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While climate change is
mostly a result of our lifestyles here, it will kill millions
of the poor elsewhere.
"Every time someone in the West turns
on a kettle,
he or she is helping to flood Bangladesh."
George Monbiot, writer and columnist
Climate change affects the entire planet. However,
the 2003 European heatwave or the central European floods are
minor compared to what developing countries are facing, when
climate change hits full scale. Their already precarious situations
will worsen significantly, not least because their people's
livelihoods are much more dependent and vulnerable to natural
misfortunes. More and more people will die from droughts, mudslides,
storms or floods and suffer tremendous economic losses. Food
safety, public health and freshwater supplies will be at risk.
Directly and indirectly climate change threatens
the lives of millions. This is not a distant future: five straight
days of unseasonable downpours in February 2000 caused the worst
flooding, in living memory, in Mozambique. More than 100,000
people were forced to flee their homes and thousands were stranded
in treetops. Hurricane Mitch roared through Central America
in 1998, killing more than 10,000 in floods and mudslides, with
people still suffering from disease and food shortages.
All this is particularly wicked because climate
change is mostly a result of greenhouse gas emissions by the
resource-intense and energy-wasting lifestyles of the rich,
industrialised countries. The average European is responsible
for about 8 tonnes of greenhouse gases per year. This compares
to less than 2 tonnes per head in many developing countries.
The imbalance began 150 years ago with the emerging industrialisation
in the developed world, whose wealth is, historically but also
presently, built on burning coal, oil and gas.
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