“Rethinking our World. An invitation to rescue our future” by political economist Dr Maja Göpel is a well-written, powerful, cogently argued and very useful book that everyone should read. However as Europe and North America swelter and burn in a new normal, as a new El Nino foreshadows further extremes, and as scientists continue to offer despairing warnings, this book ultimately fails to deliver on how to “rescue our future” and deal with over-population in particular.
Thus in Chapter 1 ,“An Invitation”, of “Rethinking Our World” [1], Dr Göpel describes an Extinction Rebellion action to halt the morning rush hour trains, but then in a footnote states: “I expressly dissociate myself from individual statements made by the leaders of this movement in England” (page 2 [1]). Yet whatever the Mainstream is doing to “save the planet”, it is simply not working. Dr Göpel is very influential: she was a former secretary-general of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WGBU).
In Chapter 6, “Consumption”, Dr Göpel correctly gets to the core of the problem by showing that the “external costs” of a flight from Frankfurt to New York (i.e. the cost of removing the carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by the flight from the Earth’s atmosphere) are simply not met and are ignored. However Dr Göpel does not actually specify that damage-related Carbon Price ($200 per tonne CO2) [2-9]. The closest that Dr Göpel gets to the crucial solution is proper Carbon Pricing: “A first step towards resolving the supply paradox [e.g. the true cost of an air fare] would be to correct our accounts – which would also correct price structures. The price of many products would then increase to reflect the true costs of that production, transportation and disposal after use. Carbon pricing is an attempt [to] move in that direction” (p124 [1]). No, Dr Göpel, proper carbon pricing is the crucial step to be taken to stop the present, slow and inexorable suicide of Humanity through greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has suggested a Carbon Price of $75 per ton CO2 [2, 3], Dr Chris Hope (Cambridge University)[4] and Professor James Hansen (NASA and Columbia University)[5] say $200 per tonne CO2, and science-trained Pope Francis has stated that “The social and economic cost of pollution should be fully borne by the polluters” [6]. However Dr Göpel is addressing a World in which the average global Carbon Price is a mere $2 per ton CO2 [2]. Politicians and corporations steadfastly ignore the reality of inescapable Carbon Debt but children get it: I explained to my grandchildren at a Chinese restaurant that it’s as if the waiter brings us a bill for $200 but we say that we will only pay $2.
Lord Kelvin, Father of Thermodynamics and hence of the Industrial Revolution, famously stated that in any discussion it is most useful to adduce numbers. Dr Göpel has some striking numbers in her book but not in relation to Carbon Price as exampled above. Indeed a proper Carbon Price crucially applies to the sociology of the solution that is the thrust of her book. Dr Göpel rightly decries wealth inequity and poverty (notably in Chapter 9, “Fairness”) but fails to quantitate the huge Carbon Debt associated with the wealth if billionaires (Carbon Debt is the product of Carbon Pollution in tonnes CO2-equivalent and a damage-related Carbon Price of $200 per tonne CO2-equivalent). She also ignores the Value of a Statistical Life (about $10 million per person for Americans), and horrendous and increasingly climate change-impacted avoidable deaths from deprivation in our neoliberal global Carbon Economy. Indeed there is there is no mention of the predicted catastrophe in which, in the absence of urgent requisite action, about 10 billion people will perish this century in a worsening Climate Genocide en route to a sustainable human population in 2100 of merely 1 billion [10, 11].
The core ethos of Humanity can be summarized as Kindness and Truth, and Dr Göpel’s book certainly ticks both boxes. However my criticism is that her book, aimed at the literate but not necessarily science-trained general public, fails to insert the crucial numbers relating to Kindness (e.g. the magnitude of Carbon Debt, wealth inequity etc) and Truth ( e.g. the inescapable Carbon Debt for future generations of $250 trillion that is increasing by about $12 trillion each year). With these quantitative concerns in mind one can now turn to the individual chapters of “Rethinking Our World” and usefully express the dilemmas in numbers, and note key issues and numbers missing from the book.
Chapter 1, “An Invitation”, poses the dichotomy of old habits and “business as usual” versus the urgent change needed to the “governing rules” in order to meet the worsening Climate Crisis under the present order of neoliberalism, globalisation, deadly inequity, immense intergenerational injustice and resolute ignoring.
Missing: (a) there is an inescapable Carbon Debt of $250 trillion that is increasing at $12 trillion annually [7, 8]; (b) 7.4 million people presently die avoidably each year from deprivation [12], with this expected to average 100 million per year this century due to unaddressed climate change [10, 11]; (c) the top 1% have about 50% of the wealth and the bottom 50% have about a mere 1% [13]; and (d) notwithstanding political rhetoric, atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHGs) are increasing at record rates, 1.5C of warming will be reached this decade, and a catastrophic plus 2C is now essentially inevitable in the absence so far of requisite effective action – a dozen key climate change-related parameters are still remorselessly increasing at record high rates [14-16].
Chapter 2, “A New Reality”, powerfully argues that from a small human population of circa 1 million about 10,000 years ago, before the Agrarian Revolution and with huge untapped planetary resources, today we have 8 billion people and increasingly scarce biological and other resources. “The Limits to Growth” asserted in the famous report to the Club of Rome in 1972 is now upon us, and we must now manage in the crowded world of the Anthropocene Era with increasingly limited resources and massive biodiversity loss.
Missing: (a) for an American lifestyle we need 7 planet Earths, for a European 5, and presently we are using resources at a 2 planet level (we are over-populated by a factor of at least 2) [17]; (b) it is now very likely too late to avoid a catastrophic plus 2C [10, 15]; (c) Professor Jorgen Randers (an author of “The Limits to Growth” ) concludes that political short-termism means that Western-style democracies cannot deal with the worsening crisis but asserts that a last hope lies in top-down action by authoritarian, one-party China [18]; and (d) huge differences in GHG pollution (in tonnes CO2-equivalent per person per year ) of 116 for climate criminal Australia (including its huge GHG exports) and 2 for India – Australia with 0.33% of the world’s population is responsible (through its huge Domestic and Exported GHG pollution) for 5.4% of the world’s total GHG pollution [19-21].
Chapter 3, “Nature and Life”, argues that ever-expanding human systems are not sustainable, and ignore the value and crucial importance of nature, quoting the economic value of nature at $125-145 trillion versus the global GDP of about $84 trillion (2018) (page 4 [1]). Maja Göpel damningly quotes Nobel Laureate Robert Solow on “substitutability”: “If it is very easy to substitute other factors for natural resources, then there is in principle no problem. The world can, in effect, get along without natural resources, so exhaustion is just an event, not a catastrophe”. Dr Göpel: “And they gave him a Nobel Prize for that?” (page 41 [1]). From a biological and biochemical perspective Solow’s assertion is absurd.
Missing: (a) All ecosystems and species are priceless because they cannot be restored after extinction (in contrast, a high-resolution image of the Mona Lisa can be preserved by a click on a Smart Phone); (b) the value of preserved wild nature is 100 times greater than the cost of preserving it [22]; (c) the species extinction rate is 100-10,000 times greater than normal [15, 23, 24]; (d) domesticated animal numbers are at record highs and increasing at record rates, while Biosphere elements are declining at record rates [16]; and (d) at +1.5C (in circa 2030) 97% of coral dies, whereas at +2C (inevitable in several decades) 99% of coral dies [25-27].
Chapter 4, “Humans and Behaviour”, describes how economics is based on Adam Smith’s 3 Laws of Economics, to whit the fundamental laws of self-interest, competition, and supply and demand; how David Ricardo extended this to nation states; how Charles Darwin ‘s Theory of Natural Selection informed social competition and evolution; how a system that rewards selfishness produces selfish people; and Richard Easterlin’s Easterlin Paradox (wealth doesn’t necessarily give more happiness as implicit in E.F. Schumacher’s “Small is Beautiful” [28]).
Missing: (a) Polya’s 3 Laws of Economics (based on the 3 Laws of Thermodynamics) are (1) Profit = Price minus Cost of Production (COP), (2) deceit over COP remorselessly rises, and (3) no economy on a dead planet [29]; (b) deceit over COP means a $250 trillion and rising Carbon Debt to be met by future generations; (c) the market relies on Seller-Buyer trust, but has a huge implicit and generally accepted deceit involving ignoring Carbon Debt; and (d) GDP per capita is about $10,000 (Cuba) and $65,000 (the US) yet under-5 infant mortality per 1,000 deaths is 7 (Cuba) and 14 (the US) [12].
