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Thom's blog
Capitalism Could Kill All Life On Earth
 Are we going to let capitalism destroy life on Earth? According to 99% of climate scientists - we'll know by the end of the century. Scientists have agreed for three decades about what is causing atmospheric temperatures to rise - humans are burning Earth's carbon resources to fuel economic activity. But even before we knew what was causing the temperature to rise - scientists warned about the dire global impacts of a two degree increase in atmospheric temperatures. Earth's climate has been basically stable for hundreds of thousands of years. But that changed during the industrial revolution - when Great Britain realized the potential of coal-powered steam engines. Soon continental Europe and America followed suit. And over 150 years later - coal, oil, and natural gas dominate the global politics and economics: wars are fought over oil; communities are destroyed for coal; and increasingly scarce water supplies are poisoned by natural gas extraction. The Earth has already warmed about one degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels -which means we have to change our energy system completely before the Earth warms another degree in order to avoid the catastrophic impacts of climate change. Is it possible? Scientists say "Yes!" - BUT it will require us to take bold and immediate steps towards a completely renewable energy system. The technology exists - the shortfall is in investment. According to the IMF - oil companies get 5.3 trillion dollars in subsidies worldwide per year. And the oil companies pay only a portion - if any - of the environmental costs of ripping fossil fuels from the ground and burning the CO2 into the atmosphere. In other words, every living human being and government are paying for coal, oil, and gas companies to profit from the destruction our planet. And that's not a market failure - that's how the market was set up. Capitalism as we know it isn't the solution - it's the problem. In a report in "Nature Climate Change" - scientists point out that we can keep temperatures below 1.5 degrees Celsius - if every country takes bold and immediate action to deploy current clean energy and limit the use of fossil fuels. The biggest failure in our system is that there is no price on carbon. Burning fossil fuels and releasing carbon into our atmosphere has very real costs that corporations aren't paying for - costs that are being kicked down the road for future generations. In America, we've let the fossil fuel industry become so profitable that it relentlessly funds campaigns and lobbies to keep oil subsidies in place and weaken environmental regulations - all at the expense of our communities and our planet. |
Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... "More Action, Less Talk" in Cleveland (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)
 Be sure to check out our newest video: RESTORATION - narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio & Thom Hartmann, directed by Leila Conners / Visit GreenWorldRising.org to check out all the videos: CARBON, LAST HOURS & GREEN WORLD RISING - narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio & Thom Hartmann, directed by Leila Conners
Join Thom in London, England (Fall 2015) - for a special week long course - Saving the World From Extinction - How to Create a World That Works for All - follow the link to Schumacher College for details!
Need to Know: Crackdown on FIFA...can the banksters be next?- America's Lawyer Mike Papantonio, Ring of Fire 
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Wednesday's Daily Stack 
Hour One: "More Action, Less Talk" in Cleveland- Benjamin Crump Esq., Parks & Crump
Article: " 14th Amendment, July 9, 1868 (citizenship, representatives, public debt)
Hour Three: Crackdown on FIFA...can the banksters be next?- America's Lawyer Mike Papantonio, Ring of Fire Radio (Ring of Fire now airing nightly on FSTV at 8:30pm ET...check local listings) Economic and Labor News |
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Thursday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 3-6pm ET
I'll be talking with Hedrick Smith, Pulitzer Prize winning NY Times Journalist / PBS Producer (Emmy) / Author of several books, latest Who Stole the American Dream
And, the best of the rest of the news along with your calls right here on...
The Thom Hartmann Program, Occupying The Media 3 hours a day 5 days a week" for "we the people"
And don't forget...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...
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