As far as I can see, about once a week some human somewhere on Earth says something interesting. That's what comes from having a World Wide Web and more than seven billion people!
Today's interesting quote was published in Der Spiegel (Germany) and was part of an article called Climate Summit Trap: Capitalism's March toward Global Collapse. The article is by Harald Welzer, who I've never heard of.
Harald has noticed that humans are not going to do anything about climate change. Never having read DOTE, he is seeking to understand why this is so. He does a creditable job. Anyway, here's the interesting quote.
... the task [of global capitalism] then becomes to extract as much out of [the Earth's wealth] as possible, while we still can.
In this sense, the alarmism of environmental activists and climate researchers actually adds fuel to the fire, because it calls attention to the fact that the party may soon be over.
Perhaps this solves the puzzle of why "Earth Summits" and climate conferences to save the planet take place incessantly, even though none of these have ever lead to real change, let alone to a reversal of the trend.
Oh, my! Go for it, Harald!
It demonstrates the utter powerlessness of the intervention strategies which have been employed so far.
It couldn't be otherwise, in fact, in a system organized around the division of labor.
Any form of protest that doesn't interfere with the existing business models, and which is able to perform well in the economy of attention, quickly establishes its own economic segment.
To put it cynically, such protest creates its own "concern industry," with its own experts and industry professionalization, its own career paths and PR divisions.
Now, Harald, I need to tell you this—never use the word "cynically" when the word "realistically" will do
I also very much liked "the economy of attention." That pithy phrase explains a lot. (Unfortunately, DOTE is not part of that economy. Maybe I should start a think tank in Washington, D.C.)
If some of you are still in the dark, ThinkProgress and the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions are both excellent examples of the "concern industry" (both are Washington think tanks). Not to mention all those big environmental organizations which send "good people" calendars and other doo-dads in the mail as they solicit yet another pointless donation to keep their "good work" going, and also make sure everybody who had a job this year still has a job next year.
And Harald, there's plenty more to say about the climate "concern industry" if you want to go for it. For example, you could have pointed out that their shared delusions are so great as to make them borderline psychotic, as I pointed out in Confusion In The Twilight Zone. They live in Disneyland.
But otherwise, Harald, good job!
Nice catch.
--Gaianne
Posted by: Gaianne | 12/11/2013 at 01:49 PM