Chapter 5, “Growth and Development”, quotes Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz: “The world is facing three existential crises: a climate crisis, an equality crisis, and a crisis in democracy. Yet the accepted ways by which we measure economic performance gives absolutely no hint that we might be facing a problem” (page 67 [1]). Dr Göpel describes how slow-downs in atmospheric CO2 rise in the mid-1970s, in the early 1990s, and in 2008-2009 were all associated with economic crises. Dr Göpel quotes Robert Kennedy: “[GDP] measures everything except that which makes life worthwhile” and the rich deciding the value of things (page 73 [1]) . Dr Göpel concludes by stating the obvious that is nevertheless resolutely ignored: “In a limited world with finite resources, an economic model that relies on constant growth is not sustainable” (page 90 [1]).
Missing: (a) 7.4 million people die avoidably each year on Space Ship Earth with the First World in charge of the flight deck; and (b) pollution is at a record high with no hint of a slowdown – a catastrophic plus 2C is hence essentially unavoidable [15].
Chapter 6, “Technology and Progress”, describes how one-dimensional technological advance can have unexpected negative rebounds from confusing the needs and the means. Technological progress as in highly urbanized contexts comes at the cost of the environment.
Missing: (a) urban technological advance comes at the expense of tropical forests, arable land, and water resources; (b) electronic technology is associated with declining literacy and intellectual sophistication; and (c ) Artificial Intelligence (AI) poses known and unknown risks and benefits for Humanity.
Chapter 7, “Consumption”, states bluntly: “If increasing economic growth is unable to preserve nature in its present state, let alone to allow it to recover, then material prosperity must decrease” (page 115 [1]). Importantly, Dr Göpel states: “Our consumer behaviour in the rich West is only possible because we externalise the costs” (page 130 [1]). Indeed this general disregard of “externalities” is the fundamental problem as perceived by Pope Francis [6], Professor James Hansen [5], Dr Chris Hope [4] and eminent economist Sir Nicholas Stern: “The problem of climate change involves a fundamental failure of markets: those who damage others by emitting greenhouse gases generally do not pay. Climate change is a result of the greatest market failure the world has seen. The evidence on the seriousness of the risks from inaction or delayed action is now overwhelming. We risk damages on a scale larger than the two world wars of the last century. The problem is global and the response must be a collaboration on a global scale” [30]. Dr Göpel on “externalities”: “Hence, “external costs”, a phrase beloved of economists, is a totally crazy term. External to what, exactly? Well, apparently external to the category of things we feel responsible for. Although we have long used the atmosphere as a rubbish tip in any number of ways, and dumped our greenhouse gases into it, we vehemently deny any responsibility for cleaning. Ultimately, that price is paid by small island states as they sink into the sea”(p117 [1]. “’
Missing: (a) Poor but well-governed socialist Cuba is better health-wise than rich capitalist US; (b) 100,000 Australians and 1.5 million Americans die preventably each year from “life-style choice” and “political choice” reasons relating to consumption (e.g. from smoking, air pollution, obesity, alcohol and adverse hospital events) [31-33]; and (c) Australian literature Nobel Laureate, Patrick White, suggested in 1988, White Australia’s Bicentennial year, that instead of endlessly travelling and running hither and thither, people should simply stay home, cook themselves a nice meal, and curl up with a good book.
Chapter 8, “The Market, the State and the Common Good”, starts with the example of an un-named university in upstate New York (Cornell University) that suffered the loss of the railway line to the adjacent town of Ithaca due to the advent of cars. Dr Göpel deals with the hostility of the super-rich to state intervention in the Market. However she quotes Mariana Mazzucato’s “The Entrepreneurial State” that argues that many important innovations (e.g. cars, internet, medical technology) derived from state-funded research and infrastructure. She also refers to John Maynard Keynes and Franklin Delano Roosevelt and state intervention when the “hidden hand” of the Market was unable to deal with the Depression and War.
