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#Post#: 13898--------------------------------------------------
Meet catabolic capitalism: globalization’s gruesome twin
By: Surly1 Date: October 7, 2019, 7:19 pm
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Meet catabolic capitalism: globalization’s gruesome twin
HTML http://unevenearth.org/2018/11/meet-catabolic-capitalism-globalizations-gruesome-twin/?fbclid=IwAR2aQqNijaND90BAchxgFaTjuO5UQwEkZu5TxDVEPOAAwDDB1afumVomrno
We’ll soon discover that capitalism without globalization is
much, much worse.
[img
width=1000]
HTML http://unevenearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/21494869982_515b35246b_k.jpg[/img]
[html]<p><em>by Craig Collins</em></p> <p>“Out of the
frying pan, into the fire” is an apt description of our
current place in history. No matter what you think of
globalization, I believe we’ll soon discover that
capitalism without it is much, much worse.</p> <p>No one
needs to convince establishment economists, politicians and
pundits that the absence of globalization and growth spells
trouble. They’ve pushed globalization as the Viagra of
economic growth for years. But globalization has never been
popular with everyone. Capitalism’s critics recognize that
it generates tremendous wealth and power for a tiny fraction of
the Earth’s seven billion people, makes room for some in
the middle class, but keeps most of humanity destitute and
desperate, while trashing the planet and jeopardizing human
survival for generations to come.</p> <p>Around the world,
social movements voice their opposition to voracious growth and
unite around the belief that “Another World Is
Possible!” They work toward the day when neoliberal
globalization is replaced by a more democratic, equitable,
Earth-friendly society. They assume that any future without
globalization is bound to be an improvement. But it appears that
this assumption may be wrong. In fact, future generations may
someday look back on capitalism’s growth phase as the
vigorous days of industrial civilization, a naïve time
before anyone realized that the worst was yet to
come.</p> <p><strong>Profit: the prime
directive</strong></p> <p>Today, energy depletion,
ecological disaster, debilitating debt, and economic inequity
are suffocating globalization and growth. The Age of Fossil
Fuels has reached its apex. The rapacious flight to the top was
powered by the Earth’s dwindling hydrocarbon reserves.
From these lofty heights, the drastic drop-off ahead appears
perilous. As fossil fuel extraction fails to meet global demand,
economic contraction and downward mobility will become the new
normal and growth will fade into memory. But this new
growth-less future may bear no resemblance to the equitable
green economy activists have been calling
for.</p> <p>Optimistic green reformers like Al Gore, Jeremy
Rifkin, and Lester Brown see a window of opportunity at this
historic juncture. For years, they’ve jetted from one
conference to another, tirelessly trying to convince world
leaders to embrace their planet-saving plans for a sustainable,
carbon-free society before it’s too late. They hope energy
scarcity and economic contraction can act as wake-up calls,
spurring world leaders to embrace their Green New Deals that
promise to save capitalism and the planet.</p> <p>Their
message is clear: rapid, fossil-fueled growth is burning through
the Earth’s remaining reserves of precious hydrocarbons
and doing untold damage to the biosphere in the process.
Businesses must lead the way out of this dangerous dead end by
adopting renewable energy and other planet-healing practices,
even if it means substantial reductions in growth and profits.
But, despite their dire warnings, hard work, innovative
proposals, and good intentions, most heads of state and captains
of industry continue to politely ignore
them.</p> <p>Meanwhile, more radical activists also hope
climate chaos, peak oil and economic contraction will become
game changers. Many assume that globalization and growth are so
essential that capitalism must fail without them. And, as it
does, social movements will seize the opportunity to transform
this collapsing system into a more equitable, sustainable one,
free of capitalism’s insatiable need to expand at all
costs.</p> <div> <p>Growth is not the primary driving
force behind capitalism—profit is. Periods of crisis and
collapse can generate huge profits as
well.</p> </div> <p>Both the green growth reformers and
anti-growth radicals misunderstand the true nature of capitalism
and underestimate its ability to withstand—and profit
handsomely from—the great contraction ahead. Growth is not
the primary driving force behind capitalism—profit is.
