Hello there, my name is Paul Booker. Thank you for visiting my website.

Here are my thoughts on climate breakdown and the future of work (May, 2023)

Where we are now

It is no longer possible to reverse the damage that is now being done to the climate of our only home — planet Earth. Even if we all stopped burning fossil fuels today, it wouldn't make any difference. It is no longer possible to do something that will prevent runaway climate breakdown and the 6th mass exinction of life on Earth! This civilisation is now finished!!. The amount of carbon dioxide we are putting into the atmosphere today is still increasing, it has been increasing since the industrial revolution. Over the last 30 years, it has not just been increasing, we have been putting carbon dioxide (and other greenhouse gases) into the atmosphere at a faster and faster and faster rate!!! This is now resulting in the irreversible heating of our planet from positive feedback loops like the melting of snow and ice at the polar regions [*] and the abrupt thawing of permafrost in the Arctic [**]. These and other irreversible changes to our climate (which are happening now) will ensure that our planet will now only ever get hotter and hotter and hotter for the lifetime of people alive today. The UK reached 40C last year in some parts of the country for the first time in recorded history (probably for the first time in millions of years). This year it is going to be hotter than last year. We already have the hottest June on record! (There may be other records broken since June) Next year it will be hotter again. It has been getting hotter year after year after year for the last 20 years!

Food shortages are coming soon, followed by breakdown of law and order. More people will be on the move around the world looking for food, water and safety for their families. We will then probably enter a long period of instability with wars between nation states & nation states breaking down followed by ..

What we should do as individuals

At a minimum all working people should have the right to direct their labour towards making their local communities more resilient for the future ie. growing food, planting trees, recycling, etc. If you are currently in a job that is directly contributing to climate & ecological breakdown (which definitely does not help your family or local communities) you should decide whether you should remove your labour (or have your labour removed) or actively work against tasks that are performed while carrying out your job, that are impacting the environment.

What we should do as a society

Ideally, it would be good if everyone who wanted to could remove their labour on the grounds of not wanting to do harm to the environment. If you can’t do good for your local community, you should at the very least be able to do no harm. Their should be a basic income for all that want to remove their labour which should be paid for by a tax on wealth created from (or associated with) the burning of fossil fuels, wealth that was made from destroying our planet.

What I am going to do

In the not too distant future (if we don't go immediately for nuclear Armageddon) I hope to eventually find work that will be of value to my local community, that could be helping with growing food, planting trees, etc. In the era of (accelerating) climate breakdown there should be full employment with everyone working to make their local community self-sufficient. I hope to find opportunities to talk about these ideas with other people in my community, and investigate how to get more involved with climate activism.

I would like to suggest that we should all consider the following when thinking about work:

The breakdown of our climate and the destruction of the natural world was not caused by ordinary working people.
Removing your labour can be a moral response to climate & ecological breakdown.
A basic income should be provided to anyone who wants to remove their labour as a moral response to climate & ecological breakdown. This should be paid for by a tax on wealth created from (or benefiting from) the burning of fossil fuels.

UPDATE

I believe we only have only a few years before there is a breakdown of society.

In the future I may decide to participate in nonviolent civil resistance to demand the UK Government stop licensing new oil, gas and coal projects.

[*] with less snow and ice in the polar regions less radiation (heat) from the sun is reflected back into space, and more radiation is absorbed by our oceans

[**] releasing more greenhouse gases (including methane) into the atmosphere capturing more heat from the sun

Here are my thoughts on raising taxes (money) for public services. [1st draft]

The way we should raise money for public spending is first to determine what public services we need and then to raise the money for these services through taxes where citizens with the most wealth contribute the most (on a sliding scale). We should not decide how much taxes should be raised and then decide how to spend the money as we would always raise too little money and then have to spend a lot of time and energy deciding how to spend the money, or who gets the money.

The next thing to consider is that money is a convenient fiction that we have created. Money is not real. People are real. The planet is real. Money is not real. When we say we want to raise money to fund all of the public services that we need, all we are really saying is that we want to organise our society so that power and resources are distributed so that all of the public services that we need are provided. In this way of thinking there is still room for individuals to acquire power and resources, it is just that personal wealth cannot be acquired to the detriment of anyone and everyone.

Money is not subject to immutable physical laws like gravity it is just an elaborate game we have created subject to arbitrary rules that people can change. It is just a game. A game of power and resources.

When talking about our public services we need to stop talking about money and talk about power & resources. We can build a society with all the public services we need, there is nothing stopping us, certainly not money!