Missing: (a) conversely, the upstate New York country around Ithaca used to supply hay for horse-drawn vehicles in New York City, but returned to the wild with the advent of cars and trucks; (b) missing are economist Thomas Piketty’s key observations that Big Money is bad for democracy (Big Money buys votes) and the economy (the poor cannot afford to buy the goods and services they produce) [34, 35]; and (c) the Market has failed in the worsening Climate Crisis, and indeed is making things worse. Thus top economist Sir Nicholas Stern has described the lack of accounting for carbon pollution externalities “as the greatest market failure in history” [30].
Chapter 9, “Fairness”, discusses the disproportionately high carbon footprint of the rich and super-rich. Crucially Dr Göpel (associated with the German Government-advising WGBU ) adverts to the 5 years remaining before the World exceeds the Carbon Budget for not exceeding plus 1.5C of warming: “Calculations showed that this 1.5-degree limit meant humans could still release approximately 420 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide, calculated from the end of 2017. However since we currently emit up to 42 gigatonnes a year, we now have less than 5 years until that allowance is used up” (page 156 [1]). Dr Göpel has mistakenly simplified the probabilistic assertions of the WBGU about the Terminal Carbon Poluution Budget. Thus in 2009 the Report of the German Advisory Council on Climate Change (WBGU, Wissenshaftlicher Beirat der Bundesregierung Globale Umweltveränderungen) entitled “Solving the climate dilemma: the budget approach” crucially stated: “The budget of CO2 emissions still available worldwide could be derived from the 2 degree C guard rail. By the middle of the 21st century a maximum of approximately 750 Gt CO2 [750 billion metric tons] may be released into the Earth’s atmosphere if the guard rail is to be adhered to with a probability of 67%. If we raise the probability to 75%, the cumulative emissions within this period would even have to remain below 600 Gt CO2. In any case, only a small amount of CO2 may be emitted worldwide after 2050. Thus, the era of an economy driven by fossil fuels will definitely have to come to an end within the first half of this century” [36]. The consequences of this declaration of less than 600 Gt CO2 in emissions for a 75% chance of avoiding a 2 degree C temperature rise are profound. Thus, would you board a plane if it had a 25% chance of crashing? Further, if annual GHG pollution is 42 Gt then the World has 600 Gt CO2/ 42 Gt CO2 per year = 14.3 years before this Terminal Carbon Pollution Budget is used up (i.e. by 2023). However the annual GHG pollution has been revised upwards to 63.8 Gt CO2-equivalent (by including land use and considering the Global Warming Potential of the GHG methane (CH4) on a 20 year time frame of 72 relative to the same mass of CO2 [38], noting that it is 105 if aerosol impacts are also considered [39] ), then the years left = 600 Gt / 63.8 Gt per year = 9.4 years i.e. the Terminal Carbon Pollution Budget was used up in 2018.
Missing: (a) Dr Göpel asks “How can we get out of this race to destroy the World?” (page 172 [1]), but on the basis of the numbers provided by the WBGU and other experts as outlined above, the race was already over by 2018; (b) key matters such as CO2-equivalent and the Global Warming Potential of CH4 are not mentioned; (c) crucial to the notion of “fairness” major polluters had exceeded their “share” of the Terminal Carbon Pollution Budget well before it ran out in 2018 [37]; (d) poverty kills and in 2020 7.4 million people died avoidably from deprivation, overwhelmingly in the Global South [12]; (e) if the WBGU is correct then the world faces a catastrophic plus 2C with the direst estimates indicating an average of 100 million premature deaths annually this century [10, 11]; and (f) Thomas Piketty has advocated an annual Wealth Tax and exposure of hidden wealth to tackle dangerous and deadly inequity (noting that Islam has had an annual Wealth Tax or Zakkat of 2.5% for 1,400 years [34, 35].
Chapter 10, “Thought and Action”, tellingly describes Mean Monday characterized by the let down when conference attendees return to their organizations all fired-up but find “everything is the same as before” (p181 [1]). Dr Göpel offers some nice advice for the mental well-being of such concerned intellectuals. However missing from these general homilies are concrete suggestions.