When the overall economic pie is expanding, many firms find it
easier to realize profits big enough to continually increase
their share price. But periods of crisis and collapse can
generate huge profits as well. In fact, during systemic
contractions, the dog-eat-dog nature of capitalism creates
lucrative opportunities for hostile takeovers, mergers and
leveraged buyouts, allowing the most predatory firms to devour
their competition.</p> <p><a
href="
HTML http://unevenearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/21318878189_79db0778f8_o.jpg"><img<br
/>src="
HTML http://unevenearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/21318878189_79db0778f8_o.jpg"<br
/>alt="" width="1024" height="683"
srcset="
HTML http://unevenearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/21318878189_79db0778f8_o.jpg<br
/>5184w,
HTML http://unevenearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/21318878189_79db0778f8_o-300x200.jpg<br
/>300w,
HTML http://unevenearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/21318878189_79db0778f8_o-768x512.jpg<br
/>768w,
HTML http://unevenearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/21318878189_79db0778f8_o-1024x683.jpg<br
/>1024w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px"
/></a></p> <p><strong>Can capitalism survive without
growth?</strong></p> <p>One of capitalism’s central
attributes is opportunism. Capitalism is not loyal to any
person, nation, corporation, or ideology. It doesn’t care
about the planet or believe in justice, equality, fairness,
liberty, human rights, democracy, world peace or even economic
growth and the “free market.” Its overriding
obsession is maximizing the return on invested capital.
Capitalism will pose as a loyal friend of other beliefs and
values, or betray them in an instant, if it advances the drive
for profit … that’s why it’s called the
bottom line!</p> <p>Growth is important because it tends to
improve the bottom line. And ultimately, capitalism may not last
without it. But those who profit from this economic system are
not about to throw up their hands and walk off the stage of
history just because boom has turned to bust. Crisis, conflict,
and collapse can be extremely profitable for the opportunists
who know where and when to invest.</p> <p>But how long can
this go on? Can capitalism’s profit motive remain the
driving force behind a contracting economy lacking the vital
energy surplus needed to fuel growth? Definitely, but the
consequences for society will be grim indeed. Without access to
the cheap, abundant energy needed to extract resources, power
factories, maintain infrastructure, and transport goods around
the world, capitalism’s productive sector will lose its
position as the most lucrative source of profit and investment.
Transnational corporations will find that their giant economies
of scale and global chains of production have become liabilities
rather than assets. As profits dwindle, factories close, workers
are laid off, benefits and wages are slashed, unions are broken,
and pension funds are raided—whatever it takes to remain
solvent.</p> <p>Declining incomes and living standards mean
poorer consumers, contracting markets and shrinking tax
revenues. Of course, collapse can be postponed by using debt to
artificially extend the solvency of businesses, consumers, and
governments. But eventually, paying off debts with interest
becomes futile without growth. And, when the credit bubbles
burst, the defaults, foreclosures, bankruptcies and financial
fiascos that follow can paralyze the economy.</p> <p>Without
the capacity for re-energizing growth, the recessions and
depressions of times past that temporarily disrupted production
between long periods of expansion, now become chronic features
of a contracting system. On the downside of peak oil, neither
liberal programs to increase employment and stimulate growth nor
conservative tax and regulatory cuts have any substantial impact
on the economy’s descending spiral. Both production and
demand remain so constricted by energy austerity that any brief
growth spurts are quickly stifled by resurgent energy prices.
