Review: “The Future Is Degrowth” – How to Stop And Replace Terracidal Capitalism

Mindless, blind growth driven by neoliberal capitalism is destroying the Biosphere and the very basis of Humanity’s existence. “The Future is Degrowth. A Guide to a World Beyond Capitalism” summarizes the wide-ranging ideas of numerous Degrowthers who seek to replace terracidal capitalism with degrowth for a happy and sustainable future for Humanity.

The Future is Degrowth A Guide to a World Beyond Capitalism“The Future is Degrowth. A Guide to a World Beyond Capitalism” by Matthias Schmelzer, Andrea Vetter and Aaron Vansintjan [1] is a highly referenced and documented summary of the views of proponents of economic degrowth as an urgently needed replacement for capitalism that in just the last several centuries out of 200,000 years of human existence has brought Humanity and the Biosphere to the brink of catastrophe. Some of the propositions are inevitably arguable but this is an important book  and should be in every library.

Before reviewing “The Future Is Degrowth” in detail it is important to briefly set out the present human predicament. For most of the 200,000 years of Homo sapiens’ existence Humanity lived in small groups and sustainably used hugely abundant natural resources, innately maximizing genetic diversity, gender equality, equality in general and the profound happiness from being at one with Nature and one’s fellow humans. The Agrarian Revolution of about 10,000 years ago involved production and storage of excess food in the form of the seeds  of steadily evolving plants (notably  the carbohydrate-rich seeds of cereals) and domesticated animals. However “growth” was implicit in the “economic models” of the first farmers and of the first parasitic humans who sought to violently rob the farmers of their produce. This in turn led to “farmer’s champions” for self-defence, and thence 10,000 years of greed, growth, competition, non-sustainable exploitation of Nature, rapidly evolving technology, and the technical evolution weaponry to the ultimate of thermonuclear weapons that can now wipe out most of Humanity and the Biosphere. Little wonder that the famed biologist Jared Diamond described the Agrarian Revolution as Humanity’s greatest mistake [2, 3]. This deadly evolution of Humanity may have been unavoidable, and indeed some astronomers have addressed  the Fermi Paradox re the non-detection of other civilizations (so far) by suggesting that  evolved and innately competitive civilizations will last for only about 10,000 years before they destroy themselves (as may be the case for Homo sapiens) [4].

The Eurocentric notion of the 1600s onwards Enlightenment involved the European advent of science based on data acquisition, reason, and the progressive selection of better models of reality.  However the opening of this Pandora’s Box resulted not just in humanitarian benefits from science (e.g. in medicine, agriculture and industry) but also malignant consequences in terms of colonialism, exploitation, horrendously deadly wars, genocide, mass speciescide, mass ecocide, and now the real prospect this century of decimation of Humanity and the Biosphere by nuclear weapons and climate change. As a scientist I have been warning of this for decades as have thousands of other scientists. One of the World’s greatest minds, Stephen Hawking, has succinctly stated our predicament: “We see great peril if governments and societies do not take action now to render nuclear weapons obsolete and to prevent  further climate change” [5].

What has to be done? I recently published a huge book entitled “Climate Crisis, Climate Genocide & Solutions” [6] that concluded with 38 suggested partial solutions. However the key suggestions derive from the biological reality that the Earth is 2-fold overpopulated with humans, to whit: (1) negative greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution, (2) negative population growth, and (3) negative economic growth [7]. “The Future Is Degrowth” agrees with (1) and (3) but unfortunately regards (2) (negative population growth) as demeaning women and the Global South (p2 [1]).

Rampant greedy neoliberalism has brought us to this existential precipice, and the core ideology is expressed in 18th century Adam Smith’s 3 Laws of Economics that posit the key importance of (1) self-interest, (2) competition, and (3) supply and demand [8]. However our pre-Agrarian Revolution ancestors posited what we can call [fictional] Adam’s and Eve’s 3 Laws of Economics: (1) communality, (2) equal shares, and (3) take just what you need from bountiful Nature. According to my interpretation of “The Future Is Degrowth”, the  Degrowthers’ 3 Laws of Economics are quite similar to those of “Adam and Eve” in positing (1) communality, (2) sharing, and (3) ideally local supply of modest demands. With this overview we can now turn to a brief ” chapter by chapter summary and critique of “The Future Is Degrowth”.

