The Rumbling Climate
While our lawmakers continue to debate the existence of a changing climate, as one would argue about whether the wind blows when trees and houses bow to it's strength, subtropical regions deal with the reality of this colossal disaster. As a highly powerful and educated country, all of America should be apalled when our news and headlines are consumed with such abject disregard for the plight that the poorest of countries experiences day in and day out. We may not be able to reverse, or even significantly slow the approach of climate change, but if anyone can, it's the country with the most innovation and resources, so when we debate the very existence of this crisis, we're wasting precious time and resources.
Last year, the island nation of the Philippines experienced the strongest typhoon on record, supertyphoon Haiyan. Money and resources flooded the little nation, and eventually got to the islands hardest hit, Leyte and Cebu. This year, all of those people and organizations have worked together to rebuild lives and the infrastructure of these regions. Currently another typhoon is wreaking havoc on the same areas, undoing all of the hard work that has been accomplished over the past year. This is not to discourage giving, but to sound the alarm that these crises, brought about by climate change, aren't going away. It's not a once and done deal. We have to make long term changes to complex problems, and, even then, climate change might still take its huge toll.
America is fortunate to be in a part of the world where climate change will have a relatively small impact, based upon projections. But we have to remember that people wake up with the reality of sea level rise every day, as their small bamboo houses sit ten feet above water that could swallow them with a wave. They sleep above a swell that their lives depend on, and they fish in waters that are their only way to make a life and support a family. If corals get bleached, that's their job. And if a cyclone hits, that's their home. We are privileged not to worry about such things on a daily basis, because we have a government that is strong enough to make things right, and sturdy enough to rely upon in bad weather.
Climate change is real. And climate change will heave the greatest burden on those that can support it the least. This isn't likely to happen. It will happen. Mitch McConnell doesn't believe Climate Change is real, but a child in a house in Bangladesh, who hears waves lapping under his home closer than before, and feels a fiercer wind from monsoon rain, has no doubt that a new threat is on the horizon.
Last year, the island nation of the Philippines experienced the strongest typhoon on record, supertyphoon Haiyan. Money and resources flooded the little nation, and eventually got to the islands hardest hit, Leyte and Cebu. This year, all of those people and organizations have worked together to rebuild lives and the infrastructure of these regions. Currently another typhoon is wreaking havoc on the same areas, undoing all of the hard work that has been accomplished over the past year. This is not to discourage giving, but to sound the alarm that these crises, brought about by climate change, aren't going away. It's not a once and done deal. We have to make long term changes to complex problems, and, even then, climate change might still take its huge toll.
America is fortunate to be in a part of the world where climate change will have a relatively small impact, based upon projections. But we have to remember that people wake up with the reality of sea level rise every day, as their small bamboo houses sit ten feet above water that could swallow them with a wave. They sleep above a swell that their lives depend on, and they fish in waters that are their only way to make a life and support a family. If corals get bleached, that's their job. And if a cyclone hits, that's their home. We are privileged not to worry about such things on a daily basis, because we have a government that is strong enough to make things right, and sturdy enough to rely upon in bad weather.
Climate change is real. And climate change will heave the greatest burden on those that can support it the least. This isn't likely to happen. It will happen. Mitch McConnell doesn't believe Climate Change is real, but a child in a house in Bangladesh, who hears waves lapping under his home closer than before, and feels a fiercer wind from monsoon rain, has no doubt that a new threat is on the horizon.
Comments
Post a Comment