Beyond Emissions: Opening a New Path on Climate and the Future

Of the many climate struggles going on today, the great one, played out in hundreds of arenas around the world, is the struggle to rein in and then halt the buildup of greenhouse gases. Gaining ever-more attention is the struggle to adapt to the climate impacts already upon us. But there is a new struggle that needs to be joined now: the struggle to learn from our mistakes — the Big Mistake of climate catastrophe. What is it about our society, our economy, our politics, and our culture that has let this giant failing happen? What is it that has led us to this tragedy?

There are a set of readily available answers to this question, the conventional wisdom of the matter. Soulless corporations bent on ever-increasing profits at any cost and on controlling both natural resources and political reality to ensure that their paths stay…