eruditio.worldacademy.org/issue-5/article/urgent-need-renewable-energy
https://www.transcend.org/tms/2012/07/limits-to-growth-and-climate-change/
https://www.amazon.com/Need-New-Economic-System/dp/1326557629
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=55486#.WCLDTdEX5wE
https://countercurrents.org/avery270414.htm
https://thinkprogress.org/2016-hottest-year-84f2a2cbc3f9#.3hp4aw4ir
John Avery received a B.Sc. in theoretical physics from MIT and an M.Sc. from the University of Chicago. He later studied theoretical chemistry at the University of London, and was awarded a Ph.D. there in 1965. He is now Lektor Emeritus, Associate Professor, at the Department of Chemistry, University of Copenhagen. Fellowships, memberships in societies: Since 1990 he has been the Contact Person in Denmark for Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. In 1995, this group received the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts. He was the Member of the Danish Peace Commission of 1998. Technical Advisor, World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe (1988- 1997). Chairman of the Danish Peace Academy, April 2004. http://www.fredsakademiet.dk/ordbog/aord/a220.htm. He can be reached at [email protected]
