Tag: environment

Petroleum Industry.  Monopoly Capitalism. Protectionism.

~ nicholasjayboyes

  The answer to why Donald Trump is ramping up tariffs is protectionism, in particular to protect ExxonMobil and Chevron, who control much of the US market for petroleum.  Other countries like Britain own Shell and BP,; Total is owned by France.  By discouraging competition with tariffs, ExxonMobil and Chevron will control the US market for oil. 

Chevron has a history.  This work is  from Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia.

“Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation predominantly specializing in oil and gas. The second-largest direct descendant of Standard Oil, and originally known as the Standard Oil Company of California (shortened to Socal or CalSo), it is active in more than 180 countries. Within oil and gas, Chevron is vertically integrated and is involved in hydrocarbon exploration, production, refining, marketing and transport, chemicals manufacturing and sales, and power generation. 

Wikipedia Chevron 

Chevron is one of two massive companies that control much of the US market. There are 5 large oil companies in the world who control most or all of the market for petroleum production, refining, and selling the gas at gas stations.  They are ExxonMobil, the largest, Chevron, BP , Total, and Shell.  The Saudi Aramco company is in production of crude and are also a force to be reckoned with.

There was a time not so long ago, in memory, when the gas station was a family business.  That began to change in the 80’s and 90’s and now it is rare to find a family or small business owned gas pump.  Concentration of ownership by large capitalists removed the small gas stations, 

“Since the acquisition of the Pacific Coast Oil Company by Standard Oil, the Standard descendant had traditionally worked closely with Texaco for 100 years, before acquiring Texaco outright in 2001. “

Wikipedia Chevron

There went another large company to Chevron.  Texaco used to own gas stations, it is now all Chevron.

“Gulf Oil was a major global oil company in operation from 1901 to 1985.[1] The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth largest in 1979, Gulf Oil was one of the Seven Sisters oil companies. Prior to its merger with Standard Oil of California, Gulf was one of the chief instruments of the Mellon family fortune; both Gulf and Mellon Financial had their headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with Gulf’s headquarters, the Gulf Tower, being Pittsburgh’s tallest building until the completion of the U.S. Steel Tower.

“Gulf Oil Corporation (GOC) ceased to exist as an independent company in 1985, when it merged with Standard Oil of California (SOCAL), with both rebranding as Chevron in the United States. Gulf Canada, Gulf’s main Canadian subsidiary, was sold the same year with retail outlets to Ultramar and Petro-Canada and what became Gulf Canada Resources to Olympia & York.[2][3] 

Wikipedia Gulf Oil

“The term “Seven Sisters” refers to seven major, vertically integrated oil companies that dominated the global petroleum industry from the 1940s to the 1970s. They controlled a significant portion of the world’s oil reserves and production. The “Seven Sisters” were: Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (later BP), Royal Dutch Shell, Standard Oil Company of California (later Chevron), Gulf Oil (later merged with Chevron), Texaco (later merged with Chevron), Standard Oil Company of New Jersey (later Exxon, then ExxonMobil), and Standard Oil Company of New York (later Mobil, then ExxonMobil). “

Google search 7 sisters oil and gas

Basically Chevron and ExxonMobil are the main American petroleum producers, BP, Shell, and Total also dominate the market for oil.  These 5 companies also own gas stations, which as mentioned have become owned by a few large companies, rather than small businesses.  

“Hess Corporation (formerly Amerada Hess Corporation) is an American global independent energy company involved in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas.[3] It was formed by the merger of Hess Oil and Chemical and Amerada Petroleum in 1968. Leon Hess was CEO from the early 1960s through 1995, after which his son John B Hess succeeded him as chairman and CEO.[4] The company agreed to be acquired by rival oil company Chevron in October 2023.[5]

Wikipedia Hess company

This one has ties to the new fields in South America, in French Guyana.  It is now owned by Chevron.  

Exxon Mobil is the other American company that competes with Chevron, at least, if you believe that this small group of companies does not exert monopoly control of oil.  

