Ben See Profile picture
Mar 9, 2019 23 tweets 16 min read
Remember:

1. The oceans are being killed.
2. Forests will soon be gone.
3. Fertile soil is disappearing.
4. Megafauna risk extermination.
5. Insects are vanishing.
6. Climate chaos is inevitable.
7. Extinction is now.
8. Plastic is in our blood.

None of this is front page news.
1. The oceans are being killed:

Overfishing, acidification, coral & seabed destruction, plastic & chemical pollution, ocean anoxia, phytoplankton, etc...

forbes.com/sites/michaelp…

geochemicalperspectivesletters.org/article1829

cell.com/current-biolog…

psmag.com/environment/gl…

scientificamerican.com/article/the-oc…
2. Forests will soon be gone.

Over 20,000 scientists/experts fear for our forests.
sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/…

'Especially troubling is...deforestation'
academic.oup.com/bioscience/art…

Forest loss contributes to biological annihilation:
pnas.org/content/114/30…

nationalgeographic.com/environment/gl…
3. Fertile soil is disappearing.

@guardian's response to ecological collapse is to support the corporate systems doing the damage.

Awful.

So, yes, it has helpful articles, but it wants readers to trust in ecocidal consumerism.

theguardian.com/environment/20…

theguardian.com/environment/20…
@guardian 5. Insects are vanishing.

'such event cannot be ignored and should prompt decisive action to avert a catastrophic collapse of nature's ecosystems'

sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

'cascading effects on food webs'

journals.plos.org/plosone/articl…

"Holy crap."

washingtonpost.com/science/2018/1…
@guardian 6. Climate chaos is inevitable.

Some threads with articles to explore. 👇

Social media, for all its flaws, is better than 'MSM' at getting scientific reality on climate breakdown out to ordinary people.





@guardian 6. Climate chaos is inevitable.

Climate breakdown is not gradual and slow. What is happening is sudden, rapid, abrupt climate change. Our predicament is worsened by the exponential nature of change - ice loss is key.


More here. 👇
@guardian 7. Extinction is now.

'We are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction, with about 200 species becoming extinct each day'

'infinite economic growth on a planet with finite resources is non-viable'

'government irresponsibly promotes rampant consumerism'
@guardian 7. Extinction is now.

It is a scientific fact we are well into the sixth mass extinction event.

pnas.org/content/114/30…

truthout.org/articles/sixth…
@guardian None of this is front page news.

Why?

State & corporate media are owned, influenced, & controlled by groups & individuals who risk losing their wealth & power if humans choose the right response to this ecological emergency: we must reassess & replace the global growth economy.
@guardian None of this is front page news.

👇

'By failing to adequately limit population growth, *reassess the role of an economy rooted in growth*, reduce greenhouse gases...humanity is not taking the urgent steps needed to safeguard our imperilled biosphere.'
academic.oup.com/bioscience/art…
@guardian Feel bad?

4 things to help you feel better:

1. take action (support protests, marches & strikes like #FridaysForFuture, and organise local initiatives).

2. talk about it with loved ones, acquaintances, colleagues - everyone.

3. inform yourself further.

4. love & be peaceful.
@guardian Here's a great, very human and inspiring video from scientist @PaulHBeckwith.

'I don't have a lot of hope, but things aren't hopeless either...You have compassion for people and you try to make a difference'

@guardian @PaulHBeckwith #ClimateBreakdown should've been dealt with decades ago.

Now we're in a desperate predicament.

This is a #Climate & #EcologicalEmergency, so we need to go calmly into emergency mode.

Here's a thread on the kind of emergency action that's now essential:
@guardian @PaulHBeckwith Will civilisation as we know it collapse?

Looks like it might.

(Have you read this? insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/4166/)

It's time for 100s of millions of adults to protest in the streets, because our 2 billion children will soon live with us in a +2°C world of partial or total collapse.
Later, if you're one of many who see that it is time to act, it'll be best to be a non-flying, plastic-free vegan, but nobody's perfect & individual change isn't enough. The key is peaceful, *collective* uprising for total *system change*.

Please watch:👇
Folks ask me this:

"How can we transform the global economy from biosphere-wrecking greenhouse gas pollution & destruction of habitats, when *everything*, food production, construction, the military, everything humans do (especially the rich of the Global North) is responsible?"
I'll tell you this:

It's going to take a revolution in the way we think. It's going to mean reconfiguring our brains, where we store human love.

"You can't just ditch capitalism! Human nature is baaad!"

