The Truth About the Climate Crisis: [Part 1: Warning] Climate Change Cannot Be Solved by "Individual Effort." We Are Being Forced to Choose a "Failure Scenario."

Note:

• (The following is a summary of a series of dialogues with Gemini.
  Please refer to the links on the original site for details of the dialogues and a summary of related videos.)

Original site (PC viewing recommended):

• [Dialogue: Gemini] How to Share Cumulative Responsibility (1)

• [Dialogue: Gemini] How to Share Cumulative Responsibility (2)

• [Video Summary] Obstacles to Climate Action, etc.

[Warning: Part 1] Climate change cannot be solved by "individual effort." We are being forced to choose a "failure scenario."

The unrewarded reality that lies beyond effort

Carrying reusable bags, saving electricity, choosing eco-friendly products, and flying less. In our daily lives, we are undoubtedly continuing our efforts for the environment. However, the climate crisis continues to worsen, and the Earth's average temperature keeps rising.

"Why, despite all this effort, is the situation not improving?"

The answer is that current climate measures are designed on top of a massive and unjust "structure of failure" that has nothing to do with our efforts. Unless we understand the true nature of this structure, our efforts will continue to be used not for solving the problem, but for buying time for a catastrophe called "maintaining the status quo."

In this first part, we will delve deeply into the "stock responsibility" at the heart of that "structure of failure" and the mechanism of "complicity" that cleverly conceals it.stock responsibilitycomplicity

I. The "Essence" and "Lies" of the Climate Crisis: The Limits of Flow Responsibility

1. The Absoluteness of "Stock Responsibility" Shown by Physical Laws

The climate change problem is based on a physically extremely simple principle. It is the fact that the Earth's temperature rise is determined not by how much we are emitting now (flow), but by "how much carbon dioxide we have accumulated (stock)" in the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution.

We are currently in a situation where this "cumulative debt (carbon stock)" is reaching a tipping point (carbon budget). Nevertheless, most global climate policy and media discussions continue to focus on "flow" (e.g., annual emission reduction targets, carbon taxes).

2. The Decisive Flaw of "Flow"-Centered Policies

Current "flow"-centered policies, such as the emission reduction targets (NDCs) set by various countries and carbon pricing, have a critical flaw. It is that they intentionally ignore the massive debt of the past (stock).

They are trying to avoid the "liquidation of cumulative responsibility" that should be borne by countries, corporations, and the ultra-wealthy who have enjoyed economic benefits and accumulated vast wealth by consuming large amounts of fossil fuels over the past 200 years, and instead shift all of those costs onto "cumulative responsibility liquidation""current emission reductions"current citizens and future generations.

This is like someone who has incurred a massive debt trying to pay it off solely by "saving on food expenses starting today." With this approach, neither the scale of funding nor the justice will ever reach the level necessary to solve the problem. We are being forced to fight within a structure that has failure built into it from the start.

II. The Complicit Relationship Built by "Wealth" and "Capital": The Taboo of Questioning Stocks

Why has the argument for "stock liquidation," which is so obvious, not become the mainstream of global policy? Behind it lies a rigid structure that seeks to protect "accumulated wealth and capital."

1. The Concealment of Corporate Stocks: The Sanctification of "Dirty Assets"

The biggest issue regarding corporate stock responsibility is "pollution-benefit stock," or dirty assets. This includes unextracted fossil fuel reserves held by energy companies and carbon-intensive infrastructure (such as old power plants).

These assets generated massive profits by externalizing (polluting for free) the costs of emissions onto society and were accumulated as capital. However, as the climate crisis intensifies, they carry the risk of becoming "stranded assets" that lose their value. Companies fear nothing more than the value of these "assets containing liabilities" being questioned.

To protect this capital, a conservative ideology that "past success is legitimate" is propagated, and "questioning the origins of wealth (liquidating stocks)" is treated as a taboo as a "radical idea" that shakes the foundations of society.

2. The Propaganda Trap That Neutralizes Citizens

To silence this debate on "stock responsibility," vested interests have deployed clever propaganda to divert attention.

• Substitution with "Individual Responsibility Theory":
  It shifts the location of responsibility from giant fossil fuel companies and investment banks to the daily consumption habits of us ordinary citizens. The message that "environmental problems are your fault because you lack awareness" diffuses responsibility from massive organizations to powerless individuals, draining the energy for structural criticism.

• The Illusion of "Techno-Utopia":
  It spreads optimistic messages like "innovation will be in time" and "magic technology will solve everything." This gives us citizens a false sense of security that "painful transformation and redistribution of wealth are unnecessary," and serves as a powerful stalling tool to postpone the "stock debate."

