WE MUST REMEMBER THIS: CLIMATE CHANGE DENIERS, WHITE SUPREMACISTS, DENIERS OF BASIC CIVIL LIBERTIES AND FAIR ECONOMIC DISTRIBUTION, HAVE THIS ONE THING IN COMMON: THEY DO NOT WANT TO DISRUPT THEIR COMFORTABLE LIVES AND MINDSETS: REGARDLESS OF WHAT MIGHT BE TRUE.

We continually hear arguments that claim to be based on a range of principles; convenient principles it ought to be said.

The one argument that no one offers as the reason why they do not believe in climate change, or do not believe that all ethnic groups should be treated equally, or fair economic distribution and civil liberties should be made fairer, is that if these aims were actually made a reality in our personal, social and national lives, then many of us would be financially less well-off, would not be able to enjoy many of the so-called advantages of our modern world – such as gas-guzzling cars and multiple air flights – and many of us would have to accept the uncomfortable idea that our own ethnic group has no right of superiority over any other ethnic groups. No, we do not hear those sorts of arguments. Instead, we hear arguments that claim to be based on a range of principles; convenient principles it ought to be said.

Image courtesy of NASA of the Earth and the Moon viewed from space. North and South America are in view, primarily greens and browns, whilst the oceans are deep blue overlaid with white clouds.