Evolution In The Age of Ecocide

What this episode covers

A GREEN ECONOMIST ADVANCES, A GREEN ENVIRONMENTALIST SURRENDERS EPISODE 91 Using mountains of data to make the case that capitalism, left to its own devices, concentrates money in the hands of the few at the top, French economist Thomas Piketty is making a splash among the economic intelligentsia in the U.S. with the publication of his new book, Capital in the 21st Century. Debuting at number one in Amazon book sales, and receiving rave reviews from mainstream media and economists, Piketty has made the rounds of policy makers in Washington DC and New York, challenging the conventional economic orthodoxy that modern capitalism is a great generator of equality. He makes the case that the flatter economic distribution enjoyed by the West after the two world wars was less a feature of laissez faire economics and more a result of the wartime deconstruction of the previous trusts and multi-generational family fortunes. This looks like a significant shift in elite thinking that may help usher in more egalitarian economic policies over time. It supports Said Dawlabani’s thesis in his book Memenomics: The Next Generation Economic System, which I have examined at length in an earlier Daily Evolver episode , that the Orange altitude economy launched by Ronald Reagan in the 80’s may be re-orienting itself to more Green altitude egalitarian impulses. Along those lines, Piketty advocates raising progressive tax rates up to 80% for the highest earners as well as a worldwide tax on wealth. These are radical ideas to be sure, and are receiving the expected jeers from the political right, but if his thesis is borne out it will begin to change the conversation. Evolutionarily it’s right on schedule; as Piketty said in an interview with the Huffington Post Live last week, “income inequality is only getting started, and this century could look a lot more like the deeply unequal 18th and 19th centuries than the more-egalitarian 20th.” EARTH DAY 2014 In the second half of the call I honor Earth Day with an update on global climate change, and a look some of the reactions to the recent series of I.P.C.C. (International Panel on Climate Change) reports from the United Nations. The issue is, of course, vastly polarized at the moment with predictable responses from both the climate deniers and alarmists (as the political right and left are known to each other). One reaction to the climate controversy that is a bit outside the box is that of Paul Kingsnorth, a lifelong environmentalist from Britain, who is leading the way into a new relationship with global climate change: surrender. In a major profile in last week’s New York Times Sunday Magazine he shared his views on the “human machine and the age of ecocide.” I had a lot of friends who were writing about climate change and doing a lot of good work on it. I was just listening and looking at the facts and thinking: Wow, we are really screwed here. We are not going to stop this from happening. Everything had gotten worse. You look at every trend that environmentalists like me have been trying to stop for fifty years, and every single thing had gotten worse. And I thought: I can’t do this anymore. I can’t sit here saying: “Yes, comrades, we must act! We only need one more push, and we’ll save the world!” I don’t believe it. I don’t believe it! So what do I do? The first thing that Kingsnorth did was draft a manifesto…called “Uncivilization,” it was an intense, brooding document that vilified progress. “There is a fall coming,” it announced.

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