Monbiot: Capitalism / Climate Change is Destroying the Earth

Guest essay by Eric Worrall

According to Guardian Columnist George Monbiot, if we treat future generations not yet born as having equal rights to the living, property rights will have to be radically adjusted; we’re all effectively tenants, holding land in trust which will be passed to future generations who enjoy the same rights as us, even before they are born.

Capitalism is destroying the Earth. We need a new human right for future generations

George Monbiot

The children on climate strike are right: their lives should not be sacrificed to satisfy our greed

At the heart of capitalism is a vast and scarcely examined assumption: you are entitled to as great a share of the world’s resources as your money can buy.

So what should take its place? It seems to me that the founding principle of any just system is that those who are not yet alive will, when they are born, have the same rights as those who are alive today. … “Every generation shall have an equal right to the enjoyment of natural wealth.”

This principle is hard to dispute, but it seems to change everything. Immediately, it tells us that no renewable resource should be used beyond its rate of replenishment. No non-renewable resource should be used that cannot be fully recycled and reused. This leads inexorably to towards two major shifts: a circular economy from which materials are never lost; and the end of fossil fuel combustion.

But what of the Earth itself? In this densely populated world, all land ownership necessarily precludes ownership by others. Article 17 of the Universal Declaration is self-contradictory. It says, “Everyone has the right to own property.” But because it places no limit on the amount one person can possess, it ensures that everyone does not have this right. I would change it to this: “Everyone has the right to use property without infringing the rights of others to use property.” The implication is that everyone born today would acquire an equal right of use, or would need to be compensated for their exclusion. One way of implementing this is through major land taxes, paid into a sovereign wealth fund. It would alter and restrict the concept of ownership, and ensure that economies tended towards distribution, rather than concentration.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/mar/15/capitalism-destroying-earth-human-right-climate-strike-children

Are the climate change strikers in tune with Monbiot’s thinking? I suspect so. Their manifesto seems to boil down to a demand that their parents provide them with free stuff. Like Monbiot they don’t appear to recognise that the effort others have put into improvement provide those others with any entitlements, or that they have any personal responsibility for their own upkeep or wellbeing.

As for Monbiot’s idea that we should accommodate the rights of future generations, frankly we have no idea what future generations will need.

The Great Horse Manure Crisis of 1894 is a classic example of panicking over future problems which never manifested. Cities were covered in vast piles of stinking horse manure, and the rotting corpses of dead horses. Projecting known population growth, city planners were aghast at the looming crisis – in 1894, The Times newspaper predicted… “In 50 years, every street in London will be buried under nine feet of manure.

The solution of course was Henry Ford, and the foundation of Ford Motor Company in 1903; a technology shift which wasn’t obvious in 1894, at least not to the Times.

In just a few short years nobody wanted horses anymore. Clouds of smoke from primitive engines and exhausts were far preferable to vast stinking piles of renewable horse manure.

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markl
March 15, 2019 8:19 pm

“…. “Everyone has the right to use property without infringing the rights of others to use property.” Now there’s a societal recipe for absolute pandemonium caused by people offering nothing to prosperity and their greed running rampant. It would be a quick trip to oblivion.

John F. Hultquist
Reply to  markl
March 15, 2019 8:29 pm

I shall think about a 2 week stay in George Monbiot’s home. Another dozen or so may want to come along. I don’t like being alone.
George and his two friends can be there at the same time, because I don’t want to infringe on the rights of others.

jon
Reply to  John F. Hultquist
March 16, 2019 12:50 am

If we “treat future generations not yet born as having equal rights to the living” then we treat imaginary people as equal to real people.
Hard to see how society could function in such a situation.
So the “spirit” of your grandchildren should perhaps be consulted before you make a decision.
I can see a “new” industry opening up here!
Using sacrificed roosters and goats perhaps.

Reply to  jon
March 16, 2019 3:40 am

“Using sacrificed roosters and goats perhaps?”……Or maybe sacrificed unicorns? Then read the swirls in the horn instead of depending on something so munificent as a hockey Schiff graph?

Greg
Reply to  jon
March 16, 2019 3:47 am

Monbiot is mental midget. Thankfully he writes a lot less than he used to.

At the heart of capitalism is a vast and scarcely examined assumption: you are entitled to as great a share of the world’s resources as your money can buy.

The current manifestation of capitalism run by and for banksters is one of continual and sustained GROWTH of credit ( ie debt ). To feed this they need never ending increase in consummation of goods, thus we get institutionalised built-in obsolescence. That wastes ever more resources and an ever greater part of our lives working to buy, over and over, the same object ( vehicle, washing machine …. ) .

The current enviro movement is not helping this , they are simply exacerbating the problem by introducing a new form of obsolescence : the need to throw away good working machines and replace them with new “greener” versions. When most of the time this is pure waste in itself.

