The warning of the climate scientists is that humanity is faced with runaway climate change as global warming increases. Their plea is that fossil fuel production must cease and be replaced by sustainable forms of energy such as solar and wind power. They believe that the environment can only sustain a 1.5 degree rise in temperature above pre-industrial levels, if climate catastrophe is to be averted. Their warnings have gone unheeded as the big banks finance ever more fossil fuel production. Today the younger generation to whom the prospect of irreversible climate change appears increasingly likely, are rebelling against the older generation. Their revolt has been led by Greta Thunberg, a Swedish teenager. At the Davos summit in January she accused companies and “decision makers” present in the audience of making unimaginable amounts of money causing the climate crisis. She leads a movement, Extinction Rebellion, which is involved in a campaign to mobilize the world’s population against the inaction of governments stopping the banks financing fossil fuel production. Counter-terrorism police in England placed this non-violent movement on a list of extremist ideologies alongside neo-Nazi terrorism as a threat to national security. The report was concerned that the movement was attracting large numbers of individuals, who are engaging in actions challenging government policies on global warming.

The crisis on climate change stands out as the biggest threat to human existence and animal and plant life. Capitalism is responsible for the ecological catastrophe and the inaction of governments in doing anything about saving the planet. The richest countries emit huge amounts of greenhouse gases and it is the poor in the South, the women, the workers, peasants and indigenous people who suffer the most from climate disasters.  The increasing number of climate, economic and political refugees across the world is becoming more prominent. Only a radical alternative to capitalism can save the planet. Socialism encompassing ecology, eco-socialism  can face up to the crisis created by capitalism. The Extinction Rebellion movement, founded by the younger generation has an important role to play in the resistance to the capitalist onslaught. There is a polarization taking place globally as the powerful right wing forces led by Trump confront the radical movements in the US, Europe and the South. It is the outcome of this struggle which will determine the fate of humanity.