III. The Tragedy of a "Complicit Relationship" Deprived of Critical Thinking

The most tragic part is that many citizens have been drawn into the "complicit relationship" created by this structure.

The intensification of neoliberal competition has brought about wage stagnation and rising living costs, depriving us of the "capacity for critical thinking." We are fully occupied with maintaining our daily lives (flow), and have no room to deeply consider long-term structural problems like "stock distribution."

As a result, a right-wing ideology that "what has been built so far should remain as it is" becomes deeply embedded in our subconscious. And when we hear the argument that "stocks should be subject to distribution," citizens misunderstand it as "the fruits of my own efforts being denied," and react in a way that defends the position of vested interests.

This is like being on a ship you are desperately rowing that has a huge hole in the bottom, and when you hear "make the rich pay for the ship's repairs," you get angry and say, "Are you going to steal my cargo?" To reject the slow ruin known as the status quo and reclaim the future, we must first awaken from this "manufactured illusion."

Conclusion: No Future Without Awakening (Preview of Part 2 and Part 3)

We are currently being unfairly forced to participate in a “competition where failure is guaranteed.” To change this structure, we citizens must realize the big lie of “concealing stock responsibility” and understand that “maintaining the status quo equals self-destruction.”

In the middle and final parts, we will break through this “manufactured illusion” and deeply examine specific strategies and the actions citizens should take to reclaim the future from both corporate capital and individual wealth as a “carbon asset tax.”

(Continued in the middle part)

Related videos (Individual responsibility theory, techno-solutionism)

Japanese subtitles are also available. (Subtitles -> Auto-translate -> Japanese + Subtitles ON)

• This is a video about the trap of turning the climate change issue into a "problem of individual lifestyle," which is easy to fall into if you are not careful.

• Instead of approaching structural problems, converting them into a "problem of individual effort," which ultimately leads to nothing being improved, is a common pattern shared by many issues, and it may be a major reason why people are kept from taking action on the climate change issue.

• Neoliberalism itself has exactly that nature; by preventing unity and promoting individualization and competition, it ultimately moves in a direction where the interests of the powerful are maximized.
  (A convenient rhetoric called trickle-down is also prepared)

Summary by Gemini:

• The Trap of "Hypocrisy" Criticism and Individual Responsibility: Like the criticism of Al Gore, conservatives use tactics to discredit climate activists by attacking individual consumption behavior, thereby obstructing structural change and collective action [03:25].

• Responsibility Shifting by the Fossil Fuel Industry: The fossil fuel industry, as represented by BP's carbon footprint campaign, redefines this crisis as a problem of "consumer demand" and, by instilling individual "guilt" and "shame," deflects criticism from the producer side, where the responsibility truly lies [05:32].

• The Need for Transformation on the Production Side: Because the climate change issue is fundamentally rooted in capitalist profit-seeking and the "production" of fossil fuels, rather than individual consumption habits, we should aim for structural "non-reformist reforms" to completely abolish the use of fossil fuels, rather than individual "austerity-type ecology" such as flight shaming [09:46], [15:08].

• This is a video that deals with the important point of the problems of "techno-solutionism."

• It discusses that while technology and innovation are important, they can never solve the climate problem on their own (the timing does not work out), and that we must be careful about technological progress being used as an excuse for "not taking action."

• In other words, "solutions through technological progress" can be used as a kind of greenwashing, and we must be careful about that. (In fact, I think there are many cases where it is used that way.)

• While working hard on technological development, I think it is important for those other than the developers to put expectations for them aside for a moment (not counting them in calculations) and pursue "other solutions" as realistic solutions, that is, reducing the use of fossil fuels, reducing consumption, and social reform.

▶︎ Related series structure

• The Truth About the Climate Crisis: [Part 1: Warning] The truth about the structure where climate change cannot be solved by 'individual effort.' We are being forced to choose a 'failure scenario.' --- This article

• The Truth About the Climate Crisis: [Part 2: Concrete Strategy] Share the responsibility of wealth and capital. A hybrid strategy of 'direct taxation' and 'indirect benefit taxation'

• The Truth About the Climate Crisis: [Part 3: Execution] A 'Carbon Asset Tax' is your survival strategy. How to reclaim the future from the violence of capital

> Original site (PC viewing recommended):

• [Dialogue: Gemini] How to share cumulative responsibility (1)

• [Dialogue: Gemini] How to share cumulative responsibility (2)

• [Video Summary] Obstacles to climate action, etc.

> Top page:

> Overall top:

Finally...

▼ Call for a 'quiet revolution':