This new idea of “guardianship” instead of ownership is going to appeal to those who own nothing and resent that others do. Anyone who has worked 20-30 years of their life to buy a
property, with the hope of passing it on to their off-spring, will be less impressed by someone coming along and explaining they are only “looking after it”

ozspeaksup
Reply to  Greg
March 16, 2019 4:30 am

+++ gazillions;-)

John Doran
Reply to  Greg
March 16, 2019 11:03 am

Yep.

John Doran
Reply to  Greg
March 16, 2019 1:31 pm

“The current manifestation of capitalism” is better described as Fascism: under capitalism rotten corporations go broke.
2008 the bankrupt banks told our spineless politicians they were “Too big to fail”, so we now have Banksters telling politicians how much money=credit=debt they will create out of thin air, & dictating their policies via the fear factory fake news MSM: the non-existent warming/climate crisis; the ridiculously over-hyped nuclear “disasters”of Chernobyl, Fukushima & Three Mile Island, etc etc.

Corporations controlling govts is Fascism.

JD.

MarkW
Reply to  Greg
March 16, 2019 1:53 pm

It never ceases to amaze me how little the critics of capitalism actually know about capitalism.

There is no such thing as built in obsolescence. That’s another phrase invented by critics of capitalism. To the very limited extent that it exists, it exists because products get better over time. Would you really prefer a world in which nothing ever improved?

Larry in Texas
Reply to  MarkW
March 16, 2019 3:01 pm

Plus, products, like people, do get old, do have a useful life before they wear out or break down. It can also be considered an “entropy” of sorts.

This notion of “obsolescence” was put into the intellectual and cultural bloodstream by Vance Packard in several books on the subject of industrial capitalism. What he failed to understand, though, is
that the knowledge of materials, their type and their chemistry and physics, had improved so much since the days of Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, and other manufacturers compared to even Packard’s day.

Now, with the kinds of innovation, scientific discovery, and improved manufacturing techniques (compelled in part by competition and the insistence in markets and governments on product safety and quality), products are even more durable and safer in general.

Does that mean they don’t wear out with use? No. Or that people don’t want, like, or expect something new? Of course not. Especially in this day and age of rapidly evolving technology.

I consider the concept of”obsolescence” to be a quaint, rather obsolete, idea in connection with any economic discussion. That Monbiot uses the concept shows how little he understands about our changing world.

John Doran
Reply to  Greg
March 16, 2019 2:16 pm

The moron Moonbat needs to stop pontificating from his decrepit pulpit & educate himself.
Two books I recommend:

The Ultimate Resource 2, by Julian L. Simon, top economist, who examined our major contemporary problems: population; food; energy, including nuclear; resources; pollution & environment etc & found that every trend in human progress shows improvement, which can continue, indefinitely. A joy to read.
Simon took money off dumb arch doomsters Ehrlich & Holdren in a bet, because they are as unfounded in reality as the moron Moonbat.

Human Caused Global Warming, The Biggest Deception In History, by Climatologist Dr. Tim Ball.
All the science, politics, scandals & agendas, in only 121 pages. A must read. He names names: the Bankster Rockefellers & their multi-billionaire cronies like Soros & Ted Turner, Gore & much more, & the feudal vastly depopulated future of Lords & serfs they plot for this planet.
http://www.drtimball.ca

JD.

drednicolson
Reply to  Greg
March 16, 2019 3:18 pm

There’s an inverse relationship between complexity and operative lifespan. The more stuff you put in, the more stuff that will eventually break down. The customer wants lots of features these days, so producers oblige, then get blamed for alleged “built-in obsolescence”. 😐

And that’s before you factor in any lack of owner maintenance or any owner abuse of the product.

But why take any personal responsibility for your property when you can complain about the rich suit who gave you what you wanted, for giving you what you wanted?

Walter Sobchak
Reply to  Greg
March 16, 2019 3:36 pm

John Doran: Did you know that the moonbat was named after Gospodin Monbiot?

Jon Salmi
Reply to  jon
March 16, 2019 8:47 am

The ‘static’ mind of Monbiot completely ignores human imagination and innovation.

Steve O
Reply to  jon
March 16, 2019 9:15 am

if we treat future generations not yet born as having equal rights to the living… then it’s hard to justify killing those in the womb.

michael jarosz
Reply to  Steve O
March 16, 2019 2:46 pm

Ouch. Capital punishment is evil, but killing unborn children is a honorable. These same people want to be in charge of your health care. What could possibly go wrong?

Reply to  Steve O
March 16, 2019 3:04 pm

Shhhh!
“Liberal Think” doesn’t allow logical conclusions to it’s axioms.
They offend them.

Jleefeldman
Reply to  Steve O
March 17, 2019 5:27 pm

Amen

Kalashnikat
Reply to  Steve O
March 20, 2019 8:07 pm

This! Obvious yet ignored by the moonbats.

GregK
Reply to  jon
March 17, 2019 2:58 am

Spirit of your grandchildren , or great grandchildren, or grear great great etc up until they become a new species

As a corollary perhaps we could sue our great great great grandparents for not suppling us with the right DNA to be an NBL basketballer or an Olympic sprinter[ if we failed in those ambitions].

Carbon Bigfoot
Reply to  jon
March 17, 2019 9:30 am

They are murdering these descendants if they manage to survive the attempted abortion. So what future generations is this Moron referring to??

Rich Davis
Reply to  John F. Hultquist
March 16, 2019 4:34 am

JFH—
The Hotel Moonbat has no vacancies. You have been compensated for your exclusion by the edification you receive reading his communistic rants.

Jeff Alberts
Reply to  Rich Davis
March 16, 2019 9:08 am

Actually it’s completely vacant. Or vacuous.

Bill Powers
Reply to  John F. Hultquist
March 16, 2019 10:34 am

John, I think I will join you we can stop off for an extended visit at one of Al Bore’s mansions. He has so many I am sure we can find one along the way.

Zig Zag Wanderer
Reply to  markl
March 15, 2019 8:35 pm

Now there’s a societal recipe for absolute pandemonium caused by people offering nothing to prosperity and their greed running rampant. It would be a quick trip to oblivion.

Or, indeed, communism, perfectly described.

Charles Higley
Reply to  Zig Zag Wanderer
March 15, 2019 9:22 pm

How do they miss the fact that the wealth our current generation creates and amasses goes to the next generation. The things we build and develop in increasingly better forms goes to the next generations. Everything goes to the next generation.

So, what Monobot is saying is that we should have a status quo in which the world we leave the next generation is not better than it was for us. No progress, stagnation. Wow, that’s the essence of pessimism.

Tom Abbott
Reply to  Charles Higley
March 16, 2019 4:50 am

“So, what Monobot is saying is that we should have a status quo in which the world we leave the next generation is not better than it was for us. No progress, stagnation.”

Mobiot wants us to keep fossil fuels in the ground for the next generation but he also wants the next generation to keep fossil fuels in the ground for the next generation, so it looks like under Monbiot’s plan humans will never again use fossil fuels.

These Central Planners have all the answers, don’t they.

Free Enterprise and freedom of action is what will take care of future generations.

Capitalism is a perjorative meant to put free markets in the same category as socialism and communism. Free markets and freedom of action for free people is what conservatives and capitalists are promoting, not an “ism”.

ЯΞ√ΩLUT↑☼N
Reply to  Zig Zag Wanderer
March 16, 2019 12:35 am

The children on climate strike are right: their lives should not be sacrificed to satisfy our greed

One word he fails to mention is “Socialism”, which will be quickly followed by Communism, famine, executions and forced labour. It never fails to devolve into that.

How about it Moonbat..? Why don’t you tell the children that what they’re brainwashed into unknowingly advocating is never owning anything, and everyone in the country spying on everyone else so they’re favoured if not rewarded by the Socialist/Communist State for “reporting” on your best friends that might be a teeny bit disgruntled?

Have your precious underage zombies been educated on Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot – not forgetting everything North Korea? Will your children know what happens when they report their best friends to the State and will never be seen again? Communist Russia “disappeared” many millions through mass killings against civilians by governments, including executions, destruction of population through man-made hunger and deaths during forced deportations, imprisonment and through forced labour – the Gulag.

Let’s not forget about the many more millions that starved to death.

Yeah Moonbat.. ♫ ♪ Save the children.. ♫ ..You hypocrite with murderous intent.

Sara
Reply to  Zig Zag Wanderer
March 16, 2019 5:15 am

You have to let them rattle on. How else will you know what they are dredging up out of their cranial tissues?

The more we know about them, the better. That should be obvious to anyone who wants to see this bunch of cracked eggs collected into their collective.

I keep hoping a planet will turn up, not too far away, where they can go and set up some sort of housekeeping thingy, and leave the rest of us alone. What?? I can dream, can’t I?

Russ R.
Reply to  Sara
March 16, 2019 8:23 am

There is a nice example of that planet. We call it Cuba. The only difference is that they are still close enough to productive free markets to beg for the scraps from the banquet table of productive FREE people.

Andy Ogilvie
Reply to  Sara
March 16, 2019 1:25 pm

We’ll put them on the first ark…. but keep the telephone sanitizers here on Earth 😁

Jeff Alberts
Reply to  Zig Zag Wanderer
March 16, 2019 9:21 am

Just like the communes of the 60s…

LISTER: The whacked-out, crazy, hippy drummer’s called Dobbin. He joined
the police force in the end. Became a grand wizard in the Freemasons.
The bass is called Gazza. He was a neo-marxist, nihilistic, anarchist.
Eventually joined a large insurance company and got his own parking
space.

boffin77
Reply to  Zig Zag Wanderer
March 16, 2019 10:23 am

With apologies to Churchill, “Capitalism is the worst economic system, except for all the others.”