“Exxon Mobil Corporation[a] (/ˌɛksɒnˈmoʊbəl/ EK-son-MOH-bəl)[4][5][6] is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston.[7][8]: 1  Founded as the largest direct successor of John D. Rockefeller‘s Standard Oil, the modern company was formed in 1999 following the merger of Exxon and Mobil. It is vertically integrated across the entire oil and gas industry, as well as within its chemicals division, which produces plastic, synthetic rubber, and other chemical products. As the largest U.S.-based oil and gas company, ExxonMobil is the seventh-largest company by revenue in the U.S. and 13th-largest in the world. It is the largest investor-owned oil company in the world.[9][10][11] Approximately 55.56% of the company’s shares are held by institutions, the largest of which as of 2019 were The Vanguard Group (8.15%), BlackRock (6.61%), and State Street Corporation (4.83%).

“The company has been widely criticized and sued, mostly for environmental incidents and its history of climate change denial against the scientific consensus that fossil fuels significantly contribute to global warming.[12] The company is responsible for many oil spills, the largest and most notable of which was the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska and itself considered to be one of the world’s worst oil spills in terms of environmental damage.[13][14] The company has been the target of accusations of human rights violations, excessive influence on American foreign policy, and its impact on developing countries.[15]

Wikipedia ExxonMobil

“ExxonMobil traces its roots to Vacuum Oil Company, founded in 1866. Vacuum Oil later was acquired by Standard Oil in 1879, divested from Standard in 1911 with its breakup, and merged by the Standard Oil Company of New York (Socony), later known as Mobil, in 1931. After the 1911 breakup, Standard Oil continued to exist through its New Jersey subsidiary, sometimes shortened to Jersey Standard, and retained the Standard Oil name in much of the eastern United States. Jersey Standard grew by acquiring Humble Oil in the 1930s and became the dominant oil company on the world stage. The company’s lack of ownership over the Standard Oil name across the United States, however, prompted a name change to unify all of its brands under one name, choosing to name itself Exxon in 1972 over continuing to use the three distinct brands of Esso, Enco, and Humble Oil.[16][17]

“In 1998, the two companies agreed to merge and form ExxonMobil, with the deal closing on November 30, 1999.

Wikipedia ibid

From here we pivot back to protectionism.  Oil from Canada is now under a 25%  tariff from Trump.  This number fluctuates as Trump has repeatedly threatened larger tariffs, and exempted Canadian oil from some tariffs. Trump’s tariffs change from day to day and seem to be more reliant on stock exchange numbers than anything else. 

“Marathon Petroleum Corporation is an American petroleum refining, marketing, and transportation company headquartered in Findlay, Ohio. The company was a wholly owned subsidiary of Marathon Oil until a corporate spin-off in 2011.

“The predecessor company of Marathon Petroleum Corporation, Marathon Petroleum Company LLC, formerly known as Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC, was formed by the merger of the refining operations of Marathon Oil and Ashland Inc. in 1998.[11] The merger brought together several descendants of the Standard Oil trust, as Ashland had acquired several smaller Standard spinoffs while Marathon itself was directly owned by Standard Oil. It also brought Marathon’s Speedway and Ashland’s SuperAmerica convenience store chains together and were subsequently merged as “Speedway SuperAmerica”.

“As longtime Marathon rivals Standard Oil of Ohio and Amoco were acquired by British company BP, Marathon Ashland adopted the marketing slogan “An American Company Serving America”, with the slogan being adjourned to Marathon fuel pumps. In 2006, it adopted its current slogan, “Fueling the American Spirit” as the company shifts emphasis on work ethic and the contributions of its employees.[12]

Wikipedia marathon petroleum

Mentioned above is a further ending of small businesses in petroleum, BP (British Petroleum) purchased Amaco.  Marathon is still a big gas station owner in companies with American ownership.  BP is massive, so is Total and Shell, and can leverage power in the market.  Marathon does refining, but it is not nearly as large as ExxonMobil or Chevron. Watch for concentration of ownership to consolidate  monopoly control of this company by the bigger competitors… 

Place tariffs on the oil from outside the country, and these three companies are in position to have monopoly control of petroleum in America.  It is probably not a coincidence that ExxonMobil are climate change skeptics, and Trump is too.  

These dinosaurs pump and sell as much oil as possible, with little or no concern about climate change.  The goal is to make a profit, not to promote proletarian ecological visions.

Consolidation of ownership occurs after every periodic crisis that comes in the business cycle of what we know of as modern capitalism.  The economy starts off after the last crisis. Workers return to their jobs, business starts moving again.  The unemployed army of workers who work in the precarious position of unskilled labor are slowly reemployed.  Business picks up further, the economy starts to pick up a trot.  Employment increases, and profit is created.

