Stephen Barlow Profile picture
Jun 3, 2022 8 tweets 2 min read Read on X
People often ask what I mean by system change re: the climate and ecological crisis. It is very simple. I mean a full shift to a truly sustainable society/economy. This means changing more or less every convention of our modern society.
Sustainable means what it says. A society and economy in balance with the ecological carrying capacity of the Earth. Essentially that means no unsustainable trends, where our impact on the natural systems of the world is growing.
You see, in ecological terms, if there is a component, where it's impact on natural systems is constantly growing. Eventually it will have catastrophic effects, impacting also on the component driving it i.e. human society.
Lots of natural components have growing impacts. Let's say an exploding population of rodents. But this is eventually counteracted, by a sudden fall in the population of that rodent. Often, it produces a cycle or rise and fall.
Humans appear to have got out of this cycle and effect, by using innovation to get around what would cause that contraction in that growth. For instance, the use of fertilisers and pesticides.
But this is at the cost of destroying other ecosystem components and biodiversity, which in a long loop, will eventually have serious impacts on us, that we can't innovate our way out of.
There is no simple recipe for creating a sustainable society economy. However, if we don't want our population, our civilization, our society and economy to crash, it is essential.
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More from @SteB777

Oct 18
What I was trying to do with this thread, is to illustrate, how all those who deny the existential threat to our civilization, from the climate and ecological crisis, are in some form of ideologically motivated denial.
1/🧵
As I point out, ALL, not some, who attack environmentalists and climate activists as alarmists, because there is no scientific evidence, for the threat to our civilization by the climate crisis, are being intellectually dishonest.
2/
There's no scientific evidence, for the very obvious reason, that there has never been any scientific study of the risk of civilian collapse, being induced by climate and ecological impacts. If critics of this were honest, they would acknowledge this.

3/pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pn…
Read 24 tweets
Oct 18
I want to write a few threads about civilization collapse, and the danger of it, because so few to any understand it. Although it will probably be a waste of time, because I seemed to be having my threads hidden. But I just want to get it down.
1/🧵
I'm not a doom-monger, saying civilization is going to happen come what may. All my commenting is to stop that happening, because it is entirely possible to avoid this, if, and only if we massively change our system, and start cooperating, and stop competing.
2/
It's like this, there are many patterns of life, bad habits, ignoring illness, which will lead to your death, if you carry on as you are, and ignore the consequences of this. Our societies are ignoring existential threats to our civilization, as if they don't exist.
3/
Read 28 tweets
Oct 10
"Peter Thiel, the billionaire political svengali and tech investor, is worried about the antichrist. It could be the US. It could be Greta Thunberg."

If anyone closely resembles the anti-christ, it's Peter Thiel, Donald Trump and JD Vance.

1/🧵theguardian.com/us-news/2025/o…
Just to make it clear, that I am not religious. But I have read most of the Bible when I was younger, and self-evidently Trump hasn't.

Enough to know that the Jesus described was quite the woke commie.
2/
"And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."

Matthew 19:24
3/
Read 11 tweets
Oct 10
Once again, Twitter/X, seems to be hiding my own posts from me. I was trying to explained the messed up nature of our modern society. We need to understand another systems theory, property, and that is emergent properties.
1/🧵
An emergent property, is where out of a set of parameters of a system, a whole new property emerges, that can't simplistically be understood, from the parts of the system it emerged from. It develops a life of its own.

2/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergence
This has what has happened to our societies. For instance, Donald Trump, delusionally believes, that not only is he in charge of America, but he's in charge of the world. But Trump's dumb machinations, are creating global chaos, which will gobble him up, along with the US.
3/
Read 16 tweets
Oct 10
Trump is not some sort of hero, deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize, for this so-called peace deal. Trump is personally responsible for all the tens of thousands Palestinian deaths since he has been in office, as Biden before him.
1/🧵
Both Biden and Trump could have immediately stopped the genocidal massacre of Palestinian civilians, and their starvation, by simply threatening to cut off US military and other aid, as Trump did with Ukraine.
2/
In fact, it this difference between Trump's attitude to Israel and Ukraine, that nullifies his claim to be a peacemaker. Sure, Trump has had to reverse his attitude to Ukraine, after it became apparent, that Putin was the obstacle.
3/
Read 28 tweets
Oct 8
I made this comment in response to @ZackPolanski comment, about being attacked by the right. I will place it as a free standing thread. It is about why an agenda of radical change, is the only realistic way forward, and why.
1/🧵
“There are now no non-radical futures. The choice is between immediate and profound social change or waiting a little longer for chaotic and violent social change. In 2023 the window for this choice is rapidly closing.”
@KevinClimate

2/bellacaledonia.org.uk/2023/04/18/no-…
What the right cannot get through their thick heads, is that radical change is coming whether you like it or not. The climate and ecological crisis is going to radically alter our societies, ESPECIALLY, if we try to carry on with business as usual BaU.
3/
Read 18 tweets

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