Chapter 1, “Introduction”, outlines the main features of Degrowther demands: (1) Because most of the wealth presently goes to the rich [9], GDP should be redefined in social terms, in terms of achievement of dignified life; (2) Universal Basic Income (UBI) with an approach to income, wealth  and tax equity; (3) Regenerative instead of exploitative and wasteful agriculture; (4) Decreased consumption (e.g. air travel) and waste (e.g. the huge current food waste); (5) Debt cancellation (for the Global South and for university students of the Global North); (6)  Tackling the climate crisis (renewable energy, economic degrowth); and (7)  More democratic, community-based social organization for a dignified life for all.

The Introduction also categorizes the 2 major groups concerned with economic growth  as (1) the “Davos conservatives”  with (a) globalists, green capitalists, and growth, and (b) neo-fascists with eco-apartheid, racism and growth,  as compared to (2) the “Porto Alegre progressives” with (a) pro-growth socialism and a Green New Deal, and (b) left-libertarian Degrowthers. Only the Degrowthers are serious about tackling the current terracidal growth scenario.

Comments: The Introduction fails to give Numbers relating to degrowth proposals, and absurdly rejects population control. Reductio ad absurdum: Assuming we attain a suitable degrowth steady state, increased population will simply mean more growth.

Chapter 2, “Economic growth”, asks for a better definition of GDP  (Gross Domestic Product) that includes a measure of unpaid work of carers and homekeepers. Presently GDP measurements include Bad elements (e.g. military budgets) but ignore Good elements (e.g. homekeepers). The authors state: “[Presently] Growth is a substitute for equality of income. As long as there is growth there is hope, and that makes large income differentials tolerable” (p46 [1]). The authors quote ecofeminist historian Stefania Barca: “Health, wealth, longevity and security are not the result of global trade and capital, but of those forces which opposed them” (p 57 [1]). The present system externalizes the costs of the growth project to the Global South  and to the future.

The book has some startling statistics on the material mass associated with growth. Thus Figure 2.1 shows that in 1900 Biomass was 1.16 Tt (1.6 trillion metric tonnes) but Anthropogenic mass (bricks, concrete etc) was only 0.03Tt. However with exponentially escalating  growth, by 2020 Biomass and Anthropogenic mass were both about 1.14 Tt (Figure 2.1, p60 [1]). Chapter 2 also provides shocking statistics on Global energy consumption that is increasing at a record high rate (Figure 2.2, p64 [1]) and on massive global “mismanagement” of 49% of food, and 31% of energy (p64 [1]). Climate criminal conservatives could hardly argue over abolition of such waste. The authors comment  that alternatives to the Anthropocene descriptive for the present era could be ”growthocene” and ”capitalocene” as illustrated by 24 graphs of  the  current “great acceleration” re 12 socioeconomic trends and 12 Earth system trends (Figure 2.3, p67[1]). A  further shocking graph shows the increasing rate of increase of Global GDP, Global Material footprint, and Global CO2 emissions from 1970 to 2020 (Figure 2.4, p73 [1]).

Comments. The core issue of Carbon Price is not mentioned here (although it and Carbon Debt are briefly mentioned elsewhere in the book. Yet the damage-related Carbon Price (about $200 per tonne CO2-equivalent [6, 10-19]) is crucial to understanding the Climate Crisis and indeed to estimating the required or desired economic degrowth. Thus from estimates of Global Greenhouse Gas (GHG) pollution since 1750 in Gt (billions of tonnes) CO2-equivalent and using the damage-related Carbon Price of $200 per tonne CO2-equivalent one can estimate that the World has a Carbon Debt of  $250 trillion that is increasing at $12 trillion each year [19]. Ignoring this gigantic “externality” is absurd and in the case of corporations and governments it is criminal theft on a gigantic scale. Thus Australia is a leading exporter of Liquid Natural Gas (LNG, mostly methane, CH4 ) and the annual Carbon Debt from this is about $87 billion. However the climate criminal Australian Labor Government has recently boasted of extracting $0.4 billion annually via a special resource tax from this industry – a negligible amount and gigantic and criminal subterfuge by industry and government [10].

