Thursday, April 17, 2014

Democracy?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is made up of over 2,000 scientists.  It says bluntly that we only have 15 years left to avoid exceeding the “safe” threshold of a 2°C increase in global temperatures, beyond which the consequences will be dramatic,  from an increase in sea level, more frequent hurricanes and storms (increasingly in previously unaffected areas), to an adverse impact on food production. The main conclusion of the report is that to slow the race to a point of no return, global emissions must be cut by 40 to 70 percent by 2050, and that “only major institutional and technological changes will give a better than even chance” that global warming will not go beyond the safety threshold and that these must start at the latest in 15 years, and be completed in 35 years.

 However, of the leaders of the 196 countries it’s business as usual. Ten countries are responsible for 70 percent of the world’s total greenhouse gas pollution, with the United States and China accounting for over 55 percent of that share. The U.S. Senate is made up of 100 members, and this means that you need 51 votes for a fossil fuels tax. In China decisions are taken by the seven-member Standing Committee of the Central Committee, which holds the real power in the Communist Party.

In other words, the future of our planet is decided by 58 persons.

With the current global population standing at close to 7.7 billion people, so much for a democratic world!

From here 

Indeed it could actually be down to two brothers.

The wealth of the Koch Brothers has surged past $100 billion dollars, a boost of $1.3 billion to their collective fortune based on a new industrial production forecast. Koch Industries is a multinational corporation based in Wichita, Kansas. Under its umbrella are Invista, Georgia-Pacific, Flint Hills Resources, Koch Pipeline, Koch Fertilizer, Koch Minerals and Matador Cattle Company. Koch companies are involved in core industries such as the manufacturing, refining and distribution of petroleum, fertilizers, paper, chemical technology equipment, ranching and commodities trading.

The brothers have been criticized for using their vast wealth to change laws in order to fit their political views and to tilt the playing field in their favor. The Koch's are attempting to win the Senate back for the Republicans by airing targeted television through their Freedom Partners fundraising network. Americans for Prosperity, one of those groups backed by Freedom Partners has been far outspending the top Democratic super PACs in nearly all of the Senate races the GOP is targeting this year. It has aired more than 18,000 broadcast TV commercials those states.

Many of the ads have been outed for proven falsehoods by many media watchdogs. A commercial featuring a leukemia patient who said she would die without medication and blamed the cancellation of her previous policy and another with a woman saying her policy costs rose $700 a month under Obamacare. When fact checked, both ads were found to contain spurious content. One ad showed "real" residents of Louisiana opening letters from health care companies warning them of the evils of Obamacare. But no such letters were sent out.  The ad conforms to the legal definition of false advertising.

Koch Industries is a multinational corporation based in Wichita, Kansas. Under its umbrella are Invista, Georgia-Pacific, Flint Hills Resources, Koch Pipeline, Koch Fertilizer, Koch Minerals and Matador Cattle Company. Koch companies are involved in core industries such as the manufacturing, refining and distribution of petroleum, fertilizers, paper,  chemical technology equipment, ranching and commodities trading. Much of their welth would be adversely affected by climate change controls and it is no surprise that they are also amongst the high spenders financing the sceptics of the climate change deniers. 

No comments: