Modern day examples: The Third Reich falls like a house of cards; the Berlin Wall comes down and the communist monolith crumbles, and, indeed, a domino effect does occur, but in reverse;  Big Tobacco’s decades-long stranglehold on public policy about the harmful effects of smoking is dissolved in a tidal wave of litigation; a high-rise in New York Cityis hit by a plane, at first, a seemingly horrific accident but then, within minutes, a nation realizes it is under siege and no longer out of terrorism’s reach. These are truly paradigm shifts in the collective consciousness of entire societies. That which had previously seemed invulnerable and impenetrable is suddenly transformed. And everything changes.

At the bottom of the second page of this Guardian piece, notice the comment from Greenpeace UK’s Energy Campaigner, Louise Hutchins, “This is a naked emperor moment…” Precisely!

And this is how the internet can really change the world. For the better. This Guardian piece was re-posted by “Save Our Paradise Now,” a group trying to fend off fracking in Florida. Thanks to wonderful reader Nene Miller, this gets into my newsfeed, just as I’m trying to get the International Criminal Court in The Hague to prosecute the fossil fuel industry. These linkages are potentially transformative and make all of us TOGETHER much more impactful than countless, similarly-intentioned groups scattered across the world fighting the chokehold of the fossil fuel industry which, at this very moment, seems invincible. Now WE need to drag ourselves, battered, bruised and demoralized to the other side of this fight and leave this dystopian, rotting, horror story narrative behind us.

The Guardian piece (below) points out the implicit dangers in fracking, comparing it to the thalidomide scandals, the tobacco settlement, and other threats to public health. Okay, I’m skipping over a few linkages they haven’t made yet, but YAY YAY YAY! Forget those upcoming UN talks in Lima, Peru. NOTHING of substance is going to happen because, as they even admit, the fossil fuel industry is still calling the shots in the biggest polluter nations.

Back to that US tobacco settlement…I keep looking at it as a potential blueprint for prosecuting the fossil fuel industry, however, those kinds of indictments require US Attorneys General to be on board, which I think is highly unlikely unless there is a general shift of public opinion. And a tobacco-like litigation effort would not be global, in other words, cigarettes are still marketed (often inappropriately to minors) internationally. That will not help us in the destruction of fossil fuel corporations because it would just be like lopping off a limb on a giant with one leg in the United States. It wouldn’t serve any purpose except to help all the other fossil fuel behemoths outside the US, who would still be extracting and producing dirty products.

The Guardian doesn’t realize they are right on track, closing in on an enemy who knows their days are numbered, much like Hitler. And yes, that is an appropriate comparison.