Countering Climate Change Under the Regime of the One Percent
Kim’s Dream Orlan Ravanera
Climate change is no longer a distant threat or an abstract scientific projection. It is an immediate, escalating, and deeply alarming crisis that is already exacting a heavy toll on humans, the environment, and the economy across the globe. An independent report commissioned by twenty countries in 2012 revealed that climate change was already responsible for approximately 400,000 deaths worldwide each year, with projections rising to more than 600,000 deaths annually by 2030. These deaths are not caused solely by extreme heat waves, although these have become increasingly deadly. Climate change devastates food security, nutrition, water safety, and public health systems, especially in poor and vulnerable communities.
As temperatures rise, mosquitoes and disease-carrying pests flourish, leading to the resurgence and expansion of illnesses such as malaria, dengue fever, and other infectious diseases. Flooding contaminates drinking water with bacteria, industrial waste, and toxic pollutants. Droughts destroy crops and livestock, forcing mass migration and hunger. When researchers included the broader health impacts of fossil fuel combustion, beyond climate change itself, the number of annual deaths rose dramatically from 400,000 to nearly five million people per year. These deaths are linked to outdoor air pollution, indoor smoke from poorly ventilated homes, occupational hazards, and even rising cases of skin cancer. Climate change, therefore, is not merely an environmental issue; it is a public health emergency of planetary proportions.
In his book The Age of Sustainable Development, economist Jeffrey Sachs reminds us of a truth that humanity seems to have forgotten: like all living species, human beings depend entirely on nature for food, water, materials for survival, and protection from catastrophic threats such as epidemics and natural disasters. Scientists refer to these life-supporting systems as environmental services. Yet despite this dependence, humanity has failed tragically and repeatedly to protect the physical foundations of its own survival. Instead, a gigantic global economy has produced a gigantic environmental crisis, threatening the lives of billions of people and driving millions of other species toward extinction.
It must now dawn upon humanity that climate change itself is the real and greatest threat to human survival. Yet this truth is routinely obscured, diluted, or outright denied through the collusion of corporate power, political institutions, and large segments of the mainstream media. A small group of fossil fuel corporations, roughly fewer than twenty, continue to generate enormous profits from coal, oil, and gas, earning trillions of dollars annually. Portions of these profits are used to influence media narratives, political decision-making, and even religious institutions, ensuring that business as usual continues despite its catastrophic consequences.
This system represents not merely an economic failure but a moral collapse. Climate change is a crime against Mother Earth, against humanity, and against the Creator itself. The COVID-19 pandemic served as a painful but necessary wake-up call, reminding humanity of its fragility and interdependence with the natural world. It exposed the deep injustices, inequalities, and ecological destruction that had long been ignored. Yet even after such suffering, humanity struggles to awaken fully from its destructive slumber.
The concept of development has been profoundly abused and distorted. Everything is done in its name: mega-projects, extractive industries, militarization, deforestation, and environmental degradation, yet the daily realities of ordinary people reveal the hollowness of these claims. Under the regime of the one percent, whose combined wealth surpasses that of the remaining ninety-nine percent of the world’s population, a model of corporate globalization has emerged that prioritizes profit over life. This economic paradigm has driven the planet to the brink of its sixth mass extinction, a catastrophe comparable to the great die-offs that shaped Earth’s geological history.
This same regime has not only ravaged ecosystems but has also constructed a vast military-industrial apparatus capable of annihilating humanity many times over. Enormous wealth is generated through the manufacturing of armaments, perpetuating cycles of war and violence. History shows that leaders who attempt to resist or dismantle this machinery often face immense danger. The result is a global system where conflict becomes profitable, peace becomes threatening, and moral restraint is treated as an obstacle to economic growth.
This pattern continued in later conflicts, such as the war in Iraq, where corporate interests profited enormously from supplying weapons to opposing sides. Such realities have fueled deep anger and resentment, particularly among those who witness firsthand the hypocrisy of powers that speak of democracy while benefiting from destruction. Violence, extremism, and terror cannot be separated from the structural injustices and exploitation embedded in the global order.
The model of development pursued by the one percent is not only unjust; it is self-destructive. It mirrors the logic of an autoimmune disease, in which the body’s own defense mechanisms attack its vital organs. Humanity is doing precisely this to itself. We destroy forests that regulate the climate and produce oxygen. We poison rivers and oceans that sustain life. We grow food using agricultural systems dependent on toxic chemicals that contaminate soil, water, and human bodies. Modern living has become synonymous with a throwaway culture, where waste is normalized and excess celebrated, all under the false promise of progress.
This form of development is ruthless, short-sighted, and ultimately futureless. It has made what once seemed impossible now terrifyingly plausible: the end of complex life on Earth. Biodiversity, embracing billions of life forms that evolved over millions of years, is disappearing at an unprecedented rate. Species vanish before they are even discovered. As the planet warms and sea levels rise, humanity faces an urgent and unresolved question: how will we feed, clothe, and shelter a global population projected to reach 9.3 billion by 2050?
Wisdom from both global leaders and Indigenous communities offers a path forward. Mahatma Gandhi captured this truth when he said, “If humanity is to be saved from doom, development must be in harmony with nature, not at its own expense.” A Lumad leader expressed the same reality with stark clarity: “Only when you have cut the last tree, caught the last fish, and dried-up the last river will you realize that you cannot eat your money.”
The choice before humanity is clear. We can continue down a path of destruction driven by greed, inequality, and ecological blindness, or we can embrace a new vision of development, rooted in justice, sustainability, solidarity, and reverence for life. Climate change demands not only technological solutions but moral courage, spiritual awakening, and systemic transformation. The future of Earth and of humanity itself depends on whether we are willing to listen, change, and act before it is too late, for God’s be the glory!
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