Ilektra A. | Red Phoenix correspondent | Oregon–

While late January saw much of the eastern half of the United States get pummeled by a massive and frigid winter storm, knocking out power for nearly 200,000 people and leaving at least 85 dead, the west coast is experiencing the opposite. An atypically warm and dry winter season has left much of the Pacific Northwest with very little snowfall for this time of year, leading to record low snowpack in Oregon. This record snow drought is not a fluke, but rather a direct symptom of the capitalist system’s inherent tendency to prioritize profit over the needs of the planet, which has led to worsening climate change as the average global temperature continues to increase due elevated carbon emissions, which are showing no signs of slowing down.

Historically, January tends to see significant snowfall in the region, however this winter, Oregon’s snowpack, or the amount of water trapped within the accumulated snow, is currently the lowest it’s ever been, just 2.9 inches across the entire state. This level is 30% lower than the previous record low, recorded back in 2015. During the summer of that year, the entire state was under extreme drought conditions, and experienced widespread, dangerous wildfires. When snowpack levels are lower than they’re supposed to be, all of the accumulated snow melts off sooner than usual, leading to droughts and a larger window of opportunity for wildfires to start, which cause widespread destruction, destroy towns, kill people and animals, and create health hazards for those with respiratory vulnerabilities.

It is important to recognize that issues like this aren’t formed in a vacuum. While yes, there are sometimes unusually warm winters and unusually cool summers as part of living on a planet with a diverse ecosystem and variable climate, there is a clearly established pattern the past few decades showing the average global temperature has been increasing more and more quickly each year. The cause? By and large, carbon emissions from the use of fossil fuels like coal and oil, which add heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere in larger quantities than can be absorbed by the environment.

We have known about the harmful side effects of these fossil fuel byproducts for years, but the capitalist-imperialist system on which the entire global economy operates can only allow the relentless pursuit of profit for those at the reigns of power, even if that very pursuit will lead to the destruction of the environment and render our planet inhospitable for life as we know it. It is simply more profitable for the capitalist class to continue on its merry way extracting and burning fossil fuels than it is to dismantle the dirty energy industry and replace it with cleaner, more renewable options.

What’s more, the new Trump regime has been systematically rolling back environmental protections by eliminating emissions regulations. This February, the regime is positioned to repeal the EPA’s “endangerment finding,” which determined that six greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride (all byproducts of burning fossil fuels) – are a single air pollutant harmful to public health. This 2009 finding previously allowed the EPA to establish climate regulations including limits of car and power plant emissions. The repeal of this finding, as proposed by the regime, would eliminate these regulations in one broad sweep, paving the way for even more emissions and causing even more severe climate catastrophes than we’re already witnessing.

The open wholesale betrayal of our planet and the more than 8 billion people who live on it is an absolute tragedy and a crime to the highest degree. In a just world, all of the people responsible would be tried and dealt with as enemies of humanity and the planet Earth, and our global energy ecosystem would be replaced with a clean, safe, renewable-dominated one, characterized by wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, and nuclear power, allowing us to build and live in a modern society that can exist in harmony with the natural world. But we do not as of yet live in a just world. Rather, we live in a world marked by widespread exploitation of the many by the few, and of massive capital accumulation in the hands of the ruling class.

However, hope is not lost. Through heightened discipline and organization, we, the working class, have the collective power to overthrow these environmental parasites and build a new, just world that meets the needs of all of us while simultaneously protecting the health and prosperity of the planet we live on. All we need to do is unite to make that world a reality.

Categories: Environment, U.S. News