Kenji
Reply to  markl
March 15, 2019 10:30 pm

You will not be allowed into the homes of the politbureau elites. They are doing important work for the people, and cannot be disturbed. If you invade their townhomes, they will be flown and chauffeured to their homes in Jackson Hole, WY … where Federal Agents patrol the perimeter of their acreage.

Bryan A
Reply to  Kenji
March 15, 2019 11:06 pm

They need to be flown to places like
Administrative United States Penitentiary, Thomson Illinois
United States Penitentiary, Allenwood Pennsylvania
United States Penitentiary, Atlanta Georgia
United States Penitentiary, Atwater California
United States Penitentiary, Big Sandy Kentucky
United States Penitentiary, Beaumont Texas
United States Penitentiary, Canaan Pennsylvania
United States Penitentiary, Coleman† Florida
United States Penitentiary, Florence ADX Colorado
United States Penitentiary, Florence High Colorado
United States Penitentiary, Hazelton† West Virginia
United States Penitentiary, Lee Virginia
United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth Kansas
United States Penitentiary, Lewisburg Pennsylvania
United States Penitentiary, Lompoc California
United States Penitentiary, Marion Illinois
United States Penitentiary, McCreary Kentucky
United States Penitentiary, Pollock Louisiana
United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute Indiana
United States Penitentiary, Tucson Arizona
United States Penitentiary, Victorville California

Where federal agents patrol the perimeter of their cages
And exercise yards

Reply to  Bryan A
March 16, 2019 1:44 am

In Soviet Russia they had Zil Lanes.

Bill Powers
Reply to  Kenji
March 16, 2019 10:39 am

Of course, different rules for the rule makers. We all know that those who run Socialist regimes abide by a different set of rules, that they whipped together as they go, and rewards for all their hard work at taking and redistributing.

Reply to  Bill Powers
March 16, 2019 12:52 pm

Your comment reminds me of what Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin found in the Shire when they returned home in triumph after defeating Sauron. They made quick work of the problem and then went about setting things right. Let’s not allow the dark lord to get that far.

Santa
Reply to  markl
March 15, 2019 11:47 pm

Its just Judeo-Marxism or Judeo-NeoMarxism meant to radically change the Western World?

Rich Davis
Reply to  Santa
March 16, 2019 4:41 am

Mods?
Looks like “Santa” is another Labour MP or Democratic Socialist Representative posting about the Joooooooooooooooooooz again.

Santa
Reply to  Rich Davis
March 16, 2019 3:52 pm

Great.

Santa
Reply to  Rich Davis
March 16, 2019 3:55 pm

Thanx for validating my post,

Rich Davis
Reply to  Santa
March 17, 2019 8:49 am

Ok explain how the prefix “Judeo-“ does not mean Jew.

You’re either an antisemite or more likely a troll pretending to be an antisemite in order to discredit people who oppose socialism.

Santa
Reply to  markl
March 20, 2019 11:36 pm

The real title should be «Neomarxism Policy based climate science is trying to destroy The Western Civilization.»

gbaikie
March 15, 2019 8:21 pm

I see no evidence of planet Earth being destroyed.
What I see is the continuum of governments governing badly.

And idea that such evil and corrupt bodies could do anything about “climate change” is utter
nonsense.

Pop Piasa
Reply to  gbaikie
March 15, 2019 9:35 pm

I shall endorse that statement to my grave, sir.

Kenji
Reply to  gbaikie
March 15, 2019 10:43 pm

And idea that such evil and corrupt bodies could do anything about “climate change” is utter nonsense

No, but they can make a gigantic stinking mess of it all by the time they’re removed from office feet-first. I call that … The People’s “Insurance Policy”, Mr Strzok

Tom Halla
March 15, 2019 8:23 pm

Another “I am Spartacus!” moment for the green blob. Yes, we really are brain-dead socialist watermelons, and proud of it.

wws
Reply to  Tom Halla
March 16, 2019 7:55 am

According to Guardian Columnist George Monbiot, if we treat future generations not yet born as having equal rights to the living.”

Rights of Future Generations not yet born, huh? Hey Monbiot, how about if we talk about that word you dare not mention, “a-b-o-r-t-i-o-n”???? I mean if generations not yet born have rights, then wouldn’t you think that at least they have the right to BE born in the first place?

Oh I know, this is just intended to point out the total cognitive dissidence of the Left. The shriek about ‘Rights of the Unborn” when they think it supports their present goals, and in the same breath say those very same Unborn have absolutely no rights whatsoever.