A  further important quantitative point relates to a measure of the degrowth-obtained “social happiness” as compared to the growth-based (and women’s work-ignoring) GDP (the sum of the cost of all transactions and services). Thus the US and US-sanctioned Cuba have GDPs of $70,000 and $9,500, respectively [20]. However Cuba has excellent health care  and a lower annual per capita under-5 infant mortality than the US [21]. Thus the US GDP could be reduced by about $60,500 per capita to $9,500 per capita (a $60,500 per capita degrowth) and yet (in terms of infant mortality) have a “happiness” state equivalent to that of Cuba. Numbers matter.

Chapter 3, “Critiques of growth”, summarizes criticisms of the present growth-based economic order. It gives a nice analogy in that the symbol for degrowth (décroissance to French Degrowthers) in Southern Europe is the snail (the shell expands exponentially via a Fibonacci-like sequence but then stops, thus preventing formation of a gigantic shell) (pp151-152 [1]). This chapter introduces terminologies such as eco-feminism, repercussions, externalities, décroissance, social ecology, social metabolism, convivial technologies, neo-colonial appropriate, “bien vivir” (Latin American degrowth “good-living”), overconsumption, externalization, green fascism, anti-modernism, and environmentalism of the rich.

In this chapter the book again incorrectly rejects the Herd-of-Elephants-in-the Room reality of the horrendous impact of serious and increasing global overpopulation as cogently described in Michael Moore’s must-see  documentary “Planet of the Humans” [22]. However the book makes a serious and valid criticism of the Global North (high GHG pollution but population declining) continuing to exploit the Global South (low GHG pollution but population increasing) through unequal terms of trade, debt, agro-fuel production (food for fuel), neo-colonialism, and phoney “offsets” for the profligate Global North: “Recent studies that have quantified the drain from the Global South from unequal exchange estimate this to be in the orders of magnitude of around $62 trillion over the period 1960-2018” (p164 [1]). The rich Global North can deal with pollution impacts but the Global South can’t.

This chapter summarizes the major critics of the present growth economy which include (1) conservatives (who advocate cutting welfare to pay for degrowth); (2) green fascists (who argue for each race to its own patch and are anti-immigrant and anti-refugee, fascism involving action by the state, populists and violent militias to preserve racial divides and hierarchies); (3) anti-modernists (the book incorrectly in this respect citing  Michael Moore’s correct assertions about over-population and the “dirty” realities of “assertedly green” technology and activism; see pp174-175 [1] ); and (4) environmentalism of the rich (that does not help the poor or the Global South).

Comments: (1) Carbon Debt is barely mentioned but is crucial to the discussion of degrowth. Thus the annual GHG pollution is 63.2 Gt CO2-equivalent (taking methane and land use into account) [23] and at a damage-related Carbon Price of $200 per tonne CO2-equivalent [10-15] corresponds to an annual  Carbon Debt of $12,640 billion = $12.64 trillion. The world’s GDP (nominal) is $100.6 trillion [24] and thus the World’s annual Carbon Debt is 12.6% of World GDP. Accordingly at the very least about 13% of the wealth accumulated each year by the rich should be appropriated for a better society, the Global South  and the health of the World as a whole, noting that presently the top 1% have about 50% of the World’s wealth and the bottom 50% have about 1% of the wealth [9]. (2) One notes that in the economy of 10,000 years ago hunting was simply to get food, but today it is for pleasure by an alienated and bored industrial workforce. (3). In the growth economy the poor are exploited for labour (e.g. as in the former Apartheid South Africa but still effectively so  in Apartheid Israel and in the neo-colonialism-impacted Global South). In the extreme case of Apartheid Israel its majority 7.5 million  Indigenous Palestinian Subjects are “superfluous people” unwanted by the genocidally racist Zionist colonizers who only want their land and not the people [25-34]. (4).  Brazil (by way of example of a deforesting tropical country) doesn’t “own” the Amazon rain forest (“the lungs of the Earth”) – the whole world does, and no Brazilian government of any political complexion has the “right” to destroy it.