Instead, periods of severe contraction and collapse may be
buffered between brief plateaus of relative
stability.</p> <p><a
href="
HTML http://unevenearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/21318741880_6079684245_z.jpg"><img<br
/>src="
HTML http://unevenearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/21318741880_6079684245_z.jpg"<br
/>alt="" width="640" height="427"
srcset="
HTML http://unevenearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/21318741880_6079684245_z.jpg<br
/>640w,
HTML http://unevenearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/21318741880_6079684245_z-300x200.jpg<br
/>300w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"
/></a></p> <p><strong>Catabolism: the final phase of
capitalism</strong></p> <p>In a growth-less, contracting
economy, the profit motive can have a powerful catabolic impact
on capitalist society. The word “catabolism” comes
from the Greek and is used in biology to refer to the condition
whereby a living thing feeds on itself. Thus, <em>catabolic
capitalism</em> is a self-cannibalizing system whose insatiable
hunger for profit can only be fed by devouring the society that
sustains it.<a
href="
HTML http://unevenearth.org/2018/11/meet-catabolic-capitalism-globalizations-gruesome-twin/?fbclid=IwAR2aQqNijaND90BAchxgFaTjuO5UQwEkZu5TxDVEPOAAwDDB1afumVomrno#_ftn1"<br
/>name="_ftnref"><sup>[1]</sup></a> As it rampages down
the road to ruin, this system gorges itself on one
self-inflicted disaster after another.</p> <p>The riotous
train scene in the film <em>The Marx Brothers Go West</em>
captures the essence of catabolic capitalism. The wacky brothers
commandeer a locomotive that runs out of fuel. In desperation,
they ransack the train, breaking up the passenger cars, ripping
up seats and tearing down roofs and walls to feed the steam
engine. By the end of the scene, terrified passengers
desperately cling to a skeletal train, reduced to little more
than a fast-moving furnace on wheels.</p> <p>In the previous
era of industrial expansion, catabolic capitalists lurked in the
shadows of the growth economy. They were the illicit arms, drugs
and sex traffickers; the loan sharks, debt collectors and
repo-men; the smugglers, pirates, poachers, black market
merchants and pawnbrokers; the illegal waste dumpers, shady
sweatshop operators and unregulated mining, fishing and timber
operations.</p> <p>However, as the productive sector
contracts, this corrupt cannibalistic sector emerges from the
shadows and metastasizes rapidly, thriving off conflict, crime
and crisis; hoarding and speculation; insecurity and
desperation. Catabolic capitalism flourishes because it can
still generate substantial profits by dodging legalities and
regulations; stockpiling scarce resources and peddling arms to
those fighting over them; scavenging, breaking down and selling
off the assets of the decaying productive and public sectors;
and preying upon the sheer desperation of people who can no
longer find gainful employment
elsewhere.</p> <div> <p>Scavengers, speculators, and
slumlords buy up distressed and abandoned
properties—houses, schools, factories, office buildings
and malls—strip them of valuable resources, sell them for
scrap or rent them to people desperate for
shelter.</p> </div> <p>Without enough energy to generate
growth, catabolic capitalists stoke the profit engine by taking
over troubled businesses, selling them off for parts, firing the
workforce and pilfering their pensions. Scavengers, speculators,
and slumlords buy up distressed and abandoned
properties—houses, schools, factories, office buildings
and malls—strip them of valuable resources, sell them for
scrap or rent them to people desperate for shelter. Illicit
lending operations charge outrageous interest rates and hire
thugs or private security firms to shake down desperate
borrowers or force people into indentured servitude to repay
loans. Instead of investing in struggling productive
enterprises, catabolic financiers make windfall profits by
betting against growth through hoarding and speculative short
selling of securities, currencies and
commodities.</p> <p>Social benefits, legal and regulatory
protections and modern society itself will also be sacrificed to
feed the profit engine. During a period of contraction, venal
catabolic capitalists put their lawyers and lobbyists to work
tearing down any legal barriers to their insatiable appetite for
profit. Regulatory agencies that once provided some protection
from polluters, dangerous products, unsafe workplaces, labor
exploitation, financial fraud and corporate crime are dismantled
to feed the voracious fires of
avarice.</p> <p>Society’s governing institutions of
justice, law, and order become early victims of this catabolic
crime spree. Public safety is stripped down, privatized and sold
to those who can still afford it. As budgets for courts,
prisons, and law enforcement shrivel, private security firms
hire unemployed cops to break strikes, provide corporate
security, and guard the wealthy in their gated communities.
Meanwhile, the rest of us will be forced to rely on alarm
systems, dogs, guns and—if we’re
lucky—watchful neighbors to deal with rising crime.
Privatized prisons will profit by contracting convict labor to
the highest bidders.</p> <p>As tax-starved public services
and social welfare programs bleed out from deep budget cuts,
profit-hungry capitalists pick over the carcasses of bankrupt
governments. Social security, food stamps, and health care
programs are chopped to the bone. Public transportation and
decaying highways are transformed into private thoroughfares,
maintained by convict labor or indentured workers. Corporations
scarf up failing public utilities, water treatment, waste
management and sewage disposal systems to provide businesses and
wealthy communities with reliable power, water and waste
removal. Schools and libraries go broke, while exclusive private
academies employ a fraction of the jobless teachers and
university professors to educate a shrinking class of affluent
students.</p> <p><a
href="
HTML http://unevenearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/4108042323_9f818c2bd7_b.jpg"><img<br
/>src="
HTML http://unevenearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/4108042323_9f818c2bd7_b.jpg"<br
/>alt="" width="1024" height="766"
srcset="
HTML http://unevenearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/4108042323_9f818c2bd7_b.jpg<br
/>1024w,
HTML http://unevenearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/4108042323_9f818c2bd7_b-300x224.jpg<br
/>300w,
HTML http://unevenearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/4108042323_9f818c2bd7_b-768x575.jpg<br
/>768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px"
/></a></p> <p><strong>A dark
alliance</strong></p> <p>Cannibalistic profiteers can thrive
in a growth-less environment for quite some time, but
ultimately, an economy bent on devouring itself has a dismal,
dead-end future. Nevertheless, changing course will be difficult
because, as the catabolic sector expands at the expense of
society, powerful cannibalistic capitalists are bound to forge
influential alliances, poison and paralyze the political system,
and block all efforts to pull society out of its death
spiral.</p> <p>Catabolic enterprises are not the only
profit-makers in a growth-less economy. Even an economy run on
contracts and subcontracts must extract energy and other
resources from the Earth. Unless the profit motive is removed by
bringing these assets under public control, corporate real
estate, timber, water, energy, and mining corporations will
deploy their lobbying muscle to completely privatize these vital
resources and enhance their bottom line with government
subsidies, tax breaks and “regulatory relief.” The
growing capital, energy and technology commitments needed to
commodify scarce resources may cut deeply into profit margins.
As less solvent outfits fail, the remaining politically
connected resource conglomerates may maximize their profits by
forming cartels to corner markets, hoard vital resources, and
send prices soaring while blocking all attempts at public
regulation and rationing.</p> <p>The extractive and the
catabolic sectors of capitalism have a lot in common. An
alliance between them could put irresistible pressure on failing
federal and state governments to open public lands and
coastlines to unregulated offshore drilling, fracking, coal
mining and tar sands extraction. Scofflaw resource extractors
and criminal poaching operations proliferate in corrupt,
catabolic conditions where legal protections are ignored and
shady deals can be struck with local power brokers to maximize
the exploitation of labor and resources. To pay off government
debt, national and state parks may be sold and transformed into
expensive private resorts while public lands and national
forests are auctioned off to energy, timber, and mining
corporations.</p> <p>As globalization runs down, this grim
catabolic future is eager to replace it. Already, an ugly gang
of demagogic politicians around the world hopes to ride this
catabolic crisis into power. Their goal is to replace
globalization with bombastic nationalist authoritarianism. These
xenophobic demagogues are becoming the political face of
catabolic capitalism. They promise to restore their country to
prosperity and greatness by expelling immigrants while
carelessly ignoring the disastrous costs of fossil fuel
addiction and military spending. Anger, insecurity and need to
believe that a strong leader can restore “the good old
days” will guarantee them a fervent following even though
their false promises and fake solutions can only make matters
worse.</p> <p><strong>Is catabolic capitalism
inevitable?</strong></p> <p>So, what about green capitalism?