Curious George
Reply to  wws
March 16, 2019 8:45 am

Isn’t it difficult to forecast, especially the future?

Jeff Alberts
Reply to  wws
March 16, 2019 9:24 am

“cognitive dissidence”

Not sure if you meant to write that, instead of dissonance. But it would kinda work, if they were cognitive in the first place.

wws
Reply to  Jeff Alberts
March 16, 2019 3:38 pm

lol, I could blame it on spellcheck, but it came out oddly appropriate, as you point out.

Walter Sobchak
Reply to  wws
March 16, 2019 3:33 pm

Ouch. That’s going to leave a mark.

TruthMatters
Reply to  wws
March 17, 2019 8:56 am

good point, but it is a hobby horse.
how about some logical dissection instead?

“Every generation shall have an equal right to the enjoyment of natural wealth.”

generations don’t possess rights; individuals do.
you must exist to be able to claim rights. people who don’t exist have none.
You have a right to life – at your own expense.
you have the right to own what you produce or trade for or a given by the owner.
you have no right to any other thing.
you are not entitled to the possessions of others.
the fact that the air is yours for the price of inhaling it does not mean you may take it from somebody else or that anybody else must consider your ‘need’.
need is not a blank check on anybody’s life or property.

________________________________________________________________________

“But what of the Earth itself? In this densely populated world, all land ownership necessarily precludes ownership by others. Article 17 of the Universal Declaration is self-contradictory. It says, “Everyone has the right to own property.” But because it places no limit on the amount one person can possess, it ensures that everyone does not have this right.”

Well, duh. Exclusivity is the nature of ownership.
The earth is not densely populated. (Maybe some cities are.)
There is no shortage of land.
Nobody owns everything.
Pile a ridiculous notion on top of a false premise and you have a proposition that is not susceptible to reason.
The word for that is STUPID.

Paul Penrose
Reply to  TruthMatters
March 17, 2019 11:48 am

You nailed it. Wish I could upvote you.

Zig Zag Wanderer
March 15, 2019 8:31 pm

He looks pretty well off to me.

His loony suggestion is merely rabid comunism, ie testriction of freedom, naive governmental control, and huge taxes, packaged as ‘freedom for all’. “Slavery is Freedom” I think is the appropriate term.

The sad thing is that every single one of these ‘save the world for our children’s sake’ proposals would have exactly the same result. It’s not even slightly hidden. Do people no longer understand the utter failures of comunism? Do they just not read history? Did the world begin when the world wide web was invented, or something?

Go read some history!

ЯΞ√ΩLUT↑☼N
Reply to  Zig Zag Wanderer
March 16, 2019 12:42 am

“Slavery is Freedom”

Now where have I heard that before..? Arbeit macht frei was it..? Same schit, different bucket.

jon
Reply to  Zig Zag Wanderer
March 16, 2019 8:57 am

I think history has gone the way of dodos in the school systems. Hurry before it’s pulled from the shelves and burned. Oh, wait, no bother. The new crop of AOC’s won’t be able to read anyway.

Paul r
March 15, 2019 8:35 pm

Capitalist societies have done more to help and save the enviroment than any socialist society ever has or will ever do.

MarkW
Reply to  Paul r
March 15, 2019 8:50 pm

You don’t understand. This time it’s going to be perfect, because people like Monbiot will be in charge.

RockyRoad
Reply to  MarkW
March 15, 2019 9:50 pm

Oh, yeah! I can see the Monbiot turning the world into the Moonbit (in honor of the architect, of course!)

Michael Penny
March 15, 2019 8:37 pm

“No non-renewable resource should be used that cannot be fully recycled and reused.” I love this one. Since nothing can be fully recycled and reused (there will always be losses) then nobody can use any resources for anything ever. There is also no guarantee that something will be recycled.

ЯΞ√ΩLUT↑☼N
Reply to  Michael Penny
March 16, 2019 12:43 am

Under Socialism/Communism there won’t be any money to recycle anything. The USSA will be broke.

A happy little debunker
March 15, 2019 8:39 pm

On the day of Anti-Capitalist Action in New Zealand – an Anti-Capitalist opens fire and kills 49.

Of course, the Media tells us all he was a ‘right winger’, based solely on his ‘nationalism’ – despite his stated preference for the communist Chinese political model and his opposition to free/fair trade.

Question everything, believe nothing!

MarkW
Reply to  A happy little debunker
March 16, 2019 1:58 pm

The leftists have defined themselves as good, so everything bad is by definition right wing.

March 15, 2019 8:40 pm

Liberal concern for unborn children.
Property rights? Why yes of course.
Right to life? No.

J.H.
Reply to  Tommyboy
March 15, 2019 11:21 pm

Yes indeed…. But Monbiot doesn’t want to talk about those rights. Doesn’t fit with the Socialist agenda.

