Guy Lists 8 Global Problems You Don’t See In Front Pages And It Goes Viral
Did you know that almost all of the media that the average American consumes – including 24-hour news stations, newspapers, publishing houses, Internet utilities, and even video game developers – are in the hands of just six media companies?
This concentration of media into the hands of a powerful few has been called a “threat to democracy and innovation,” whilst at the same time giving the average person an “illusion of choice” where there is actually very little. These corporations are under no obligation to report impartially and present consumers with the truth – they often promote what best suits their own aims and agendas.
“With the country’s widest disseminators of news, commentary, and ideas firmly entrenched among a small number of the world’s wealthiest corporations, it may not be surprising that their news and commentary is limited to an unrepresentative, narrow spectrum of politics,” writes Ben Bagdikian in his book ‘The New Media Monopoly.’
Is it any wonder then, that some of humanity’s most pressing concerns – those of rapid and uncontrolled environmental disasters, are kept out of the headlines? These wealthy and powerful media moguls have wealthy and powerful benefactors, many of whom have accumulated their fortunes from the relentless plundering of the Earth’s natural resources. These people have no interest in a greener, better educated and more empathetic world and will actively work to distract us from the true extent of the global problems that our current path is causing.
Heck, even the current administration is censoring warnings and blocking their own experts from publishing data about climate change, and don’t get me started on the situation in Brazil. What hope do we have when these powerful vested interests are intent on continuing their destructive ways?
Image credits: ClimateBen
Luckily, we still have a free and open internet (for now at least) and the truth on global warming and pressing social issues can only be hidden for so long. Climate Ben is one of many good folks online who is doing the job that the ‘big 6’ mega-media conglomerations are not, and keeping us aware of what is really going in the world.
Rather than ignoring the message while trying to shoot the messenger, Ben’s bad news is fully-sourced and backed by science, the same science that has a 97% consensus that humans are causing global warming, for example.
It’s time we free ourselves from this media bubble and begin to actively search for knowledge and answers, instead of trusting that the truth will be delivered to us on a plate! Because more often than not, it most certainly won’t. Diversify your media consumption and always remember to question a story’s source and possible motivations.
In the famous words of Fox Mulder: “The truth is out there…”
(You just gotta go find it!)
Image credits: ClimateBen
It is well-documented that the delicate eco-systems of the oceans, which cover 71% of the Earth’s surface, are being negatively affected by human behavior. We are fishing too much, contaminating even the deepest depths with our plastics, causing global warming – which is messing with things like the food chain, ocean currents and acidification, and encroaching on the last refuges of marine wilderness.
Image credits: ClimateBen
Scientists, backed by data and research, have been warning about the extent of environmental damage and the resulting biological annihilation for some time now – over 25 years in fact. The situation has become so severe that we are now in the midst of the ‘sixth mass extinction,‘ something signaled by the huge vertebrate population losses and declines that we are currently witnessing.
Image credits: ClimateBen
Agriculture has enabled human beings to become the Earth’s truly dominant species and lift us out of short, savage lives as hunter-gatherers. However, while modern industrial agriculture is good at feeding populations it is not sustainable at its current rate.
We have treated farming like an extractive industry, and now a third of the planet’s land is severely degraded. Fertile soil is being lost at the rate of 24bn tonnes a year – according to a United Nations-backed study that calls for a shift away from destructively intensive agriculture – and we aren’t getting any of it back unless we change our farming practices.
Image credits: ClimateBen
Megafauna, think species like the Western gorilla, black rhino and Bengal tiger are on the verge of extinction because of human activities leading to habitat loss, persecution, and exploitation. Under a business-as-usual scenario, conservation scientists will soon be busy writing obituaries for species and subspecies of megafauna as they vanish from the planet – we are losing them just as science is discovering their essential ecological roles.
Image credits: ClimateBen
Over 40% of insect species are threatened with extinction, with habitat loss by conversion to intensive agriculture being the main driver of the declines. Agro-chemical pollutants, invasive species and climate change are additional causes, and this loss of insect diversity and abundance is expected to provoke cascading effects on food webs and to jeopardize entire ecosystems.