Chapter 4, “Degrowth visions”, sets out common degrowth principles for a degrowth society that must (1) enable global ecological justice (reducing the global “material metabolism” so that life it ecologically sustainable and globally just), (2) strengthen social justice, self-determination and a good life for all, and (3) redesign infrastructure and institutions so that they are not dependent on growth and continuous expansion (p195 [1]). It must also acknowledge differential impacts of degrowth on the Global North and the Global South.

Comments. Some Numbers would have been useful here: (1) If we assume a global GDP of about $100 trillion and a growth rate of 5% then the loss of the $5 trillion in annual growth could be compensated for by (a) a wealth tax on the rich as advocated by Thomas Piketty [35-37] to be spent on reorganizing a post-growth World, or (b) an annual tax on the Carbon Debt of rich countries and rich people. (2) The World’s 2,640 billionaires are worth $12.2 trillion [38]  which is close to the present annual increase in the World’s Carbon Debt ($12.6 trillion). An instant “flood down” (rather than the falsely neoliberal-claimed “trickle down”) could be achieved for 1 year by simply confiscating all of their wealth  in the interests of the other 8 billion inhabitants and devoting it to reorganizing a post-growth World (the 2,640 billionaires could all be retired with $1 million annual pensions). (3) How much annual degrowth is required?  Using the World’s coral reefs as a “canary in the mine” one accepts the expert finding that the World’s coral reefs started dying when the atmospheric CO2 reached 320 parts per million (320 ppm CO2) at which time (about 1962) the World’s population was about 3.5 billion. Accordingly the World is over-populated by a factor of about  2 (for a detailed and documented analysis see [7]). The atmospheric CO2 is presently about 420 ppm CO2 and increasing at a record rate [7].  To save the coral (and hence the planet) we must have negative GHG pollution to achieve about 300 ppm CO2 (at a cost about $250 trillion), negative population growth (to about 4 billion people at most), and consequent radical economic degrowth (i.e. a halving of present output) [6, 7, 21, 39, 40].  (4) The billionaires  or indeed all One Percenters might well complain about being dispossessed (see item #1) but just as they have “borrowed” their wealth from the poor, the Global South, and future generations, so the degrowth regime might well argue that this wealth being seized is merely also just being “borrowed” in the interests of Humanity and the Biosphere (e.g. French sale of uranium to Apartheid Israel for nuclear weapons was prohibited by International  Law, so the expedient of “borrowing” was adopted [41]).

Chapter 5, “Pathways to degrowth”, commences “The true test of whether a utopia is worth fighting for is whether it could actually work” (p212 [1]. This chapter explores how degrowth can be achieved in various ways. There is a lot of discussion about solidarity, democratization, commonizing, caps to income and wealth, convivial and democratic technology, revalorization ( notably of unpaid women’s work” in the home), “democratizing social metabolism” (the flow through  of resources), and international solidarity (notably debt cancellation for the Global South). A succinct summary of core proposals is given by the authors as follows: “Alongside other policies that also aim at social justice, such as ecological tax reform, or reduction in working hours, which are discussed in later sections, most of these proposals aim at reappropriating and socializing the resources of the rich through effective taxation and income wealth caps and to withdraw from the market, or decommodify, the supply of goods and services necessary for a good life for all. It is therefore demanded that basic goods and services such as housing, food, water, energy, local transport, and communication, education, and health be made available to all regardless of the current rate of economic growth or individual income. This should take place largely beyond the market, for example, in the form of public access for all, municipal cooperatives, or through commoning” (page 225 [1]). Further, on the minus side of the ledger, the degrowth agenda will “Actively phase out the globalized, profit-oriented, fossil fuel-based industrial economic sectors and activities that do not serve the common good and cannot be sustainably or democratically restructured” (p240 [1]).