March 15, 2019 8:46 pm

Somehow I doubt the US Democrats are able to honestly embrace the concept of “generations not yet born” since they are okay with embracing legal infanticide of a full-term (38-week) viable baby still in the womb.

Reply to  Joel O'Bryan
March 15, 2019 11:17 pm

Even after the baby has been born – just ask the Gov of Virginia…?

ЯΞ√ΩLUT↑☼N
Reply to  Joel O'Bryan
March 16, 2019 12:46 am

And if the “viable” baby is causing complications and slowly killing its mother..? It’s surely a moral issue but what would you decide as a doctor..? Always two sides of the coin my good man.

ЯΞ√ΩLUT↑☼N
Reply to  ЯΞ√ΩLUT↑☼N
March 16, 2019 12:48 am

MODS: Why are every one of my comments awaiting moderation..? Or is it the same for everyone..?

MarkW
Reply to  ЯΞ√ΩLUT↑☼N
March 16, 2019 1:59 pm

What percentage of pregnancies result in a risk to the life of the mother?
That’s not the other side of the coin, that’s a distraction.

MarkW
March 15, 2019 8:49 pm

And of course, and all powerful government, run by men such as Monbiot are the only ones who are capable of speaking for those not yet born.

Reply to  MarkW
March 16, 2019 3:58 am

MarkW

I like George. A Zoologist by profession, although my 24 year old daughter well out-guns him in qualifications. He should be reading her stuff to learn something, but he wouldn’t

But I do get a laugh at his infantile politics. I was discussing the nonsense he spouts when I was 15, and had rejected it as sh*t by the time I was 16.

As you say, ‘we need a better world, as long as I’m running it’.

Tom Gelsthorpe
March 15, 2019 8:49 pm

It’s a form of child abuse to goad students into striking for the world of the future. Kids learn little enough as is; now they’re jumping to conclusions based on doomsday scenarios peddled by second rate ideologues? As a career farmer, you have no idea how often I’ve been berated by people who haven’t the foggiest idea what they’re talking about, but their ignorant certainty is impenetrable.

Primitive cultures tried to appease their gods by disemboweling hapless victims, tossing virgins onto bonfires, and other forms of human sacrifice. That the suspected apocalypse did not arrive, did NOT prove that the sacrifices were effective. But the coincidences were enough to rationalize the continuance of barbaric rituals.

Naomi Klein, Albert Gore, Bill McKibben, Ed Markey, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez et alia are Pied Pipers leading kids to despair and destruction on scant evidence. All but Cortez are old enough to know better, yet unlikely to live long enough to suffer the consequences of their wrongheadedness. Those damn fool dinosaurs will be lying in their graves by the time millennials realize they’ve been had.

None of their doomsday prophesies have come true. None of their draconian proposals predict the benefits of dismantling industrial society. Hurricanes and tornadoes will subside to how many per year, compared to now? Crop yields will do what exactly? How will people heat their homes, cook food, commute to work, and transport goods without steel, motor vehicles, and fossil fuels? What are those tens of millions of jobs supposed to consist of? Subsistence farming with hand tools? Learning to drive mules? Pitching hay with wooden forks? That didn’t work 300 years ago with global population one tenth of today’s.

RockyRoad
Reply to  Tom Gelsthorpe
March 15, 2019 9:54 pm

What happens to AOC when she quickly eats a large serving of home-made ice cream? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Rich Davis
Reply to  RockyRoad
March 16, 2019 4:49 am

Can’t freeze a vacuum I guess 🙂

Reply to  Tom Gelsthorpe
March 16, 2019 4:12 am

Kids learn little enough as is; now they’re jumping to conclusions based on doomsday scenarios peddled by second rate ideologues?

Don’t be blaming “the kids” or ”the teenagers”, …… blame their environment.

Because, …….. “You are what your environment nurtures you to be”.

Jeff Alberts
Reply to  Tom Gelsthorpe
March 16, 2019 9:31 am

“That the suspected apocalypse did not arrive, did NOT prove that the sacrifices were effective.”

I think you meant to write “ineffective”.

MarkW
March 15, 2019 8:49 pm

If we never exploited any resources, we would still be living in caves.
Then again, most environmentalists want humans to return to living in caves.

Greg Cavanagh
Reply to  MarkW
March 19, 2019 7:37 pm

Isn’t the cave a resource? Where are the bats going to live now?
Or the stone flint, you can’t do that.
You’re making a net out of reeds to catch fish? Use your hands, or your teeth.

They truly can’t think beyond the sound of the words they use. They profess themselves wise.