So in an attempt to produce as much food as quickly and efficiently as we possibly can, we are in fact killing the goose that lays the golden egg.
Image credits: ClimateBen
Image credits: ClimateBen
Climate Ben believes that the “vast majority” of political commentators “seldom or never mention the Ecological Emergency,” and so uses the power of social media like Twitter to tag and link them to important articles and journals that report the latest scientific findings.
Image credits: ClimateBen
https://twitter.com/GretaThunberg/status/1056171209874948098
Image credits: ClimateBen
“Earth’s sixth mass extinction episode has proceeded further than most assume. The massive loss of populations is already damaging the services ecosystems provide to civilization. When considering this frightening assault on the foundations of human civilization, one must never forget that Earth’s capacity to support life, including human life, has been shaped by life itself.”
“All signs point to ever more powerful assaults on biodiversity in the next two decades, painting a dismal picture of the future of life, including human life.”
Image credits: ClimateBen
https://twitter.com/ClimateBen/status/1104689919157506049
“The inevitable has happened. Microplastics have already been found in birds and fish and whales, so it should have come as no surprise that they have now been discovered in humans. To be specific but indelicate, tiny plastic particles and fibers have been found in the stool of eight people who provided samples as part of a pilot study.”
Image credits: ClimateBen
Image credits: ClimateBen
Image credits: ClimateBen
Image credits: ClimateBen
Image credits: ClimateBen
Image credits: ClimateBen
Image credits: ClimateBen
Image credits: ClimateBen
Image credits: ClimateBen
38Kviews
Share on FacebookThat George Carlin quote was funny. He had other quotes that were just as funny: ""Did you ever think about the arithmetic?" he goes on. "The planet has been here 4-1/2 billion years. We've been here, what, 100,000, maybe 200,000? And we've only been engaged in heavy industry for a little over 200 years. Two hundred years vs. 4-1/2 billion. And we have the conceit to think that somehow we are a threat? That somehow we are gonna put in jeopardy this beautiful little green ball that's just floating around the sun. The planet has been through a lot worse than us. The planet isn't going anywhere — we are."
I live in Hawaii in a very "non-tourist" area. Yet when I walk the dog on our beach, you'd be saddened beyond belief at the amount of trash I pick up. The waves often roll right up to our fence and leave behind rocks, shells, seaweed, and trash. And when we have strong rain it's even worse. It is not unusual to see the local neighbors walking the beach with bags collecting the debris, down to pea sized plastic. The worst is the plastic, it's very sad. Litter has always been a pet-peeve for me. To give me some peace... I am including a pic of a Hawaiian Monk Seal basking in the sun about 6 doors down. I took this photo 4 months ago. 57284421_2...68544d.jpg
This all looks a bit too much like a preacher going "The end is nigh, fear GOD and beg for forgiveness."
"Forests will soon be gone" In Asia, North America and Europe, forest area has been increasing for years. Because of modern farming practices, we can feed more people using less land, so we get to replant tallgrass prairie and let trees grow on formerly cultivated land. This also helps with #3, fertile soil, #4 megafauna, and #5, insects. We have 200+ elk in the valley where we live and work. And I can assure you that in SW Colorado, the insects showed up this spring in staggering numbers, due to the amount of snow we got over the winter. I even saw a couple new large beehives in hollow trees.
The right wing media has done a fantastic job of portraying people that care about the planet as "lefties" "weirdos" or "hippies" because it suits there agenda. stop being sheep and denying what is already evident. Yes big government in USA,Europe,India,China etc need to do more, yes massive corporations need to do a hell of a lot more but you can start now in your tiny way. If you have a child or are a person under 30 why wouldn't you want a better world for them even if you dont believe it, the planet today is horrible, its getting worse and we can take action or we can scoff and wait until its to late.
The "right wing" media ? You obviously don't live in the US.
