Lisa Schlein recently wrote ana article about a leading scientist who says that global warming increases poverty and hunger:
The chairman of the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri, says the effects of climate change will be mainly felt in the areas of health and agriculture. He says it is the poor who would suffer most from the change.
He says heat waves in different parts of the world are making people ill and causing many deaths. He says the situation is particularly bad in poor countries that do not have the infrastructure or wherewithal to protect people from extreme heat.
Speaking of the agricultural effects of climate change, Pachauri says two-thirds of the world lives in rural areas and the majority of these people are in developing countries. He says a great many are dependent on rain-fed agriculture.
Pachauri says climate change would lead to an increase in precipitation in temperate areas, but a decrease in tropical and sub-tropical areas, where most of the people on Earth live. Those who depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, he says, would be adversely affected by the decrease.
I have no doubt that mankind’s actions on earth have gravely contributed to the warming of the globe. Unfortunately, our society does not hold people responsible for the damage they do to the environment. I can go out today and smash the window of a car, which would likely result in society forcing me to pay to fix the damages I caused. However, if I go out and pollute the environment, society does not make me fix the damages.
Instead of choosing to do what protects the environment most, corporations unsurprisingly choose to do what makes them the most money. This industrial machine tears apart our planet in the name of industrial production. It will continue to consume and destroy everything until nothing remains. It will continue until it has uprooted all the trees, polluted the air and atmosphere beyond repair, and used up all the natural resources.
We, the people of the world, have to defend ourselves. We have to protect ourselves from those who try to pollute our environment and misuse the natural resources of our planet. Let’s organize, and use our organizational power to stop anyone and everyone from polluting our environment without responsibility.
Share your thoughts about the environment and global warming as they relate to hunger and poverty at the Hunger & Poverty Forums. You can join and discuss these issues for free, so please do that!