Then, there comes overproduction.  The speculation on the ability of the market to exchange commodities begins to falter.  The crisis comes, and the workers are out on the streets again, unemployed.  The machines are no longer working, capital is being destroyed. The crisis is social; there are workers hungry and jaundiced, the machines to provide for them unable to be used due to capitalism. 

At this point the large companies buy at ridiculously low prices their former competitors.  This process gives rise to massive capitalist companies in control of things like petroleum.  

American goals of returning to small businesses in control of, for example,  gas stations, is a futile endeavor.  The Standard Oil monopoly that preceded ExxonMobil and Chevron’s trust was hit with antitrust in the 20th century.  As we can see, monopoly control of petroleum came raging back.  There we have Trump, climate change skeptic, supporter of large petroleum industries, also throttling forward gasoline powered engines for cars.  Built by Detroit, the large engine petroleum motors propel people where they need to go.  

Attempts at building electric cars are now dominated by China, where EV’s cost as little as $10,000. Compare that to an American car, the low end is about $33,000, it is more expensive to buy an American petroleum powered vehicle than a Chinese EV..

Trump to the rescue, with 100% tariffs on Chinese EV”s.  Protectionism rears its head, bourgeois gas companies are favored to powering cars with electricity.  Combine this with Detroit’s failure to go metric, and it all becomes clear.

Protectionism is required to keep 20th century industry moving.  The petroleum powered car has reached its climax. It peaked about 4 years ago, and is now being replaced with cheap electric vehicles, in particular from China.  A return to a past era is promoted, “make America great again” sums up this desire.

Small business will not be returning, without a massive crisis.  The companies are all in trusts, monopoly or duopoly are the real conditions.  These same conditions create a class of people who own little or no real property, they do not own the means of production.  They are wage labor,  they work part of the day for these large companies and are not paid for their labour.  Rather surplus value is created.  This surplus value is created any time productive labor is employed.  And it increases as industry grows larger, more concentrated.  

These old industries were all created to make surplus value, essentially profit.  The whole pattern of industry and society  was shaped by them.  What will their end bring? 

Will the companies that were most responsible for capitalism, and its surplus value,  disappear?  Will surplus value go with these monopolies and trusts being dismantled?  It shouldn’t seem so ridiculous that with the failure of the 20th century non metric factories socialism is being discussed.  The ecological movement taught us about what forms of repression come with asking the bourgeoisie to clean up their act. How can you trust them to clean up the environment when they sell pollution on the market, as carbon credits?

As we slowly leave the 20th century, society is progressing.  Our reliance on petroleum is starting to end.  Will we leave what we know of as capitalism, when we are no longer reliant on these forms of industry?

Nicholas Jay Boyes

Milwaukee Wisconsin

American Democratic Republic

Chlorpyrifos; its Use and Effects.  Legal and Political Struggles.  8 8 2025

~ nicholasjayboyes

The presence of pesticides has been a persistent problem since their development in the 20th century. There have been a number of industrial failures attached to this technology, notable the use of DDT and a close call with the extinction of the Bald Eagle, the national bird.

This led to the banning of DDT.  Compounding the bird problem was the use of DDT in Agent Orange, used to remove the Vietnamese rainforest, where the American bourgeoisie was fighting a land reform movement.  Not only were the victims of Agent Orange the residents of Vietnam, their own soldiers came back with strange cancers.

The current pesticides it is now coming out are associated with autism, and gender reversal, and other gender problems.

“Chlorpyrifos (CPS), also known as chlorpyrifos ethyl, is an organophosphate pesticide that has been used on crops, animals, in buildings, and in other settings, to kill several pests, including insects and worms. It acts on the nervous systems of insects by inhibiting the acetylcholinesterase enzyme.[7][8] Chlorpyrifos was patented in 1966 by Dow Chemical Company”
“Chlorpyrifos is considered moderately hazardous to humans (Class II) by the World Health Organization based on acute toxicity information dating to 1999.[10] Exposure surpassing recommended levels has been linked to neurological effects, persistent developmental disorders, and autoimmune disorders. Exposure during pregnancy may harm the mental development of children.”
In the United Kingdom, the use of chlorpyrifos was banned as of 1 April 2016 (with one minor exception).[12] As of 2020, chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos-methyl were banned throughout the European Union, where they may no longer be used.[13] The EU also applied to have chlorpyrifos listed as a persistent organic pollutant under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.[14] In May 2025, it actually got listed as a POP.”

