Water Crisis in Tuvalu
Every time I think of the effects of climate change (and the end of the world), I envision water and food rations and living in close quarters in makeshift tents in a dirty field somewhere surrounding by dying children. I look around me, and I don't see any of those things, so I breathe a sigh of relief and proceed as normal (not recycling, driving around aimlessly, asking for my groceries to be double bagged in plastic, not paper etc etc).
However, the sad fact is that these conditions are a reality for far too many people. The effects of climate change are being felt in horrific ways in other countries, especially impoverished and developing countries. It's hard for me to come to terms with the fact that my apocalyptic vision of the worst case scenario is already the day to day reality in parts of the world. When I read things like the above link about a water shortage in a place such as Tuvalu, it reminds me of the reality. The reality is that I may not experience the catastrophic effects of climate change ever in my life, but people in other countries who didn't contribute to the degradation of the ozone layer as much as I have in my short lifetime, are paying the price for me to have my bottled water and drink it too.
On the upswing, I was reading about an interesting initiative the UN might take to make "ecocide" an international crime similar to genocide. The international recognition of the human rights issues involved in crimes against the environment would be a huge step in the right direction for future peace and prosperity.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
We Forget How Real This Is
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Ysabel, I really enjoyed reading this post.
ReplyDeleteI go through the exact same process as you after reading such articles and like you, I; "look around me, and I don't see any of those things, so I breathe a sigh of relief and proceed as normal". But you are right, these things are happening to people who can't comprehend why they are happening to them. The majority of the populations of major energy consuming states don't even know this is happening as a direct consequence of their (our) actions either. Nor, does the unfortunate majority of victims of climate change truly understand why they are in fact “victims”.
You are right to note that UN should do more and is doing more, to enforce a climate change resolution. However, shouldn’t the UN or a similar body embark on some sort of an "information campaign" targeted at normal people (us) as well? So, more people can be informed that there are real, current and urgent consequences to their actions. As opposed to theoretical and pending repercussions to people actions. Or maybe as efforts such as Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” has taught us this approach doesn’t work either.
Connecting the current effects of climate change to everyday people is surely of topic that should be discussed more than it currently is (It may be and I could be one of those ignorant people). But I do think if this happened less people will "look around, and not see any of those things, so breathe a sigh of relief and proceed as normal" or in the case of the people of Tuvalu, people may hopefully suffer a little less.