Missing: (a) in 2020 I published a huge book entitled “Climate Crisis, Climate Genocide & Solutions” that concluded with a detailed list of 38 technical partial solutions of which the most crucial were adoption of a proper Carbon Price, cessation of GHG pollution, population control, return to the pre-Industrial Revolution level of circa 300 ppm CO2 in the atmosphere, and exposing and punishing the disproportionately most egregious climate criminal people, corporations and countries; and (b) the book concluded that while a catastrophic plus 2C is now effectively inevitable, we must do everything we can to make the future “less bad” for our children and future generations [10].
Final comments and conclusions
“Rethinking our World. An invitation to rescue our future” by political economist Dr Maja Göpel is a well-written, extremely readable, and cogently argued case for action on the worsening climate crisis. However it is aimed at a generalist audience and is obviously not meant to be a textbook on climate change. It should certainly be in every personal, local, school, university and institutional library.
However, as set out in this careful and detailed review, numbers matter, and many crucial quantitative matters (notably technical partial solutions) are missing from this otherwise excellent book, and particularly so from the final chapter “Thought and Action”. Perhaps my review could serve as a useful adjunct companion to reading Dr Maja Göpel’s book.
Even though it is too late and the One Percenters who run the world won’t permit it anyway, a useful suggestion would be to publicly list on-line, on hoardings and public monuments the damage-related Carbon Debt run up by the World (about $250 trillion in total), by billionaires, corporations, and governments. At least ordinary folk could use this information to make voting and consumer choices (for what good it will do their children, grandchildren and future generations unless there is a Climate Revolution, non-violent of course) [40].
The missing numbers and concerns set out in this review indicate that the world is now facing a catastrophic future given the resolute failure of the World to cease, let alone reverse, the greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution of the atmosphere. In horrible reality there is simply no practical sign that the world as a whole is prepared to decrease the present record high rate of pollution, let alone reverse the atmospheric GHG pollution back to the pre-Industrial Revolution maximum level of about 300 ppm CO2 that is required for a safe and sustainable planet for all peoples and all species [41].
In vain the late Stephen Hawking declared (2018): “We see great peril if governments and societies do not take action NOW [my emphasis] to make nuclear weapons obsolete and to prevent further climate change”. Action now!
References.
[1]. Maja Göpel , “Rethinking our World. An invitation to rescue our future”, Scribe 2023.
[2]. International Monetary Fund (IMF), “Fiscal Monitor: how to mitigate climate change”. Executive Summary”, September 2019: https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/FM/Issues/2019/09/12/fiscal-monitor-october-2019 .
[3], Gideon Polya, “Australia Rejects IMF Carbon Tax & Preventing 4 Million Pollution Deaths By 2030”, Countercurrents, 15 October 2019: https://countercurrents.org/2019/10/australia-rejects-imf-carbon-tax-preventing-4-million-pollution-deaths-by-2030/ .
[4]. Chris Hope, “How high should climate change taxes be?”, Working Paper Series, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, 2011: http://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/fileadmin/user_upload/research/workingpapers/wp1109.pdf .
[5]. James Hansen, “Climate change in a nutshell: the gathering storm”, Columbia University, 18 December 2018: http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2018/20181206_Nutshell.pdf .
[6]. Gideon Polya, “Green Left Pope Francis Demands Climate Action “Without Delay” To Prevent Climate “Catastrophe””, Countercurrents, 10 August, 2015: https://www.countercurrents.org/polya100815.htm .
[7]. Gideon Polya, “Inescapable $200-250 trillion global Carbon Debt increasing by $16 trillion annually”, Countercurreents, 27March 2019: https://countercurrents.org/2019/04/inescapable-200-250-trillion-global-carbon-debt-increasing-by-16-trillion-annually-gideon-polya/ .
[8]. “Carbon Debt Carbon Credit”: https://sites.google.com/site/carbondebtcarboncredit/ .
[9]. Gideon Polya, “Huge Carbon Debt and intergenerational injustice: CO2 drawdown necessity”, Global Research, 7 June 2018: https://www.globalresearch.ca/huge-carbon-debt-and-intergenerational-injustice-co2-drawdown-necessity/5643365 .