Load More Replies...Ha! Plastic in the blood! This guy is... Wow. The very fact he thinks just because these aren't on the front pages of newspaper shows how f*****g lost he is in the head, along with thinking we have plastic in our blood, hahaha. All of these subjects are spoken about on social media, TV, conversations among peers. Another virtue signaller thinking he's so aware of what's going on and no one else is. Returd.
I have not read your article except the notations on your list of problems. I think that the culprit is the inhabitants of the earth and individuals whom do not care because such is a bit of respect of self. If they could consistently toss trash and problems of pollution around then I could only imagine what their personal relationships and worldly views such as vehicles, homes, and etc looks like... Cheerio!
This is all well and good, it needs to be discussed and the light shine upon it. However, don't complain about Brazilians burning the Amazon if you are driving a huge inefficient SUV while drinking $6 latte's and complaining about how 72F in your house is too hot to manage. If you are not reducing your personal consumption, reducing your plastic intake as much as you can and recycling what you must then you are contributing to it all. I see wealthy people holding private summits on saving Earth all while flown all over the world in private jets and being driven everywhere in huge limos like they are this era's Marie Antoinette.
The biggest problem is that it’s treated like an individual’s issue to fight & correct, while the problem is corporate & industrial. Yeah, we could all go vegan today to stop animal agriculture from making money, but there’s no f*****g way that’ll happen (especially not while the mainstream media continues to act like veganism is crazy & vegans are horrible people... just like THIS f*****g website does on the no-stream Internet time-waster media). Until governments mandate sweeping changes for the best interests of survival of civilization, almost no one will make these changes, & ZERO corporations have the sanity to stop their destructive b******t (all of which is executed for short-term gains, where all the wealth goes to the top 10%). Until governments stop corporations from privatizing the gains & socializing the losses, we as individuals will continue to be f****d by them all. Government isn’t doing its duty & the people don’t have the collective will to demand they take action.
“We’re so self-important. Everybody’s going to save something now. “Save the trees, save the bees, save the whales, save those snails.” And the greatest arrogance of all: save the planet. Save the planet, we don’t even know how to take care of ourselves yet. I’m tired of this s**t. I’m tired of f-ing Earth Day. I’m tired of these self-righteous environmentalists, these white, bourgeois liberals who think the only thing wrong with this country is that there aren’t enough bicycle paths. People trying to make the world safe for Volvos. Besides, environmentalists don’t give a s**t about the planet. Not in the abstract they don’t. You know what they’re interested in? A clean place to live. Their own habitat. They’re worried that some day in the future they might be personally inconvenienced. Narrow, unenlightened self-interest doesn’t impress me."...............George Carlin
The sky is falling................again. It''s a hell of thing to live your life in fear.
You lead a sad life. Try to find joy and take off your aluminum foil hat.
Load More Replies...There's not enough mass in our Sun for it to become a supernova. It is expected to become a red giant, and then probably a white drarf.
Load More Replies...That George Carlin quote was funny. He had other quotes that were just as funny: ""Did you ever think about the arithmetic?" he goes on. "The planet has been here 4-1/2 billion years. We've been here, what, 100,000, maybe 200,000? And we've only been engaged in heavy industry for a little over 200 years. Two hundred years vs. 4-1/2 billion. And we have the conceit to think that somehow we are a threat? That somehow we are gonna put in jeopardy this beautiful little green ball that's just floating around the sun. The planet has been through a lot worse than us. The planet isn't going anywhere — we are."
I live in Hawaii in a very "non-tourist" area. Yet when I walk the dog on our beach, you'd be saddened beyond belief at the amount of trash I pick up. The waves often roll right up to our fence and leave behind rocks, shells, seaweed, and trash. And when we have strong rain it's even worse. It is not unusual to see the local neighbors walking the beach with bags collecting the debris, down to pea sized plastic. The worst is the plastic, it's very sad. Litter has always been a pet-peeve for me. To give me some peace... I am including a pic of a Hawaiian Monk Seal basking in the sun about 6 doors down. I took this photo 4 months ago. 57284421_2...68544d.jpg
This all looks a bit too much like a preacher going "The end is nigh, fear GOD and beg for forgiveness."