Comments.  (1) This  is fine and laudable but ignores the economic realities that even apply in the relatively impoverished Global South, in particular such things as competition between products (to enable better products, whether tools, machines or medicines) and profit-derived investment (to enable production of new or more things). (2) Thus one would like to see an unimpaired market for sophisticated medical products and pharmaceuticals that would be of major social utility but with very little environmental impact. (3) Obviously there are huge areas of modern growth economies that we can do without (e.g. military goods, cigarettes, vapers, alcohol,  illicit drugs, gambling etc). However this was not really explored in the book. Thus preventable deaths from “life-style choice” and “political choice” causes kill about 100,000 people each year in rich Australia (population 25.5 million) [42] and kill 1.7 million each year in rich America (population 340 million) [43-45]. (4) In relation to international solidarity I strongly advocate a Third Chamber of global governance in addition to the UN General Assembly (UNGA, 1 vote per country) and the UN Security Council (UNSC, limited membership with a veto power for the most powerful), specifically, a one-person-one-vote World Parliament that would deal with issues vital for ordinary people such as economics, equity, health , education, the environment, and human rights. Of course the Global South (notably China and India) would dominate this World Parliament, and the growing power of the BRICS collective (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) reflects this increasing democratization of the World.

Chapter 6, “Making degrowth real”, asks who will make it happen? And then poses the really dire question: “What if the World is already lost?” The answer to the latter is probably yes [6], and the degrowth models will then apply to survival mode for billions of Humanity. The authors argue for bottom-up, small scale proposals as opposed to top-down, heavy-weight proposals from the Establishment. Such bottom-up strategies would be interstitial (operating within the current growth model), symbiotic (involving political collaboration with the Left and the Greens in particular), and ruptual (mass movement).

There are very useful discussions of “now-topias”, autonomous working laboratories demonstrating the practicality of degrowth principles. By way of example the authors describe a Catalan collective called Calafou that has “connection to an expanding ecosystem of other similar projects” (p256 [1]). Indeed they state that “In all their variety there are around three million cooperatives in the world in which more than 12 per cent of humanity is engaged and which provide jobs to 10 per cent of the employed population” (p260 [1]). Another approach advanced is that of “dual power”: “It is called “dual power” because it operates parallel to the state and has the capacity, like the state, to determine the direction of society. Today dual power can be understood as the effort to build movements and organizations that have the capacity to make demands from the state but that do not fully rely on the state to function” (p273 [1]).

Comments. These are excellent ideas but the political realities deriving from huge and increasing wealth inequity are a huge obstacle to political progress. Thomas Piketty has described how Big Money is bad for democracy (Big Money buys votes) and bad for the economy (the poor cannot afford to buy the goods and services they produce)[35-37]. The result of this huge wealth inequity is present political stasis when it comes to really tackling the Climate Crisis. Thus Professor Jorgen Randers (a co-author on the 1972 “Limits of Growth” report to the Club of Rome) has said that political short-termism has meant that Western politicians have been utterly unable to address the Climate Crisis, and although no doubt a lover of the freedoms of Western-style democracy, sees the only hope for Humanity in a one-party state China that will force top-down solutions [46, 47]. Indeed even when it comes to  public discussion (let alone action) there is a barrier because our democracies have become kleptocracies, plutocracies, corporatocracies, Murdochracies, lobbyocracies and dollarocracies in which Big Money purchases  public perception of reality, votes and hence more power and more private profit. In vain I rail against the Mainstream journalist, editor, politician, academic and commentariat presstitutes who through lying by commission, but mainly through the even worse lying by omission, act as gate-keepers to keep vital ideas such as “degrowth” well and truly hidden [48-52].

Chapter 7, “The future of degrowth”, deals with (1) class and race (most of the proponents of degrowth are White and from the Global North), (2) geopolitics and imperialism (degrowth in the Global North will impact the impoverished Global South), (3) information technology (which has novel and powerful things to offer degrowth, notably via Artificial Intelligence (AI)), and (4) democratic planning (vital for any future changes). The book concludes: “Because one thing is certain: we need to break free from the capitalist economy. Degrowth gives us the tools to bend its bars (p297 [1]).

