Thread by @SteB777

"Missing 1.5C climate target is a moral failure, UN chief tells Cop30 summit"

@antonioguterres is correct, but unfortunately the rest of the article descends into the same, empty rhetoric, which fails to recognize the real reason for the failure.

1/🧵theguardian.com/environment/20…

The core problem is very simple, all governments, including those making hopeful noises, are primarily focused on the pursuit of economic growth, which hopelessly compromises them, as this agenda is mired in fossil fuel use.
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I have previously described the Keeling Curve, the long term documentation of the steady increase in atmospheric CO2 levels, as the knife of truth, which cuts through the hopelessly misleading rhetoric, about climate change progress.

3/keelingcurve.ucsd.edu

If you look at the plotted graph of atmospheric CO2 levels, from 1960, you just see a relentless steady increase atmospheric CO2, which just keeps increasing at the same rate, regardless of the rhetoric. It has not even, slightly slowed, in response to the rhetoric.
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There is a relentless upward growth in fossil fuel burning, only slightly slowed for a while, by international recession, after the 2008 financial crash. This tells us everything we need to know, and that is, emissions are linked to economic growth.
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Before going on, we need to look at this phenomenon, economists call economic growth, which falsely characterises what we are seeing here. We are looking at the growth of industrial output, of big business.
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One key factor, which illustrates what is happening here, is that less than 18% of the global population, own a care, and over 80% have never flown, or not for a long time. In other words, less than 20% are really engaged in the processes driving climate change.
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It is really the top 1%, because this spread of carbon emissions, in this top 20% is not equally spread, and the higher you go up this sector, the vastly greater are personal emissions. Where the top 1% produce more emissions, than the bottom 66%.

8/theguardian.com/environment/20…

In other words, it is tiny minority of the global population, producing most of these emissions, to engage in extravagant lifestyles and consumption, which 95% or so of the population, do not participate in.
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The conclusions are inescapable, and that is a habitable planet is being systematically destroyed, so that the top 1%, can live ridiculously extravagant lifestyles, at the cost of everyone else.
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It is absolutely no coincidence, that all those writing this false narrative, about this problem being caused by humanity, are all only much higher salaries, than 98+% of humanity i.e. they are responsible.
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So they write a false narrative, trying to make out, all people are equally responsible, not that it is a situation being driven by the greed of the top 1% of humanity. This 1% figure is notional. The top 0.1% is most culpable, and so on.
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In other words, cut through all the false rhetoric, the sophistry, the clever false arguments, and it is a greedy tiny minority, who refuse to give up, their greedy extravagant lifestyles, that most of humanity, doesn't benefit from.
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A good example is air travel, say 18% of the global population, flies occasionally, but only a tiny proportion of them, are the frequent fliers, who produce most emissions.

14/theguardian.com/world/2021/mar…

Again, these figures are notional, because the higher up the hierarchy you go, the greater the contribution. But the general big picture is clear, it is a tiny minority at the top, who think their needs for a luxury lifestyle, entitles them to do this.
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It's always been possible to massively cut emissions, and other environmental destruction, if a small minority at the top, would live more frugally, like everyone else. It really is that simple. The top 1% living more like someone at the bottom of the top 20%,
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If that had happened 33 years ago, when our disingenuous leadership, had promised to address this crisis after the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, we would not be in this situation now. It really is that simple.

17/un.org/en/conferences…

Yes, if the top 1% had started living more like those at the bottom of the top 10%, top 20%, we would still have some way to go, to create a truly sustainable society, but we would have far more time to do it, with a far less damaged planet.
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On a finite planet, there is no room, for a tiny minority to live ridiculously extravagant lifestyles. Not least of all, because this drives the whole pattern of those at the bottom, trying to catch up with those at the top.
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This is what is driving far right politics, as those at the top, try to lift the drawbridge up, to stop those beneath them, crashing their extravagance party.

I know my message isn't popular, especially with those at top, but it is an undeniable truth, in a post-truth world.
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The reason for the increase in lying, and falsehoods, from the elite, is to paper over these uncomfortable truths, that these comfortably off people, are destroying a habitable planet, because of their personal greed.
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Either we address this uncomfortable reality, or we are going to drive our civilization to collapse. It is not just about climate change, but the destruction of our biodiversity, and natural ecosystems.

22/theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

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