(Image: Jared Rodriguez / Truthout)Truthout staff writer Dahr Jamail talks about the devastating and accelerating impacts of anthropogenic climate disruption globally and how those impacts are being intensified in New Mexico by the policies of Gov. Susana Martinez’s radically corporatist administration.
The data on climate change suggests we’re past the point of no return in terms of reversing its effects. Droughts, torrential rain, rising sea levels, melting ice caps mean by the beginning of the next century, whole regions of our planet will be uninhabitable by humans and other life forms. Formerly fertile farmlands will be deserts; coastlines where major economic centers are located will be swallowed up by the oceans and rising global temperatures will make heat waves extremely deadly in many parts of the globe. Nowadays, if a region on our planet experiences extreme climate change or a powerful weather event, it’s a tragedy that can be addressed either with international cooperation, or with public/private money for rebuilding after hurricanes or relocation due to drought. However, when extreme weather conditions brought about by climate change occur across the planet with greater frequency and roughly at the same time, these crises will trigger large-scale conflicts, as people get desperate for food and water. The ability of governments around the world to address the needs of whole populations affected by a global crisis like climate change will wane – so will their ability to engage in multiple wars to protect their resources and economic interests. If this is not a threat that politicians, business leaders and citizens recognize as more devastating to “our way of life” than terrorist attacks, then such short-sightedness will surely lead to consequences that are far worse than the kind of violence a terrorist cell can create.
The United States, China and India are the top three contributors to CO2 emissions in the world, yet these countries are doubling down on the very industries that emit pollutants that sully our environment and increase the effects of climate change. Truthout staff writer, Dahr Jamail, has written extensively on the changes in our climate, and on “Truthout Interviews,” he highlights how the current levels of CO2 and other pollutants are having a deleterious effect on the land, air, and water around the world.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
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We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
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With love, rage, and solidarity,
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