When it gets too hot will developed industrial nations stop messing around?
Today the chief of the UN says it is “Code Red”, for the chances of humanity in future global warming. For all I can tell, the world’s nations which are the chief emitters of green house gases appear not to have heard. They still seem to believe their systems are invulnerable, and the national elites are compelled to carry on with business as usual. They display as much concern and freewill as water molecules in a saucepan under a heating flame. Nations are about as stable as the convection cells so created. Holding themselves together is an illusion, as they are held by their pressure systems of adjacency.
So in this article there should be many painful repetitions of “Code Red”. Maybe if we all shout loud enough together until our voices crack, the walls of nation-state intransigence will come tumbling down. Actual permanent occupation of the halls of power may also be required. An entire global series of simultaneous coups would be required. We value our nation-hoods and wealth flows more than the future states of destruction they are taking us. Each nation keeps order by pointing attention at rivals for comparison and antagonism.
The term “Code Red” applied to global warming, was published in the form of a book called “Climate Code Red: The case for emergency action” in 2008, by David…