Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Rapid changes in climate and politics


Don Enss

Being a writer in today’s fast moving world is a real challenge. Some of what you write today may be out of date by tomorrow, which makes blogs like Dr. Oliver’s and social media more relevant than books when we’re discussing critical issues.

For example, since Naomi Klein’s book was published in 2014, there have been some rapid changes in both the climate and in politics. On page 179, she spoke of Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff reducing its extreme poverty rate by 65 percent. She has since been impeached and removed from office last month, August 2016. She mentioned Hugo Chavez and Venezuela slashing the percentage of the population living in extreme poverty by more than half. He died in 2013, and according to a June 22, 2016 article in the Guardian, it “is suffering the worst economic crisis in its history. Ordinary people in the oil-rich country are regularly going without food. Three-quarter empty supermarkets are being ransacked by angry, hungry mobs. The government has declared a state of emergency, food is now being transported under armed guard, and basic necessities are being rationed. People have to queue for hours and sometimes overnight on their assigned days to receive staples like rice and cooking oil.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/22/venezuela-economic-crisis-guardian-briefing

On the plus side, President Rafael Correa of Ecuador was elected to an unprecedented third term in 2013, which already violates their Constitution but he has above 50% approval rating, so I guess they were willing to overlook that. It will be interesting to see what happens in 2017 when they have their next presidential election.


The scary side of this is, what has happened to our environment since she published her book?

1 comment:

  1. It's true, climate-related events are moving at a pace that threatens to outstrip reflective forethought. All the more reason to fix our sites on the long-term and make a plan that won't be buffeted by the news headlines. But we have to commit ourselves to sustained attention, and not forget to persevere. Books still seem like a good anchor to help us do that.

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