"Forests will soon be gone" In Asia, North America and Europe, forest area has been increasing for years. Because of modern farming practices, we can feed more people using less land, so we get to replant tallgrass prairie and let trees grow on formerly cultivated land. This also helps with #3, fertile soil, #4 megafauna, and #5, insects. We have 200+ elk in the valley where we live and work. And I can assure you that in SW Colorado, the insects showed up this spring in staggering numbers, due to the amount of snow we got over the winter. I even saw a couple new large beehives in hollow trees.
The right wing media has done a fantastic job of portraying people that care about the planet as "lefties" "weirdos" or "hippies" because it suits there agenda. stop being sheep and denying what is already evident. Yes big government in USA,Europe,India,China etc need to do more, yes massive corporations need to do a hell of a lot more but you can start now in your tiny way. If you have a child or are a person under 30 why wouldn't you want a better world for them even if you dont believe it, the planet today is horrible, its getting worse and we can take action or we can scoff and wait until its to late.
The "right wing" media ? You obviously don't live in the US.
Load More Replies...Ha! Plastic in the blood! This guy is... Wow. The very fact he thinks just because these aren't on the front pages of newspaper shows how f*****g lost he is in the head, along with thinking we have plastic in our blood, hahaha. All of these subjects are spoken about on social media, TV, conversations among peers. Another virtue signaller thinking he's so aware of what's going on and no one else is. Returd.
I have not read your article except the notations on your list of problems. I think that the culprit is the inhabitants of the earth and individuals whom do not care because such is a bit of respect of self. If they could consistently toss trash and problems of pollution around then I could only imagine what their personal relationships and worldly views such as vehicles, homes, and etc looks like... Cheerio!
This is all well and good, it needs to be discussed and the light shine upon it. However, don't complain about Brazilians burning the Amazon if you are driving a huge inefficient SUV while drinking $6 latte's and complaining about how 72F in your house is too hot to manage. If you are not reducing your personal consumption, reducing your plastic intake as much as you can and recycling what you must then you are contributing to it all. I see wealthy people holding private summits on saving Earth all while flown all over the world in private jets and being driven everywhere in huge limos like they are this era's Marie Antoinette.
The biggest problem is that it’s treated like an individual’s issue to fight & correct, while the problem is corporate & industrial. Yeah, we could all go vegan today to stop animal agriculture from making money, but there’s no f*****g way that’ll happen (especially not while the mainstream media continues to act like veganism is crazy & vegans are horrible people... just like THIS f*****g website does on the no-stream Internet time-waster media). Until governments mandate sweeping changes for the best interests of survival of civilization, almost no one will make these changes, & ZERO corporations have the sanity to stop their destructive b******t (all of which is executed for short-term gains, where all the wealth goes to the top 10%). Until governments stop corporations from privatizing the gains & socializing the losses, we as individuals will continue to be f****d by them all. Government isn’t doing its duty & the people don’t have the collective will to demand they take action.
“We’re so self-important. Everybody’s going to save something now. “Save the trees, save the bees, save the whales, save those snails.” And the greatest arrogance of all: save the planet. Save the planet, we don’t even know how to take care of ourselves yet. I’m tired of this s**t. I’m tired of f-ing Earth Day. I’m tired of these self-righteous environmentalists, these white, bourgeois liberals who think the only thing wrong with this country is that there aren’t enough bicycle paths. People trying to make the world safe for Volvos. Besides, environmentalists don’t give a s**t about the planet. Not in the abstract they don’t. You know what they’re interested in? A clean place to live. Their own habitat. They’re worried that some day in the future they might be personally inconvenienced. Narrow, unenlightened self-interest doesn’t impress me."...............George Carlin
The sky is falling................again. It''s a hell of thing to live your life in fear.
You lead a sad life. Try to find joy and take off your aluminum foil hat.
Load More Replies...There's not enough mass in our Sun for it to become a supernova. It is expected to become a red giant, and then probably a white drarf.
Load More Replies...
216
96