Jeffrey Free Luers – Prison Dispatch February 15, 2009

Global warming is no longer a future threat waiting on the horizon. Human societies across the globe are already suffering as a result of climate change. The very world as we know it is endangered. Each day, untold species go extinct to never be seen again. Thousands of people go hungry because of crop failure and drought wrought by climate change.

Still, day after day we continue to pump greenhouse gases into the air, making the problem worse. As a society we have completely disassociated our actions with their consequences. We have become lemmings leaping from a cliff, our smiles still firmly in place.

The bottom line is that we must change our lives. Not switch to greener fuels or recycle more. These are good steps but in and of themselves are not solutions. There is but one solution. We must stop releasing greenhouse gases into the air. Period.

Sadly, few people comprehend the severity of the danger we are in. If more people grasped the true peril of the situation, coal power plants would be shut down and their CEO’s likely drug out and hung.

Our world’s top scientists, humanity’s smartest people from across the globe are screaming for us to stop emitting greenhouse gases. No one is listening.

In fact, rather than create a paradigm shift, world leaders, including so-called progressive politicians – like Obama – are pushing for “clean” coal and nuclear power.

Hello. Coal can not, in any form, burn clean of carbon. Nuclear power creates radioactive waste that lasts millions of years and can not be stored safely at any location. The people of Hanford, Washington and those across the river in Oregon have had to learn their lesson the hard way as the site continues to leak radioactive waste from the former power plant and nuclear waste storage site.

Other climate change solutions actually being considered include launching mirrors into space, dumping iron into oceans, and spraying sulfites into the sky in order to create unnatural cloud cover. (More ridiculously true and dangerous suggestions may be viewed at “Techno-fixes report” at http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=3126)

All of these ideas are being put forward in an effort by wealthy nations, as well as mega multinational corporations, to avoid the reality (and responsibility) of the situation. We must fundamentally change our lifestyle.

Globalization of markets has failed us. One need only look at global warming and the current economic crash for proof. Poor nations are still poor and exploited, rich nations are still growing richer with more and more wealth being consolidated in the hands of a few.

The world is a frightening place right now. Across the globe, dissent is being crushed under the guise of suppressing terrorism. Here in the states, activists are being rounded up and convicted of terrorism charges for actions that injured no one. People are in prison for running website or giving speeches.

But it isn’t just oppression that is frightening. The arctic is melting, icon species like the polar bear are threatened with extinction, the economy has crashed leaving people across the globe hungry, homeless, and scared.

We need change. We need real solutions and real action and we need it now.

Our society rests on the cusp of catastrophe. We are riding a speeding ship headed straight toward and iceberg (no doubt from some collapsed ice shelf). We have two choices before us: sink with the ship or abandon it.

Global governments have been meeting for climate talks since Toronto in 1988. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was created in 1990 to help facilitate these meetings. For twenty years those in power have been aware of climate change, for twenty years they have ducked, dodged and avoided the problem until it became the global threat it is today.

Twenty years of failure is unacceptable. Now these very same national governments are twenty years later still trying to avoid taking responsibility and enforcing the necessary changed to industry.

We need massive action on an international scale never before seen in human history. We have the ability to create such a massive mobilization. In the past we have achieved international days of action that have rocked the world. We must go beyond those past days of international solidarity however. We must reach for something never before achieved. We must shut the system down in its entirety and force our governments and multinationals to listen and change.

We need an international global strike. For one day we must stop all work and labor. We must shut down the factories, the ship yards, shut down transportation. We must bring everything to a grinding halt. And demand immediate action on climate change. Demand an immediate shift from fossil fuels to alternative energies. Demand accountability from wealthy nations and help for poorer ones.

It is an ambitious goal and a necessary one. We have to act ourselves. We have to demand our governments take action. There is no time to leave the process to governments that have already failed the world for twenty years!

In December 2009 world powers will again meet to discuss climate change and global warming in Copenhagen, Denmark. The likely outcome will be yet another unfair toothless agreement to reduce greenhouse emissions, much like Kyoto in which, after much hype, actually led to increased worldwide emissions.

In December we must show the world governments that they are not in power except by the grace of their citizens. We must remind world governments that they exist solely at our discretion and to serve us, not line the pocketbooks of the rich.

In December we must mobilize to shut the system down with a massive worldwide general strike. Global warming is the greatest threat humanity has ever faced. We must address the threat decisively and immediately. We must confront those that would obstruct such actions overwhelmingly.

In December 2009 it is time for more than just international solidarity, more than just pleading for change. It is time for a united front; it’s time to reclaim our power. It is time for a general strike.

-Jeffrey Free Luers

write to Jeff at:

Jeffrey Luers # 13797671
CRCI
9111 NE Sunderland Ave
Portland, OR 97211-1708

for more information, go to: http://freejeffluers.org

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