“As of August 18, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a ban on the use of chlorpyrifos on food crops in the United States.”

Long term

Development

“Epidemiological and experimental animal studies suggest that infants and children are more susceptible than adults to the effects of low-dose exposure.[49][50] Chlorpyrifos has been suggested to have negative impacts on cognitive functions in the developing brain.[51] The young have a decreased capacity to detoxify chlorpyrifos and its metabolites. It is suggested that adolescents differ from adults in the metabolism of these compounds due to the maturation of organs in adolescents.[52] This results in disruption in nervous system developmental processes, as observed in animal experiments.[49] There are several studies observed in animals that show that chlorpyrifos alters the expression of essential genes that assist in the development of the brain.”

“Human studies: In multiple epidemiological studies, chlorpyrifos exposure during gestation or childhood has been linked with lower birth weight and neurological changes such as slower motor development and attention problems.[50][53] Children with prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos have been shown to have lower IQs.[54] They have also been shown to have a higher chance of developing autism, attention deficit problems, and developmental disorders.[55] A cohort of 7-year-old children was studied for neurological damage from prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos. The study determined that the exposed children had deficits in working memory and full scale intelligence quotient (IQ).[55] In a study on groups of Chinese infants, those exposed to chlorpyrifos showed significant decreases in motor functions such as reflexes, locomotion, and grasping at 9 months compared to those not exposed.[56] Exposure to organophosphate pesticides in general has been increasingly associated with changes in children’s cognitive, behavioral and motor performance.[57][58] Infant girls were shown to be more susceptible to harmful effects from organophosphate insecticides than infant boys.”

“Animal experiments: In experiments with rats, early, short-term low-dose exposure to chlorpyrifos resulted in lasting neurological changes, with larger effects on emotional processing and cognition than on motor skills.[50] Such rats exhibited behaviors consistent with depression and reduced anxiety.[50] In rats, low-level exposure during development has its greatest neurotoxic effects during the period in which sex differences in the brain develop. Exposure leads to reductions or reversals of normal gender differences.[59] Exposure to low levels of chlorpyrifos early in rat life or as adults also affects metabolism and body weight.[60] These rats show increased body weight as well as changes in liver function and chemical indicators similar to prediabetes, likely associated with changes to the cyclic AMP system.[60] Moreover, experiments with zebrafish showed significant detriments to survivability, reproductive processes, and motor function. Varying doses created a 30%–100% mortality rate of embryos after 90 days. Embryos were shown to have decreased mitosis, resulting in mortality or developmental dysfunctions. In the experiments where embryos did survive, spinal lordosis and lower motor functions were observed. The same study showed that chlorpyrifos had more severe morphological deformities and mortality in embryos than diazinon, another commonly used organophosphate insecticide.”

Wikipedia Chlorpyrifos

Here we see Chlorpyrifos is clearly associated with Autism, and on the verge of being totally banned in America.  It has already been banned in the European Union, as it causes neurological damage to humans.

In the animal studies it is remarkable the studies showed gender effects on young animals.  Given the bent of the bourgeoisie who support DOW Chemicals, who brought us this material, the idea pesticides are causing people to be gay can only be described as humorous.  

Article continues

“Children of agricultural workers are more likely to come into contact with chlorpyrifos. A study done in an agricultural community in Washington State showed that children who lived in closer proximity to farmlands had higher levels of chlorpyrifos residues from house dust.[82] Chlorpyrifos residues were also found on work boots and children’s hands, showing that agricultural families could take home these residues from their jobs.[82] Urban and suburban children get most of their chlorpyrifos exposure from fruits and vegetables.[83] A study done in North Carolina on children’s exposure showed that chlorpyrifos was detected in 50% of the food, dust, and air samples in both their homes and daycare, with the main route of exposure being through ingestion.[84] Certain other populations with higher likely exposure to chlorpyrifos, such as people who apply pesticides, work on farms, or live in agricultural communities, have been measured in the US to excrete TCPy in their urine at levels that are 5 to 10 times greater than levels in the general population.” 

“As of 2016, chlorpyrifos was the most used conventional insecticide in the US and was used in over 40 states; the top five states (in total pounds applied) are California, North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, and Texas. It was used on over 50 crops, with the top five crops (in total pounds applied) being soybeans, corn, alfalfa, oranges, and almonds. Additionally, crops with 30% or more of the crop treated (compared to total acres grown) include apples, asparagus, walnuts, table grapes, cherries, cauliflower, broccoli, and onions.”

