A-Infos (en) Italy, Sicilia Libertaria #471 - ANTHROPOCENE OR CAPITOLOCENE? - On the Dark Present and the Possible Future (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

The sultry summer we're experiencing is further evidence of ongoing 
climate change. The scientific community has long identified its cause 
in human activity resulting from industrialization: the term 
Anthropocene was coined for this reason. While the responsibility is 
certainly human, not all humans are equally responsible for the disaster 
we're facing; some, in fact, prefer to speak of the Capitoline cene, 
that is, the role of the capitalist system, or at least an economic 
system based on unlimited growth and development that ignores the finite 
nature and human circumstances. What can we do in the face of all this? 
While the fight against the capitalist system is central, even small 
initiatives that local communities can undertake are crucial: to reverse 
the trend of rising temperatures, to restore space for collective action.

Of the dark present and the possible future

During the scorching nights when you can't sleep, during the days at the 
beach when you can't find any relief even by submerging yourself in the 
water, during the violent summer and winter storms and cyclones when all 
that remains is to assess the damage and the victims, during the water 
supply outages when you vainly promise yourself to take action, 
during... during... during... The list of emergencies attributable to 
climate change is endless, and many of them are now part of everyday 
life, even though many more await us just around the corner. If anyone 
still doesn't know what we're talking about, just take a look at the 
website of the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security.

Climate change refers to the significant and persistent alteration of 
the Earth's climate. According to the international scientific 
community, this phenomenon is directly or indirectly attributable to 
human activities that alter the composition of the global atmosphere, 
particularly through increased concentrations of greenhouse gases. The 
greenhouse effect is a natural phenomenon that allows the Earth to 
maintain a temperature compatible with life. However, increased 
anthropogenic emissions have intensified this mechanism.

The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has now exceeded 420 parts 
per million (ppm), reaching levels not seen for hundreds of thousands of 
years.

According to the latest available data from the Italian National 
Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), updated to 
2023-2024: - the average temperature in Italy has increased by more than 
1.5°C compared to pre-industrial levels, with a growth trend above the 
global average in the Mediterranean area; - recent years have been among 
the warmest ever recorded in national historical series; - there has 
been an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather 
events, including episodes of intense precipitation, heat waves, and 
prolonged droughts; - Alpine glaciers continue to experience a marked 
reduction in surface area and volume; - critical issues related to 
hydrogeological instability and water stress persist, with significant 
impacts on ecosystems, agriculture, and infrastructure; over 94% of 
Italian municipalities are exposed to landslide, flood, and erosion 
risks. Other consequences of climate change include: rising average 
ocean levels (approximately 3.4 millimeters per year over the past two 
decades) and the advance of salt wedges in coastal areas; reduced 
freshwater availability (which decreases by 20% for every degree of 
increase in temperature) and river flow (with increased drought risk); 
an overall decrease in annual precipitation of 10-30%, increasing the 
risk of fires and greenhouse gas emissions, both directly and through 
the destruction of vegetation cover. Desertification will also spread, 
understood as both the emergence of new desert areas and the decline in 
soil productivity due to a reduction in organic matter, which is 
estimated to affect approximately 39% of the total land surface, 21% of 
Europe's, and as much as 70% of Sicily's. The increase in temperature 
and the intensity of related phenomena will not be homogeneous; the 
Mediterranean regions, especially Italy and even more so Sicily, are hot 
spots, that is, areas where the phenomenon could exceed the global 
average by 20%.

But the consequences don't stop there. Already in 1990, the first Report 
on Climate Change compiled by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on 
Climate Change), the UN scientific commission established in 1988, 
established the link between the climate crisis and the forced 
relocation of millions of people | climate or environmental migrants | 
acknowledging a phenomenon difficult to quantify due to its complexity. 
The conservative estimates made by the IPCC, the IOM (International 
Organization for Migration), and the World Bank predict that, by 2050, 
the number of people who could become permanent environmental refugees 
will be between 150 and 200 million. The already significant migration 
phenomenon will therefore become central in the coming years, and what 
Christian Parenti calls the "policy of the armed lifeboat," which Meloni 
and the right in general, both European and national, trumpet as a 
success | namely, the militarization of borders and an aggressive 
anti-immigration policy | will not be enough to stem it. A policy that 
today concerns individuals from so-called poor countries, but which in 
the not-too-distant future could also affect populations in developed 
countries, Italy first and foremost, given the greater impact of climate 
change on our country. Then perhaps we will be able to admit that a 
nation's wealth or poverty depends not on the laziness or 
industriousness of its people, but on a specific economic system that 
bases the privilege of a few on the exploitation of others. And we will 
no longer be able to ignore the fact that it is impossible for every 
family in the world to have two cars, a washing machine, and a 
refrigerator, not for economic reasons, but because otherwise humanity 
would risk self-annihilation. Just as we can no longer turn a blind eye 
to the fact that the current accumulation of greenhouse gases in the 
atmosphere is due to excessive production in developed countries, the 
developing nations that have recently joined have only accelerated the 
ongoing process. Therefore, if, as would be logical, climate justice 
were applied, the reductions would benefit some much more than others. 
Geologist David Archer estimates that if a truly equitable solution to 
the emissions problem were to be found, "in the developed world, cuts of 
around 80% would be necessary. For the United States, Canada, and 
Australia, the cuts would be closer to 90%." Because it's undeniable 
that cuts are necessary, and even if the burden of climate change is to 
be borne by the poor and vulnerable, both internationally and within 
individual countries, it's clear that the consequences will also be felt 
by that segment of the population that is still privileged today, 
because infinite economic growth and environmental protection are 
incompatible, despite the vaunted resources of technology. This raises 
the question, albeit a legitimate one,that global inaction on the 
climate crisis is not due to confusion or poor planning but to a 
deliberate intent to maintain the status quo, as negotiations on climate 
change could alter the current balance of power and poor countries could 
begin to demand compensation for the disastrous environmental conditions 
they find themselves having to contain even though they are not directly 
responsible for them.

In conclusion, it's legitimate to ask what paths we can take to emerge 
from the current crisis and seek a solution that will allow the women 
and men of tomorrow to continue inhabiting the Earth. First, we need to 
overturn the reality that is presented to us as the only possible one: 
the capitalist system and the consumerist society in which, in order to 
maintain the economy, we must consume daily, consume indiscriminately, 
even what we don't need, to the point of reaching the paradox that we 
don't produce to consume, but consume to produce. Human existence has 
thus transformed into a production of goods and services that satisfy 
continually expanded, artificial needs, attacking the earth and 
everything animate and inanimate upon it. In this system, based on 
social injustice, we have lost control of our lives: we depend on 
industry, specialists, the market, and technology. Meanwhile, we are 
blithely heading toward self-destruction. If we don't like this, we can 
resist it by becoming the change we wish to see. We can begin by 
promoting bottom-up resource management practices that place the 
environment and its rhythms at the center and ensure that every living 
being, human and otherwise, has what they need to live, not to consume. 
From this perspective, production will no longer aim for profit but to 
make essential goods available to all, freeing up resources for useful 
work such as agricultural practices, healthcare, or waste management. It 
is also important to change the organization of work so as not to 
separate intellectual from physical labor, to provide for a collective 
reduction in working hours and to rotate everyone across different 
activities, including those that are strenuous or unpleasant. This would 
create a society in which decisions are not made by a few to protect 
their own interests, but by many to promote collective well-being. A 
world in which words like profit, competition, and competitiveness are 
replaced by cooperation, collaboration, solidarity, and harmony.

Brunella Missorici

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