The result was a Chalmers Johnson-style case of blowback, the spirit of which was caught in the protesters' appropriation of the very word "occupy." There was a sense out there that they had occupied us long and disastrously enough. It was time for us to occupy them, and so our own parks, squares, streets, towns, cities, and countries.
The urge to right things is, in fact, a powerful one. Gene Turitz, a friend of mine who took part in the demonstrations that briefly shut down the port of Oakland, California, recently wrote me the following about the experience. It catches something of the mood of this moment:
"The mayor of Oakland, a former progressive, blasted the economic violence that was being perpetrated by the Occupy movement shutting down the port. No word about the economic violence of banks stealing people's homes through foreclosures, or the economic violence of [sports] team owners demanding the city build new stadiums for their teams or they will move to another city, or of corporations threatening to move if this or that is not done for them. That's just the way things are done. You do not want the "violence' of thousands of people peacefully showing that things must change to make their lives better."
Or in two words: we exist! And possibly in the nick of time.
The Fourth Occupation: This is both the newest and oldest of occupations. I'm speaking about humanity's occupation of Earth. In recent centuries, can there be any question that we've been hard on this planet, exploiting it for everything it's worth? Our excuse was that we genuinely didn't know better, at least when it came to climate change, that we just didn't understand what kind of long-term harm the burning of fossil fuels could do. Now, of course, we know. Those who don't are either in denial or simply couldn't care less.
And here's just a taste of what we do know about how the fourth occupation is affecting the planet: thirteen of the warmest years since recordkeeping began have occurred in the last 15 years. In 2010, historically staggering amounts of carbon dioxide were sent into the atmosphere ("the biggest jump ever seen in global warming gases"); extreme weather was, well, remarkably extreme in 2011 -- torrid droughts, massive fires, vast floods -- and, in the Arctic, ice is now melting at unprecedented rates, which will mean future sea-level rises that will threaten low-lying areas of the planet. And as for that temperature, well, it's going to keep going up, uncomfortably so.
Potentially, this is the monster blowback story of all time.
And here's just a taste of what we know about business as usual on this planet: if we rely on the previous occupiers and their ilk to save us, then it's going to be a long, dismal wait. Don't count on energy giants like Exxon or BP or their lobbyists and the politicians they influence to stop climate change. After all, none of them are going to be alive to see a far less habitable planet, so what do they care? Torrid zones are so then, profit sheets and bonuses are so now, which means: don't count on the 1% to give a damn.
If it were up to them -- a few outliers among them excepted -- we could probably simply write the Earth off as a future friendly place for us. And the planet wouldn't care. Give it 100,000, 10 million, 100 million years and it'll get itself back in shape with plenty of life forms to go around.
We're such ephemeral creatures with such brief life spans. It's hard for us to think even in the sort of modestly long-range way that climate change demands. So thank your lucky stars that the first and second wave occupiers created a third payback occupation they never imagined possible. And thank your lucky stars that movements to occupy our planet in a new way and turn back the global warmers are slowly rising as well.
Like the attempted occupations of the global economy and the Greater Middle East, each spurred by a sense of greed that went beyond all bounds, the occupation of our planet is guaranteed to create its own oppositional forces, and not just in the natural world either. They are perhaps already emerging along with the Arab spring, the European summer, and the American fall, not to speak of the Russian winter. And when they're here -- as the fifth occupation of planet Earth -- when they stand their ground and chant "We exist!" in anger, strength, and wonder, maybe then we can really tackle climate change and hope it isn't too late.
Maybe the fifth occupation is the one we're waiting for -- and don't for a second doubt that it will come. It's already on its way.
Tom Engelhardt, co-founder of the American Empire Project and the author of The American Way of War: How Bush's Wars Became Obama's as well as The End of Victory Culture, runs the Nation Institute's TomDispatch.com. His latest book, The United States of Fear (Haymarket Books), has just been published.
Copyright 2011 Tom Engelhardt
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