“In 2007 Pesticide Action Network North America and Natural Resources Defense Council (collectively, PANNA) submitted an administrative petition requesting a chlorpyrifos ban, citing harm to the brains of developing children.[118] On 10 August 2015, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in PANNA v. EPA ordered the EPA to respond to PANNA’s petition by “revok[ing] all tolerances for the insecticide chlorpyrifos”, den[ying] the Petition or [issuing] a “proposed or final tolerance revocation” no later than 31 October 2015.[119][120] The EPA was “unable to conclude that the risk from aggregate exposure from the use of chlorpyrifos [met] the safety standard of section 408(b)(2) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA)” and therefore proposed “to revoke all tolerances for chlorpyrifos.”[120]

“In an 30 October 2015 statement Dow AgroSciences disagreed with the EPA’s proposed revocation and “remain[ed] confident that authorized uses of chlorpyrifos products, as directed, offer wide margins of protection for human health and safety.” In a November 2016 press release, DOW argued that chlorpyrifos was “a critical tool for growers of more than 50 different types of crops in the United States” with limited or no viable alternatives.”[121] The Environment News Service quoted the Dow AgroSciences’ statement disagreeing with the EPA findings.[122]

“Chlorpyrifos is one of the most widely used pest control products in the world. It is authorized for use in about 100 nations, including the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, where it is registered for protection of essentially every crop now under cultivation. No other pesticide has been more thoroughly tested.

— Statement Dow AgroSciences October 30, 2015

“In November 2016, the EPA reassessed its ban proposal after taking into consideration recommendations made by the agency’s Science Advisory Panel which had rejected the EPA’s methodology in quantifying the risk posed by chlorpyrifos. Using a different methodology as suggested by the panel, the EPA retained its decision to completely ban chlorpyrifos. The EPA concluded that, while “uncertainties” remain, a number of studies provide “sufficient evidence” that children experience neurodevelopment effects even at low levels of chlorpyrifos exposure.”

“On 29 March 2017, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, appointed by the Trump administration, overturned the 2015 EPA revocation and denied the administrative petition by the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Pesticide Action Network North America to ban chlorpyrifos.[124][125][126][127]

“The American Academy of Pediatrics responded to the administration’s decision saying they are “deeply alarmed” by Pruitt’s decision to allow the pesticide’s continued use. “There is a wealth of science demonstrating the detrimental effects of chlorpyrifos exposure to developing fetuses, infants, children and pregnant women. The risk to infant and children’s health and development is unambiguous.”[128]

“EPA estimated that, between 1987 and 1998, about 21 million pounds of chlorpyrifos were used annually in the US.[25] In 2001, chlorpyrifos ranked 15th among pesticides used in the United States, with an estimated 8 to 11 million pounds applied. In 2007, it ranked 14th among pesticide ingredients used in agriculture in the United States.[28

Wikipedia ibid

So the situation sort of  hovers between illegal and legal,  with Scott Pruitt of the last Trump administration supporting DOW Chemicals in their efforts at stopping a ban on Chlorpyrifos.

He met with DOW and discussed the pesticides.  Then they tried to cover it up.

Article continues

“Asked in April whether Pruitt had met with Dow Chemical Company executives or lobbyists before his decision, an EPA spokesman replied: “We have had no meetings with Dow on this topic.” In June, after several Freedom of Information Act requests, the EPA released a copy of Pruitt’s March meeting schedule which showed that a meeting had been scheduled between Pruitt and Dow CEO Andrew Liveris at a hotel in Houston, Texas, on 9 March.[128] Both men were featured speakers at an energy conference. An EPA spokesperson reported that the meeting was brief and the pesticide was not discussed.[129]

“In August, it was revealed that in fact Pruitt and other EPA officials had met with industry representatives on dozens of occasions in the weeks immediately prior to the March decision, promising them that it was “a new day” and assuring them that their wish to continue using chlorpyrifos had been heard. Ryan Jackson, Pruitt’s chief of staff, said in an 8 March email that he had “scared” career staff into going along with the political decision to deny the ban, adding “[T]hey know where this is headed and they are documenting it well.”[130]

Wikipedia chlorpyrifos 

Yet there is little sympathy for gender problems in Trump’s Republican bourgeoisie.  It is now not uncommon for a person to be gay, and the right to marriage is even allowed.  The right to be with whoever you choose to be with has become a personal choice.  It is supported by law, and a majority of people support gay marriage.  

