Monday 5 February 2007

Who does global warming hurt the most?

...The people who are already down on their luck as it is.

The world's poor, who are the least responsible for global warming, will suffer the most from the effects of climate change, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told global environment ministers on Monday.

"The degradation of the global environment continues unabated ... and the effects of climate change are being felt across the globe," Ban said in a statement after last week's toughest warning yet mankind is to blame for global warming.

For some reason I'm not really surprised. Number one, I have heard this kind of talk before, and agree with it, and number two it is typical for developed, wealthy states to be selfish — whether it is with trade, debt, or whatever — even on an issue that is going to hurt themselves too. It is all to typical for things to hurt most the people who do the least to cause those things, and have little power against those problems. Keep in mind the current Kyoto Act expires in 2012, where do developed nations go from there?

This week I plan to have a fair amount of posts on climate change, relating to both the scientific and political and humanitarian sides of the issue.

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