Ecosocialism or Climate Death

Ecology Commision of the Fourth International

“NOT SURPRISINGLY, THE IPCC’s special report on global warming of up to 1.5°C confirms that the impacts of anthropogenic climate change are formidable and have been underestimated, both socially and environmentally.

“The 1°C warming [over pre-Industrial Revolution levels — ed.] we are already experiencing is enough to cause major tragedies: unprecedented heat waves, hurricanes, flooding, glacier and ice-cap dislocation. These give an idea of what awaits us if human warming is not stopped as soon as possible….

“The report leaves no doubt: a warming of 2°C would have much more serious consequences than the 1.5°C warming included in the Paris Agreement (under pressure from small island states, the least developed countries, scientists and the climate movement). According to recent research, the threshold of a ‘hothouse planet’ could even be triggered at 2°C.”

This is the opening of a statement issued October 8, 2018 by the Ecology Commission of the Fourth International.  The text is online at http://internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article5733.

Indeed, the IPCC report represents a nearly Final Warning for the future of human civilization: Without immediate action to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the next 10 to 12 years, and transition to virtually carbon-free energy generation by mid-century, utterly catastrophic global warming and violent climate changes become irreversible.

The technical means exist to carry out this transformation — but the essential steps are simply incompatible with the capitalist system’s demand for continually expanding production for profit and capital accumulation.

November-December 2018, ATC 197