Final comments and conclusions. The World is acutely and existentially threatened by nuclear weapons and climate change, both products of remorselessly greedy capitalism. It is now very probably too late to avoid a catastrophic global warming of plus 2C in coming years. Indeed the WMO has estimated that the “ideal” global target of plus1.5C will be exceeded in 1 year in the coming 5 [53-55]. Atmospheric GHGs are higher than at any time in the last 800,000 years and are increasing at a record rate, as are iron ore, steel, cement, cattle, oil, coal and gas production – tackling climate change means reducing not increasing GHG pollution, but it is simply not happening [56, 57]. The direst predictions are that in the absence of requisite urgent action 10 billion people will die prematurely this century in a worsening Climate Genocide en route to a sustainable human population in 2100 of only1 billion [6, 58].

Nevertheless decent folk must do everything they can to make the future “less bad” for future generations. “The Future of Degrowth” is an important book that addresses this terminal condition of Humanity. Of course there are areas for debate (notably over the need for negative population growth) and indeed therein lies the utility of this summary of the thought of Degrowthers. Accordingly this important book should be in every local, institutional and state library. Unending growth on a finite planet has always been seen as an impossibility from 18th century Malthus onwards. Cessation of growth and indeed massive implementation of degrowth are urgently demanded by despairing scientists as we race towards the precipice.

References.

[1]. Matthias Schmelzer, Andrea Vetter and Aaron Vansintjan, “The Future is Degrowth. A Guide to a World Beyond Capitalism”, Verso, 2022.

[2]. Gideon Polya, “Review: “A History of the Global Economy” – Indian Holocaust & Genocide Ignored”, Countercurrents, 17 February 2019: https://countercurrents.org/2019/02/review-a-history-of-the-global-economy-indian-holocaust-genocide-ignored/ .

[3]. Jared Diamond, “The worst mistake in the history of the human race”, Discover, 1 May 1999: http://discovermagazine.com/1987/may/02-the-worst-mistake-in-the-history-of-the-human-race .

[4]. “Fermi Paradox”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox .

[5]. Stephen Hawking, “Brief Answers to the Big Questions”, John Murray, 2018.

[6]. Gideon Polya, “Climate Crisis, Climate Genocide & Solutions”, Korsgaard Publishing,  2020.

[7]. 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/ .

[8]. Rakesh Sharma, “Adam Smith: Who He Was, Early Life, Accomplishments and Legacy”, Investopedia: https://www.investopedia.com/updates/adam-smith-economics/ .

[9]. 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 .

[10]. Gideon Polya, “Submission To Australian National  Anti-Corruption Commission: Corporations & Governments Ignore  Huge Carbon Debt”, Countercurrents, 19 August 2023: https://countercurrents.org/2023/08/submission-to-australian-national-anti-corruption-commission-corporations-governments-ignore-huge-carbon-debt/ .

[11]. Chris Hope, “How high should climate change taxes be?”, Working Paper Series, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, 9.2011: http://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/fileadmin/user_upload/research/workingpapers/wp1109.pdf  .

[12].  “Carbon Debt Carbon Credit”: https://sites.google.com/site/carbondebtcarboncredit/ .

[13]. 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  .

[14]. International Monetary Fund (IMF), “Fiscal Monitor: how to mitigate climate change”, September  2019: https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/FM/Issues/2019/09/12/fiscal-monitor-october-2019 .

[15]. 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/ .

[16]. Gideon Polya, “Terracidal But Ignored Carbon Debt From Gas Exploitation By The World & Climate Criminal Australia”, Countercurrents, 8 July 2023: https://countercurrents.org/2023/06/terracidal-but-ignored-carbon-debt-from-gas-exploitation-by-the-world-climate-criminal-australia/ .

[17]. Gideon Polya, “Polya’s 3 Laws Of Economics Expose Deadly, Dishonest  And Terminal Neoliberal Capitalism”, Countercurrents,  17 October 2015: https://countercurrents.org/polya171015.htm .