[10]. Gideon Polya, “Climate Crisis, Climate Genocide & Solutions”, Korsgaard Publishing, 2022.
[11]. “Climate Genocide”: https://sites.google.com/site/climategenocide/ .
[12]. Gideon Polya, “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950”, Korsgaard Publishing, 2021.
[13]. Oxfam, “Richest 1% bag nearly twice as much wealth as the rest of the world put together over the past two years”, 16 January 2023: https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/richest-1-bag-nearly-twice-much-wealth-rest-world-put-together-over-past-two-years .
[14]. Andrew Glikson, “Betrayal: The threat to life on Earth”, 6 August 2023: https://countercurrents.org/2023/08/betrayal-the-threat-to-life-on-earth/ .
[15]. Gideon Polya, “Planet Doomed: No Decrease In Record GHGs & Gas, Oil, Coal, Cattle, Cement & Steel Production” , Countercurents, 16 October 2022: https://countercurrents.org/2022/10/planet-doomed-no-decrease-in-record-ghgs-gas-oil-coal-cattle-cement-steel-production/ .
[16]. Gideon Polya, “Extrapolating 11,000 scientists Climate Emergency warning to 2030 catastrophe”, Countercurrents, 14 November 2019: https://countercurrents.org/2019/11/extrapolating-11000-scientists-climate-emergency-warning-to-2030-catastrophe .
[17]. Gideon Polya, “How Much Negative Carbon Emissions, Negative Population Growth & Negative Economic Growth Is Needed To Save Planet?”, Countercurrents, 28 November 2018: https://countercurrents.org/2018/11/how-much-negative-carbon-emissions-negative-population-growth-negative-economic-growth-is-needed-to-save-planet/ .
[18]. Jorgen Randers, “Systematic short-termism: Climate, capitalism and democracy”, Climate Code red, 2012: http://www.climatecodered.org/2012/11/systematic-short-termism-climate.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ClimateCodeRed+%28climate+code+red%29 .
[19]. Gideon Polya, “Methane Leakage Makes Australia A World Leading Per Capita Greenhouse Gas Polluter”, Countercurrents, 18 February 2020: https://countercurrents.org/2020/02/methane-leakage-makes-australia-a-world-leading-per-capita-greenhouse-gas-polluter/ .
[20]. Gideon Polya, “Revised Annual Per Capita Greenhouse Gas Pollution For All Countries – What Is Your Country Doing?”, Countercurrents, 6 January, 2016: https://countercurrents.org/polya060116.htm .
[21]. Gideon Polya, “Exposing And Thence Punishing Worst Polluter Nations Via Weighted Annual Per Capita Greenhouse Gas Pollution Scores”, Countercurrents, 19 March, 2016: https://countercurrents.org/polya190316.htm .
[22]. Andrew Balmford, A. Bruner, P. Cooper, R. Costanza, S. Farber, R. E. Green, M. Jenkins, P. Jefferiss, V. Jessamy, J. Madden, K. Munro, N. Myers, S. Naeem, J. Paavola, M. Rayment, S. Trumper and R. K. Turner, “ Economic reasons for conserving wild nature” Science 297, 950-953, 2002: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/297/5583/950 .
[23]. Phillip S. Levin and Donald A. Levin, “The real biodiversity crisis”, Macroscope, January-February 2002: http://www.soc.duke.edu/~pmorgan/levin&levin.2002.the_real_biodiversity_crisis.html .
[24]. John P. Rafferty, “Biodiversity loss”, 21 September Britannica, 2022: https://www.britannica.com/science/biodiversity-loss .
[25]. Gideon Polya, “IPCC +1.5C Avoidance Report – Effectively Too Late, But Stop Coal Burning For “Less Bad” Catastrophes”, Countercurrents, 12 October 2018: https://countercurrents.org/2018/10/ipcc-1-5c-avoidance-report-effectively-too-late-but-stop-coal-burning-for-less-bad-catastrophes/ .
[26]. IPCC, “Global warming of 1.5 °C”, 8 October 2018: http://www.ipcc.ch/report/sr15/ .
