Climate Change — World War III by Another Name?

My sister Joan (left) visiting from Iowa in her first protest ever outside the Navy base in Brunswick
photo by Bruce Gagnon, used with permission

By William Bowles
featured writer
Dandelion Salad

“A shadowy scientific elite codenamed Jason warned the US about global warming 30 years ago but was sidelined for political convenience” — ‘Jason and the secret climate change war’ Times Online

The quote above has it wrong on one major point, the findings of Jason weren’t sidelined for “political convenience” but for the more fundamental reason that catastrophic climate change is basically WWIII on the cheap, a ‘solution’ moreover that lets imperialism off the hook, after all if climate change is unavoidable without dumping capitalism and, as it appears that the populations of the G-7 aren’t prepared (yet) to do this, then what the hell, we’ll survive (well most of us anyway).

I have banged on before[1] about what I believe to be the real reason why the major capitalist powers haven’t bothered to do anything about climate change namely, that catastrophic climate change solves two of the major problems confronting capitalism today. These are:

1. ‘Surplus’ populations and the threat the ‘great unwashed’ presents to capitalism
2. Control of resources: countries decimated by climate change are then ripe for exploitation

The Jason investigation conducted back in the late 1970s paralleled the ones conducted by the Club of Rome conference on ‘over-population’ initiated even earlier in 1974 (Jason’s major objective was in any case, preparing plans for conducting nuclear war against the Soviet Union and China).

“Mandatory programs may be needed and we should be considering these possibilities now,” the document continued, adding, “Would food be considered an instrument of national power? … Is the U.S. prepared to accept food rationing to help people who can’t/won’t control their population growth?” — Henry Kissinger, ‘National Security Study Memorandum 200: Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for U.S. Security and Overseas Interests.’ Dec. 10, 1974.[2]

“…There are only two possible ways in which a world of 10 billion people can be averted. Either the current birth rates must come down more quickly. Or the current death rates must go up… There is no other way… There are, of course, many ways in which the death rates can go up. In a thermonuclear age, war can accomplish it very quickly and decisively. Famine and disease are nature’s ancient checks on population growth, and neither one has disappeared from the scene… To put it simply: Excessive population growth is the greatest single obstacle to the economic and social advancement of most of the societies in the developing world.” — Robert McNamara, Oct. 2, 1979

Well to paraphrase to McNamara, ‘climate change is nature’s way to check population growth’. Meanwhile, under the guise of ‘technofixes’, capitalism just sees ways of making money out of climate change.

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