Thank you for this thoughtful and original piece. I agree with much of it and disagree with other parts—but every aspect of it seems to be to be well-considered and reasoned.

Indeed, the West is making some bad decisions and critical mistakes. But the West isn’t alone in this. I believe that most of the world is operating under systems—various systems—that are fatally flawed.

Most institutions and leaders are primarily concerned with themselves, and their well-being. Overall, neither governments nor corporations truly value human life or the Earth itself. Both are seen as a means to an end: a source of power and/or wealth for those who hold positions of power and/or great wealth.

Under our civilization, people are valued only insofar as they are productive, and by productive we mean productive of wealth—usually for others. And even the planet is simply a source of raw materials, and—of course—a garbage dump.

None of these institutions are compatible with continued human civilization, or even a habitable Earth. Whether it’s a communist party or international plutocracy, these will never do what’s necessary for a viable future.

The simple fact is that it is more profitable to destroy the planet than to save it.

Our group is calling for a better civilization based on sensible and humane values—and we are demanding a worldwide emergency program to effectively address the climate crisis NOW. We’ve seen decades of posturing and dithering and it’s obvious that authorities everywhere on the planet are unwilling or incapable of addressing the crisis in any meaningful way.

Our position is this: it is literally insane to destroy the planet we all live on; to allow others to destroy it is equally insane. We won’t put up with it. We won’t cooperate. We will declare a worldwide climate emergency and assemble a group of competent climate scientists (and others) to devise a sensible emergency program. WE will ensure that this program is implemented fully.

We know that leaders, even despots, are entirely powerless once people no longer fear or obey them. We have the courage necessary to meet this challenge.

WeAreSaners.org