Yeah, yeah. I've heard it before.

Human decency is here & now we need it.
It's #FridaysForFuture! The Big Day!

We're still on Step 1:

Inform the citizens!

RT this THREAD of THREADS to explain that this is the end of human existence as we know it.

Forget hope; take action.

#EcologicalEmergency

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More from @ClimateBen

Feb 11
Do climate and energy experts often ignore the fact we're in a mass extinction that's now accelerating during 21st century capitalism because it disrupts their visions of 'solutions'?

THREAD. 🧵
1. We're in a mass extinction due to habitat destruction, pollution, and many other factors including abrupt climate change: 20% (30-50%?) of species face extinction by 2050, and 75% of mammals as early as 2300.

We don't know which species can survive 1.75°C-2.75°C by the 2040s.
2. It seems many climate and energy experts say climate change won't lead to human extinction within decades or centuries, without acknowledging that extinction threats to species come from a range of activities likely to be maintained in a 'green' growth, 'clean' energy economy.
Read 14 tweets
Feb 11
The global economy threatens 20%-50% of species with extinction by 2050.

Global use of materials is outpacing population growth:

1972: 29 billion tonnes
2000: 55 billion tonnes
2019: 100 billion tonnes
2050: 184 billion tonnes

It's the *system* that's killing everything.🧵
1.'Material extraction & use are climbing year on year
In only 50 years, global use of materials has nearly quadrupled—outpacing population growth. In 1972, as the Club of Rome’s report Limits to Growth was published, the world consumed 28.6 billion tonnes'
2. Abrupt climate change isn't the only reason we may consider ourselves in a terrible predicament. Extinction is escalating due to deforestation, logging, road-building, pollution..

Only system change action may limit the damage and/or protect us. Thread:
Read 5 tweets
Feb 10
Today's economic system is taking us to 1.6°C-2°C by the 2030s with emissions now rising towards epic new extreme record highs compounding the extinction-ecosystem collapse crisis.

These tenths of a degree mean mass death, a truth which must be faced if we want effective action.
It's disheartening we're not facing the fact that 1.75°C-2.5°C, likely by the end of the 2040s, would mean billions of peoples' lives either turned upside down or taken from them without profound system change.

Mass animal deaths are on the rise.

Thread:
The impacts at 1.75C-3C would be shattering for species and billions of people.

IPCC aurhors have made clear there are definitely impacts we can't cope with from 2C.

1.25C is already putting enormous strain on our food systems. 1.75C would be awful.
Read 4 tweets
Feb 8
According to scientists, economic growth cannot prevent us exceeding somewhere between 1.6°C and 2.4°C of global warming by the 2040s, when a staggering 20% of species face extinction.

When you listen to the scientists, you realise economic system change is the only way. 🧵
1.

'The most optimistic scenario has global temperature nudging past 1.5°C by mid-century but then dropping back by late century. Such a relatively short excursion above 1.5°C might not trigger the worst outcomes, according to the panel.'

'might not'..

yaleclimateconnections.org/2021/08/key-ta…
2.

Of course, a lot of climate scientists still cling to the "don't reduce emissions so fast that it disrupts the economy" idea.

But plenty recognise that 10%-30% of species threatened within 25 years by the growth economy signals a need for change.

Read 5 tweets
Feb 5
US sanctions and extreme drought exacerbated by abrupt climate change are threatening 23 million people facing acute food insecurity in Afghanistan. 🧵
1.

'There are 22.8 million Afghans facing acute food insecurity. By March, 8.7 million of those are expected to slide into critical levels of food insecurity'. news.un.org/en/story/2022/…
2.

'22.8 million people will face "high levels of acute food insecurity." This is 55 percent of Afghanistan's population, the highest ever recorded in the country. An estimated one million children are suffering from "severe acute malnutrition" this year.'commondreams.org/views/2022/02/…
Read 4 tweets
Feb 4
BREAKING: climate change since 1980 is nearly twice as bad as previously calculated 🧵
1.

From 1980 to 2019, the world warmed about 0.79°C. But taking energy from humidity into account, the world has warmed and moistened 1.48°C. And in the tropics, the warming was as much as 4°C.

To try to avoid total catastrophe will take total change.

abcnews.go.com/Technology/wir…
2.

The extreme climate danger zone appears to be around 0.75°C-1.25°C. We're now into 1.25°C-1.75°C.

This economic system can't take us off the extinction path - making electric cars & planes for the rich will finish off ecosystems.

Profound change now.
Read 6 tweets

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