Which of course is offensive to Trump and his following.  But when we find exposure to Chlorpyrifos in animal studies is connected with gender reversal,  all we can do is feel sympathy for anyone who was exposed, and is now having gender issues.

Whatever.  Instead of looking for the reason why more children have Autism in the foods and farming techniques being practiced, the Republican bourgeois instead blame the Autism problem with vaccinations.  

“ATLANTA — Federal vaccine advisers installed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. voted Thursday to effectively remove an ingredient from flu shots, achieving a longtime, controversial goal of anti-vaccine activists and illustrating how their priorities are becoming official government guidance.

“The vote to no longer recommend influenza vaccines that contain the preservative thimerosal, based on the presentation of a single vaccine critic, is likely to have limited impact because the vast majority of flu shots are thimerosal-free.

“Thimerosal has been at the heart of false claims that vaccines can cause autism…

“This particular kind of vaccine, the multi-dose vial, is going to children, little children, it’s destroying their brains,” Kennedy said in a July 2023 podcast appearance. “I believe my belief is strongly grounded in science.”

Washington Post 6 26 2025

You really have to wonder how far from the scientific community these types of decisions are.  There has been no positive studies linking vaccines to Autism.  But when we look at pesticides, obviously we find a smoking gun.  Chlorpyrifos are causing Autistic children, this is supported by human research.  Animal research has shown gender reversal and neurological disorders connected with exposure to Chlorpyrifos.

The bourgeoisie has consistently opposed any regulation and laws regarding pesticides.  Every ban has come with a legal and political struggle, with Republicans opposing laws banning the pesticides.  Here again we have support for the large capitalist chemical companies who make large profits selling this stuff to farmers, who are  probalay mostly ignorant to the real effects of this on their children, and the  people they sell their produce to. 

I don’t know if they are conspiring as regards their autism vaccine connection.  It would seem to remove some of the guilt from DOW Chemicals, who control parts of the state under Trump, and have the power to remove EPA workers and leadership that is not in favor of pesticides, if vaccines were really what was causing Autism in children.  

This has been going on for some time now, the companies know their products are causing illness yet keep producing toxic products for pest control on farms.  

Well here they are caught again.  The research shows their dirty hands, and their disregard of human and ecological health is their quest to create ever larger amounts of surplus value.  Will it matter this time?

Nicholas Jay Boyes

Milwaukee Wisconsin

American Democratic Republic

7 8 2025  

Ecological Material Conditions and Theories of Value

~ nicholasjayboyes

Ecological Material Conditions and Theories of Value

The climate is changing, it is getting hotter everywhere, due to the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation.  Heavy reliance on fossil fuels has actually increased the global temperatures.

  • “Since 1901, the average surface temperature across the contiguous 48 states has risen at an average rate of 0.16°F per decade. Average temperatures have risen more quickly since the late 1970s (0.31 to 0.54°F per decade since 1979). Eight of the top 10 warmest years on record for the contiguous 48 states have occurred since 1998, and 2012 and 2016 were the two warmest years on record.
  • “Worldwide, 2016 was the warmest year on record, 2020 was the second-warmest, and 2011–2020 was the warmest decade on record since thermometer-based observations began. Global average surface temperature has risen at an average rate of 0.17°F per decade since 1901 , similar to the rate of warming within the contiguous 48 states. Since the late 1970s, however, the United States has warmed faster than the global rate.

United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Climate Change Indicators

The temperature in Lytton British Columbia on June 29th 2021 was 49.6 degrees Celciuis.  

“Lytton, a village in the Fraser Canyon located about 260 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, also saw record-breaking highs of 47.9 C on Monday and 46. 6 C on Sunday.  Before this week, the highest temperature ever recorded in Canada was 45 C in Saskatchewan in 1937.

“On Tuesday alone, seven locations in B.C. met or exceeded the 45 C mark, including Lytton, Cache Creek (47.4 C), Grand Forks (45 C), Kamloops (47.3 C), Kelowna (45.2 C), Lillooet (46.7 C) and Osoyoos (45 C).’

“The BC Coroners Service said there has been a significant increase in deaths since Friday, with extreme heat suspected to have played a role.

“From Friday to Monday, there were 233 reported deaths in the province, up from an average 130 deaths over a four-day period.