[18]. Gideon Polya, “COP27 Ignores Carbon Price, Climate Costs, Carbon Debt, Full Reparations & Global South”, Countercurrents, 13 November  2022: https://countercurrents.org/2022/11/cop27-ignores-carbon-price-climate-costs-carbon-debt-full-reparations-global-south/ .

[19]. Gideon Polya, “Inescapable $200-250 trillion global Carbon Debt increasing by $16 trillion annually”, Countercurrents, 27March 2019: https://countercurrents.org/2019/04/inescapable-200-250-trillion-global-carbon-debt-increasing-by-16-trillion-annually-gideon-polya/ .

[20]. “List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita .

[21]. Gideon Polya, “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950”, 2nd edition, Korsgaard Publishing, 2021.

[22]. Michael Moore, “Planet of the Humans”, 21 April 2020: https://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/michael-moore-presents-planet-of-the-humans/ .

[23]. 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: http://www.worldwatch.org/files/pdf/Livestock%20and%20Climate%20Change.pdf .

[24]. Worldometer, “GDP by country”: https://www.worldometers.info/gdp/gdp-by-country/ .

[25]. Gideon Polya, “Australia must stop Zionist subversion and join the World in comprehensive Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Apartheid Israel and all its supporters”, Subversion of Australia, 15 April 2021: https://sites.google.com/site/subversionofaustralia/2021-04-15 .

[26]. Gideon Polya, “Australia must stop Zionist subversion and join the World in comprehensive Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Apartheid Israel and all its supporters”, Subversion of Australia, 15 April 2021: https://sites.google.com/site/subversionofaustralia/2021-04-15 .

[27]. “The genocide of the Palestinian people: an international law and human rights perspective”, Center for Constitutional Rights, 25 August 2016: https://ccrjustice.org/genocide-palestinian-people-international-law-and-human-rights-perspective

[28]. Gideon Polya, “Refutation Of Mainstream-Accepted Racist Zionist Lies Behind Israel ‘s Gaza Massacres And Palestinian Genocide”, Countercurrents, 26 July, 2014: https://www.countercurrents.org/polya260714.htm .

[29]. Gideon Polya, “Israeli-Palestinian & Middle East conflict – from oil to climate genocide”, Countercurrents, 21 August 2017: https://countercurrents.org/2017/08/21/israeli-palestinian-middle-east-conflict-from-oil-to-climate-genocide/ .

[30]. Gideon Polya, “End 50 Years Of Genocidal Occupation & Human Rights Abuse By US-Backed Apartheid Israel”, Countercurrents, 9 June 2017: https://countercurrents.org/2017/06/09/end-50-years-of-genocidal-occupation-human-rights-abuse-by-us-backed-apartheid-israel/ .

[31]. Gideon Polya, “Universal Declaration of Human Rights & Palestinians. Apartheid Israel violates ALL Palestinian Human Rights”, Palestine Genocide Essays, 24 January 2009: https://sites.google.com/site/palestinegenocideessays/universal-declaration-of-human-rights-palestinians .

[32]. Gideon Polya, “70th anniversary of Apartheid Israel & commencement of large-scale Palestinian Genocide”, Countercurrents, 11 May 2018: https://countercurrents.org/2018/05/11/70th-anniversary-of-apartheid-israel-commencement-of-large-scale-palestinian-genocide/ .

[33]. Gideon Polya, “Apartheid Israel’s Palestinian Genocide & Australia’s Aboriginal Genocide compared”, Countercurrents, 20 February 2018: https://countercurrents.org/2018/02/20/apartheid-israels-palestinian-genocide-australias-aboriginal-genocide-compared/ .

[34]. Gideon Polya, “Review: “The Palestine Laboratory” By Antony Loewenstein – Apartheid Israel Exports Surveillance Nightmare”, Countercurrents, 29 August 2023: https://countercurrents.org/2023/08/review-the-palestine-laboratory-by-antony-loewenstein-apartheid-israel-exports-surveillance-nightmare/ .

[35].  Thomas Piketty, “Capital in the Twenty-First Century” ( Harvard University Press, 2014).

[36]. Gideon Polya,  4 % Annual Global Wealth Tax To Stop The 17 Million Deaths Annually”,  Countercurrents, 27 June 2014: https://countercurrents.org/polya270614.htm .