Isn’t there money to be made in renewable energy? What
about redesigning transportation systems, buildings and
communities? Couldn’t capitalists profit by producing
alternative energy technologies if government helped finance the
unprofitable, but necessary, infrastructure projects needed to
bring them online? Wouldn’t a Green New Deal be far more
beneficial than catabolic catastrophe?</p> <div> <p>In a
growth-less economy, catabolic capitalism is the most
profitable, short-term alternative for those in power. This
makes it the path of least resistance from Wall Street to
Washington. </p> </div> <p>Catabolic capitalism is not
inevitable. However, in a growth-less economy, catabolic
capitalism is the most profitable, short-term alternative for
those in power. This makes it the path of least resistance from
Wall Street to Washington. But green capitalism is another
story.</p> <p>As both radical greens and the corporate
establishment realize, green capitalism is essentially an
oxymoron. Truly green policies, programs and projects contradict
capitalism’s primary directive—profit before all
else! This doesn’t mean there aren’t profitable
niche markets for some products and services that are both
ecologically benign and economically beneficial. It means that
capitalism’s overriding profit motive is fundamentally at
odds with ecological balance and the general welfare of
humanity.</p> <p>While people and the planet can thrive in
an ecologically balanced society, the self-centered drive for
profit and power cannot. A healthy economy that encourages
people to take care of each other and the planet is incompatible
with exploiting labor and ransacking nature for profit. Thus,
capitalists will resist, to the bitter end, any effort to
replace their malignant economy with a healthy
one.</p> <p>Would the transition to a sustainable society be
expensive? Of course. Our petroleum-addicted infrastructure of
tankers, refineries, pipelines and power plants; cities,
suburbs, gas stations and freeways; shopping centers,
mega-farms, fast food franchises and supermarkets would have to
be replaced with smaller towns fed by local farms and powered by
decentralized, renewable energy. But the cost of making this
green transition is a priceless bargain compared to the suicidal
consequences of catabolic collapse.</p> <p><a
href="
HTML http://unevenearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/5061394953_9e4c66e075_b.jpg"><img<br
/>src="
HTML http://unevenearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/5061394953_9e4c66e075_b.jpg"<br
/>alt="" width="1024" height="683"
srcset="
HTML http://unevenearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/5061394953_9e4c66e075_b.jpg<br
/>1024w,
HTML http://unevenearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/5061394953_9e4c66e075_b-300x200.jpg<br
/>300w,
HTML http://unevenearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/5061394953_9e4c66e075_b-768x512.jpg<br
/>768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px"
/></a></p> <p><strong>Is resistance
futile?</strong></p> <p>Before we decide that resistance is
futile, it’s important to realize that the converging
energy, economic and ecological disasters bearing down on us all
have the potential to turn people against catabolic capitalism
and toward a more just, planet-friendly future. The approaching
period of catabolic collapse presents some strategic
opportunities to those who would like to rid the world of this
system as soon as possible.</p> <p>For example, in the near
future, energy scarcity and economic contraction may lead to a
paralyzing financial meltdown. Interest-based banking cannot
handle economic contraction. Without perpetual growth,
businesses, consumers, students, homeowners, governments and
banks (who constantly borrow from each other) cannot pay-off
their debts with interest. If default goes viral, the banking
system goes down.<a
href="
HTML http://unevenearth.org/2018/11/meet-catabolic-capitalism-globalizations-gruesome-twin/?fbclid=IwAR2aQqNijaND90BAchxgFaTjuO5UQwEkZu5TxDVEPOAAwDDB1afumVomrno#_ftn2"<br
/>name="_ftnref"><sup>[2]</sup></a></p> <p>When the
banking system finally implodes, credit freezes, financial
assets vaporize, currency values fluctuate wildly, trade shuts
down and governments impose draconian measures to maintain their
authority. Few Americans have any experience with this kind of
systemic seizure. They assume there will always be food in the
supermarkets, gas in the pumps, money in the ATMs, electricity
in the power lines and medicine in the pharmacies and
hospitals.</p> <p>During a financial meltdown, government
officials find it difficult to retain public confidence; people
blame them for running the economy into the ditch and suspect
that their pseudo-solutions are actually self-serving schemes
designed to keep themselves on top. Consequently, this crippling
crisis could serve as a powerful wake-up call and a potential
turning point <em>if</em> those who want to abolish catabolic
capitalism are prepared to make the most of it.</p> <p>But
crises don’t necessarily incite positive responses. Power
will be decisive in the unfolding struggle over the future of
our species and the planet; and those that benefit from the
status quo are bent on holding on to it. Naomi Klein’s
<em>Shock Doctrine</em> warns us that those in power will
exploit the traumas caused by major catastrophes to rally
support for their own disastrous agenda (like invading Iraq
after 9-11 or expelling the Black community from New Orleans
after Katrina).</p> <p>In the midst of shocking disasters
those in power play upon our fears and prejudices to keep us
passive, turn us against each other and under their control. If
we resist all attempts to keep us apathetic, distracted, and
divided, they won’t hesitate to use other ways to keep
themselves on top, including intimidation, coercion, and brute
force. Each time they succeed, life becomes more miserable for
everyone but them.</p> <p>Crisis only becomes our ally when
popular anger is channeled into transformative insurrection
against the system that causes it. How people respond to
systemic disintegration will be pivotal. Who will be blamed?