“In Vancouver, police said Tuesday they have responded to more than 65 sudden deaths since the heat wave began on Friday. The city normally sees about three or four sudden deaths every day.

CBC 6 29 2021

Climate change is racking our world.  Deforestation in British Columbia, due to the logging and timber industries, who have been at it for years, are a contributing factor.  Cutting the forest, especially the old growth, raises temperatures.  Photosynthesis in plants creates oxygen, it breaks the Carbon Dioxide, fixing the carbon in the plant, and and storing it in the process.  The Oxygen is given off from the photosynthesis, which all animals breathe.

Deforestation removes the forests ability to fix CO2 from the atmosphere; the cut trees are no longer producing oxygen, and transpiring water, cooling the climate.  British Columbia, like Alaska, has been cutting the old growth pristine forests to make a profit.  In twisted logic they feel the forests are just sitting there doing nothing, they see no value in the forests, so they cut them down mercilessly.

This has been the dominant economic idea since Adam Smith wrote Wealth Of Nations, when a forest was seen as being a free resource, sometimes with rent paid to the landowner to log it, but basically a resource to capitalists, when we consider the landowner as being one of them.  To make a long story short, the value of a commodity is how much labour is required to produce it. The current idea of a forest is it is worth the amount of trees or minerals beneath it.  It is open game for capitalists to remove the trees and mine the metals or petroleum underneath it.

Recognition of forests as important for stopping climate change is only just beginning.  The idea of an old growth forest as a resource with a price tag is the paradigm.  It is not seen as a priceless work of art for future generations of humans or sovereign ecological territory, rather the value of it is as a commodity that can be bought or sold.

By only seeing activity that creates a material commodity as being productive, capitalism is rapidly destroying the ecology.  In BC and Alaska this perverse logic still exists, in a condition not much different from Adam Smith’s time.  The consciousness of the human being has been expanding with technological development, we now have satellites in space orbiting Earth, and we can map out climate change scientifically.   Our data shows consistent warming in the last century, which is damaging ecology.  In the past we could only record temperatures on the ground, often without even computers to help us. 

Now we are mapping climate change with powerful computers, and the Republican bourgeoisie are left to question the science. 

This group of dinosaurs is caught in capitalist logic, which considers ecology to have no value besides as exchange value, money, which can be had by logging.

This paradigm has to change.  The logging of old growth in BC and Alaska is resulting in climate change.  The economic ideas have to change, ecology must have value beyond simply a resource for human exploitation.  The land has to be viewed as more than a commodity which only has exchange value as a resource to exploit, sold to create capital. 

A revolutionary shift in consciousness is taking hold, with climate change starting to figure into the capitalist mind.  Even large capitalists are seeing the science, the liberal progressive bourgeoisie is shifting towards acknowledging climate change as real, and recognizing that society is going to have to change their economic ideas to stop the ecological consequences of uncontrolled exploitation of the ecology for exchange value.  The Republican bourgeois are way behind, Donald Trump disbelieved climate change was real, he thought it was a hoax designed to keep the ruling class weak, and hinder the ability of capitalists to make a profit.  The ruling class seems to still be largely subordinate to Trump; he is still the leader of their party.  

Perhaps it is an issue of quality, where the right not to make a mess is part of the value of a commodity.  Clearly simply the amount of labour required to log a forest cannot continue to be the value of a commodity.  Something is going to have to give, political economy is not a completed science.  The ideas of value and surplus value are still evolving, our science demands we formulate new ideas of value including the life of other species, ecology, in what we consider the value of a commodity to be.  This shift in material reality, a world where climate change is recognized, and forests are not simply judged as x amount of dollars worth of trees, has to be the reality.

Specifically we have to change the practice of the value of a commodity to include ecology as an integral part of it.  The right not to make a mess, the idea behind recycling, is there to guide us. The days are gone when a forest can simply be exploited with no real view of climate change and ecological destruction.  Political economy is coming with, its laws changing with new ideas, it is the essence of the science.

Society is ready for further progress. It is up to us to figure how the value of a commodity is not simply what the base cost of exploitation of ecology is, rather social and ecological factors figure into the value of a commodity.  A paradigm shift brought forward by the natural sciences, meshing with economic ideas.  A revolutionary change of the consciousness level of the human being.

Nicholas Jay Boyes

Milwaukee Wisconsin

American Democratic Republic