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Hi Tom, Did you listen to the Reith Lecture, this morning? Institutions are not making an appropriate contract between generations. Nowhere is this more true than on climate, where the institutions like the Hadley Centre seem happy to ignore Arctic sea ice volume crash, which is going to require future generations to try and sort out the mess - even though it will almost certainly be too late - especially if Arctic methane escalates sufficient for runaway global warming. One only needs release of about 1% of methane stored under the seabed to get the feedback going. It's a very scary situation. The scientific community is burying its collective head in the sand. But anarchy is not the solution. We just need an honest look at the situation from the scientific advisers to government - followed by rapid engineering to cool the Arctic, deal with methane, remove CO2 to prevent ocean acidification, protect the Amazon rainforest, etc. The NGOs like Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth should actually support and welcome some actions where they could see rapid results and feel that they had achieved something! The continuous hammering against the brick wall of corporate fossil-fuel interests with no results in sight must be most frustrating. Getting NGOs on side would be a most positive thing for the future of the planet. Can you help? Cheers, John --- On 19/06/2012 17:06, Barker, Tom wrote: > > Is anarchy now the morally right thing to do? > > As John Papworth says, in order to topple the giant organisations, you > need to become one of them, and then you find yourself part of the > problem. Tom > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > *From:* Discussion list for the Crisis Forum > [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of David Cromwell > [[log in to unmask]] > *Sent:* 19 June 2012 11:04 > *To:* [log in to unmask] > *Subject:* Game Over For The Climate? > > Hello, > > The latest media alert from Media Lens, out today, might be of interest. > > Best wishes > > David (Cromwell) > > <http://www.medialens.org/index.php?option=com_acymailing&no_html=1&ctrl=url&urlid=1104&mailid=153&subid=699> > > **Game Over For The Climate?** > > Whatever happened to the green movement? It’s been 50 years since the > publication of Rachel Carson’s classic/Silent Spring/, a powerful book > about the environmental devastation wreaked by chemical pesticides. > Since then we’ve had the rise and fall - or at least the compromised > assimilation - of green groups such as _Friends of the > Earth_<http://www.medialens.org/index.php?option=com_acymailing&no_html=1&ctrl=url&urlid=1105&mailid=153&subid=699>, > _Greenpeace_<http://www.medialens.org/index.php?option=com_acymailing&no_html=1&ctrl=url&urlid=1106&mailid=153&subid=699>and > _Forum For the > Future_<http://www.medialens.org/index.php?option=com_acymailing&no_html=1&ctrl=url&urlid=1107&mailid=153&subid=699>. > > Last week, the Independent marked the half-century with a well-meaning > but frankly insipid ‘landmark series’ titled _‘The Green Movement at > 50’_<http://www.medialens.org/index.php?option=com_acymailing&no_html=1&ctrl=url&urlid=1108&mailid=153&subid=699>. > But there’s a glaring hole in such coverage; and, indeed, in the > ‘green movement’ itself: the insidious role of the corporate media, a > key component of corporate globalisation, in driving humanity and > ecosystems towards the brink of destruction. > > The acclaimed biologist and conservationist Edward O. Wilson > _puts_<http://www.medialens.org/index.php?option=com_acymailing&no_html=1&ctrl=url&urlid=1109&mailid=153&subid=699>the > scale of the crisis bluntly: > > ‘We’re destroying the rest of life in one century. We’ll be down to > half the species of plants and animals by the end of the century if we > keep at this rate.’ > > And yet ‘very few people are paying attention’ to this disaster. > Wilson, who is 82, directed his warning to the young in particular: > > ‘Why aren’t you young people out protesting the mess that’s being made > of the planet? Why are you not repeating what was done in the ‘60s? > Why aren’t you in the streets? And what in the world has happened to > the green movement that used to be on our minds and accompanied by > outrage and high hopes? What went wrong?’ > > The trouble is that most of what the public hears about politics, > including environmental issues, comes from the corporate media. This > is a disaster for genuine democracy. As discussed in a recent > _alert_<http://www.medialens.org/index.php?option=com_acymailing&no_html=1&ctrl=url&urlid=995&mailid=153&subid=699>, > the media industry is made up of large profit-seeking corporations > whose main task is to sell audiences to wealthy advertisers – also > corporations, of course - on whom the media depend for a huge slice of > their revenues. It’s blindingly obvious that the corporate media is > literally not in the business of alerting humanity to the real risk of > climate catastrophe and what needs to be done to avert it. > > Last month, leading climate scientist James Hansen, who was the first > to warn the US Congress about global warming in 1988, > _observed_<http://www.medialens.org/index.php?option=com_acymailing&no_html=1&ctrl=url&urlid=1110&mailid=153&subid=699>that: > > ‘President Obama speaks of a “planet in peril,” but he does not > provide the leadership needed to change the world’s course.’ > > Hansen added: > > ‘The science of the situation is clear — it’s time for the politics to > follow. [...] Every major national science academy in the world has > reported that global warming is real, caused mostly by humans, and > requires urgent action. The cost of acting goes far higher the longer > we wait — we can’t wait any longer to avoid the worst and be judged > immoral by coming generations.’ > > If adequate action doesn’t happen soon, says Hansen, it’s ‘game over > for the climate’. > > _Read > More_<http://www.medialens.org/index.php?option=com_acymailing&no_html=1&ctrl=url&urlid=1104&mailid=153&subid=699> > > _http://bit.ly/KhqP8u_ >