THE ANTHROPOCENE and POST CAPITALISM

THE EARTH

RECENT GEOLOGICAL EPOCHS

ERA PERIOD EPOCH TIME

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Anthropocene50

Years Ago

Holocene11,700 Years Ago

Pleistocene

2.7 Million Years Ago

CO2 Levels for 800,000 Years

CO2 LEVELS SINCE YEAR 1000

Methane Levels 800K years

CARBON CYCLE DISRUPTED

NITROGEN CYCLE DISRUPTED

Arctic is Melting

Arctic Ice well below average for 1981-2010

LAKES IN SIBERIA FORMED BY PERMAFROST MELTING AND METHANE RELEASE

SONAR IMAGE OF METHANE PLUME IN PACIFIC NORTHWEST

JET STREAM HAS BECOME CHAOTIC

Acidification Causing Coral Death

OCEAN DEAD ZONES

PLASTIC AND REFUSE IN THE OCEAN

MIAMI AFTER 2° RAISE IN TEMPERATURE

DEFORESTATION IN WESTERN HEMISPHERE

Energy Use: 90 wts vs 11000 wts

CAPITALOCENE

JASON MOORE: CAPITALISM AND THE WEB OF LIFE

1. Capitalocene started in 1450 when humans started to perceive themselves as apart from nature.

2. Capitalocene has as a basis the idea of cheap nature, just like Marx talked about cheap labor. It needs endless supply of cheap nature for its commodity production. At some point it is going to run out of cheap natures and this will stop economic growth.

3. Capitalism’s only view of nature is how to use it to enlarge the quotient of unpaid natures into the value of salable commodities.

CAPITALOCENE: RESOURCES ARE FINITE

The End of More by Norman Paggett and The Race for What is Left by Michael Klare

1. Capitalocene’s resource binging is causing scarcity, forcing us to invest more money and energy to get them. There is also a race for what is left, expressed in wars in Middle East and interventions in Africa.

2. It doesn’t make sense to use more energy to extract a certain quantity of oil than the one you get.

3. Fossil Fuels are subsidized at 6 times the rate of Renewables.4. Cornucopian Economists believe infinite resources in finite planet. They

forget also that whole Earth population hasn’t even have access to all the resources that a small percentage has been squandering.

CAPITALOCENE: ANDREAS MALM, FOSSIL CAPITAL: Rise of Steam Power and Roots of Global Warming

1. Malm sees the beginning of Capitalocene with the invention of the Steam Engine. Industrial Capitalism effected the transition from an organic or solar economy to a fossil fuel one.

2. Capitalism doesn’t want to change to a post-carbon energy system because it will devalue their assets.

3. The subsidies Capitalism gives to Fossil Fuels is a subsidy to collective suicide.

4. Capitalocene caused by few people. 90 companies are responsible for 50% of CO2 emissions since 1880.

POST CAPITALISM

PAUL MASON: POST CAPITALISM, A GUIDE TO THE FUTURE

1. Capitalism has been using technology to get out of its own limitations that require cost reduction. Replacing humans with technology has allowed it to continue its growth mantra.

2. Technology is now also allowing for a more sharing economy that began with internet. Advances in information technology are killing Capitalism. This sharing economy changes the idea of what is valuable work and the meaning of money. Is work valuable just because it is paid, or because it has some positive effect in your environment?

3. Another factor that is going to stop Capitalism is the degradation of the Earth Systems themselves.

PAUL MASON: POSTCAPITALISM A GUIDE TO THE FUTURE

CAPITALISM POST CAPITALISM

Technology is used to infinitely reduce labor costs and for Capitalism to get out of its own growth limitations

Information Technology is used to expand a sharing economy that will kill Capitalism.

Value of Work is only money Value of work seen also as improvement in quality of life and environment.

Degradation of Environment will kill Capitalism A new Economic System required to stop degradation of environment and reduce inequality.

In an Information Economy categories of classical economics: land, labor, capital – collapse

Through internet, humans can engage in constructive social labor globally

ECO SOCIALISM

Old Values New Values

Money and Profits come first Earth and Quality of Life

Quality of Life based on acquisition Quality of life based on true sustainability and sharing

Inequality Global Basic Income

Thinking of world as only your locality Thinking Globally, Citizens of Earth

Old Values New Values

Money and Profits come first Earth and Quality of Life

Quality of Life based on acquisition, consumerism. Quality of life based on true sustainability and sharing

Inequality Global Basic Income

Thinking of world as only your locality Thinking Globally, Citizens of Earth

Deregulation and no Accountability for damage to Environment

Draconian Liability for endangering Earth and our Survival

Think only of our generation Become a society of good ancestors

Mantra of eternal Economic growth Redefinition of growth that is more sustainable and reduced.

No care about Entropic effect of Infrastructure, life style and Technology: Fossil Fuel Industries

Careful choice of infrastructure prioritizing Renewable Energy, clean energy and ways to reduce CO2 in air.

Private Luxury, private car as preferred modes Commons and public transportation expansion