[27]. IPCC, “Global warming of 1.5 °C. Summary for Policymakers”, 8 October 2018: http://report.ipcc.ch/sr15/pdf/sr15_spm_final.pdf .
[28]. E.F. Schumacher, “Small Is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People Mattered”, Blond & Briggs, 1973.
[29]. Gideon Polya, “Polya’s 3 Laws Of Economics Expose Deadly, Dishonest And Terminal Neoliberal Capitalism”, Countercurrents, 17 October, 2015: https://www.countercurrents.org/polya171015.htm .
[30]. Alison Benjamin, “Stern: climate change a “market failure””, Guardian, 29 November 2007: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2007/nov/29/climatechange.carbonemissions .
[31]. Gideon Polya, “Rich Australia Ignores 100,000 Preventable Deaths Annually: The Cost Of Neoliberalism & Lying”, Countercurrents, 29 September2022: https://countercurrents.org/2022/09/rich-australia-ignores-100000-preventable-deaths-annually-the-cost-of-neoliberalism-lying/ .
[32]. Gideon Polya, “American Holocaust: 2 Million Americans Died Preventably In Trump’s Last Year As President”, Countercurrents, 5 January 2021: https://countercurrents.org/2021/01/american-holocaust-2-million-americans-died-preventably-in-trumps-last-year-as-president/ .
[33]. Gideon Polya, “Submission To Australian National Anti-Corruption Commission Over Huge But Ignored Australian War Crimes”, Countercurrents, 2 August 2023: https://countercurrents.org/2023/08/submission-to-australian-national-anti-corruption-commission-over-huge-but-ignored-australian-war-crimes/ .
[34]. Thomas Piketty, “Capital in the Twenty-First Century”, Harvard University Press, 2014.
[35]. Gideon Polya, “ Key Book Review: “Capital In The Twenty-First Century” By Thomas Piketty “, Countercurrents, 1 July, 2014: https://countercurrents.org/polya010714.htm .
[36]. WBGU, “Solving the climate dilemma: the budget approach”, 2009: https://www.wbgu.de/fileadmin/user_upload/wbgu/publikationen/sondergutachten/sg2009/pdf/wbgu_sn2009_en.pdf .
[37]. Gideon Polya, “World Rapidly Running Out Of Time To Cease Greenhouse Gas Pollution”, Countercurrents, 1 August, 2011: https://countercurrents.org/polya010811.htm .
[38]. Robert Goodland and Jeff Anfang. “Livestock and climate change. What if the key actors in climate change are … cows, pigs and chickens?”, World Watch, November/December 2009: https://awellfedworld.org/wp-content/uploads/Livestock-Climate-Change-Anhang-Goodland.pdf .
[39]. Drew T. Shindell , Greg Faluvegi, Dorothy M. Koch , Gavin A. Schmidt , Nadine Unger and Susanne E. Bauer , “Improved Attribution of Climate Forcing to Emissions”, Science, 30 October 2009:
Vol. 326 no. 5953 pp. 716-718: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/326/5953/716 .
[40]. “Climate Revolution Now”: https://sites.google.com/site/300orgsite/climate-revolution .
[41]. “300.org – return atmosphere CO2 to 300 ppm CO2”: https://sites.google.com/site/300orgsite/300-org—return-atmosphere-co2-to-300-ppm .
[42]. Stephen Hawking, “Brief Answers to the Big Questions”, John Murray, 2018.
Dr Gideon Polya taught science students at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia over 4 decades. He published some 130 works in a 5 decade scientific career, notably a huge pharmacological reference text “Biochemical Targets of Plant Bioactive Compounds”. He has also published “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950” (2007, 2022) and “Jane Austen and the Black Hole of British History” (1998, 2008, 2023). He has recently published “US-imposed Post-9-11 Muslim Holocaust & Muslim Genocide” (2020), and “Climate Crisis, Climate Genocide & Solutions” (2020), and contributed to Soren Korsgaard (editor) “The Most Dangerous Book Ever Published – Dangerous Deception Exposed!” (2020). For images of Gideon Polya’s huge paintings for the Planet, Peace, Mother and Child see: http://sites.google.com/site/artforpeaceplanetmotherchild/ .