[37]. Gideon Polya, “Key Book Review: “Capital In The Twenty-First Century” By Thomas Piketty”, Countercurrents,  1 July, 2014: https://countercurrents.org/polya010714.htm .

[38]. “The World’s Billionaires”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World%27s_Billionaires .

[39]. Gideon Polya, “US-imposed Post-9/11 Muslim Holocaust & Muslim Genocide”, Korsgaard Publishing, 2020.

[40]. Gideon Polya, “Jane Austen and the Black Hole of British History”, 3rd edition, Korsgaard Publishing, 2022.

[41]. Gideon Polya, “Apartheid Israel Buries Serial War Criminal, Genocidal Racist And Nuclear Terrorist Shimon Peres”, Countercurrents, 1 October 2016: https://countercurrents.org/2016/10/apartheid-israel-buries-serial-war-criminal-genocidal-racist-and-nuclear-terrorist-shimon-peres/ .

[42]. Gideon Polya, “Rich Australia Ignores 100,000 Preventable Deaths Annually: The Cost Of Neoliberalism & Lying”, Countercurrents, 29 September 2022: https://countercurrents.org/2022/09/rich-australia-ignores-100000-preventable-deaths-annually-the-cost-of-neoliberalism-lying/ .

[43]. Gideon Polya, “Trump’s abolition of ObamaCare will kill 43,000 Americans over 2 Trump terms”, Countercurrents, 16 March 2017: https://countercurrents.org/2017/03/trumps-abolition-of-obamacare-will-kill-43000-americans-over-2-trump-terms/ .

[44]. Gideon Polya, “Lying America did 9/11 and then killed over 30 million Muslims”, Countercurrents, 20 September 2021: https://countercurrents.org/2021/09/lying-america-did-9-11-and-then-killed-over-30-million-muslims/ .

[45]. Gideon Polya, “American Holocaust, Millions Of Untimely American Deaths And $40 Trillion Cost Of Israel To Americans”, Countercurrents, 27 August, 2013: https://countercurrents.org/polya270813.htm .

[46]. 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  .

[47]. Jorgen Randers, “2052 – A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years”, Chelsea Green Publishing, 2012.

[48]. “Lying by omission”, Mainstream Media Lying: https://sites.google.com/site/mainstreammedialying/lying-by-omission .

[49]. “Mainstream media lying”: https://sites.google.com/site/mainstreammedialying/ .

[50]. Gideon Polya, “Review: “Lies And Falsehoods” By Bernard Keane: Australian Coalition Government Lies”, Countercurrents, 10 March 2022: https://countercurrents.org/2022/03/review-lies-and-falsehoods-by-bernard-keane-australian-coalition-government-lies/ .

[51]. “Mainstream media censorship”: https://sites.google.com/site/mainstreammediacensorship/home .

[52]. Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky, “Manufacturing Consent. The political economy of the mass media” , Pantheon, 2002.

[53]. Gideon Polya, “WMO Warning: 1.5 Degree C Warming Breach Very Soon & With Increasing Frequency. Act Now!”, Countercurrents, 19 May 2023: https://countercurrents.org/2023/05/wmo-warning-1-5-degree-c-warming-breach-very-soon-with-increasing-frequency-act-now/ .

[54]. World Meteorological Organization (WMO), “Global temperatures set to reach new records in next five years”, 17 May 2023: https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/global-temperatures-set-reach-new-records-next-five-years .

[55]. World Meteorological Organization (WMO), “Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update. Target years: 2023 and 2023-2027”: https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?explnum_id=11611 .

[56]. 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/ .

[57]. Gideon Polya, “Climate Inaction Means Terracidal Climate Catastrophe: Act Now To Prevent Present Disaster Deaths”, Countercurrents, 17 July 2023: https://countercurrents.org/2023/07/climate-inaction-means-terracidal-climate-catastrophe-act-now-to-prevent-present-disaster-deaths/ .

[58]. “Climate Genocide”: https://sites.google.com/site/climategenocide/ .

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/  .

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