I blame myself. I am the one reading this melancholy of tragic reality and sitting back with my finger pointed at the rich and the corporate elite, government, military, and all factions of industry that fall into this category. I do this because I probably don’t have the will to get up and react to the information that is empowering me with one truth: the wealthiest 0.1% of people among the wealthiest 1% of people indulge in the most dangerous lifestyle possible for a sustainable and harmonious future.
I probably don’t care that much about my life, and the lives of those I love, and all the humans and animals who will perish with me simply for those in the 0.1% to indulge excessively, wastefully, unsustainably, and indifferently. So I have an option. I act or I keep my finger pointed at them as they laugh at me drowning.
One day, Moses stood up to defend inequality and he was victorious. Another day, Jesus stood up and he was crucified. We can’t predict the outcomes of our public protests for social justice. We know it was an easier process for Martin Luther King than Nelson Mandela, but then Dr. King was assassinated and we know the rest. But we cannot only choose to rise when we are told by the elite that we will be victorious in our protest. The essence of revolution is tied to the suspense of compassionate outburst. The existential concern we face is real and it is not about policy or government control, or even about overconsumption or supply-demand economics and capitalism. It is about the vulgarity and carelessness of concern for life.
There is a law in fact in democracy, and even in religious societies, that makes them devoid of absolute democratic rule. I can be free as long as I am not imposing on the freedom of others or harming them through my choices. Thus, when one person causes my extinction, whether immediately or over half a century, this should be registered as a crime.
The fact that we are even remotely accepting of a carbon tax is paradoxical to the law of democratic behavior and rights. Consider the act of speeding. If I am caught driving at a speed of 150 km/h in a 60 km/h zone, I will be charged criminally for dangerous driving or some other form of this law. The court will not suggest that I pay a speeding tax, which if I am wealthy enough I could continue to pay, thus driving at whatever speed I wish and endangering the environment in which I drive. What would be the purpose of this law other than to suggest that all laws are only punishable by judicial decision when we cannot afford to pay the ‘tax’ for the intentional criminal behavior?
The wealthiest 1% account for nearly half of all carbon emissions. A carbon tax, however, is unlikely to dissuade the wealthiest from overconsumption. If we advocate for this tax, we are advocating for putting a price on murder because climate change kills, and is directly caused by humans on an inequitable scale. A reasonable and universal level of carbon footprint segmented regionally — above which is assigned criminal behavior — is the sensible procedure in terms of carbon footprint reduction. But our laws are written by the 1%, for the sole purpose of profit maximization (capitalism). Does this not constitute moral grounds for revolution?
How is a population segment’s contribution of half of global carbon emissions any different to any other categorical genocide? Have we not punished, or at the very least attempted to bring to justice, all those who have committed such crimes? Is the wealthiest 1% to be regarded as untouchable deities due to the value of their money? Are we actually saying this out loud?
We have finally legalized murder. There is a catch; the licensing fee to ‘legal murder’ is set at a rate so expensive that only exclusive members of the 1% wealthiest seem able to afford it! And, me being naïve, I thought one-percenters, like biker groups, were bad people — what do I know anymore? If we are entering this kind of global social order, we should all prepare for an unfair game. History has shown that the poor don’t receive compassion from the ruling elite, from historic Pharaoh to our current 0.1% wealthiest. And yet somehow, the poor always win the fight against seemingly guaranteed extinction. This is partly because the rich need us for enslavement, but also partly because we have united and bonded at the most critical times to successfully revolt against the elite (only and unfortunately often to replace them with another ambitious group seeking to become the ruling elite).
Right now, we must stand up as the collective of the true power of the people’s will. We need no leaders to start the procession. We need no fear. We only need logic; the kind of logic that reminds us death is certain but liberty is a privilege in the one life we have as ourselves here and now in this experience. If I must die as a guaranteed function of nature then why not be free — better this than dying rich or even in the attempt of its immorality. In love we cannot perish because it is a momentum of universal eternity reaching its purest Platonic form.
Compassivistes — compassionate activists — must rise as one to action instead of posting capitalist solutions on the same boards the 0.1% develop for us and keep updating to keep us enslaved to these devices, ensuring we don’t have the capacity to walk the revolution. I watch many attempt to work their way into the elite 1% wealthiest, creating companies and charities that are purposed to discover solutions to our existential issues. The business of climate change is today’s crypto space of the pandemic.
But there are always capitalist hypocrites in our fold because lamb and wolf share terrain. Standing around while the wealthiest pass laws to legalize human hunting season is absurd. Now, I have the right to defend and protect my life. We must all exercise this right or be the sole human population at fault for the coming mass extinction.
The first point of reflection is evaluating in our own meditative privacy whether we really are making a difference. Will a false-pretense net-zero investment portfolio truly lead to the change we so desperately need? Is swapping to Tesla and solar power the solution here? The action we take after we answer such questions honestly is the brand of person we can label ourselves.
I was excited to start a program that challenges corporations to label their carbon. I think I should start by challenging myself to label my religion first before I look to another. Am I a hypocritical capitalist stretching out my Halloween costume of eco-warrior? Am I going to walk the walk when the time comes, or will I shut my fancy blinds in my coastal getaway and pretend to engage in the war from my cozy couch? Who are we? We got into this mess because people like ourselves showed up at the rally as capitalists seeking profit. We come to save only if saving pays adequately! It is time for the true revolution to begin, and for the real advocates to show up. Mass extinction, directly caused by the indifference of 1% of humans, is stoppable. We, too, can be equitably and equally indifferent.