Joey
March 15, 2019 9:00 pm

Actually, capitalism will do the exact opposite of what the Moonbot yammers about. Because capitalism knows there are finite resources and tries to make the most efficient use of them. It is the Marxists that don’t. That is why Russian pipelines didn’t have metering on them because they saw no reason to keep track. And so when there were enormous pipeline leaks, they simply increased the volume going into the pipes to keep the flow going. Monbiot is a clown.

RockyRoad
Reply to  Joey
March 15, 2019 9:59 pm

The USSR found that a third of their annual gold production cost more per ounce than the spot price of the metal–once their vaunted system of communism collapsed and they finally put a sharp pencil to their gold mining! Talk about robbing Petra to pay Paulus!

R Shearer
March 15, 2019 9:20 pm

“Not yet born having equal rights.” That’s new.

RockyRoad
Reply to  R Shearer
March 15, 2019 10:04 pm

…except those babies don’t have the right to life; they are granted no protection whatsoever! So does Moonbat get to claim the inheritance of terminated babies just because he considers himself to be so noble?

I smell a stinking, hypocritical rat!

WBWilson
Reply to  RockyRoad
March 17, 2019 8:10 am

‘Future generations’ are hypothetical, and thus do not exist, therefore have no ‘rights,’ as we define them. We here in the USA, who do exist, have rights as defined in our Constitution, including the ‘Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.’

More blatantly unconstitutional opinionated drivel from the Moonbat Gruniad. Anyone who writes or publishes this sort of excrement deserves our derision and scorn.

Chris Hanley
March 15, 2019 9:20 pm

“The children on climate strike are right: their lives should not be sacrificed to satisfy our greed … everything we take for ourselves we take from someone else …”.
=============================================
As usual in these sermons lots of “we” and “our” rather than ‘I’ and ‘my’, what he actually means is ‘you’ and ‘your’; the someone else that I allegedly take everything from must have taken it from someone else in turn maybe me, so I’m just taking it back.
Africans and Indians for instance have a right to develop their economies to at least that of the current richest countries and they can’t do that without fossil fuels and/or nuclear.
The Earth is not being destroyed nor densely populated:
comment image

Tom Abbott
Reply to  Chris Hanley
March 16, 2019 5:40 am

“The Earth is not being destroyed nor densely populated”

I heard a story yesterday about how hackers had made public a Chinese database that kept track of fertile Chinese women. It seems China’s population growth has taken a drastic cut in recent years, enough to seriously concern Chinese leadership, to the point, in one pundit’s opinion, that the Chinese may start requiring couples to have children. He said China might adopt a Two-Child policy!

Apparently China is about to lose its longstanding record as being the most populous nation on Earth and India will replace it as most populous.

So, China over the last few decades, has raised its populations affluence and now the population is leveling off. This seems to happen to every nation that reaches a certain level of affluence. I saw a story the other day about the demographics of every nation in the EU being down.

Making people rich and affluent is good for the whole world. We can’t make more people rich without using fossil fuels and/or nuclear power generation.

Jim of Colorado
March 15, 2019 9:22 pm

“Good Point! I agree!” – Nikita Khrushchev

D. Anderson
March 15, 2019 9:22 pm

I am sure his real name is Moonbat.

Jones
March 15, 2019 9:28 pm

Link says “commentisfree”….

I can’t see where the comment thread to the piece is?.

Comment macht frei!

TomO
Reply to  Jones
March 15, 2019 9:53 pm

iirc George doesn’t care for any comments that challenge his wisdom.

His intolerance for discussion / criticism is epic – I’d wager he’s blocked more people than he has followers on Twitter.

RockyRoad
March 15, 2019 9:32 pm

Monbiot is so stupid: money is a resource, too, just like everything else that’s considered valuable!! If we didn’t have money, how would society function? It wouldn’t! (…Take a cow down to the airport to buy a round-trip ticket to Europe?? Right! LOL!!) And if money wasn’t worth anything, they’d have to invent something that had value! And you know what they’d probably call it? MONEY!!

But why allocate a valuable resource to people who are yet unborn? That’s like planning a Green New Deal based on technology that isn’t even invented yet!! But that’s a red herring; the point is to pass policies so government can replace every building in the country! Then who do you think owns those buildings? YOU?? Are you as stupid as Monbiot? The GOVERNMENT now owns the buildings; they paid for replacing them, remember? It amounts to the largest transfer of wealth away from private ownership toward a government collective in the history of the world! And since the government owns (and controls) everything else, you can kiss your individual freedoms goodbye and become part of the socialist Borg, if you somehow manage to stay alive! Monbiot is just another shill advocating for Globalist dominance, and considering how much of the world is now turning nationalistic, the Globalists are freaking out!! They see the demise of their deception and have gone shat bit crazy!

Russ R.
Reply to  RockyRoad
March 16, 2019 7:20 pm

They were already shat bit crazy. They just did a better job of hiding it from the commoners.

