More than a hundred dolphins have been found dead in the Brazilian Amazon amid an historic drought and record-high water temperatures that in places have exceeded 102 degrees Fahrenheit.
More than a hundred dolphins have been found dead in the Brazilian Amazon amid an historic drought and record-high water temperatures that in places have exceeded 102 degrees Fahrenheit [38.8 °C].
The dead dolphins were all found in Lake Tefé over the past seven days, according to the Mamirauá Institute, a research facility funded by the Brazilian Ministry of Science.
The institute said such a high number of deaths was unusual and suggested record-high lake temperatures and an historic drought in the Amazon may have been the cause.
The news is likely to add to the concerns of climate scientists over the effects human activity and extreme droughts are having on the region.
If that’s their plan it’s incredibly stupid. They’re really underestimating the lethality of ecological collapse, and overestimating the ability of their wealth to mitigate it. Their best bet at survival is being holed up in a bunker by themselves living an austere subsistence life with maybe some close family. There’s not going to be anything to rule over.
I keep saying the same things. These wealthy morons are destroying the planet, lives, civilization, and governments to earn short-sighted profits. They clearly aren't as smart as they like to think they are because the low pay to workers means those workers' can't buy a lot of the shit these businesses make. Then because of low profits, the jackasses lay off workers to show "growth" in the company at earnings. Fewer people have the means to buy what they're selling so it just keeps spiraling down.
They destroy the planet for the same reason. They think at the end of it all, they can just throw money at the problem and fix it immediately, making it all worth it on the end. Thing is, circling back to the first part, they're wealthy and not intelligent. If the planet took this long to get to 1.5°C, what do they think they can accomplish before catastrophic ecological disaster we're already seeing the start of?
Then should they fail to fix it, a subset of them think they can just escape the planet to space. Thing is we're still decades from living in space or another planet. The planet is on the decline now, not in a few decades.
Heres the thing though. Its not just the wealthy, anyone with a 401k and wanting it to appreciate is carrying part of the blame too. The stock market allows us all to demand infinite return from finite resources and a lot of peoples' retirements are nested in that hell handbasket. This entire place is built like this. Literally everything has to change.
It's not, like most things it's a lot dumber and simpler. Rich people don't fight or organize as a class, but they don't need too. The wealthy just have to look after themselves, and by doing so will vicariously establish benefits for other rich people.
I think in regards to climate change the wealthy are experiencing a malicious version of the bystander effect. Where they on some level understand their own endangerment, but expect a higher power to fix it for them.
However, when a government does attempt a fix that is personally detrimental to their financial health, they take it personally and become reactionary.
The richest person that I personally know was unable to finish highschool, but is the most ruthless, cold hearted motherfucker I ever crossed paths with. Of course he doesn't believe in climate change.
My theory is that the corporate oligarchy want climate change to cull billions from the human population, right at the time when hundreds of millions of jobs are being eliminated through robotics and AI.
There aren't enough resources to support the current developed world population of < billion, so another several billion people at that level of consumption is literally impossible. Demand will dramatically exceed supply this century.
There will be global resource shortages and massive inflation either way, but in a 2-4c world they can "let" billions die without firing a shot. They have their prepper bunkers stocked and ready to roll for when shit hits the fan, so they assume their wealth will ensure they prevail regardless of how bad things get. It doesn't matter that no-one can escape ecological collapse. All that matters is that they believe they can.
If history has anything to teach us is that we should expect the opposite outcome from such a collapse. i an not a doomer/tankie advocating for collapse. I am just pointing out you have the wrong conclusion.
People did try to increase taxes for things like funding public transport or on CO2 but people don't want less consumption they want more. Can't even get Americans to stop driving huge oversized cars. We can't built cycling lanes. We can put taxes on imports from polluting countries. We can't ban gas and force heat pumps and induction.
People do not want change.
Because of that the business do business as usual. It's the responsibility of the people to get leaders and laws in place to reduction consumption. But the people really really don't want that so it isn't going to happen.