Climate Change vs Poverty Alleviation
Today we're seeing that climate change is about more than a few unseasonably mild winters or hot summers. It's about the chain of natural catastrophes and devastating weather patterns that global warming is beginning to set off around the world. The frequency and intensity of which are breaking records thousands of years old. –Barack Obama
I, a concerned resident of our mother earth am here to show how you the Urgency to tackle the grave issue of climate change.
I totally agree with my worthy critics that the rapid industrialization has divided the society, and the problem of poverty has to be eradicated but this my dear friends is not possible when we face rapid climate change, an issue that threatens the whole of mankind and not only the poor.
One may ask that how the two issues are related and why can’t we tackle them on separate grounds. But personally I feel that both poverty alleviation and tackling climate change and deeply related and we cannot eradicate poverty till we tackle one of the root causes of worsening of poverty condition-climate change.
Climate change is predicted to deepen poverty both directly and indirectly. These include the loss of life, livelihoods, assets, infrastructure, etc. increasing the economic divide.
Reductions in crop yields in most tropical and sub-tropical regions due to decreased water availability are projected to lead to a fall of agricultural productivity by 30% by the end of 21st century. Marine life and fishing industry will also be affected in some places . How do we remove poverty when climate change worsens their pathetic conditions of having less than two square meals a day. Hence giving priority to poverty alleviation over tackling climate change is like jumping from the frying pan to the fire.
Such changes would have a major impact on food security, employment, incomes, and
economic growth; for example, one study has predicted a 9–25% fall in net farm revenue in India from a temperature rise of 2–3.5° C.
Money is not everything. The problem of global warming also threatens the scenic beauties of the Earth. Our beautiful islands like Andaman and nicobar islands, Maldives and the Caribbean islands will be lost under the massive seas, also threatening the lives and livelihood of their inhabitants.
Also the poor will b exposed to many more diseases especially vector borne like malaria and water borne like cholera. Hence if we tackle climate change we can also reduce poverty as people will have healthier lives and spending less money on medical expenses also allowing them to work longer.
Hence we should be in no doubt that tackling climate change should be prioritized when compared to poverty alleviation as the process solves 60% of the problem of removing poverty.
Every second, 1 hectare of forest, which is equivalent to 2 US football fields, is cut down. There are many ways to tackle climate change such as saving resources by installing alternative energy like solar panels and windmills, changing to compact florescent bulbs and taking a shower instead of a bath. Other ways include travelling efficiently by using public transportation instead of a car and also, planting trees. The 3Rs, reduce, reuse and recycle are the most common terms used when someone starts the topic on "Tackling Climate Change." Despite these terms, there is actually another step we can do which can tackle climate change so much more effectively then using the 3Rs alone. This magic step, which most people ignored was actually "going vegetarian."
Yes, indeed this step sounds weird, but it is actually a simple but powerful step to tackle climate change. Going vegetarian would reduce livestock raising which drives 1/3 of the world's deforestation. It uses up 3.4billion hectares of land for animal grazing and for growing crops to feed the animals. Not only that, 1kg of meat actually caused emissions equivalent of 36.4kg of carbon dioxide! Livestock industry had indeed produced more carbon dioxide than all the world's cars, trains and planes combined.
Yes, indeed this step sounds weird, but it is actually a simple but powerful step to tackle climate change. Going vegetarian would reduce livestock raising which drives 1/3 of the world's deforestation. It uses up 3.4billion hectares of land for animal grazing and for growing crops to feed the animals. Not only that, 1kg of meat actually caused emissions equivalent of 36.4kg of carbon dioxide! Livestock industry had indeed produced more carbon dioxide than all the world's cars, trains and planes combined.
I hope I have made you aware of the urgent need to tackle climate change.I would like to conclude by a poem-
To show our children the beauty of life;
To help polar bears and pandas survive;
To claim to the world that this talk should gain weight
Let`s firstly take part in the global debate!!
Sabyasachi
Sabyasachi
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