Hall Dall
March 15, 2019 9:38 pm

“everything we take for ourselves we take from someone else …”.
So Moonbot is against deficit spending, including for his “green” projects? After all, all those National Debts are “for the children”.

Reply to  Hall Dall
March 15, 2019 9:53 pm

classic zero sum Communism.

No concept of value add, no idea about wealth creation only wealth distribution.

Tom Abbott
Reply to  Leo Smith
March 16, 2019 6:00 am

The socialists don’t seem to realize that progress keeps making the pie bigger, and people getting rich does not preclude poorer people from getting rich, too. There is room for everyone. The socialists want you to believe that a rich person is taking something away from you. They are not. If you want something, then go get it. A rich person will not prevent you from following your dream.

Leo wrote: “no idea about wealth creation only wealth distribution.”

The socialists/authoritarians are only interested in wealth distribution. They are eager to distribute other people’s weatth to further their favorite political ideology.

A good example is AOC. She has these grandiose ideas about fighting climate change which would cost an estimated $93 TRILLION, and when asked about the enormous costs, she just dismisses the cost as being absolutely necessary and we will get the money from somewhere. Her whole focus is on the fix, not the cost of the fix, because to her, there is an endless supply of money out in the world just waiting for people like her to tap in order to do what they consider good for the world.

Costs really don’t enter these people’s minds. Their only focus is on how to get hold of other people’s money to spend. That will take care of the costs, they say.

Reply to  Tom Abbott
March 16, 2019 7:34 am

Mr. Abbott, I raise a pint to salute you, sir. I have made virtually the same statements as you did in your first paragraph. Some are quick to demonize the Bill Gates of the world, but never question what the impact would be had they done nothing. The world would be substantially poorer, including the person making the complaint.

When someone complains that the rich have stolen from the people, my standard reply is, “Really? Who stole from you, how, and how much?” Never get a response.
Then there are the complaints of ‘slave labor’. Don’t like the wages? Quit and get a different job. Better yet, start your own company. Millions do that every year a free-market, capitalistic countries.

R Shearer
Reply to  jtom
March 16, 2019 7:57 am

Equality, in the form of abject poverty and despair, is spreading in Venezuela and yet the billionaires are still in control.

In the U.S., the second Amendment would have come into play by now.

RockyRoad
March 15, 2019 9:43 pm

P.S. Monbiot equates two terms thatt are not tkphe same: property rights and legal possession!

If some law gets passed that says the unborn have an equal right of possession, how easy would it be to extend the same law to those who are alive but who currently have no property? Suddenly you get government notification that there are shareholders in your house conveyed simply on the idea that the have-nots should become the haves! Talk about an amazing distribution of wealth, although a larger theft has never before been perpetrated on humanity!

LdB
Reply to  RockyRoad
March 15, 2019 10:25 pm

Beyond that it can’t and doesn’t work because we are a world of countries with different rights and laws. This type of stupidity is from the green eco lunatic fringe who suddenly think everyone is going to become one world under UN type setup.

ЯΞ√ΩLUT↑☼N
Reply to  LdB
March 16, 2019 12:57 am

That’s what all these “agreements” and “treaties” are for, such as Paris. The more countries sign up and “consent” to UN terms, the more they’re under the NWO thumb. Thankfully, many have seen through this and issued the middle finger.

RLu
Reply to  RockyRoad
March 15, 2019 11:48 pm

Great, the share holders can donate part of the cost of a new roof.
Will the bank loan me money on the basis of future earnings of my great grandchildren? It works for the national debt.

Pop Piasa
March 15, 2019 9:45 pm

Monsieur Moanyboat mistakenly links capitalism with weather changes during his brief stay here on this planet. I challenge him to assert a scenario where socialism will keep weather (and in the centennial term, climate) in check.

LdB
Reply to  Pop Piasa
March 15, 2019 10:26 pm

Lets be realistic the climate is the least of your problems under socialism just getting food and shelter tends to be hard enough.

TomO
March 15, 2019 9:45 pm

A high priest of UK eco-loonery regularly platformed by the state broadcaster and touted as a sage – and a long term evader of actual debate about the procession of mostly garbage he spouts because debate is pointless since he’s always right.

The school strike twottery has been orchestrated by adults like George – the idea that it’s a spontaneous demo by children is a deceit on a grand scale – and that’s right up George’s street.

Pop Piasa
March 15, 2019 9:53 pm

Perhaps Monbiot should be concentrating on the concept that negativity is destroying the human paradigm and the planet really doesn’t feel any pain…

Chris Hanley
March 15, 2019 9:54 pm

At least Monbiot practices what he preaches, by recycling his articles.

ЯΞ√ΩLUT↑☼N
Reply to  Chris Hanley
March 16, 2019 1:00 am

Maybe he should lead by example and recycle himself back into fertiliser. After all, it’s the only thing that comes out of his mouth.

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