Children Already Bearing Brunt of Global Warming
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 04. 8.07
In light of the most recent report of the IPCC released this week that focused on the effects that we can expect in conjunction with various degrees of warming I thought it worthwhile to do some digging and investigate precisely whom is already most adversely affected by global warming, and what they might be able to do to change their plight. With visions of Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath swirling in my head, I certainly expected to find that the insurance industry and the poor would be among the hardest hit this early in the process. But it surprised me to learn that across the globe, children in particular are the single group facing the worst of its effects head-on today. The reason, as Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change puts it is because "The poorest of the poor in the world -- and this includes poor people in prosperous societies -- are going to be the worst hit," and ultimately because "People who are poor are least able to adapt to climate change." Well, the grim reality in our world today is that children as a social group fall right at the bottom of the economic pile, and that regardless of what part of the planet they come from the reasons are very much the same... Their youth means that they have the least physical, political, intellectual, and therefore economic power available to affect the changes that can benefit themselves. In reality there is very little that any of them can do to change their plight in any way. In fact, they often find themselves fighting for their very survival while the adults around them wage wars over resources that leave them scrambling for scraps to survive. And ultimately, according to Save the Children, a charity in the UK who recently released a report highlighting children’s vulnerability to climate change, up to 175 million children will be affected every year over the next decade by climate-related disasters like droughts, floods and storms. They go on to point out that this is 50 million a year more than in the 10 years prior to 2005 because being society's most vulnerable members means that children are hurt disproportionately, and that millions more will be killed, forced from their homes or hit by hunger and disease due to climate change if we do nothing to stop it.
While I highly doubt that many would disagree that it is quite morally reprehensible to consciously engage in a process which leads to the suffering of hundreds of millions of children; as I watch my family, my friends, and the people around me live their lives in relative comfort I realize it may be tempting for a select few in the First World to point to the information above and feel somewhat callously complacent about the position of their own children in a dangerously warming world. Reasoning that despite the moral implications, our potential ability to adapt to its risks due to our economic strength makes it plausible for us to stand by and do nothing to help chart a different course for humanity. Instead, wallowing in the profits of today at the expense of another's tomorrow... Though, as Robert Muir-Wood, research officer at catastrophe risk-modeling firm Risk Management Solutions points out, “…even the wealthiest countries will find it a challenge to adapt quickly and effectively to the increased hazards posed by climate change.” And so I think it’s quite valid to wonder how well any of us will adapt at all to a world in which the supply of consumer goods on which First World inhabitants are so dependent is constantly disrupted by the inability of the poor nations in which they are produced to adapt to the crisis. Coupled with the increased threat of powerful storms, droughts, wildfires, unreliable water supplies via melting snow pack, and rising sea levels to the first world, and I think the truth remains that despite our economic strengths both we and our children have much to fear from a warmer planet… So whether we find ourselves this holiday season as members of the First World, the Third World, or even somewhere in-between; it may be helpful to remember that all of our children share a common future on this planet, and that the actions we take today will have a tremendous impact on all of them, wherever they may be...
Good post!.
Explore the link below for a lot more on how the world's poorest, children and all, are most in harm's way, while the world's richest (countries also most responsible for the greenhouse buildup so far) are already girding against climate risks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/science/earth/03clim.html
This is a facet of the climate challenge that hasn't gotten much attention.
Great post: I am glad to see more light being shed on this generational aspect of climate change.
It was partly in an attempt to answer questions about global warming from my own three middle school children that I began writing about climate change myself.
Recently, I highlighted another of Andy Revkin's articles and his audio slide show on the climate divide, as I know kids in Britain and America who are passionate about helping their peers in Malawi, for example. Adults need to facilitate kids who feel strongly about the impact of climate change—teens in particular are searching for ways to help.
The concerns of the under-30s and especially the under-15s are under-represented in climate change discussions, I think, and I am keen to redress that imbalance on their behalf. Too many sceptics are protecting their own wealthy lifestyles, free in the knowledge that they will escape the worst of the climate change impact. Challenging them can be tough because they are so vociferous and often unreasonable.
I can't agree more...
I think that being aware of the climate divide as well as the impact it has on children is crucial ... although people / we tend to forget about it.
Talking about children, you might want to check a blog where children (in New York, Singapore, France and London) talk about global warming: http://littlegrassroots.typepad.com
In Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth, they show a map of how the climate of different parts of the world will be affected by global warming.
Ethiopia was showing major drying.
Maybe the famines there in the late 80's were some of the first impacts of global warming? If so, the response was commendable, but tackled the systems rather than the disease.
Any thoughts?
richard ... good point
midge ure is now saying that live-aid was caused by climate change, but we didnt recognise the problem then ... we attempted to deal with the symptoms
since then we've been pouring more and more fuel on the fire and of course had live8 too
i wonder what the celeb's on stage at live-earth are going to do in order to minimise their footprints ... they've definitely created more than their fare share of the problem so far
it's been a hell of a journey for people to finally start making the connections between actions and consequences e.g. that if you jump on a flight, you are helping to kill people in africa
it's more than an inconvenient truth ... a friend recently cancelled their holiday flights as they didn't want to think of their children helping to murder people
heavy