What “solutions” will gain support? Who will people
listen to, trust and follow in times of extreme hardship,
insecurity and unrest? To turn the tide against catabolic
capitalism, activists must prepare people for the cascading
crises that lie ahead. They must become trusted responders:
defining the problem; organizing grassroots resilience and
relief; and building a powerful insurrection against those who
profit from disaster. But even this is not enough. To nurture
the transition toward a thriving, just, ecologically stable
society, all of these struggles must be interwoven and infused
with an inspirational vision of how much better life could be if
we freed ourselves from this dysfunctional, profit-obsessed
system once and for all.</p> <p>Climate chaos alone will
impose many hardships, from extreme droughts, water scarcity,
farm failures and food shortages to forest fires and floods,
rising sea levels, mega-storms and acidified oceans. Movement
organizers must help people anticipate, adapt to, and survive
these hardships—but social movements cannot stop there.
They must help people mount the kind of political resistance
that can strip the fossil fuel industry of its power and
leverage their own growing influence to demand that
society’s remaining resources be re-directed toward a
green transition.</p> <p><em>Craig Collins Ph.D. is the
author of </em>Toxic Loopholes <em>(Cambridge University Press),
which examines America’s dysfunctional system of
environmental protection. He teaches political science and
environmental law at California State University East Bay and
was a founding member of the Green Party of California. His
forthcoming books: </em>Marx & Mother Nature<em> and </em>Rising
From the Ruins: Catabolic Capitalism & Green Resistance<em>
reformulate Marx’s theory of history & social change and
examine the emerging struggle to replace catabolic capitalism
with a thriving, just, ecologically resilient
society.</em></p> <p><em>All photos by <a
href="
HTML https://www.flickr.com/photos/adamcohn/">Adam
Cohn</a> in
the shipbreaking yards, Chittagong,
Bangladesh</em></p> <p><a
href="
HTML http://unevenearth.org/2018/11/meet-catabolic-capitalism-globalizations-gruesome-twin/?fbclid=IwAR2aQqNijaND90BAchxgFaTjuO5UQwEkZu5TxDVEPOAAwDDB1afumVomrno#_ftnref"<br
/>name="_ftn1">[1]</a> The term “catabolic
capitalism” used here is somewhat different from the
theory of catabolic collapse developed by John Michael Greer.
Greer looks at the demise of all civilizations (capitalist and
non-capitalist) as a catabolic process. <em>How Civilizations
Fall: A Theory of Catabolic Collapse
<www.dylan.org.uk/greer_on_collapse.pdf></em></p> <p><a
href="
HTML http://unevenearth.org/2018/11/meet-catabolic-capitalism-globalizations-gruesome-twin/?fbclid=IwAR2aQqNijaND90BAchxgFaTjuO5UQwEkZu5TxDVEPOAAwDDB1afumVomrno#_ftnref"<br
/>name="_ftn2">[2]</a> Banks’ retained earnings an
d
shareholder capital only amount to 2-9% of their loan portfolio,
so it doesn’t take much of a loss to put them
under.</p> <div> <h3>You may also
like:</h3> <ul> <li><a
href="
HTML http://unevenearth.org/2015/06/the-anthropocene-debate/">The<br
/>Anthropocene debate</a></li> <li><a
href="
HTML http://unevenearth.org/2015/03/the-binge-economy-discussing-the-food-system-with-richard-wilk/">The<br
/>binge economy past and present</a></li> <li><a
href="
HTML http://unevenearth.org/2017/01/accelerationism-and-degrowth/">Accelerationism…<br
/>and degrowth?</a></li> <li><a
href="
HTML http://unevenearth.org/2016/02/power-power/">Power
=
power</a></li> <li><a
href="
HTML http://unevenearth.org/2018/03/the-migration-crisis-and-the-imperial-mode-of-living/">The<br
/>migration crisis and the imperial mode of
living</a></li> <li><a
href="
HTML http://unevenearth.org/2017/05/planting-the-seeds-of-degrowth-in-times-of-crisis/">Planting<br
/>the seeds of degrowth in times of
crisis</a></li> </ul> </div>[/html]
#Post#: 14095--------------------------------------------------
🐉🦕🦖 Big Oil Catabolic Capitalists DOING
🚩 MORE of WHAT THEY ☠️ DO 😨
By: AGelbert Date: October 23, 2019, 2:00 pm
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[center][img
width=640]
HTML https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-231019144217.png[/img][/center]
[center]The above was once a bit of gallows humor.[/center]
The humor is gone but the gallows remain. [img
width=70]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-251218182423-20501556.gif[/img]
Now 🦖 they are going to start extracting oil using wind
turbine generated renewable energy. [img
width=140]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-200419205434.png[/img]
The story should have been titled, "🦕🦖 Big Oil
plans to use Renewable Energy to further pollute our planet".
