Comments on: Opinion: Slavery, Carbon, Economics and the Ties that Bind Us

By: DW

DW — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 10:01:27 +0000

Lee Barken misses a critical point in his analogy – slavery has never ended on planet Earth, not even in the U.S., where it is illegal. Even immediately after “Emancipation”, slavery continued through sharecropping and use of prison labor when inmates were arrested on trumped-up charges and then forced to work for someone who would pay certain fees that were charged them for their incarceration. Typically it's not called slavery now – people use the term human trafficking more commonly. There are untold multitudes of people in the U.S. right now who are held as slaves and forced into the sex, agriculture, domestic servitude, and construction industries. If we follow the pattern of slavery in the carbon arena the outlook for the planet doesn't look good.

By: DW

DW — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 02:01:27 +0000

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 22:37:07 +0000

I think that invoking “slavery” is not a good idea. Too much of this rhetoric only serves to divide on the issue – much like using the term “Hitler Youth” for protestors in the first week of COP. I’m not at all sure this is a useful analogy.

On the other hand – in regard to Nick’s comment – to whom is climate change an “abstract” issue? Not to the inhabitants of places like Tuvalu – and many other poor and vulnerable places now feeling climate change as a day-to-day reality. It is not “abstract” at all.

By: davidoh

davidoh — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:08:37 +0000

This article advocates a contradiction in logic. It decries human slavery (rightly so) but insists we become enslaved to a theory about AGW. The only way an economy of any kind can maintain itself is through expansion. That which doesn't grow, dies. To achieve the lowering level of sustanance that is required to actually LESSEN carbon emissions would require that human use of resources be severely restricted leading to massive unemployment and a return to horse and buggy days (maybe even biblical days). This will never happen.

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:57:19 +0000

As both Cherokee and Black my world view is we continue to enslave creation even to this day- Migrants as “captive” workers we turn a blind eye to as we enjoy cheap meat and other goods, homes cooled to 70 degrees in Summer, but 75 in winter without regard to where the resources come from or human/environmental costs. The country of Denmark, the city of Ann Arbor, a few of the stars in this night, decided to “sacrifice” and more smartly consumed, conserve and constantly tax themselves to improve their energy use. In restricting themselves sensibly they found liberation and a more resilient economy and quality of life. Those who fear [whether subconscious or conscious] not having unlimited access to cheaper/free resources to feed their wants have far less life than they know while believing they have the best life possible. The climate change debate and difficulty with it presents a challenge to let go of our greed that dishonors and corrupts both the earth – we who value (worship) convenience over a more honest relationship to life.

By: GGG

GGG — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:08:51 +0000

they let Lee out of the group home to go to Copenhagen ?

By: SonjaEbron

SonjaEbron — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:09:08 +0000

I'm personally disgusted. This analogy strikes me as hugely offensive to the memory and descendants of slaves. It is exactly the reason we can't get anywhere in Copenhagen. To equate GHG emitters to slaveowners, or to equate climate to slaves, requires a reformed slaveowner mentality. “I used to do bad things, but I'm all better now. No one should do those bad things ever again.” Meanwhile, the victims of those bad things continue to suffer in vain.

By: MonkeyMuffins

MonkeyMuffins — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:29:05 +0000

I don't know which planet Lee Barken lives on, but on my planet--Earth, in the Milky Way Galaxy--the rich countries abuse the poor countries, and the biosphere-in-general, and the uber-rich in the rich countries are increasingly eviscerating the "formerly middle class".

In fact, our "not-negotiable", anomalous, unsustainable-by-definition way-of-life is literally impossible without abusing the poor and exploiting the biosphere (you can't have infinite growth on a finite planet and this Earth is finite; I'm sure Lee Barken's planet is miraculously infinite).

As Elizabeth Kolbert has observed:

"The cost that consumer society imposes on the planet’s fifteen or so million non-human species goes way beyond either meat or eggs. Bananas, bluejeans, soy lattes, the paper used to print this magazine, the computer screen you may be reading it on—death and destruction are embedded in them all. It is hard to think at all rigorously about our impact on other organisms without being sickened."
- Flesh of Your Flesh: Should You Eat Meat? (NewYorker.com, 11/9/2009)

And just today, 12/17/2009, Dennis Kucinich stated the obvious about the not-so-United States:

"The class warfare is over -- we lost,"
"I want to make that announcement today. Working people lost. The middle class lost."
"The separation between the finance economy and the real economy is real. This is not some fake idea. You can’t call that class warfare. That’s a fact."
- Kucinich: ‘Class war is over, working people lost’ (RawStory.com, 12/17/2009)

Also, the "peaceful participants" on Lee Barken's planet sound positively delightful!

On my planet, Earth, the rich participants are anything but peaceful:

"Yesterday, a massive, peaceful protest of 100,000 people – the largest demonstration for climate justice in world history – was met with a heavy-handed response by the Danish police. Thousands of riot police swarmed the march route, blocked off streets surrounding large groups of protestors, and arrested almost 1,000 people. Arrestees were cuffed and forced to sit in rows for hours, as the temperatures dipped below freezing; numerous people urinated on themselves after being denied use of toilets."
- Crackdown in Copenhagen (ItsGettingHotInHere.org, 12/13/2009)

Perhaps George Monbiot has said it best (about the people of Earth, not Lee Barken's planet):

"Humanity is no longer split between conservatives and liberals, reactionaries and progressives, though both sides are informed by the older politics. Today the battle lines are drawn between expanders and restrainers; those who believe that there should be no impediments and those who believe that we must live within limits. The vicious battles we have seen so far between greens and climate change deniers, road safety campaigners and speed freaks, real grassroots groups and corporate-sponsored astroturfers are just the beginning. This war will become much uglier as people kick against the limits that decency demands."
- This is About Us (Monbiot.com, 12/14/2009)

I'm glad Lee Barken's planet is peacefully evolving toward a hopeful future of change.

Here on Earth, however, things are getting worse by the day with no hope of change in sight.

Copenhagen is Nopenhagen.

By: facebook-584444004

facebook-584444004 — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:55:36 +0000

I disagree with Nick that the perspective is dramatic — climate change IS a direct human atrocity — it's simply one that has more impact in the future than it does today. Further, its impacts will be felt most immediately and directly in the developing world. That may seem 'abstract' to someone sitting in their comfy home in San Francisco, but it isn't abstract at all to the citizens of the Maldives, for example – all of whom will eventually either have to become refugees or perish. That seems pretty much like a human atrocity to me. In this case it is far bigger and will affect many more people than slavery ever did.

By: nickaster

nickaster — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:25:15 +0000

Definitely a controversial position. I think it's a bit dramatic because it's hard to compare a direct human atrocity to something as abstract as climate change. But still – if you extrapolated this out to the ignorance of environmental costs in general and how those costs are not built into our economic models, then you've got a decent analogy – ie, we're taking something for granted that really isn't “free”.