Earth Day 55 — we're not making progress

Climate change remains as real as it was five years ago, at the last milestone anniversary.

What also remains as real as then, besides the same guy being in the White House, is Republicans not giving a damn, and Democrats, for the most part, giving just a minor damn while pretending to give a real damn.

In other words, one party continues to cater to hypercapitalist destruction of the earth; the other caters a bit more fretfully, with pinky detached from teacups.

On the right hand of the duopoly's capitalist masters, who are also masters of much of the left hand of the duopoly, I noted a week ago, per a New Republic piece, that banksters and think tanks were just surrendering — or even talking about new money to be made if when we hit 3C. Per that piece, you'd think someone at the Council on Foreign Relations would recognize that climate and climate change doesn't stop at coastlines, and so, "economic nationalism" on climate is impossible, at least in ways they envision.

And, it's all about oil.

In the first of my pieces from 50 years ago, I noted the federal government, when under the left hand of the duopoly, remains complicated at best in restraining oil drilling on federal lands. Under the right hand of the duopoly, it remains unconstrained and unworried. 

In the third, I said that there will still be blood for oil. That's part of Canada's turf wars over coastlines in the Canadian Arctic. It's why both Trump and Biden bombed the Houthis. It's why the Gulf Arab states pretend to care about Palestine, but really, not so much.

This too, beyond the bombing above, is "bipartisan." Remember that the Carter Doctrine is named for someone from the left hand of the duopoly. 

But, the left hand of the duopoly, which stole the Green New Deal from the Green Party, then watered it down, and then didn't pass the watered-down version, doesn't care.

And, speaking of Canada, the "we" not making progress is not just Merikkka. Justin Trudeau and his Liberals are about as wedded to tar sands oil as are the Conservatives. I'm not sure where the NDP stands on climate issues. I know Canadian Greens are as good as U.S. Greens.

 And, the "we" is not just the U.S. and Canada. Remember post-Fukushima, when Chancellor Angela Merkel replaced Germany's nuclear plants with more coal? And today, German carmakers are way behind the curve on both hybrids and EVs.