[img
width=60]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/1/3-120818204150.gif[/img]
[center][img
width=640]
HTML https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/09/REW_offshoreWindVirginia100PercentCleanEnergy-850x850.jpg[/img][/center]
Agelbert NOTE: Above you may feast your eyes on a sample of wind
turbines that 🦕🦖 Big Oil
😇😉😈 will no longer claim are "not ready
for prime time", "a bad investment because the wind don't blow
all the time", and that other mendacious nugget they have
piously trottted out for about forty years, "too low in EROEI".
Now we know what [img
width=20]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/1/3-250718205808.gif[/img]<br
/>Tillerson REALLY meant when he said, "We will adapt to that.".
Everyone thought he was talking about Global Warming when, all
along, the Hydrocarbon Hellspawn were planning to use Renewable
Energy to profit (over people and planet
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-040718162656-14241872.gif)<br
/>MORE from extracting MORE Hydrocarbons. Clever bastards, aren'
t
they?
[img
width=150]
HTML https://ci4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/2_IN1MJGf4OkBesWZi77BP6Ylt6SRUMuCuRFL1jFtxyy4DlB1c6NRaAujgNNfEHFM2QayBJ0hPzksQrR3nr7kATqsmYlrsMXjsmJnS1l62I=s0-d-e1-ft#http://media.pennnet.com/designimages/REW-0262_Energy_375.jpg[/img]
[center]88-MW floating offshore wind farm to power offshore oil
rigs in Norway
HTML https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/2019/10/11/88-mw-floating-offshore-wind-farm-to-power-offshore-oil-rigs-in-norway/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=rew_weekly_newsletter&utm_source=enl&utm_content=2019-10-22&eid=388097756&bid=2546106[/center]
It takes a special kind of STUPID to believe that lowering the
up front costs of extracting hydrocarbons, the burning of which
is guaranteed to cause the [color=red]extinction[/color] of
most, if not all, vertebrate species, is a Corporate
"🦕🦖 fiduciary Responsibility". And that is in
addition to the current MORE, not less, "Business as usual" of
INCREASED, not decreased, hydrocarbon sources exploitation. [img
width=70]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-190419232147.png[/img]
[center][img
width=540]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-110217171320.png[/img][/center]
But then, the 🐉🦕🦖 Hydrocarbon Hellspawn
are fervent
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-130418193910.gif<br
/>
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-040718162655-14231561.gif[img<br
/>width=80]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-190318152544.png[/img]<br
/>CAPITALISTS, so gettin' MORE "profits" while "externalizing" t
he
pollution costs to we-the-people is their RELIGION, so they just
keep doing what they do MORE AND MORE, not less.
[center][img
width=200]
HTML https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-070119183832.png[/img][/center]
[img
width=150]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-170218174357.png[/img]
October 23, 2019
[center][img
width=640]
HTML https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/g7cSxLcfKMci9D32GulS2dnIc3IYX4WSNSMBfL-q5dG5Nwhv8HKsnnbF2Z8jazyqNuX8-OPA8pl1f5picHhYPCKnomlRwZO-J214RcSYc09jew=s0-d-e1-ft#http://gcaptain.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/018_DJI_0010.jpg[/img][/center]
[move]“This is a great day for Equinor and the Johan Sverdrup
partnership, consisting of Lundin Norway, Petoro, Aker BP and
Total,” ... ... This day also marks the start of a new phase as
we prepare to bring Johan Sverdrup oil to the international
market.” ... ... The Mongstad plant is expected to receive up to
440,000 barrels of oil per day from Johan Sverdrup when the
first development phase reaches peak production. When the second
phase is completed in 2022, Mongstad will receive up to 660,000
barrels of oil per day.[/move]
Full article: [img
width=30]
HTML http://www.sherv.net/cm/emoticons/sick/barfing-smiley-emoticon.gif[/img]
[center]First Oil from Johan Sverdrup Ready to Ship
HTML https://gcaptain.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9d589e63fba611f84640a8337&id=05a7c46ae4&e=1855a0727e[/center]
[center][img
width=640]
HTML https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/8BJkV9uylGWzvpHwN0OmGYoyO5pBGc0V6PSxPhilUz4svMW6zAO9leqz-rCVilCpeogWpZrghaGNChC-hb1MDNq1XRs3zaN3TQlqa1_3oPBEzXGw0A=s0-d-e1-ft#http://gcaptain.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Mendeleev-NSR-2.jpg[/img][/center]
[center]Sovcomflot Tankers Complete Northern Sea Route Transit
on LNG Fuel
HTML https://gcaptain.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9d589e63fba611f84640a8337&id=a307ab14f6&e=1855a0727e[/center]
[center][img
width=640]
HTML https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/yEPho-E2fRVUoao8Doxyb-jLwpSj11Bj6W3SRQtq6XfEoza916V-Y3a98dHrnrS57ga7uCwcPBuEG9w-rdLX_LEgU5_HBuU-VmGOpecvuhxFygt7lbIEYl45ZA=s0-d-e1-ft#http://gcaptain.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/shutterstock_55003039.jpg[/img][/center]
[center]🐉 China Dominates in Oil Tanker Market as
Refiners Prepare for IMO 2020
HTML https://gcaptain.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9d589e63fba611f84640a8337&id=604b5b1bca&e=1855a0727e[/center]
[center][img
width=640]
HTML https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/3rK2fvwpgnvvqnfdC9wty9LN9wrDsqM_8oQa0RolFbQoAzhKC72jUTKMLLc-lcN8zNbyMBFXwWOqoth1gTl66uoCEt-QMXnXO2BA-bZ4=s0-d-e1-ft#http://gcaptain.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/DJI_0154.jpg[/img][/center]
[center]Teekay’s Icebreaking LNG Carriers No Longer Considered
‘Blocked’ Under U.S. Sanctions
HTML https://gcaptain.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9d589e63fba611f84640a8337&id=bf04b36674&e=1855a0727e[/center]
Agelbert NOTE: The following is the kind of news that rarely
makes the papers. The oceans are getting rougher as the
atmsphere warms and the ice melts. There is a GIANT 🌊
price to be paid
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/climate-change/future-earth/msg7422/#msg7422<br
/>by ocean going vessels that we are ALL going to be forced to p
ay
from Catastrophic Climate Change.
[center][img
width=640]
HTML https://3kbo302xo3lg2i1rj8450xje-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/2019-10-22T121931Z_1918372638_RC186E3DA030_RTRMADP_3_NORWAY-RUSSIA-SHIP.jpg[/img][/center]
[center]A screengrab from a video shows a Russian icebreaking
vessel with 33 people on board, which made a Mayday call during
a storm off the coast near Aalesund, Norway, October 22, 2019.
Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (Hovedredningssentralen)/NTB
Scanpix via REUTERS[/center]
[center]Russian Icebreaker Issues (Then Retracts) Mayday Call in
Storm Off Norway
HTML https://gcaptain.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9d589e63fba611f84640a8337&id=0cfaaad214&e=1855a0727e[/center]
[center][img
width=640]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/1/3-101118134711.png[/img][/center]
#Post#: 14621--------------------------------------------------
"William Catton's 'Overshoot' May Stand as the Central Text
About the Ecological Fate of Humankind"
By: AGelbert Date: November 29, 2019, 6:54 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[center]"William Catton's 'Overshoot' May Stand as the Central
Text About the Ecological Fate
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/1/3-120818185038-1648302.gif<br
/>of Humankind" [img
width=50]
HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-070814193155.png[/img][/center]
1,480 views•Nov 25, 2019
[center]
HTML https://youtu.be/Zo4-N9ZTv64[/center]
Collapse Chronicles
3.42K subscribers
In today's Chronicle of the Collapse, I read a review of William
Catton's 1980 seminal book on collapse, "Overshoot," by
environmental columnist Kurt Cobb. Here is a link to the
article:
HTML http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/...
If you would like to support Collapse Chronicles, there are
several ways to do just that. You can hit the Paypal Donate icon
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Thank you!
Category News & Politics
[center][img
width=740]
HTML https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-290819192222.png[/img][/center]
[center]Browning Earth [img
width=70]
HTML https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-300919160020-2275981.png[/img][/center]
[center][img
width=840]
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[center][img
width=150]
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[center][img
width=840]
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